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They had been on the road for months now. The group had little resources to live on. Constantly moving around, foraging and scavenging what they could.
It was damaging to the group.
No one really talked to anyone unless it was necessary in case it attracted any unwanted attention from either the dead or the living.
But it was notably worse for Lori, who was now heavily pregnant. Her stomach looked disproportionate to the rest of her body from the lack of food and nutrients.
Natalie had kept a promise to herself that she would take care of her and the baby.
She frequently asked and checked up on her. She had found a stethoscope on one of the runs she did, and Lori's baby had a sound heartbeat.
Something she would always tell Lori, to try and lift her mood.
Lori would, also, often reject the food Natalie would give her but Natalie wouldn't take no for an answer.
Lori having this baby would do the group good, she thought. A new beacon of hope.
It was much warmer now. Natalie was in a tank top and cargo pants but was still sweating.
Right now, Rick, Daryl, T-Dog and her, were about to enter another house, another attempt to find some resources.
"Remember to keep nice and quiet," Rick said staring at the three of them.
She nodded her head and Rick slammed open the door, shooting one of the walkers. T-Dog went in and slammed his blade into the walkers head. Natalie entered next killing the final one with her gun. Daryl and Carl then followed.
Natalie held out her gun still aiming in case something pounced on top of her, she glided through the house, checking all corners for danger.
She entered what appeared to be a storage cupboard, there was a door on the end, as she went through it, she inspected the shelves through her peripheral vision and saw they were all empty.
No cans or tins, they had all been cleared.
She kept her eyes focused on the door, hearing noises from behind it. She stood straighter and waited, until the door was pulled open.
A gun to her face caused her to jump slightly.
"Howdy Sheriff," she smirked but let out a sigh of relief. He smiled at her and nodded.
"Find anything?" He said indicating to the shelves behind her.
"Nope just dust." She sighed.
The two of them walked back to the entrance. "I'm gonna head on upstairs," Daryl said.
"I'll come up with you," Natalie said following him up the stairs.
They entered the first room, to see an owl perched onto a chair.
Daryl nodded his head towards it. He raised his crossbow and shot it without hesitation.
"Delicious," Natalie said sarcastically. Daryl smirked then scoffed picking it up and plucking out the feathers.
The two of them ventured downstairs to see the rest of the group come in.
Isabel and Emilia saw their mother and went towards her with hopeful eyes, "nothing here baby," she said ruffling their hair and walking into the room where everyone was sitting.
She took a seat beside her father and her two daughters sat in front of her and leant on her.
Everyone was silent. Carl came in and sat beside Emilia putting down two cans he had found.
They all looked towards, happy he had found something. Until they noticed it was dog food.
Carl had begun opening it with a tim opener when Rick came over and grabbed it. He read it and threw it at the wall, not wanting anyone to be resorting to animal food.
No one had eaten properly, they hadn't since they lost the farm. Any food that they did find was prioritised towards the children and Lori.
But Natalie thought Rick had done well, keeping them all alive and united as one unit.
T-Dog then made a noise towards the window, indicating there were walkers outside.
Everyone stood up and ran out back to the cars. Natalie her two daughters, Beth and her father all got into her car.
When she saw that everyone was inside she drove off, just as the walker banged onto the back window.
They had been driving for about thirty minutes when Natalie saw that she was running low on gas.
She stopped on the road and the other cars behind followed.
"We're running low on gas, we'll have to make a run for some more." She said as everyone approached her car.
"Yeah, our car as well," Glenn said coming forth with the map.
He laid it out on the hood of the car and everyone gathered, "We've got no place left to go," T- Dog said.
"When this herd meets this one, we'll be cut off," Maggie informed pointing the two areas, "we'll never make it south."
"What did you say? About 150 heads?" Daryl said.
"That was last week, could be twice by now." Glenn declared.
"This river here," Herschel said pointing to the map, "could've slowed them down, we might have a shot if we move fast and tear through this.
"It might work, but if this herd meets up with this on they could migrate onto this section here and then we'll be blocked indefinitely," Natalie said pessimistically.
"Only thing we can do is double back at 27th and swing towards Greenville," Rick said.
"Yeah, yeah we've been through that already, it's like we spent the winter going in circles," T-Dog told.
"Yeah, I know, I know, at Newnan, we'll push west. Haven't been through there yet, we can't keep going from house to house, we need to find a new place to hold up for a few weeks," he said as his gaze moved towards Lori, who was still in the car.
The group started to tidy up and getting prepared to leave again. Natalie went towards Rick, "She do can't this any longer," she started talking about Lori, "all this travelling."
"What am I meant to do, Nat?" Rick asked looking stressed.
"The baby's fine, last I checked the baby's got a nice and healthy heartbeat, I'll check again tonight, but Lori's body needs to rest properly, otherwise she'll have a hard time pushing it out," she said.
Rick nodded at her in thought of what to do next.
Daryl had come over to the pair, "Hey, whilst the other's wash their panties let's go hunt - that owl didn't exactly hit the spot."
"Pretty sure I'm gonna shit out some feathers later on because of that delectable meal," Natalie said walking beside the two of them.
Daryl breathed out a laugh, "yeah me too." he said loading his crossbow.
They ventured out into the woods, following Daryl who they hoped was tracking something.
Natalie also looked around hoping to find any signs of movement.
For the last three months or so, Daryl had been teaching her tracking skills, she had gotten significantly better at it but she wasn't no Daryl Dixon.
As her eyes wondered she saw the outline of a building, "guys, hold up for a second," she said walking towards it.
The trees opened up to reveal a prison, she smiled at the sight of it. The main courtyard had walkers in it but it had two sets of railings, making it extra secure.
"I think this it; the place we've been talking about." She said smiling as they came to stand either side of her.
"I think you might be right," Daryl said also with a face of hope.
"Yeah, you are, this may be our safest bet," Rick said agreeing.
"Anything's better than being on the road." Daryl complied.
"Amen to that," Natalie said beginning to walk back to the group.
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