CHAPTER THIRTEEN | r e u n i o n
01/12/17

The rumble of the motorcycle had gently lulled Adira to sleep, but she was soon shaken awake by the sudden swerving of the bike. She lifted her head and looked around to see that they were no longer on the highway but instead on a small dirt trail littered with branches that they had to go around. From the position of the sun, it seemed like they had only been riding for a short while, maybe an hour or two.

Her ankle didn't hurt anymore, strangely enough. Maybe the danger of being immobile while alone and near walkers had heightened her sensitivity to the pain, or she just healed oddly quickly. Either way, the throbbing was gone and she was able to move her foot.

Looking behind her, she let out a small gasp when she saw the small crowd of walkers following them, slowly but surely. The only reason they were able to keep up was because of the trashed road, and they weren't gaining on them or anything, but it still frightened her a little. In her opinion, Daryl should've killed them instead of letting them wander around behind them.

She cleared her throat, causing him to grunt out a "What?" He'd been enjoying the silence that her sleep had provided and wasn't all too happy that she was now awake.

"You have to ask? There's about a dozen walkers behind us. How long have they been there?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady in her panic. Even though he might have been, she wasn't comfortable with twelve monsters that could potentially kill her being in the vicinity.

"They ain't gettin' any closer," he huffed.

With that, the conversation was quickly ended as Adira didn't want to irritate him any more than he already seemed to be. Instead of freaking out about the walkers, she decided to keep her eyes focused on the moving scenery, thinking about life before. It seemed to be around one or two o'clock. Around this time, she'd probably be in one of her classes taking notes furiously. Maybe texting a friend mid-class about how she wished her eighty-year old professor could talk just the tiniest bit quicker so her racing mind and short attention span could stay focused.

She missed school. It wasn't necessarily the tests or homework she missed, but the learning. She'd always itched to know more and more about things and how they worked. That was one of the reasons she chose med school; disease was always changing and evolving, and without anyone to understand it, a lot of people would die.

Much use that was now, though. If food was hard to come by, medicine was a needle in a haystack. She wasn't much use without any proper tools. Like she'd told Beth, she spent years and a whole bunch of money on something she'd dreamt of for her entire life, and it didn't matter anymore.

She'd found out from Daryl what happened and why she was left behind. The group had let her and Beth sleep in after their scare with the walker. Daryl had been out hunting early, and found a small shed of supplies in the woods. Some sort of bunker or cache. He'd gotten the rest of the group to help gather everything. Beth had joined them to get help calming Adira down from her flashbacks, but by the time they got back, the house was surrounded. Daryl volunteered to get Adira out on his own; with Lori pregnant, Carl just a kid, and Hershel not quick on his feet, it was too dangerous for the rest of the group to stay. Besides, more than one person would likely attract the walkers to the rescue effort.

She was glad she wasn't just left behind. She didn't see herself as important enough to rescue, but maybe she just truly ran into a good group for once.

As the road broke out into a less dense part of the forest, the path became clear once again and the walkers were no more than a fleeting danger in their memories. As the trees thinned, Adira noticed a small cluster of low-rise buildings in a circle around a parking lot. Her heart jumped in her chest when she recognized the few cars parked not so neatly outside one of the buildings. They were the group's.

They'd found them.

She could tell that Daryl had seen it too, as his shoulders relaxed from their tense position after riding for so long. After what seemed like a week but was in reality little more than a day, they were together again. Daryl pulled up slowly, not bothering to park his bike in any sort of orderly fashion. He almost pushed Adira off with his hasty effort to get off the motorcycle as quickly as possible.

She didn't care, though. She knew that he was just ready to be with the group again, no matter how stony he portrayed his exterior to be. He'd never admit it, but he did care about those people and she could tell.

The two walked up to the building cautiously, as it was eerily silent in the large, empty space. There wasn't a walker to be seen nor any abandoned cars, which meant the place was possibly untouched by the apocalypse, something unusual and highly suspicious after the past few months. Adira noticed a few shops scattered around that still had their displays all done up, spewing out messages of sales and deals. She almost scoffed, thinking back to a time when she thought money and items were the most important things to worry about in her life. Now, she was grateful for a little food and maybe someone to talk to every once in a while.

Reaching the door of the building closest to the group's cars, Daryl lifted up his crossbow and a finger to his lips to signal that he wanted Adira to stay silent. She nodded and he slowly opened the door. Normally, one would bang on the outside of the building before entering so as to draw out any walkers hiding close to the entrance, but they didn't want to attract any more from outside. They crept in and quickly shut the door behind them, only just enough light filtering through the small window above the door.

"Look," whispered Adira, pointing towards what seemed to be a bloodstain. Scrawled upon the wall in a wet, crimson substance was a D, an A, and an arrow pointing towards a door. Clearly, the group had anticipated the two finding them and given him a clue.

They crept through the hall, slowly approaching the indicated door. The building seemed to have been an old-fashion motel, complete with lace curtains and a little gold bell to ring on the receptionist's desk. It looked as though it was once a beautiful little secluded spot away from the city to spend a weekend in, however the place was completely trashed and a few dead bodies littered the floor.

They reached the door and instead of barging right in, they first pressed their ears against the door to determine whether or not there was any danger. All was silent, and so they entered.

Nine tired but relieved faces broke out into beams upon twisting their heads to see who - or what - had opened the door. No one moved for a second, simply smiling at one another, and then all of a sudden a great force almost knocked Adira to the floor. Beth had run over quick as lightning and barreled into her with what she meant to be a hug, but executed it rather over-excitedly. Soon everyone was laughing, the day good and happy, all so joyous just to be together again.

That was until the laughter died down, and Adira's eyes wandered over to the larger bed by the window. There laid Rick, sprawled out over the mattress with a small sweat breaking out all over his skin. "What happened? Was he bit?" she asked, already moving closer so she could see how the man had been wounded.

"No, it's just a nasty cut. Got it when trying to clear this place out," stated T-Dog, causing Adira's eyes to widen. They all sounded so casual about it when they really should've been locating medical supplies.

There was Hershel next to him, as well as countless bloodied sheets and pillowcases. It looked as if he was trying to stop the bleeding, but wasn't succeeding in doing so. With the man being a vet, he should've known to wrap it tighter, but the old man looked shaken. "You're doing it all wrong, if he doesn't get some actual bandages now, he'll either bleed out or get an infection. That is a serious injury, I don't know how he isn't making a noise right now with how painful it must be. Stay here, all of you, I'm going to try to find the first aid box."

Without another glance, she walked out of the room with purpose in her steps, moving quickly and lightly so as to get the supplies as efficiently as possible and not have to deal with any walkers. Soon enough, though, her sense of purpose was crushed as she realized she'd taken countless twists and turns and had no idea where she was. Even if she did find the supplies necessary to treat Rick, she wouldn't even know where to begin walking to get back to him.

Just when she thought she was doomed, she saw something shine around the corner. Curious, she poked her head around and sighed at what she saw. There was Carl, wearing a sheriff's hat with a glinting star on it. He looked to be attempting to break into a nearby room.

"Carl!" She called softly, jogging over. He looked a tiny bit annoyed to see her, maybe having wanted to achieve something on his own. It was too late now, though; she was there and she wasn't going to let him out of her sight considering the group would hate her if she did. "I don't think you're supposed to be out here on your own, now, are you?"

His gaze dropped, instantly informing her that no, he wasn't meant to be out and about. "I just wanted to help my dad," he muttered. "I'm not helpless, you know," he said a bit louder this time, as well as throwing in a tiny glare directed towards Adira.

She took a step back and held her hands up in a mock surrender, raising her eyebrows. "Alright, alright. I won't send you back to the group," she conceded. His shoulders visibly relaxed from the slight tenseness they had been subject to. "But I'm still going to stay with you. We can do this together. What's in here?" she asked, turning her attention to the locked door that Carl had been trying to open before she'd seen him.

"I found a map, it's a storage room. It's the only place I think would have this type of stuff," he said, shuffling his feet.

"Alright, let's pop this baby open," she said, taking a pin out from her hair. It wasn't done up but she still had an astonishing amount of pins that she just kept stashed in her hair. She found that they came handy in situations such as the one she was in at that moment. It being the end of the world and all, there were a lot of locked doors she'd had to open to get supplies.

After fiddling with the lock for no more than what must've been thirty seconds, the two young survivors heard a click and slowly drew their weapons as they opened the door. However, they soon clattered to the floor as the two ceased all movement in awe. Lined from floor to ceiling were tall shelves fully stocked with food, hygiene products, blankets, pillowcases, and sheets. They'd hit the jackpot.

But that wasn't of importance at the time, except maybe the food. They'd set out for a first-aid box, and they were going to find one. After rifling through a few boxes, Carl held something up in triumph. It was a little white plastic container with a red plus on it.

Adira smiled. "We make a good team," she commented, taking the box from him and spinning it around in her hands. There were countless others in a stash behind him, and she couldn't believe their luck.

He scoffed. "I found this place on my own and I just found the medical supplies."

Adira rolled her eyes and laughed in response. "How were you planning to get inside? Ramming yourself into the door until you were covered in bruises?"

Carl didn't reply but a small smile sat on his lips as the two walked back out the door and down the hall. Maybe not everyone in the group was open to a new member, but perhaps she was growing on some of them. At least, she felt like that as she followed the highly independent thirteen year old through the old motel, happiness displaying itself on both of their faces.