Gunfire rang out more frequently the longer they stayed in the room. Rio still didn't look up, his mind traveling to the butchered bodies. Rick, Glenn, Daryl and Bob scavenged the room, looking for anything that could be of use to them. Anything they could use to help their escape.
Daryl pried a pipe into Rio's hand before breaking another piece and holding it himself.
"If we run we can get by them."
'We run' Daryl signed to the boy, explaining what Rick was saying.
"We got to let those people out." Glenn objected. Rick gave him a blank look back and Glenn just shook his head. "That's still who we are. It's got to be."
Daryl changed what he told the boy. Rio just nodded along with whatever Glenn was saying, eyes still fixed on the floor.
Rick pushed open the door and they all ran to the nearest container. The attention was drawn to them the second they stepped outside. Daryl told Rio to keep back, saying he didn't need to hurt himself more. The boy stuck close to the group anyway, feeling safer that way. They all knocked down the approaching walkers and Glenn made a break to the red container.
He heaved the door open and a single man came sprinting out. He had long hair and a long beard and his clothes were ragged and dirty. The man screamed at Glenn.
"We're the same!" Glenn pushed him off and he latched onto Rick.
"We're them!"
"Back off!"
He broke into a laugh and Rick shoved him away. "We're the same."
The man didn't move, just standing still and laughing at what he'd said. A Walker came in from the side, sinking its teeth into his shoulder. He fell to the ground instantly, not putting up a fight or letting a scream slip as he was eaten.
"Come on."
Glenn went back, using a wooden plank he'd found to bash the head of the Walker and then the man. Daryl raced over, grabbing him by his shirt and pulling him to cover. The group stood against the red container, letting the flow of walkers pass them. They weren't spotted.
Bob walked over to the over end of the container, looking past the corner. "We got to double back." He shook his head despondently.
"A is that way." Rick gestured to the building behind them. "We go back, we don't know where we are."
"We don't really have a choice do we?" Daryl argued. He looked to the boy who was still standing unsteadily. 'We're going back in A'
'Why?'
'We have to'
"Wait here." Rick sighed. He ran off, in the opposite direction of A, sneaking behind cars and random fallen objects to get across.
Bob began to speak, telling Glenn that they had to follow Rick. Daryl and Glenn disagreed with him. Rio wandered off, a stray walker catching his eye. It was fast and it was heading towards Rick.
He turned back and tugged on Daryl's sleeve, pointing it out to the man. He hurried over just in time. The creature reached for Rick's shoulder as Daryl impaled it through the back of its head. The pair exchanged nods before watching the walkers drop one by one.
Rick shot forward as the last of terminus' group gunned down walkers. He slung his arm around the neck of the man that trailed behind, pulling him down to the ground. Rick stole the gun from him and shot down the rest of the group. Then he and Daryl ran back to the container.
Agonizing screams rang out as walkers tore into the neck of a woman and the leg of a man. A few others were slowly dying too.
"We're going to have to double back." Rick announced.
The group stayed silent, waiting for Rick to lead them back. He did, running through the block as quickly as they could until they were back in the courtyard and the car everyone was stuck inside came into view
Daryl, Bob and Glenn decided to take down the walkers surrounding the car. Rio followed Rick as he ran up to the door first, fumbling over the latch as he tried to unlock it. The door swung open and the man didn't give anyone time to be happy about them not being slaughtered.
"Come on!" He yelled, readjusting his grip on the gun. "Fight to the fences!"
The man rapidly shot down walkers as everyone pooled out of the car. Rio clung to his pole, shuffling down the steps and swinging it as hard as he could across the back of a walker's head. It wasn't very hard.
The Walker stumbled forward and he flipped the pole around, holding it in his hand and pushing it through the walker's head.
A hand grabbed his shoulder and Rio spun around quickly. "You dropped this." Carl said, holding out his knife.
'Thanks' The boy signed, out of breath from the running.
The other boy grabbed him by the loop of his jeans and wordlessly slipped the knife into his pocket, giving him a small smile before running over to his dad.
Rio followed, running with the now larger group as they made their way through walker after walker. He knocked another creature across the head with the pipe, causing it to stumble. Daryl plunged his knife into its head, finishing it off.
Everyone made do, despite some not having weapons. Rick and Sasha had guns which made things a lot easier.
"Up and over!" Rosita called to them all after stabbing the walker on the other side of the gate. She slung a blanket over the wiry top of the fence.
"Let's go! Move!" Abraham added, waving everyone over. The entire ground lined up by the gate, jumping over. The man offered a boost to everyone, helping them to get across.
As soon as Rio got across he was rushed into the woods with everybody else. His head was still spinning and the rough landing made it worse. They all patiently waited for two more people. Rick and Abraham.
They barely made it in time, walkers grabbing at their legs as they hauled their weight over the fence.
Rick rushed over to Daryl, asking something about the bag. The other man led him through the woods, everyone else following.
Abraham stood behind him, Rosita by his side.
"Hey, kid!" The man called out. Rio turned around, looking up to him expectantly.
"You've got some balls on you." He said. The boy thought for a moment, unsure if he'd heard Abraham right. When he continued Rio realized he had. "Rosita tells me you stabbed the guy."
"Yeah." He replied awkwardly. "Not really worth it, though."
The man clasped his shoulder, shaking the boy. "I have a shitload of respect for you anyway."
"Thanks."
"We both do." Rosita added.
"Um, thanks again." Rio nodded along, hoping to wrap up the conversation. He appreciated them speaking to him but he just wasn't in the mood at all. What he was in the mood for was sleep but he knew that wasn't about to happen.
Daryl stopped up ahead and kicked up some dirt at his feet. He crouched down, passing what he'd grabbed to Rick. The shovel.
Rio headed to the front of the group, standing beside Carl as they watched Rick dig the bag back up.
"What the hell are we still around here for?" Abraham asked.
"Guns." Rick mumbled in response. "Some supplies. Go along the fences, use the rifles. Take out the rest of them."
"What?" Glenn asked immediately.
"They don't get to live." Rick responded. Rio understood him. He'd begun to understand that some people truly were better off dead. The thought made him uneasy. Even more than he already was.
"Rick, we got out. It's over." The younger man tried to reason.
"It's not over till they're all dead." He answered simply.
"The hell it isn't. That place is on fire. Full of walkers." Rosita protested from the back of the group.
"I'm not dicking around with this crap." Abraham agreed. "We just made it out."
"The fences are down. They'll run or die."
Rio wasn't paying attention to the conversation. Instead he looked behind Rick, watching as a figure slowly emerged from the bushes. She held a bloody cloth in one hand that she threw into the bushes and a crossbow in the other. His mouth hung open with a grin as she approached, a smile breaking onto her face at the sight of the boy.
Carol took no more than a step closer and that was when Daryl noticed. He ran from where he stood, arms wide as he engulfed her in a hug, holding her tightly and lifting her from the ground. He spun her slightly, losing his own footing. The man pulled back with a smile, before resting his forehead upon her shoulder.
Rio was next, heading over as Carol held out an arm to him. Daryl then pulled away and the boy wrapped his arm around her middle. She held him tightly as he laughed, rocking on his feet.
"Did you do that?" Rick asked Carol, walking over.
She nodded slightly and before she could even finish the man took his turn to give her a tight hug. Rick cradled her head as she smiled over his shoulder.
Rio turned to Daryl with a smile still plastered on his face. For everything that had happened today he felt okay. Carol was back. Nobody was hurt. Well, nobody other than him.
The man pulled him in for a hug, leaning down before lifting the boy off the ground slightly. He let out a shocked laugh and Daryl set him down, just giving his shoulder a squeeze.
"Thank you." Rick muttered sincerely.
"You have to come with me." Carol told him, a hand still on his shoulder.
"Okay." He nodded. His face made it seem like he'd follow her pretty much anywhere.
Carol led them out of the woods and towards a clearing. They walked down the path, Rio at the front between her and Daryl.
The boy made out a small hut at the end of a clearing, an old car just before it and dead plants and flowering trees behind. As they got closer Rio saw a figure.
Rick dropped his bags and guns to the floor, bounding over before the boy had even realized who it was. Tyreese stood on the porch with Judith in arms. The girl looked out to them all, a small arm outstretched.
She was okay.
Carl and Sasha followed after Rick being the second and third people to reach the man and the babe.
Tyreese held Judith out immediately, Rick scooping her up and holding her as close as he could. Sasha ran into Tyreese's arms, letting out cries of joy. The man cried too, lifting his sister from the floor.
Carl placed a hand over Judith's back, speaking to her indistinctly. Rio's grin only grew. He turned back, trying to find Michonnes face in the group of people. Her face mirrored his, aside from the few tears streaming down her cheek.
She gave him a short laugh, both of them knowing how hard it's been for Carl and Rick thinking that Judith was dead.
Rick pulled away from Carl, turning to Tyreese and clasping his shoulder, pulling him in closer and thanking him over and over again.
After everyone had spilled their tears Rio headed over to Rick and Carl, Michonne right beside him.
Carl was now cradling Judith, the baby sitting on his hip as he just smiled down at her.
"She's okay." Rio grinned. The other boy turned slightly so he could look at Judith. The baby took one look at him and started crying.
"No." He frowned, a laugh or two escaping from Michonne. "No, Judith."
The woman just peered over his shoulder, wiggling a finger at the girl. Her crying stopped for a moment, a look of fascination upon her face.
"Guess you're not the favorite anymore." Michonne teased as Carl handed her Judith.
"Since when was he the favorite?"
"I've always been her favorite." Rio stated.
"That's so unfair."
"I know I'm not supposed to pick favorites." Michonne fake whispered. She covered Judith's ears before saying to Carl. "But it's you."
"Yes!" He shouted, setting Michonne off laughing again. Judith joined in with small baby giggles.
"We've gotta keep moving." Rick announced to them all, standing on the porch with Tyreese at his side.
'We're going.' Carl signed, before taking his sister back from Michonne. The smile hadn't faded from anyone's faces despite having to leave so soon. In fact, the smiles only grew as they left, cheerfully talking as they trekked through the woods.
***
this chapter is kinda shit and it's so short but im writing like five things at once i can't keep up with myself