Civilian

“Hershel will take care of Daryl. You, come with me.”

I hesitated on the beautiful front porch of an antique farm house, uncertain such a place, untouched by the wrathes of God, was somewhere a ditch wallower like myself belonged.

“Come on.” Rick said with a hint of impatience to his voice as he headed in the front door after passing off Daryl’s unconscious body to Shane, Glenn and T-Dog.

“Where are we going?” I asked, following him reluctantly, pausing to shut the screen door behind me, fiddling with the metal latch hook.

“First, to see Carol.” He said, “This way. She should be in the kitchen. If not, then the RV.”

I kept to myself as we walked through the maze of adjacent living rooms and hallways, a few strangers I hadn’t yet met stared at me in shock and surprise. I kept my eyes down, focusing only on following Rick and not making any new friends.

“Lori, have you seen Carol?”

We had arrived at the kitchen, and like everything else in the house, was a perfect, antique white. Marble countertops, an island, and long faded cupboards. I recognized the woman as the one who’d been standing in the field after Daryl was shot. She looked at me warily, brushing back a strand of long dark brown hair before responding. “I think she went for a walk, actually.”

“Do you know where?”

“No.”

“Hm... Guess we’ll go talk to Dale instead.”

I followed him out the screen door, relieved to be back outside. The hot, humid Georgia air hit me sweetly, the hum of locus and crickets all around, screeching deafeningly. We crossed the yard, dry grass and pea gravel crunching under our boots as we approached an RV. An older man with a trimmed white beard stood on watch atop the RV’s roof, a nice hunting rifle strapped across his back. He's the third member who arrived with Daryl's shootin' posse.

“Dale!” Rick greeted him, and he turned to peer down at us. “Rick! How’s Daryl doing?”

“He’s unconscious right now, but Hershel thinks he’ll pull through.”

“Good, good... Who’s this?”

He didn’t say it in a hostile way, the way the others had, he had curiosity to his tone, and sounded openminded about the street rat that had inconveniently wandered into their camp.

“Er...”

“Helena.” I introduced myself vaugely. Last names only seemed to make you a greater target, because you were definable, easy to pick out because if someone had the same name as you, they most likely did not have the same surname.

“Hello, Helena.” He greeted, tipping his brown fishers’ hat towards me. “What brings you here?”

“Uh, I was originally on my way to Fort Benning with my sister, but stuff went down and now we’re just taking a break. Found two of yours in the woods, though.”

“You’re the one who came in with Daryl?” He surprised me with a chuckle and a grin.

“...Yes?”

“Shane came out here, making you out to be devil incarnate, you seem nice enough. Where you from?”

“Montana, originally. You?”

“Here and there.” He laughed, “You’re a long way from home. What are you looking to find at Fort Benning?”

“My Uncle, hopefully.” I said with a tight smile, shielding my eyes from the sun as I peered up at him. “He was a soldier stationed there before this mess happened. He’s also my last living family member besides my sister.”

“Sorry to hear that.” He tipped his hat in sympathy. “What’s this I’m hearing about Sophia? Do you know where she is?”

“She’s safe.” I reassured him, Rick relaxed a little, as well. “But I didn’t know who Daryl was, or what he was capable of when I found him, so I’m here to make sure it’s legit, and I’ll hand deliever her, myself. I was supposed to talk to Carol first?”

“Ah, yes! She went for a walk about an hour ago. Can’t be too far, now. I’ll let you all know when she’s returned to talk business. Assuming there’s business to be talked?”

“I’d be happy with some antibiotics, if you guys have any you can spare? If not, consider it a gift, from the pits of my heart.” I say flatly. Although Dale was a perfectly comforting presence, I could feel the judgemental gazes of those around me, people hiding in their tents or watching from afar.

“Come on into the RV, we’ll talk from there.”

“What’s there to be talked about?” I mumbled, following Rick inside, my hand hovering over my handgun slightly.

The inside of the RV is hot and sticky, the air thick and difficult to breathe. The interior consists of a long, narrow hallway with the bathroom and kitchenette off to each side, and the dining area directly across from the front door. Dale has placed himself in front of my view of the back end, but I catch a glimpse of a small, messy bedroom there.

"So... Helena..." Rick begins, his tone saying he has no clue what he wants to say. I look at him attentively, waiting to carefully dodge any overly personal questions because quite frankly the less someone knows about you, the less likely they are to remember you in the long run if something goes bad.

"Is it just you out there or do you have a bigger group?"

I sit at the small dining table and fiddle with my fingers for a moment, "It's just me and my sister for the moment... And some damn woman she found in the woods, but she'll be on her way soon. Doesn't seem like she wants to stay with us, anyways..." I murmur, not realizing how morbidly depressing the whole thing sounded until I said it out loud.

"What happened to your family?" Rick asks nosily, and I shoot him a look of bitterness. Dale raises his hands a bit behind Rick, clapping one of his palms down on his shoulder in a silent gesture of you've gone too far.

"Er... You don't have to answer that."

"Good..." I breathe, "Cause I won't. As soon as this Carol woman gets back and I explain everything to her, I'll bring back your girl and I'll be on my way. I'm not one to get too comfortable with strangers..."

I look at them both uncomfortably. Thusfar, both of them - everyone I've encountered, actually (excluding Daryl and Shane) all seem to be pretty decent folks with goals similar to mine.

"That's al'right." Rick assures me dismissively. "Fort Benning, you said? That's where we were headed until my son got shot while lookin' for Sophia out there."

I widen my eyes in shock, at a loss for words. Luckily, he amends his sentence before too much of an awkward silent grows. "He's doing better now, thank God, but it never would have happened if not for that herd on the highway."

"The highway with the cars?" I pipe up, curiosity winning over my desire to be silent and unapproachable.

"Yeah, we ran into the blockage trying to get to Fort Benning. It's was Shane's idea originally." Dale tells me.

"Shane's still hell-bent on going, too. He's ready to ditch the farm." Rick sighs, frustration coloring his tone.

"What do you want? Doesn't seem like all your people are on the same page... 'Specially since one of yours shot the redneck coming out of the woods."

"Andrea got a bit..." Rick trailed off, searching for the right term to describe his unhinged friend's motives.

"Excited." Dale completes his thought with a shrug. "She's eager to prove herself to the group."

"She does know that shit like that gets people killed, right?" my gaze flickers back and forth between them. "Stupid shit gets good people killed. Happened to almost everyone I set out with. They'd do dumb crap like trying to shoot tin cans off of fenceposts and it'd end with one of them missing a goddamned eye because they were 3/4th's intoxicated during the activity." I shake my head regretfully, looking down as I pick at the chipping teal nailpolish adorning my fingernails.

They both fall quiet for a few moments, the atmosphere feeling awkward and unmanageable. It's fortunate that the guy named Glenn poked his head into the RV around this time.

"Hey uh, I was told to inform you guys when Carol got back." He interupts, guilt and awkwardness dripping from his tone. He scratches the back of his neck, waiting for a quick response so he can get away.

"We'll be right there." Rick assures him and turns to me again. "You ready?"

"Don't have much choice," I sigh, "let's get this wrapped up."