— 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡
( 𝘈 𝘊𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘊𝘌. )
THE GROUP WAS DEMORALIZED and broken. Losing Beth symbolized the very idea that they had dreaded since the beginning of the apocalypse: was there good left in this world? What hope was there for a new life... a good life? They had buried her body under a willow tree. It was beautiful, peaceful, and quiet. Gabriel had spoken some words of God at the brief funeral, but all who were there could not process them. What God could have let this happen? Maggie kept to herself, crying. Even Glenn left her alone. Murphy had no tears left to shed.
Night had fallen quickly, and time seemed to have sped up since it happened. Rick had started a small fire in the center of a camp they had set up. The fire did not do much, however, since there was no food to cook. The group sat silently, save for Rick and Noah having a quiet conversation to the side. Daryl was gone. Murphy looked for him, but he had wandered too far. When she returned from her searching, she decided to catch up with her group... and find out why D.C. did not work out.
Abraham sat leaning against a tree trunk with Rosita in his arms. Murphy made her way towards them, her boots crunching in the crisp leaves. She sat next to the pair without words, her arms propped upon her bent knees as she stared into the flickering flames of the dying fire.
"What happened?" she asked, not turning to her friends.
The two were silent before Rosita spoke up, "Eugene lied, Murph."
That was enough to break Murphy's gaze away from the flames. Her head turned slowly, her eyes wide, "What?"
Rosita's gaze connected with hers, and she gripped one of Abraham's arms lightly, "There's nothing in Washington. Nothing."
Murphy's sight dropped to the ground, her open hands clenching into tight fists. She was angry at Eugene. She was angry at the world. She was angry about Washington. She was angry about Beth. She felt as if everything was slowly falling apart around her. But suddenly, her fists loosened. She felt a release... a weight lifted off of her shoulders. Eugene's lie was what allowed her to survive the past few months. It was not only what brought her to Rosita and Abraham, but to Rick's group. Glenn, Michonne... Daryl. She would never have met them if it wasn't for Eugene. She looked back up at Rosita and Abraham, who were staring at her, expecting a reaction.
"Okay," she whispered.
"Okay?" Rosita asked incredulously. "Murph, he lied. About everything."
"I know," Murphy replied, dragging her feet in the dirt. "But that kept us alive."
Abraham remained stoic, not even turning to face his companion. His voice was cold, "Where the hell did you go the night before?"
"I was out with the car, and Daryl came looking for me. We were talking, and one of the cars that took Beth drove by. He needed my help- "
"So you abandoned the mission that could have saved the whole damn world?" Abraham interrupted. "For some shit-faced redneck?"
Murphy turned to him, feeling her heart quicken with anger, "What the hell is your problem? Look, I know that this "mission" saved your life... I get it. And I get that losing this means that you don't know what to do with yourself. But let me be clear... you do not get to take that out on me, Rosita, Eugene, or anyone else. Helping Daryl was my choice. It was your choice to leave me. The only thing that tells us is who our priorities are with."
Before Abraham or Rosita could respond, Rick's voice interrupted their conversation, "All right. Listen up, everybody."
Everyone shifted in their spots around the fire, awaiting his words. In the forest across from her, Murphy saw Daryl emerge from the brush. He looked exhausted, his eyes red. His crossbow was slung over his shoulder, but he didn't carry any animals. He didn't go out to hunt. Murphy's eyes traced his face, waiting for his gaze to fall upon her. It never did.
"Noah says his home is a few miles out of Richmond, Virginia," Rick began, looking around his people. "Last time he was there, the neighborhood was surviving... thriving. I think we should go and give it a shot. If it's good, we stay. If it's not, we don't."
Noah sat nervously as the others pondered the offer. The camp was silent, before Carol spoke up, "I think it's a good idea."
Rick nodded, "Does anyone disagree?"
No one objected. Whether that was because they thought it was a good idea, or if they were just too exhausted to argue, was unclear. As the fire began to die out, the group began to nod off one by one. Abraham and Rosita were already asleep beside Murphy, not willing to rekindle the argument. As she felt her eyes get heavy, footsteps approached her and she could hear the sound of someone taking a seat on the earth beside her. She opened her eyes to see, in the dim light, Daryl.
Knowing that he was not ready to talk yet, she remained silent. He sat beside her because he needed to know she was there, not because he was looking for a conversation. With that in mind, Murphy shifted so that her shoulder was barely brushing against his. His deep breaths slowed as he felt the soft touch. That was all he needed.
___
The next morning, Murphy awoke to the sound of cars approaching. Most of the camp was awake save for Gabriel and Sasha. Rick and Daryl had gone scouting for cars, and had returned with two vans large enough to take the whole group to Noah's home. Murphy pushed herself off the ground, squinting at the bright light. As she blinked it away, a figure approached her.
"Good morning," Eugene muttered, his round and southern accent entering Murphy's ears.
As she heard his voice, Murphy didn't know how to respond. With the news she had just received of his cowardly ploy, she froze. Staring at his fearful eyes... she realized that he only desperately wanted her friendship back. Her tense shoulders relaxed as she walked past him, slowly, "Morning, Eugene."
Rick was speaking with a few others by the van, and Murphy walked up to the group. Rick gave her a closed smile as the others greeted her. He continued the conversation about their next trip, "It was secure. It has a wall, homes, 20 people. Beth wanted to go with him. She wanted to get him there. It's a long trip, but if it works out, it's the last long trip we have to make."
Murphy crossed her arms as Glenn asked, "And what if it isn't around anymore?"
"Then we keep going," she responded.
Glenn looked at her with an expression she didn't know where to place. It was a mix of sadness, hope, and indifference. The small group dispersed as everyone packed their things and began to load into the two vehicles. Murphy began to climb into the car with Rosita, Abraham, Carol, Eugene, Sasha, Maggie, and Daryl, but Rick called out just before.
"We have an extra seat in here," he spoke. "Murphy?"
Murphy looked in the van at the expectant faces before turning back, "Sure."
She nodded goodbye to her friends, her eyes lingering on Daryl, whom she worried for.
"I'll see you guys there," she said to everyone, more pointedly to him. His head lowered so he looked at steering wheel in front of him, gnawing on his bottom lip. She stepped out of the van, and slid the door shut. She made her way to the other, and climbed into the back where Glenn already sat. Tyreese was driving, and Rick and Michonne sat behind him. Noah remained in the passenger seat.
"Hey," she muttered to Glenn, who sat with a CD in his hands. He stared at his reflection silently, not noticing that she had taken a seat beside him until she spoke up. "How're you doing?"
Glenn shrugged, a sad smile falling across his face, "Hangin' in."
Murphy nodded, adjusting as Tyreese started the van and sped down the country roads.
"Maggie?" she asked him.
Glenn only shook his head in response, looking down at the disk once more. The drive remained silent as they made their way to the next destination. After about a half hour, Rick's voice broke the silence in the van, "How far out?"
"Five miles," Noah responded from the front.
Rick raised the radio to his mouth, "Hey, Carol?"
"I'm here," Carol's muffled voice replied from the other van.
"We're halfway there. Just wanted to check the range," Rick responded.
"Everybody's holding tight," she confirmed.
"Give us twenty minutes to check in."
"We don't hear from you, we'll come looking."
"Copy that."
Tyreese and Noah began a conversation in the front while the others remained wordless. Murphy honed in on the conversation on and off, catching something about fathers and the radio. But as she drifted away from what was happening inside the car, she stared at the blurred landscape passing by. Maybe this could be the last long trip, she thought. After everything that had gone wrong, however, she knew better than to believe that.
After a while longer, Noah spoke up, "Two more miles."
"All right," Rick answered before reaching to tap Tyreese's shoulder, "Let's pull into the woods. We'll go on foot. Stay off the road."
"We don't need to," Noah assured.
"Just in case," Rick finalized.
Murphy looked at them in the front before a snap sounded from beside her. The disk in Glenn's hands was broken in half, his reflection no longer visible. Murphy could tell that he was changing... just in the short week that she'd known him. These losses were taking a toll. She knew that the disk symbolized his thoughts, his optimism. With that, she reached forward and took the broken pieces from his grasp. She sent him a small smile as he clasped his hands together in the disk's absence. His gaze went from her to outside the window, as Tyreese pulled into a small clearing in the woods. There were two cars and a truck crashed where he pulled up. It seemed like they had been there for a while.
As Murphy and the rest climbed out of the van, Rick looked at the wreckage, "This is good. Through the trees, it might just look like part of the wreck."
Murphy turned to look at a walker inside one of the cars, only its hands visible through the dirty glass. As the group began to follow Noah to his neighborhood, she buttoned her flannel halfway. She left her pack in the van, and the only things she carried were her knife and handgun. She trailed near the back, watching out for any walkers following them, and Tyreese was doing the same.
She looked at him, "How's Sasha doing?"
Tyreese sent a short glance her way before looking at the ground once more, "Not good. Losing Bob really did a number on her."
Murphy nodded as she noticed the bones of a human slightly covered in the dirt beside them. They stepped on. She continued, "How're you doing?"
"Could be better," he replied. "But, you know... it means a lot that you asked. No one does these days because they already know the answer."
"I always know the answer," Murphy responded. "People just need to know that somebody cares enough to ask."
Tyreese sent her a small smile with a nod of thanks, and Murphy returned with the same. Up ahead, the others had stopped before wires strung up between trees to stop the dead ones.
Rick gestured and turned to Noah, "Your people do this?"
Noah limped forward, "They wanted to. They must have."
They stepped over and under the wires, approaching the walls that stood just before. Murphy placed her hand on the gun in her holster, just to be sure. She turned to Noah, "Do they have spotters? Snipers?"
"We... built a perch on a truck. Sometimes it's out front," he responded.
Glenn peered through the foliage, "Not today."
The group looked around at each other before stepping forward to the gate, their weapons armed. On the drive leading up, household objects were strewn. Murphy listened carefully for any noise coming from inside the walls, but heard none. Her shoulders fell, already knowing how this was going to play out. Noah limped frantically towards the metal doors, banging on them and setting his ear on the metal to listen. Murphy held her gun tightly in her hands.
"Just wait..." Glenn began, walking toward the wall. He pulled himself up to peer over while the others watched. Murphy carefully watched his expression as it transformed from one of curiosity to one of disappointment. Noah's breathing quickened as Glenn turned to them while shaking his head.
Noah whimpered in disbelief, pulling himself over the wall and landing on the other side. Rick quickly followed, calling his name. Michonne turned to Murphy, who made no move to follow.
"C'mon," she muttered, setting a hand on her arm.
Murphy nodded, pulling herself up the wall and landing softly on the other side. Noah had made his way to the middle of the streets, frantically looking around at the destroyed buildings and bodies on the sidewalks. They watched as he fell to the ground, crippled with sobs that fell from his mouth. Murphy saw burnt bodies that had been dragged into yards. No herd had done this... people had.
As Noah laid on the street, tears forming a puddle beneath him, the rest remained silent. It was gone... their last hope was gone. What was next? Tyreese walked forward and crouched beside him while the others paced in lost confusion. Murphy saw a walker heading towards them in the distance. She shared a look with Michonne, who had a troubled expression across her face.
"I'll get it," she assured.
Michonne nodded and turned back to see Rick beside Noah, apologizing. Murphy had run out of things to say, so she did not speak to Noah. Sorry didn't mean anything anymore... not when someone had lost something.
"We should see if there's anything we can use and head back," Rick announced.
"Then what?" Michonne asked shortly.
Walkers began to approach the group, and Michonne and Murphy walked forward to take care of them. Michonne took out two with clean strikes, while Murphy stabbed one with her knife. The blade stuck tight in the skull, and she pulled it out with a grunt.
Behind her, she heard Glenn say, "We can make a quick sweep."
She turned back to Rick and Glenn as Michonne continued her killing down the street. Tyreese had volunteered to stay with Noah as they scouted for any materials. She gave him a nod before following behind Michonne, quickening her steps.
"Hey, Michonne," she called as Michonne flicked the blood off of her katana. "Michonne!"
"What?" Michonne hissed, turning around to face her. As soon as the word left her mouth, her eyes softened, realizing that she came off as being angry at her. "Sorry."
"It's okay," Murphy assured. "I just wanted to make sure you were all right."
"I'm fine, Murph," Michonne responded, sheathing her sword before pausing. "It is okay if I call you Murph, right?"
"Of course it is," Murphy responded with a smile. "Only if a get to call you Mich."
Michonne let a genuine smile grace her cheeks, but it only flashed for a second. Then, the reality of the situation set in once again, "We should find Rick and Glenn."
Murphy nodded, placing her knife back in its holster. They found the two of them leaning against a car near an open garage. They were in deep conversation as the two women approached, and nodded as a greeting. Michonne walked into the garage and reached down to pick up a garbage bag to collect items in. As Murphy walked past the two men, Glenn stopped her.
"Murphy," he spoke, and she turned to look at him. "I was thinking about that man in the storage container, back at Terminus. How the two of us stopped to save him."
Murphy nodded, "I remember."
Glenn swallowed nervously before continuing, "I got Maggie back after the prison. Things went okay. Losing Washington... losing- losing Beth right after just finding out she's alive... "
Murphy watched as he bent down to pick up a baseball bat lying on the ground at his feet, "If it were now, I wouldn't make us stop. We'd run right by."
Murphy stared at him, her brows furrowed as she considered his words very carefully, "I- I don't know what I would do now. But you can still save people, Glenn. Rick, you saved me. And Abraham, Rosita... Eugene. It's not too late. I promise you, this isn't it."
She gestured to the neighborhood around them before looking at Rick and Glenn fervently, "There's somewhere out there... waiting for us. I promise you. We'll be all right."
As the two of them looked deep into her green orbs, Michonne spoke up with a shaky voice behind her, "We need to stop. You can be out here too long. Murph's right. There's a place out there for us. We just need to find it."
The four of them stood with each other, thinking about the conversation before continuing their sweep of the neighborhood. Michonne swung her bag of items over her shoulder, and they made their way to other houses. Murphy found some canned food and clothes at the house she searched through, putting down one walker in the process. As she made her way out of the house she found Michonne pointing at the wall that had been broken down, talking animatedly to Rick and Glenn. She made her way towards them and asked, "What's going on?"
"Look..." Michonne trailed, turning and walking towards the pile of bricks that remained. When they reached the opening, the four of them slowed their steps as they saw a horrible sight. Pieces of bodies... arms, legs, torsos, and heads, were scattered in the grass outside the wall. They searched in horror, disturbed at the thought of people who would do this. They stood in silence before Michonne turned around.
"Washington..." she began. "Eugene lied about a cure, but he thought of Washington for a reason. He did the math and realized that Washington was the place where there'd be a chance. We're close. What if there are people there? Huh? What if it's someplace that we can be safe?"
Her voice raised with every word, her eyes becoming glassy with tears. Murphy watched as the strong woman began to crumble before her, "We're 100 miles away. It's a possibility. It's a chance. Instead of just being out here! Instead of just making it. Because right now, this is what making it looks like!"
She pointed at the dismembered bodies that surrounded them, "Don't you want one more day with a chance?"
Rick looked at her wordlessly, and Murphy began to walk away, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. Glenn followed closely behind.
"It's 100 miles away."
The three others turned to Rick in shock as he continued, "We should go to Washington."
Murphy let a smile cross her face. As they looked around at each other in newfound optimism, cries for help broke the silence of the neighborhood. It was Noah, running down the streets, tripping over his own feet. The four dropped their bags and rushed to meet him as his yelling continued. Blood drenched his shirt as he called their names.
Murphy reached him first, setting her hands on his shoulders, "What happened? What's wrong?"
Noah's eyes were wide with fear, "It's Tyreese! He's been bit!"
Murphy looked behind her as Rick stepped forward, his pistol drawn, "Where?"
"My house!" Noah yelled.
With that, the group ran after him. Murphy's chest flamed with pain from her broken rib, but the adrenaline made it almost unnoticeable. The only thing she could think about was Tyreese. Noah limped to a small house at the other side of the neighborhood, "Here! Here, let's go!"
Murphy ran up the steps, swinging the screen door open. They ran inside, following Noah into one of the bedrooms in the back. On the floor, Tyreese was laying in a puddle of blood. His eyes were drooped closed, and his face was pale. Murphy immediately crouched beside him, the surgeon in her kicking in. The others quickly followed suit.
"It's his arm!" she shouted. "We have to amputate it!"
"All right, Michonne!" Rick yelled, grabbing Tyreese's arm and pulling it straight. Murphy fell beside Glenn, and they held Tyreese's body with all of their strength. Michonne unsheathed her sword as Rick yelled, "One clean cut! Go, go, go!"
With that, she let her sword come down on his arm, the appendage falling to the ground from Rick's grasp. Murphy's face was splashed with blood, but she immediately got up, pulling a blanket from the bed beside her, "Come on! We have to go!"
She pressed the blanket to what was left of Tyreese's arm as Glenn and Rick pulled him up. They stumbled through the halls of Noah's house, and Murphy pulled out her knife with her free hand. She panted as they ran down the streets, and she desperately tried to keep the blanket on his arm.
"He's gonna bleed out, we need to cauterize it!" She yelled.
"We need to get him back to the camp, we have supplies there!" Rick grunted.
Michonne held her sword up, cutting down any walkers in their path, "The back entrance, let's go!"
They found themselves at the gate, which was chained shut. Glenn yelled to Murphy, "I can use the bat, take him!"
Murphy nodded, holding Tyreese by the waist, his blood drenching her chest. She looked into his unresponsive eyes, "Stay with us, Tyreese. You'll be all right."
Glenn broke open the chains of the gate with the bat, and they continued their laborious trek to the van. Tyreese's breaths were almost nonexistent, and Murphy noticed, whispering to herself, "We gotta go faster. Faster."
Michonne led the way, slicing through the heads of the walkers that blocked their path. The wires that were strung between trees were in their way, and Murphy climbed through first, yelling for them to pass Tyreese through. Rick aided her, but as they pulled him through, his foot got caught in the metal wires.
"His foot! His foot!" Michonne yelled, and Glenn pulled the wires apart just enough to release him. They all fell to the ground as Tyreese's body slipped from their grasp.
"Open your eyes!" Noah yelled.
Murphy could hear her beating heart as she looked down at the lifeless Tyreese. They all helped to pull him back up, and as they ran further, the van came into view. Murphy opened one of the doors, climbing in to help pull him. Glenn did the same.
"Come on! Give him here!" Glenn's voice broke as the others pushed the man inside.
Murphy adjusted herself so that Tyreese's head was laying in her lap, and she pressed the cloth tight against the stump of his arm. She muttered encouraging words to him, but they were more for herself. Her hair fell around her face as she looked down at him, sweat beading along her brow.
As Rick started the car, the wheels skidded in the mud. He switched the gears to give better traction, but as the van broke free, it rammed into the truck in front of it. The back broke open, and heads of walkers fell from the vehicle. They all let screams of shock inside as the jaws clacked on the windshield. Rick quickly pulled out of the clearing and sped down the road as fast as he could. As he did so, the heads rolled off and they were on their way back to the camp.
Rick raised the radio to his mouth, "Carol, we're on our way back. Tyreese is bit, we need to cauterize the wound. Head to camp and get supplies ready for Murphy. Get Carl and Sasha away. They don't need to see this."
Murphy looked down at Tyreese once more, pushing the already soaked blanket to his arm. She panted as she looked down at his closed eyes, and her heart dropped in her chest. He wasn't breathing. Her shaking hands dropped the blanket on the car floor as she placed her fingers on his neck, checking for a pulse. There was none.
"Rick," she muttered, but her voice broke. "Rick! Stop the car!"
He did so without question, and the others quickly climbed out of the car to help her. They set him on the ground and Murphy quickly began to attempt resuscitation. She pressed on his chest and blew air into his lungs, tears clouding her vision. She couldn't hear anything. The others stepped away from her and Tyreese's body as she desperately tried to bring him back.
Rick was the first to step forward to her shivering figure, "Murphy. Murph."
Murphy ignored him, continuing her CPR, "No, I can... I can help him. He's..."
"Murphy, he's gone," Rick whispered, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, gently pulling her away.
"No! No," Murphy cried, falling to the ground in Rick's grasp. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she raised her bloodied hands to wipe them away. "I can't..."
"I know, I know," Rick whispered as she buried her face into her hands. The group stood around Tyreese's body and Murphy's crying figure. She had broken, and they had lost another of their own.
AUTHOR'S NOTE — god, i'm crying so hard. i'm sorry for doing this to you all ahhhh. also this chapter was so freaking long, so i apologize. it was 4,200 words. i just kept going and i felt like there wasn't anywhere to break into two chapters. also, sorry for the lack of daryl x murphy in this chapter. i just felt like tyreese's death would be very personal for murphy. this chapter also allowed for some relationships to blossom besides her and daryl's. but the next chapter will have a lot of that ;)) anyway, thank you guys so much for sticking with this and getting to the end of this novel of a chapter haha. i'm having an amazing time writing! xxx