Firecracker

When morning came around, Andrea still hadn't moved from her sisters side. Raine couldn't blame her, if it was her and Rick in that situation, she wouldn't leave either. But they needed to take care of her body, they couldn't just let it sit there and rot. Lori walked up and placed her hands on her hips.

"She still won't move?" Rick asked. Dale shook his head, his heart heavy from the loss of Amy. He cared about her and Andrea like they were his own daughters, to have Amy ripped away from him was just too hard for him to handle.

"She won't even talk to us. She's been there all night." Lori replied, rubbing her hands together as she sat down on a car seat that they had taken when they first set up camp.

"What do we do?" Raine asked as she wiped some sweat off her forehead.

"Cain't just leave Amy like that. We need to deal with it same as the others." Shane mumbled, staring off at the two women, Rick nodded his head once.

"I'll tell her how it is." He walked up to Andrea but the second he said her name, she had her gun pointed at his face. Raine went to rush over to them but Lori grabbed her wrist before she could get too far. She scoffed and yanked her arm away before stomping off away from them. She could understand Andrea being upset, but to point a gun at someone for literally no reason, that was just unacceptable. Rick backed away from Andrea and left her to mourn over her sister, realizing that there was nothing they could do at the moment.

Raine spent the next few minutes helping pull walkers over to the fire pit so they could be burned. It was a dirty job that she really didn't want to do but it needed to be done. She really didn't want dead bodies littering their camp, it was just gross and depressing. As she reached for another body, she heard Daryl's voice and she looked up to see him talking to Rick.

"Y'all can't be serious. Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb."

"What do you suggest?" Raine asked as she walked up with her arms crossed over her chest. Daryl turned to look at her, pickax over his shoulder.

"Take the shot. Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

"No." Rick said firmly.

"For God's sakes, let her be." Lori demanded causing Daryl to scoff and walk off in the other direction. Raine sighed and ran her hands through her hair.

"Daryl's right, something needs to be done about her. What if she comes back and gets Andrea? Are we really willing to risk that?" She whispered, looking up at her big brother who just stared at her with an eyebrow slightly raised.

"Of course you agree with him." Shane scoffed and Raine looked at him with narrowed eyes. Rick still said nothing but he looked clearly confused.

"She and Daryl got pretty close after we set up camp here."

"You and Daryl?" Rick asked, looking at his sister as if she was crazy. Raine put up her middle finger in Shane's direction, irritation settling in.

"It's not like that, we're just friends. Believe it or not, he's not a bad guy. He just doesn't think a lot of the time." As soon as the words left her mouth, she heard Daryl shouting something about how 'you reap what you sow'. She rolled her eyes and went to go see what the issue was, but she was stopped in her tracks by something that Jacqui said to Jim.

"You got bit."

"I'm fine." Jim argued, standing up and taking a few steps back.

"Then show me."

Jim mumbled something and then Jacqui stood up, yelling that Jim had gotten bit. He was asked to show them the bite but he was refusing. T-Dog had to come over and hold him while Daryl lifted up the shirt.

Raine's eyes went right to the bloody bite mark, confirming what Jacqui was saying. She clenched her jaw and walked away from everything, pulling out a cigarette as she walked. How many more people were going to die before this whole thing ended? Was it going to be everyone? Or would something get done before then? These were all questions that Raine asked herself on a daily basis, but she still didn't have any answers. No one did.



The Center for Disease Control. That was Rick's big plane. Raine didn't go against her brother on very many things, but this? It was highly unlikely. Shane was thinking the same thing but Raine wasn't about to side with him. The CDC could still be standing, it was a big possibility, but Jim didn't have enough time. From what Raine had seen and heard, the virus kills you quicker than anything. It was impossible for them to make it to the Center before Jim died.

"Do you feel like this is a mistake?" Raine asked, looking over at Daryl as he drove. He stole a quick glance at her and then looked back at the road, shrugging his shoulders.

"Nothin' we say ain't gonna matter. Your brother has it in his head that this will work. Maybe it will, we never know." He responded.

"I know that, but something just feels wrong. I don't know what it is but I don't like it." Raine mumbled as she looked out her window, letting the wind toss her hair around. Suddenly, the RV slowed to a stop and there was smoke billowing in the air. Raine groaned and jumped out of the truck, walking up to see what was going on. Dale was looking at the front of RV, a frustrated expression written all over his face.

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose. I said I needed the one from the cube van." He muttered to Rick who had his hands on his hips as he wracked his brain for a solution.

"Can you jury-rig it?" He asked.

"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out of duct tape."

"I see something up ahead. A gas station if we're lucky." Shane chimed in, his rifle resting in his hands. Raine put a hand up to block the rays from the sun and looked to see what Shane was looking at. There was indeed something, but she wasn't sure if it really was a gas station. At that moment, Jacqui rushed out of the vehicle, panic all over her face.

"Y'all....Jim, it's bad. I don't think he can take anymore."

"Hey, Rick, You wanna hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead, see what I can bring back." Shane offered. T-Dog agreed to go with him and then they were off. As Rick followed Jacqui, Daryl and Raine kept watch ahead of the RV.

"You ever shot a crossbow before?" Daryl asked randomly, causing Raine to snap her head in his direction. She shook her head and licked her lips. She watched intently as he took the weapon off his shoulder and extended it out to her. She hesitantly grabbed it and was surprised at how light it was, it looked a lot heavier. Daryl pointed to a squirrel that was resting on a tree and she nodded her head, raising the crossbow. She looked through the sights until it was lined up and then she pulled the trigger. The bolt went right through the squirrels skull and Raine grinned widely.

"Damn." Daryl said, sounding thoroughly impressed. After Raine handed him his weapon back, he went to go grab the squirrel with her following close behind. The moment she got passed the RV, she heard Shane and T-Dog driving back. She watched as Shane went inside the RV and then come out, helping Rick to carry Jim over to a tree. Her eyes widened and she quickly walked over to see what was going on.

"He can't take it." Rick whispered when he saw his sister's worried expression. She felt tears poke at her eyes but she blinked them away. Everyone said their goodbye's to the man, but Raine and Daryl only gave short nods of their heads. Neither of them were big on mushy feelings, but they weren't heartless. Sighing, Raine walked back to the truck and climbed in. They were going to continue on to the CDC, hopefully they would have the answers everyone had been looking for.