Broken Sundown

Rick and I headed back to camp after a few minutes of sitting together and enjoying the sunrise. Morales and Shane had everyone gathered and most people had already packed. I grabbed my stuff from outside of the tent that Shane had already taken down and laid out and put them in the back of Shane's jeep.

Morales made the decision to take his family on a separate route to Birmingham where their family lived. I shook Morales' hand goodbye, since I did know him for a short time. But I didn't say goodbye to his wife or kids. I had met them formally, and I didn't like goodbyes, so I thought it a little pointless to say goodbye to people I had never even said hello to.

Although most people in the camp were coming with the main group to the CDC, there was still a pessimistic feeling in the air. A lot of people were skeptical that the CDC was still there and running after seeing the conditions of Atlanta and every other place we came across. Even Rick seemed skeptic this morning, and I know that I had been feeling the same way lately. I tried my best to be positive and cheer the both of us up, but the feeling was still present. Happiness was hard to reach in this new life, and hope was even harder to hold out.

Everyone began to go their separate ways and Morales and his family left the camp first. The rest of us gathered into vehicles. I ended up alone with Shane in the Jeep. Rick asked me to ride in his car, but he understood my discomfort with joining his family in a car on this road trip. Plus, Carol and Sophia needed a car to ride in. And there was also the fact that Lori never particularly liked me when we were younger, and now that I was back in Rick's life after all this time, she didn't particularly have an outstanding reason to be very welcoming to me.

The car ride with Shane wasn't that bad. He was actually pretty pleasant. We discussed his time at police academy and also his job with Rick. He also elaborated a little bit more as to what exactly happened to Rick and why Lori was so pissed at him. I actually felt bad for Shane. I mean, he did everything he could to barricade the door to Rick's room, but Rick was still deep in a coma, and Shane checked his pulse and breath and all he could and didn't find a response. So how was he supposed to know that his best friend would come back to life? But still, maybe sleeping with Lori shortly after her husband did potentially die, was probably not the best choice.

We had been in the car for a few hours when Dale's RV started pulling off to the side of the road.

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose. I said I needed the one from the cube van." Dale said frustrated as he looked at the smoke pouring out of the RV.

Rick was just as frustrated as he was. "Can you jury-rig it?"

I quietly slipped into the RV to check on Jim. He wasn't doing very good at all. He was laying in a puddle of his own sweat on the bed, and he couldn't form a coherent sentence to me. He was in a lot of pain, and you could see it in every muscle of his body.

I stepped back out of the RV and interrupted the argument of what to do with the van.

"Guys, Jim is really bad... I don't think he can go much further."

Rick gave me a desperate look and I nodded my head in the direction of the RV door so that he would come speak to Jim himself. Jacqui had also reentered the RV to give Jim some cold water, but he could hardly drink it by himself.

"Rick, hold down the fort. I'll drive ahead, see if I can bring anything back." Shane volunteered.

Rick nodded and followed behind me to talk to Jim.

"We'll be on the road soon." Rick said to Jim.

"Oh no. Christ... My bones are like glass." He barely made out "Every little bump, this ride is killing me. Leave me here. Just leave me. I want to be with my family."

Rick glanced at me then back to Jim. "They're all dead. I don't think you know what you're asking."

"I know. Don't you think I know?" Jim groaned. "I'm here now, but in five minutes I may not be, Rick. Leave me here. Okay? My decision."

Rick and I exited the RV to discuss what to do.

"This is what he wants." I spoke up.

"We just leave him here? We just leave?" Carl said.

"Well, it's not our call." I answered. "It's up to Jim, and this is what he wants."

When Shane returned Rick updated him on the decision that had been made. He handed off some supplies to Dale who returned to his RV to fix it up quickly.

I followed behind Rick and Shane as they carried Jim out of the RV and to the side of the road. I said goodbye to Jim quickly after they sat him down and thanked him for sharing his stories with me. He told me he loved me, but it wasn't really for me, because he addressed me with his late wife's name.

I rushed back to Shane's Jeep, a little...stunned to say the least. I sat in the passenger seat alone and waited for the convoy to move back on to the CDC. Everyone else said their goodbyes and Dale fixed what he had to with the little time he had.

When Shane climbed back into the driver's seat of the Jeep, he glanced at me and started the vehicle up.

"You going to be okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm just sick of goodbyes." I answered.

He patted my knee and sighed. "Me too."