Cigarette smoke

STAYING BEHIND WAS AN OPTION THAT FELIX chose to do himself. However, as the time passed, he was beginning to grow more and more worried that his wife and children were not okay. He bit his inner lip as he walked up to T-Dog, opening his hand wide for the man to place a cigarette in it.

He did, before pulling out a lighter and handing it to the man so that he could light his own cigarette. Felix smiled at the simple sight of it, he had tried to quit when each of his children were born, and when Avery was born, then once more right before the world went to shit but, he just couldn't stop. Until, he had to go cold turkey because getting tobacco wasn't his daughters main priorities.

In his mind, she was screwing him over by not letting him go on hunts for these little sticks of joy.

"You smoke?" T-Dog questioned, him and Felix sitting side by side out by Dale's RV.

"Have since I was fourteen, I never could quite give it up." The Romano man lit his cigarette with a laugh, placing it between his lips. "My biggest stress reliever during the bad days, to me, this place is like Candy Land."

"What about your kids? How are they handling all this?" The man beside him questioned, trying his best to not place his hands on his own wound.

"They were never like me, none of them. Joe was always the one who acted like me, looked up to me. I know people say you can't pick favorites but, I couldn't help being closer to him than the others. His sister too, they both loved me the most out of them all, until she moved down here with her sister." Felix ran a soft hand over his face. "I don't blame em' I kept them all away from their mothers."

"How in the hell you manage that?" T-Dog leaned his head backwards as the man beside him let out a puff of smoke.

"People tend to give you what you want when they know what you are capable of if they don't." Felix's words were enough for the other survivor to furrow his brows, searching the man for any type of emotion.

None.

"That explains a lot." The conversation was cut short as Dale joined in, a smile on his face and an armful of all sorts of items they might have needed.

.. but it didn't explain the half of the mystery that was Felix Romano.

  AURORA WALKED BETWEEN GLENN AND DARYL as the group passed through the trees, unaware that two people in their group had gotten hurt. She kept a bow in hand, just in case she needed it, and constantly kept her eyes peeled. There was no way any walker was going to get passed her in that moment in time.

"How long have you all been together?" She questioned, looking between the two men.

Daryl simply took a glance at her before going back to what he was doing.

"I think it's been like two months? But with the way everything is, it feels like its been years." Glenn answered with a smile, the girl nodding her head in agreement.

"I don't even know what day it is. Sometimes, when I feel like remembering, I just ask Milo. He keeps track of the days. We all have something we do to keep us sane." Rory smiled slightly, shaking her head. "We're all so different, it gets hard to focus sometimes. I'm glad we've met new people."

Aurora's attempts at friendship went unnoticed by Daryl, he was too worried about hunting Sofia down.

"Mind asking what's the different things you guys all do?" Glenn laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's just that, I don't have a thing so maybe i'll gain a few pointers from you guys."

"Be warned, some of them are a lot more innocent than others." Although she was joking, it was true, and that finally peaked the Dixon man's interests. "Avery makes fun of us all, Milo counts the days that have come by on his calendar, Luca writes everything in his diary, Serena has her guitar, dad kills as many of those things as he can, Stella focuses on taking care of everyone, Sal likes to angry drive, and me? Well... I tally how many Walkers I kill."

"You wh—"

"Would you two quit yappin', we're trying to find Sofa out here." Daryl snipped, the two young adults exchanging awkward glances.

"I thought we were going back to the RV.." Aurora rubbed the back of her neck, feeling the intense glare of the Dixon man staring blankly at her. "Okay, i'll let you keep working then bucko."

The tension lasted a few more moments but then, it dissipated when the group heard a scream.

"Andrea!?" Lori screeched, everyone turning around to run to the womans aid. They ran as fast as they could but once the woman was in view, they seen her trip and fall, giving the walker a perfect opportunity to jump on her.

Aurora stopped in her tracks, prepared to get out her arrows when suddenly, the screaming ceased. She looked up to see that someone had hit the zombie over the head, and upon further inspection, Andrea was okay. At first, she was relieved, then worried to see some stranger riding in on horseback.

"Lori? Lori Grimes? And Estella Romano?" The girl on the horse spoke up, steadying her horse as she made sure the spare horse behind her was still there.

"That's us." The Grimes woman spoke up, the two mothers automatically worried.

"Rick and the others sent me, you've gotta come now!" The girl yelled, the entirety of the group puzzles by her words. "There's been an accident, Carl and Milo have been shot. They are still alive, but, I need you both back there now. They need you, just come!"

Estella immediately handed her bag off to her younger sister, hoping onto the spare horse the woman had brought. She was a mother above all, even to her siblings and she wasn't going to let Milo suffer, or let her daughter lose her uncle alone, of course those were worse case scenarios but that is what she always had to be prepared for. Lori filed in suit, deciding to ride on the horse with the mysterious woman who had showed up.

"Woah, woah, woah, we don't know this girl. Y'all can't get on those horses!" Daryl protested, stepping forward as Rory placed a hand on his chest.

"Not a good idea to stop my sister from doing what she wants." She commented, the man letting out a sigh.

"Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl? Backtrack to Fairburn road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox, the name is Greene. Hyah!" The woman yelled, both horses running off.

"What the hell was that?" Rory questioned, running a hand through her hair.

"I don't know."

FELIX RAN A STRESSED HAND THROUGH HIS HAIR after finding out that Milo had been shot. To be fair, at one point or another all of his children had been severely hurt but it didn't stop him from worrying. He nervously bit at his nail as Serena rested her hand around his waist, the mans anger growing by the second.

"I am going to kill Sal for not protecting my son." He snapped, gritting his teeth together.

He couldn't lose another child.

"We don't know exactly what happened." Aurora commented, placing a hand on her forehead.

"I don't give a flying fuck what happened, Milo was hurt and he was trusted to keep him safe." Felix tapped his foot impatiently on the ground, walking over to a nearby car before he punched it harshly, leaving a dent in the side.

"I think we should all be calm until we know exactly what happened." Glenn cut in the entirety of the Romano's cringing at what would be their fathers response.

"Listen, you prick. I don't need you getting into family bu—"

"Okay, that's enough of that. We are not going to attract walkers by yelling, or get into a fight for no reason." Luca waved his hands, stepping in front of his father. "Walk it off."

"Coming from the cop, you want all these people to think you're a good person but, you're just as bad as me." Felix pushed passed his family and made his way down the road, everyone shocked and silent as he did.

"Is he always like that?" Carol asked carefully, upon noticing he was out of ear shot.

"Yes." An almost tearful Serena responded, letting out a slight sigh.

"Well, he's obviously going to want to go with us to check out the farm, who else is going?" Glenn questioned.

"I thought we'd all go." Luca placed his thumb into his belt with a sigh. "We can't keep splitting up into small groups, look what happened."

"No, I can't do it. I can't leave." Carol's eyes filled up with tears as Serena comfortingly took the woman's hand.

"Carol, the group is split. We're scattered and weak." Dale explained, only making the woman more sad.

"He's right." Aurora confirmed sadly, wanting more than most of them to make sure that Sofia was alright.

"What if she comes back and we're not here? It could happen." The woman searched at everyone, hoping they'd confirm her theory.

"If Sofia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful." Andrea commented, everyone sighing in unison.

"Well, maybe we can leave a note?" Serena suggested, making Daryl nod his head.

"We got to plan for this. I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign that she'd see better than a note, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight, stay with the R. V." The Dixon man explained, everyone nodding their heads.

"If the R. V is staying, I am too." Dale cut in.

"Thank you, thank you both." Carol smiled lightly, the two men nodding their head.

"Well, if you're all staying, then I am too—"

"No Glenn, you take Carol's cherokee. Take Aurora, Luca, Felix, and T-Dog, make sure he gets some medicine." Dale instructed, making the Rhee boy sigh angrily.

"Me? Why is it always me?" He asked, Aurora frowning at how upset he was.

"I can drive, he should stay here if she wants." The Romano girl suggested.

"No, we have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on but, again, what's most important is getting T-Dog there. This is not an option. That cut has gone from bad to worse. He has a serious blood infection. Get him to that farm, and see it they have any antibiotics because if not, he will die. No joke." The stress of the past few days was getting to this group, it was all too painfully obvious.

"Why'd you wait till now to say anything? Got my brothers stash. Crystal, X, don't need that. Got some kick ass pain killers." Daryl threw an orange bottle towards the older man. "Oxycycline. Not the generic stuff neither, it's first class. Merele got the clap on occasion."

"Gross." Rory scrunched up her nose, shaking her head lightly.

"Guess that's our cue to go."

  AS SOON AS ESTELLA WAS CLOSE ENOUGH TO the farmhouse, she jumped off her horse and ran toward the building. Her heart was beating quickly as she seen Sal coming out of the house, the man wearing a frown. That made her scared, more scared than she had been in a long time.

"Is he okay? Please tell me he's okay." She begged, leaping into the mans arms as he held onto her tight.

"He's fine, or at least he's going to be. Shane went out to get medicine and things for Carl, we're hoping they make it in time so they'll both get better." The Richard man answered, carefully rubbing the womans back. "Avery is with him now, we can go in."

Stella teared up but pushed them away as she nodded her head, running into the house. Sal had directed her to the room her brother was in, and her heart sank when she seen the boy laying there. She felt like she wasn't there to protect him, no, she knew she wasn't.

"Mommy!" Avery ran to the woman, ramming her head into her mothers stomach with a smile. "I'm so happy you're here."

"Me too, baby." Estella smiled slightly, looking up toward her brother. "How you feeling?"

"Oh, you know, the normal. Half alive, dreading the future, and all that." Milo did his best to shrug slightly, wincing at the pain. "Some painkillers would be amazing."

"Shane will be getting those." Rick commented as he appeared in the doorframe, tears in his eyes. "I just want to say thank you, Hershel explained that if Milo hadn't been there, things would have been much worse."

His voice cracked, and with every word, Estella could feel his pain.

"If we can do anything for him, please let me know." The woman smiled faintly as he nodded his head in response, walking in the opposite direction. "I feel terrible."

"Same." Milo added on, making everyone in the room chuckle.

At least he was okay.

AUTHORS NOTE—
Sheesh it was hard to write a Felix chapter because I just absolutely despise this man.

Favorite scene so far?

Hope you enjoyed!