Alone Together

Her own breathing was all Val could hear. She ran fast, as fast as she could, adrenaline making her forget the pain or the weight of her backpack. Everywhere she and Rick looked at, the undead were there, slowly closing in on them.

Max ran ahead of them, barking too many times as a reminder for Val to keep running. She wished she could run that fast. She didn’t know where they were going, but she had to trust that Rick knew. Besides, running forward seemed to be the only option.

The first thing her eyes noticed was the burnt tower. Then the metal wall, just like the one she’d seen near the RV, but bigger.

“Open the gate!” Rick started yelling, the urge in his voice making Val only run faster than she thought possible.

“Open the gate!” He repeated. Those things were starting to walk to the road ahead of them and soon they wouldn’t be able to run past them.

“Open the gate now!”

The gate was opened by Michonne and another girl. Max jumped on one of the dead ahead of them, its head shattering when it collided with the pavement. Rick pushed one away and Val had to steady him from falling.

The gate was closed with a bang, now that everyone was inside. Val’s heart felt like it was on her throat and she had to kneel on the ground, catching her breath before she would vomit.

No one seemed to realize that a dog and a stranger were now amongst them, their eyes glued to the gate that separated the dead from the living, dumbfounded faces as the second gate panel was closed, but the sound of bodies banging against it not stopping.

“Let’s gather everybody,” Rick spoke, his authoritarian manner surfacing again. Val had begun to understand that he was probably the one in charge of this place.

“And you are?” The girl with brown hair in a ponytail asked, her voice calm but her eyes hardened. She looked like she was about to cry or yell at someone and Val had a feeling it wasn’t because of what was on the other side of the gate.

“Val, I’m Val.” She cleared her throat. “And this is Max.” She patted her dog’s head.

“She’s a friend.” Morgan stepped in, looking at everybody as she did so and earning a half smile from Val.

She didn’t consider herself as Morgan’s friend. This was only the second time they had run into each other. He also kept on insisting that she had saved his life, but Val knew he would have handled it. During the small amount of time she had spent in his company, she had learned that he was a very strong and capable man.

---

Everyone had gathered around Rick, listening to what he had to say. Val studied their faces, some showing fear, others showing rage, but a common feeling transpiring in every single one of them. Pain.

“Daryl, Abraham, Sasha, they have vehicles. They're gonna lead them away, just like the others.” She knew Rick was doing her best to cheer his people up. “And Glenn and Nicholas are gonna walk back through the front gate after.”

Val’s eyes caught Maggie, the girl who had asked her name earlier, stepping closer to Rick. The emotion in her face suddenly made everything clear for Val. Her eyes drifted to Maggie’s hands, hugging herself tightly, the shiny stone on Maggie’s ring making Val’s heart clench. She knew what it was like to lose someone with who you were supposed to spend the rest of your life with.

“They know what they're doing, and we know what we need to do. We keep noise to a minimum. Pull our blinds at night. Even better, keep the lights out. We'll try to make this place as quiet as a graveyard, see if they move on.” Rick continued.

“This place is a graveyard.” A woman with short hair interrupted Rick. Val frowned. Not only did they have a place to live, food and walls to protect them, but they also had the luxury of having electricity, something Val thought to be impossible by now, and they still complained? These people hadn’t been surviving, and now they didn’t know how to.

“The quarry broke open and those walkers were heading this way. All of them.” A man with curly hair decided to speak and everyone’s attention turned to him. “The plan that Rick put into place stopped that from happening. He got half of them away. I was out there recruiting with Daryl. I wanted to try to get into a cannery and scavenge, and Daryl wanted to keep looking for people. We did what I wanted,” he sighed “and we wound up in a trap set by those people. And I lost my pack. They must've followed our tracks.” Everyone seemed taken aback with what he said. “Those people who attacked us...they found their way back here because of me.”

Val couldn’t help but shake her head. They hadn’t found this place because of him. Even if they hadn’t found his pack, it was only a matter of time until they found this place. People would always want what others had; being greedy a part of human nature. Even in a world now ruled by the dead, the living were still the biggest threat.

“Deanna?” A tall man with plaid shirt called, everybody turning to watch a woman in her late fifties walk away from the group. “Deanna?”

Val turned her attention back to Rick, watching him leave in the opposite direction.

“Rick?” She called, taking a few faster steps to join him. “We need to do something.” He didn’t stop walking nor did he respond to her statement. “We’re not gonna stay here and wait for those things to break in, right?”

“We have to wait.” Rick finally stopped walking. “We have to wait for them. They’re still out there. There can still be a way out of this.” He resumed his walking, but this time she didn’t follow.

Val knew he was talking about his people, the ones who were still outside. He believed that they would come back soon and drive the dead away from Alexandria. To be honest, she wasn’t willing to bet on that, and part of her told her that now was the best time to walk away from the situation she had put herself into. She didn’t belong in there, why would she care about what happened to them?

“Hi.” A girl greeted her when she turned to walk away. “I’m Tara.” Val looked uninterested. All she wanted right now was to get away from there with Max.

“So, Val…” The girl continued. “Is it really your name or is it short for something?”

“Does it matter?” Val didn’t want to be rude, but small talk was not her strong suit. That, and the fact she hated her name. It was probably the least adequate name for her.

“No. I was just curious.”

Val didn’t reply.

“Val it is then.” Tara smiled and stretched out a hand to pet Max, but he moved his head away from it.

“He doesn’t trust strangers,” Val spoke nonchalantly. She had started to walk away when Tara called her name, making her stop.

“Do you need anything? We still have empty houses in here, I could find you one so you could take a shower and get some rest.” She pointed at the army pack Val had been caring since she’d arrived. “And maybe leave your stuff.”

“I’m fine.”

“What about that wound?” Tara pointed at Val’s left arm, the bandage around it almost completely red.

Val sighed. She had stitched that a couple days ago, after her little encounter with two unfriendly strangers. Now it looked like the wound had opened and with all the commotion she hadn’t even realized it.

“I’ll take you to the infirmary.” The brunette smiled.

---

Just like any other place inside Alexandria, the infirmary was in a suburban-styled house, big and with a nice front porch. Val dropped her pack and ordered for Max to stay outside before Tara opened the door. Once she did, they were greeted by a huge book sliding down at their feet. Tara stopped it and Val instinctively led her hand to her holster.

“Sorry, got away from me.” The blonde girl sitting on the floor sniffled.

Tara pulled a chair for Val to sit. “This is Val, she’s just arrived with Rick.”

The girl only nodded. “Why are you here?”

“She needs you to check on her wound.”

That made the girl finally get up. “I’m Denise, by the way.” She approached Val. “I’m the doctor in here, or at least I try to be.”

“You patched people up. You're helping make things better.” Tara spoke as Denise cut the bandage around Val’s arm and threw it away. Looking at the wound Val could see that two of the stitches had opened.

“I think he's gonna die.” Denise glanced at the man lying on the bed behind her. “And I'm so scared about what's happening in here that I can't think about what's happening out there.” She sniffed again and that made Val uncomfortable. “And that's actually good.”

As Denise worked on her stitches, Val grew increasingly rattled. She wasn’t good at comforting people or pretending that she worried about them. She didn’t know this girl and there she was, letting it all out to Tara and her. Well, more to Tara then to her, but she had been caught up right in the middle of it.

“I just want him to live and for the roamers to go away. And for a doctor to show up at the gates, so I can go back to my apartment and keep reading War and Peace.” Denise let out a sad chuckle. Val’s fingers fidgeted against her leg. “But here comes the end of the world.”

“He’s not dead yet.” Tara comforted.

The doctor wannabe was still finishing bandaging Val’s arm when she got up from the chair and headed towards the door. “Thanks. I think… I should go. Thanks again.”

---

Val needed to find a way to get away. She had scouted the walls surrounding Alexandria and there was not a single spot where the dead hadn’t reached. She was wandering around in a quieter area, starting to believe that there was no way out except for waiting, when she started to hear people speaking. She stood behind a tree, listening to them talking about a sewer that would take them under the wall. Without thinking twice, she walked from behind the tree and towards them.

“Going out?” She glanced at Maggie and the guy that had talked about the attack to Alexandria, who she knew now to be Aaron.

They looked at each other, clearly realizing they had been caught, but Val only smiled. “I just want to go too.”

---

The sewers were dark, wet and smelled even worse than the dead, something Val didn’t think to be possible. Max walked carefully in front of her and she couldn’t help but chuckle, knowing how he hated water and the sensation of being wet.

She dragged her feet, dirty water slowly getting inside her combat boots. They kept their distance from Maggie and Aaron. She didn’t want to meddle in their conversation. She didn’t know them and she wasn’t interested either.

Nevertheless, she had learned that Maggie was married to Glenn, wanting to go out and look for him the reason why she was down there.

They turned left and for the first time stopped. “I haven't been down here since the beginning.” Aaron pointed his flashlight to something blocking the passage. “This ladder must've fallen a long time ago.”

“Let's try and get it out of here.” Maggie didn’t hesitate. She glanced back at Val and she nodded, stepping between them to help them pull the ladder. “On three, ready?”

“One, two, three.” The ladder didn’t budge.

“One, two, three.”It suddenly flew from its original place; hitting Aaron in the forehead and making Val stumble backwards.

“Aaron!” Maggie shouted.

“I'm okay. The ladder caught me.” He wiped out the blood that ran down his forehead.

Groans filled the sewers. Aaron pointed the flashlight to where the ladder had been stuck to, a filth covered corpse revealing itself. Maggie was already holding her knife, ready to kill it when another one jumped on her out of nowhere.

Val held her machete, severing the head of the dead that was attacking Maggie in two. She looked at Aaron, making sure that he had handled the other one, before wiping her hands against her already stained top and speaking. “Let’s go.”

“We're still too close.” Maggie’s voice telegraphed disappointment as they finally reached one of the sewer’s exits.

“We just have to get through a few of them and then we're gone. You ready?” Aaron looked at both girls.

“No, we can't.” Maggie spoke.

Aaron seemed consider his options for a second. “You can stay. I’ll go.”

“No!” Maggie suddenly screamed.

“Maggie?!” Both Aaron and Val were surprised. Val moved closer to the rusty gate, watching the dead starting to turn in their direction.

“It's over!” Val winced at Maggie’s loud voice. Whether they were coming or not, she still needed to get out of there.

They stepped back as two corpses banged against the metal gate and Val killed them in a matter of seconds.

“I burned his last picture of me because I said he wasn't gonna need it anymore.” Maggie’s voice wavered. “Because I was never gonna be away from him again.” Her eyes shone with the anticipation of tears. “I'm pregnant.”

Val stopped killing the undead gathering at the gate and looked at her. Aaron seemed just as surprised as she.

“He didn't want me to go out there and I said yes. And if I would've gone... if I was with him, maybe I could've helped him.” Tears fell down Maggie’s cheeks. “I don't know if he's alive. He would've shown me by now. That's what Michonne said.”

“I’m sorry Maggie.” Val interrupted her, after turning and killing two of the undead that were at the sewer’s gate. “I really am, but I still gotta get out of here.”

Aaron looked at her, confused. “You’re not staying with us? I thought you -” He was interrupted by the noise of one more walker being killed by Val.

“I don’t belong here. You seem good people, but I’m better on my own. It has been me and Max since the beginning and I plan on keeping it that way.” She tried to open the gate, but it was locked.

“Why would you want to be alone, out there?” Aaron opened the gate, just as another walker reached the gate and tried to grab him.

Val stabbed her machete on the corpse’s skull. Because people are weak. Because people are a liability. Because people will get you killed.

She finally removed her machete from the body, making it fall to the ground. She opened the gate and closed it.

“I can’t promise you anything, Maggie.” Val’s voice was barely above a whisper. “But if I see him or run into him, I’ll try to bring him back here in safety.” Without answering Aaron’s question, Val and Max stepped away from the sewer and ran from the group of dead bodies that had noticed them, disappearing from their sight.