CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

"This is Turner Creek, so Barnesville must be a few miles downstream." Michonne says as she and Daryl look over a map.

"Sounds like our best chance at finding a new ride." Bob says, and he looks over at the younger two.

Theo's leaning against the side of the bridge as he looks down at the running water, and Andie's watching him. They may be able to mask their scents that would reveal them as supernatural to others of their kind, but they can't mask their chemosignals from each other, and they can't fake them.

"Come on, let's go." Daryl says as he starts walking away from them, leaving the bridge.

Andie waits until the others are a little ways away before speaking up. "You're not that person anymore." She says, and Theo turns his head. He won't meet her gaze. "We're allowed to change, to become better than who we used to be. You aren't him." She tells him before turning to follow after the others.

The five of them are walking down a dirt path surrounded by trees when Daryl stops at the head of the group and bends over to pick something up.

"Is that jasper?" Michonne asks as he tries to clean the stone.

"Mhm."

"It's a good color. Brings out your eyes." She smiles when he looks up at her from the rock.

"When Ms. Richards went into A block, we were leaving. Asked me to keep a lookout." He tells her. "I'm gonna use it for her old man's marker."

"You know all them back there?" She asks as Andie stops next to them.

"You stay in one place more than a couple hours, you'd be surprised what you pick up." He says, his gaze flickering to the younger girl. "Unless you avoid them like the plague."

"Why would I want to make more connections? People either die or start refusing to talk to you no matter how many times you try." Andie starts walking again, and Michonne looks between the two of them as Daryl glares at the dirt.

Their group's walking for a while longer when they eventually come across an abandoned tire shop. It has overgrown trees surrounding it, and Daryl stops when something seems to catch his attention.

"You see something?" Bob asks, causing the others to turn back.

"I don't know. Maybe."

They find a car underneath some fallen branches, and the others start clearing it off while Daryl ducks inside to try and hotwire the car. After a few failed attempts, he climbs back out.

"We gotta find us a new battery." He tells the others before trying to see inside the building. A walker attacks the window, and he jumps back a step. "Got some friends inside."

"Oh, good. Andie needs a few." Theo says, and she flips him off.

They all round the building, walking toward the overgrowth. It looks like the entrance is being blocked off by the branches and vines.

"Let's clear a path, see how many we got." Daryl says, and they all start pulling off whatever they can.

Andie starts using her hatchet to cut away at a few pieces, but they're all trying to be careful. As they keep working at it, the brunette stops to listen closer to what's going on inside. She reaches out suddenly, placing her hand on Daryl's chest and as she turns to face him, and they move away from the foliage as a walker pops out right where he had been standing.

Swinging her hatchet, she kills the walker that's still stuck inside the bush, and more start to pop out as well. Michonne kills one that tried to grab her, and Theo uses his knife to kill the walker holding onto Bob.

"I— I see why you two always have to go on supply runs." Bob says as he looks between Andie and Theo. The brunette looks at him for a moment before hacking into the bush again.

They clear the way, and Daryl leads Bob in with his crossbow in one hand and a flashlight in the other. The other three, however, go back to the minivan and work on getting the rest of it cleared off.

"You gonna stay pissed at the world forever?" Michonne asks as she looks at Andie.

"It's gotten me this far, hasn't it?"

"No." She watches the younger two as they work. "You're smart, brave, fearless—"

"I'm not fearless." Andie says. "I just do what needs to be done. Fear gets in the way, so I don't let it stop me."

"So, it's anger then?" She asks. "That's why you keep pushing, how you keep surviving?"

"Isn't that what keeps you going?" The younger girl questions as she pulls the hood open. "Isn't that why you haven't given up looking for the Governor?"

"I'm not angry, not anymore."

"Then why do you keep leaving?"

"Why do you keep everyone at arm's length?"

"I thought that was pretty obvious." Andie says, and Michonne watches her as she pulls the old battery out of the car. "I care about people and they either die or they leave. Don't care, it can't hurt when they're gone." She tells her as Daryl and Bob walk over.

"There are other options, you know?"

"Yeah. Theo, who never shuts the hell up."

"Is that really any way to live a life?" Michonne questions, but she says doesn't answer. "You say you don't let the fear stop you, but it sounds to me like you're afraid of losing people so you don't let them in anymore. How is that not letting it stop you?"

"I'm here, aren't I?" She looks up from her task as she pulls her hair into a ponytail. "People need medicine, so I'm on a run to get it. What exactly have I stopped doing?"

"Living." The older girl says, and Andie looks taken aback. "Theo shows you how much he cares, and you tell everyone how much you can't stand him. Carter asks you out on a date, and you embarrass him by walking away. Zoe's hurting, and you asked her to babysit Tyreese while he goes on his warpath. Patrick and Karen died, and you can't even shed a tear."

"Theo's a dipshit, Carter was asking for attention, I'm not supposed to go near Zoe, and crying isn't gonna save the rest of the people who are sick." Andie says as she returns her focus to the engine in front of her. "We already lost the night after we got surrounded on the highway. You want me to break down here, waste more time?"

"You have an answer for everything, don't you?"

"Not Carter." Theo says, and she shoots him a dirty look as she works.

"I've told Carter a hundred times that I wasn't looking for the same thing he was. If he was embarrassed after hanging from the perch, that's his own fault." Andie disputes.

"And what were you looking for?"

"You enjoy this, don't you?" The brunette asks, and Theo looks over at Daryl; he's leaning against the wall, glaring up at the sky.

"Yeah." He nods, and she rolls her eyes.

After a little while, Andie asks Daryl to take over while she and Theo go to hunt down some more supplies anywhere nearby. They don't find anything worthwhile, so they just head back to the others.

The two youngest in the group are actually laughing as they get back, and Andie pushes Theo as she walks over to Daryl and Bob. He goes to find Michonne, see what she's up to.

"Those things will kill you, you know?" The brunette says when she sees them each smoking a cigarette, and Daryl looks over at her. He doesn't say anything, and she sighs as she leans against the wall.

"Why don't you try the engine?" Daryl asks, and she walks past him to open the driver's side door. Two tries, and the engine turns over, roaring to life. He whistles to get the attention of the other two, and they meet them at the car.

—

The five of them make their way into the college with Daryl in the lead, and the group heads into a classroom full of empty cages. There are different school items littering the floor, books and broken objects.

"Alright, let's make this quick." Daryl says as they start scavenging. They each find items they think might be of use, then they head to a new room.

"Anything ending with -cillin or -cin — c-i-n, grab it." Bob tells the women as Andie and Michonne raid the cabinets with different medications. "We'll dissolve the pills in the IVs, put 'em right into the bloodstream. Dosage will be tricky, but considering the time we lost..."

"How'd you do?" Andie asks when she hears Daryl and Theo walk into the room behind them.

"Bags, tubes, clamps, connectors. Everything on the list." Theo tells her.

"What about y'all?" Daryl asks.

"We got it all." The brunette says.

"Yeah, we're good." Michonne agrees.

"Alright, let's roll." Daryl says, and they start out of the room, headed for an exit.

He leads the way down a dark, debris-filled hallway with his flashlight in one hand; Andie's right behind him with her gun and hatchet. They come across a room with walkers, and have to pick up the pace.

"Up ahead." Michonne says from behind her, and they turn into a room at the end of the hallway.

"Hey, door's busted." Bob tells the others when he can't shut it behind himself.

"Hold up." Daryl goes back, and Andie turns to look at Theo.

"We're surrounded." He whispers to her, and the brunette nods.

"I know. I hear them too." She tells him.

"There's less up ahead." Theo says, still speaking softly as he moves toward a stairwell. "Worth the risk?"

Daryl turns back to the others just as Andie whirls around, swinging her hatchet and hitting a walker in the side of its head as it was about to lunge at her from between desks in the dark room. She pulls her weapon back and looks at the corpse as it hits the floor.

"Some of them died of the same sickness here that we're dealing with at the prison." The brunette says, looking at the blood running down from the eyes. "Break the chain." She tosses her hatchet to Theo.

He cuts through the chain no problem, and Michonne slices through the heads of the first two walkers to come through. Theo uses the hatchet to kill the third, and then they all rush through the doors to get out of the room as the infected group of the dead stumbles toward them from the way they entered.

"I see why you like this thing." Theo says as Andie runs up behind him.

"Get your own." She takes the hatchet back as she passes him, leading the way up the stairs.

They're being chased through the hallways, and Michonne's swinging her sword at walkers as they go. Bob's at the back of the group overturning chairs and desks to slow the dead, and Andie and Daryl are leading them.

"Don't have an exit." Michonne says when she's blocked by a locked door.

"Fuck me." Andie mutters as she looks around.

"Was that an invitation?" Theo asks, looking up at the brunette as she climbs onto a landing by the window.

"Not for you." She slams her hatchet into the glass, shattering it to bits. "Come on! We'll jump down to the walkway below."

They all jump through the window, landing on a patio cover above more walkers that are below them. Bob's the last one out, and he lands on his stomach. His bag goes over the side of the cover they're on, and he starts struggling to get it back from the walkers that have latched onto it.

"Bob, let it go." Michonne tells him as she tries to help, then Theo runs over and leans down. He grabs the strap of the bag and gives it a hard yank.

Theo lands on his backside, and the bag swings up. It hits the patio cover near Andie's feet, and she looks down at it when she hears a clink. The brunette kneels down and opens the top; there are no meds, but she pulls out a half empty bottle of brown liquor.

"You risked one of you going over...all for a bottle of shit whiskey?" She questions. "You've gotta be fucken kidding me."

"Don't." Bob puts his hand on his gun when the brunette moves to chuck the bottle, and she turns back to look at him.

Theo grabs him and spins him around, pushing him toward the edge of the cover. Bob's struggling to keep his footing as he clutches the younger boy's hand; Theo's holding him by his throat as he struggles to contain his anger.

"You ever threaten her—!"

"I didn't wanna hurt nobody." Bob says, gripping his wrist as Daryl walks over and takes his gun from the holster on his hip. "It was just for when it gets quiet."

Andie walks up behind Daryl, and he looks down at her when her hand touches his bicep. She glances up at him, and he steps out of the way, letting her get to the others. He and Michonne watch as the younger girl stands beside Theo, not sparing Bob so much as a glance.

"Pull him up and let him go." Andie says, and his jaw flexes under the tension. "This isn't who we are. This isn't us, and it's not you... Pull him up and let him go."

He inhales deeply before finally turning his head to look at Andie. She nods, and Theo does as she told him. He steps back, pulling Bob back up so he can stand on the cover without fear of falling off.

The brunette then looks up at Bob. "If you ever put any of my people at risk again over a bottle of anything like this—" she slams the whiskey into his chest, and he grabs it instinctively. "—I will kill you myself... Now let's get the hell out of here."