break my stride --- matthew wilder
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[POV]
The radio quietly played as Abraham drove. Rosita sat behind him, running her fingers through his hair, "it's getting a little messy for you."
"Gettin' ready for retirement. Relaxin' the grooming standards. Thinkin' about becomin' a plumber, a sheepherder, or somethin'."
"You ain't herdin' sheep now, Abraham. Eyes on the prize."
"Damn right. That's my girl. Maybe I'll let you shave me down all over, dolphin smooth."
Rosita playfully slapped his shoulder, "I'll cut it for you tonight."
"Yes ma'am."
Tara looked over to Eugene, "hey, maybe Rosita can give you a trim while she's at it. Party's getting a little long in the back. Or is it your source of power?"
"i ain't slayin' a lion anytime soon. I wouldn't be placing any wagers on seein' me dispatch a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass."
"Oh, so you'll just settle on saving the world, right?"
"yeah."
"What's up? Last night?"
"Yes. That and tomorrow. And I'm thinking about that preacher and what he did."
Abraham turned the music up louder, causing JJ, who was laying down in two of the seats, to groan. "Will you turn that crap down?"
"What's your deal?" Glenn laughed along with Maggie.
JJ sat up, "I'm just saying," she raised her voice so that Abraham would get the message, "some real music would be nice."
"Man, people were right. The ones who sit in the back are the most annoying." Glenn joked, causing JJ to roll her eyes at him and lay back down.
Maggie looked to Glenn, smiling, "maybe they're just behind us. Maybe Daryl and Carol came back. Maybe they took the map, found some cars and got on the road."
"They'll catch up." Glenn added, "clearing the way for 'em."
Maggie looked to Eugene, who was a seat behind the couple, "How long will it take? After you get on that terminal and do what you have to do?"
"Depends on the number of factors, including density of the infected around target sites worldwide."
"Wait, target sites?" Glenn clarified. "Are you talking about missiles?"
"That's classified."
"I thought we were over that."
"What if we all live?"
JJ scoffed, still horizontal in the seat, "like the secrets will matter then?"
"They might. Anyway, the speed with which things normalize will depend on a number of factors including worldwide weather patterns which were modeled without the assumption that cars, planes, boats and trains wouldn't be pouring hydrocarbons into the atmosphere this long. Changed the game quite a bit when it comes to air-transmissible pathogens."
Glenn stared at him, not wanting any more science facts, "Why the hair?"
"Because I like it. And no one is taking scissors or clippers to it anytime soon. Do you hear me, Miss Espinoza?"
Rosita laughed, "Yes, load and clear."
"Y'all can laugh all you want."
"No one was makin' fun." Maggie told him.
"The smartest man I ever met happened to love my hair."
"You sure 'bout that?" JJ commented.
"Yes ma'am, I am. My old boss, T. Brooks Ellis, the director of the Human Genome Project. He said my hair made me look like, and I quote, 'a fun guy'. Which I am. I just ain't Samson."
Out of nowhere, the bus started to waiver and eventually flipped on it's side, gaining the attention of nearby walkers.
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[JJ]
Well, that hurt like a mother trucker.
"Shit." I felt the back of my head. Guess a little blood never killed anybody. I sat up. "Guess I know why seat belts were invented."
After helping Maggie, Glenn helped me to my feet.
"The engine's on fire. We gotta get out of here." Rosita warned.
"All right, you and I go first, knock 'em back, clear the way for Maggie and Rosita and JJ to get out. Then we all start hitting them, okay?" Glenn told Abraham.
"Tara, you cover Eugene. Come out when it's clear."
Glenn and Abraham were first, then Maggie, Rosita and I followed suit. We fought until all the walkers were down.
"Check Eugene. See if he's hurt." Abraham demanded.
"I'm fine." Eugene huffed, "just cuts and dings is all."
"Check him."
"Is that your blood?" Eugene asked Abraham.
He looked down at his bloodied hand. "Yeah. Damn thing opened again. I swear, the cut are finer than frog's hair. They're just big bleeders."
"Hey, JJ, you okay too? Looks like you gashed the back of your head pretty hard." Maggie said.
"I'm fine." I lightly touched it. Yep, still hurt.
"Still, the first aid kit's in the bus. I'll see what we have." Maggie looked back at the bus, which had now burst into flames.
"I guess we won't see what we have." I commented. In an instant, I felt dizzy, squatting and putting my head down so I wouldn't pass out.
Maggie put her hand on my back, "Whoa, JJ, you good?"
"Yeah, just got really dizzy all of a sudden."
"You probably have a concussion."
"Maybe we should take a break." Tara suggested.
"We're not stopping. We're rolling on. We'll find another vehicle down the road. The mission hasn't changed.
"The devil's advocate, nothing more, we smashed hard. We spent a lot of time rolling things out of the road. The church is just 15 miles back that way." Eugene pointed out.
"No. We don't stop. We don't go back. We're at war and retreat means we lose. The road fights back, the plan gets jacked. You all know that. Now, we will get through this because we have to. Every direction is a question. We don't go back!"
"Sir, yes sir." I sarcastically remarked, slowly standing up. Maggie kept her hand under my arm for extra support.
"Hey, hey, you okay?" Glenn asked Abraham, who was clearly riled up.
"Fit as a damn fiddle."
"We are going with you." Glenn continued to calm, "You are calling this thing. I just need to know you're good."
"This is how things stop. I can't afford that right now. The world can't afford it. Listen, I took a pretty hard shot to the sack with that crash. I am stressed and depressed to see that ride die, but if you say we're rolling on, I'm good."
Glenn looked to me. I nodded. I would be fine.
"We're rolling on."
"I'm gonna rub some dirt on it and walk it off."
"We'll find what we need like we always have...on the way." Rosita encouraged.
I crossed my arms, "I'm definitely not rubbing dirt on anything."
"Maybe we could find some bikes. Bikes don't burn."
"We're you supposed to say onward march, or something like that?" I joked towards Abraham.
"Alright. Onward march!"
I jokingly saluted, "sir, yes, sir."
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[POV]
The group had eventually walked far enough to find a library, which would make a perfect camp for the night. They started a fire, boarded up the doors and called it a night.
JJ sat leaned against the edge of a bookcase, looking at her red boots gleaming in the moon light shining through the thin curtains. All she wanted to do was rest. But the second she closed her eyes... "What are you doing?"
She opened them back up to Maggie.
"I was trying to sleep."
"You need to stay awake. The last thing we need is you slipping into a coma."
JJ scoffed, "that's not gonna happen."
"With how our luck's been, I wouldn't be surprised." Maggie told her. "I think I'm gonna talk to Abraham about taking tomorrow as a rest day."
She shook her head, "not for me. I'll be fine to keep pushing, Mags. Really."
The morning came and Maggie had given in to letting JJ sleep. She figured she needed it, and if she checked in on her, it should be fine.
And it was. JJ didn't sleep well, but she slept. Woke up just in time to meet the group out on the way across the street to the fire station. "Was wondering if you'd wake up." Abraham commented.
"Not so sure I am just yet." JJ crossed her arms, "What's our plan here?"
"Our new ride." Rosita smirked. "Once they get it runnin'."
It finally cranked after about three tries. Abraham laughed, "About time things started going our way!" He moved the firetruck no more than four feet before it quit. "Just one damn time."
He got out and Glenn walked around, "we'll find another ride."
"If there was a ride worth a shit in this town, we'd have seen it. This thing's done some crowd clearing. Right up into the intake. Which means we've got an air filter filled with damn human remains." Abraham huffed, "and there is no damned corner on this damned Earth that has not been dicked hard beyond all damned recognition."
"Abraham." Rosita got his attention.
He quickly snapped, "What?"
"That feeds the radiator. The intake for the engine is actually on the roof."
A tire went rolling by, followed by a firehouse full of walkers.
"Tara, Maggie, JJ!" Glenn called.
They each started taking on as many walkers as they could, but they were about to become overpowered. That was, if it wasn't for Eugene using his big brain and using the water pressure from the truck to take them out.
"I've been to eight county fairs and one goat rodeo. I never seen anything like that."
Eugene smiled proudly.
"There was a Goodwill over there by the bookstore. It's pretty blown up, but there might be some supplies, some dry clothes, maybe?" JJ suggested, emphasizing the dry clothes part.
Abraham walked by her, "not necessary. I can clear that intake in two shakes. Then, the engine will get some wind and so will we." He climbed on top of the truck. "You'll air-dry. We roll on."
"Wet socks don't bother him? What kind of trauma has he been through?" JJ mumbled to Maggie, who snickered at her friend's comment.
Abraham looked down from the truck, laughing hysterically. On the ground read, sick inside, let them die. "What? This shit is screwed up!"
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[JJ]
The sun was making this shitty experience just a little shittier.
"Whoa, what the hell is that?" I commented about the smell.
Nevermind. Now it's even shittier.
"What?" Maggie called.
"Wind's picking up. You're about to smell it." Glenn told his wife.
"What is that?"
"Whatever's makin' that stench. Ain't nothin' nice." Abraham stated, "We ain't stopped.
I looked around, "uh, we're stopped."
Abraham started to lead our group again, this time on foot.
"Oh, nice. We're walking again." Tara huffed.
I groaned, "I should've stayed at the church." But I followed the group.
We eventually came to what the smell was. About a thousand walkers crowding the middle of the road.
"Abraham, let' get out of here." Rosita urged.
"Hold up." He continued to look at the sea of walkers.
"We gotta go."
"They can't hear us and they can't see us. Not from here. We're fine."
"We can smell them from here." I mumbled. Tara was the only one who reacted with a chuckle.
Tara sarcastically sighed, "Yeah, this is the definition of fine."
"We need the map. There's gotta be a detour." Glenn stated.
"I'm not doing it. We detoured and detoured and detoured from Houston to Georgia and I'm not playing that game anymore."
Glenn spoke up. "We are not going through this, okay? It isn't gonna happen."
"You got a shitstorm behind door A and a storm of shit behind door B. If you're lucky, it's walkers or a shot-up truck. But sooner or later you get cornered. You wind up staying and you wind up killing. We don't go back. We can't go back."
He clarified, "I'm not talking about going back. Just south a few miles."
"No." Abraham protested.
"We already hit a full stop cause of an air filter compromised by innards. That will happen again." Eugene told Abraham, attempting to convince him of changing plan.
"Then we'll hit 'em with the hose."
"The tank is empty, Abraham." Rosita also joined.
"We'll floor it."
"We still hit them, they still slow us down, then they stop us." Glenn remarked.
"I'm not saying we just go straight."
"That's the way the road goes." I commented.
"Abraham-"
"We can get through! I know it! And that means we are not going south, going around, or going back!"
"No." Rosita calmly said. "They're right."
Abraham shook his head, took Eugene by the arm and started to march off, despite the argues.
It soon turned into a yelling match between the group. Things eventually got violent. The only reason we stopped was because of Eugene.
"I'm not a scientist!"
That shut us all up pretty quick.
"I lied. I'm not a scientist." He admitted, "I don't know how to stop it. I'm not a scientist."
We stood there. Waiting for someone to say something.
"You are a scientist. I've seen the things that you can do." Rosita stood up.
"I just know things."
"Well, shit, I know things." I scoffed.
Eugene looked to me, "I know I'm smarter than most people, I know I'm a very good liar, and I know I needed to get to DC."
"Why?" Maggie asked.
"Because I do believe that locate holds the strongest possibility for survival, and I wanted to survive. If I could cheat some people into taking me there, well, I just reasoned that I'd be doin' them a solid, too, considering the perilous state of the city of Houston and the state of everything."
Rosita's voice cracked, "people died trying to get you here."
"I'm aware of that- Stephanie, Warren, Pam, Rex, Roger, Josiah, Dirk and Josephine. And Bob. You see, I lost my nerve as we grew closer. Cause I'm a coward, and the reality of getting to our destination and disclosing the truth of the matter became some truly frightening shit. I took it upon myself to slow our roll. Find time to finesse things so then when we got there...But at this moment, I fully realize that there are no longer any agreeable options. I was screwed either way. I also lied about T Brooks Ellis liking my hair. I do not know T. Brooks Ellis."
"Damn." I mumbled.
"But I did read one of his books and he seemed like the type of guy that wouldn't blink twice at a Tennessee Top Hat. Again...I am smarter than you and you may wanna leave me here-"
Abraham lost it. He beat Eugene until he fell to the ground, unconscious. We had to stand between the two to get him to stop. Rosita held her hand on her gun, preparing for worst case scenario.
"Eugene, are you there? Eugene?" Rosita questioned as Abraham fell to his knees a distance away.
Through all the panic, I stood up and look into the distance at the walkers. There wasn't a cure. There wasn't going to be a normal life.
There was no more hope.
a/n: you can't tell me break my stride does not perfectly describe abraham & his urgency for dc...