𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍
𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄
︶꒦꒷★꒷꒦︶

Claire pointed at the cars in front of them, gesturing to Roman that they were pulling over. He slowed to a stop on the side of the road behind the red truck, each vehicle coming to a stop.

Claire, Marcus and Roman exited the Saturn, the others filing out of their respective cars as well to gather near Daryl's bike. "You out?" Daryl asked Rick, stepping off his bike. Claire crossed her arms as she approached them, "Running on fumes."

Maggie approached as well, "Well, we can't stay here."

Roman sighed, gesturing back to their car, "We're gettin' close to red, too. And we can't all fit in one car." Rick nodded, turning back to everyone, "We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning." Claire frowned, stepping forwards, "We're gonna spend the night here?"

"I'm freezing!" Carl pouted, Lori rubbing his chest in an attempt to keep him warm, "We'll build a fire, yeah?" Claire frowned, peeling the hoodie off her body and stepping towards Carl, "Arms up, stink." Carl giggled, lifting his arms above his head. Lori smiled at Claire as she slipped the cotton over the boy, Thank you, she mouthed, and Claire nodded. "Better?" She asked, smiling down at the hoodie that engulfed his small body, "Nice and warm. Thanks, Claire." She ruffled his hair with a smile, crossing her arms again to keep warm.

"You go out looking for firewood, stay close." Daryl nodded at Lori and Carl, "Only got so many arrows, how you doin' on ammo?" Daryl checked his bag of dwindling arrows. "Not enough." Rick mumbled, Maggie inhaling deeply and stepping forward, "We can't just sit here with our asses out all night."

"Watch your mouth," Hershel scolded, pointing at Rick, "Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick,"

"Alright, we'll set up a perimeter." Rick turned towards the group, "In the morning, we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on."

"Glenn, Kira and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas." Maggie adjusted the shotgun she was holding, motioning towards Glenn and Kira, the sibling's side by side with each other. "No, we stay together." Rick lowered his voice, reaching out a hand to Maggie, "God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car."

"Rick, we're stranded now." Glenn frowned, but Rick shook his head, "I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other." Rick ran a hand through his hair, "I wasn't sure- I really wasn't- but we did. We're together. Keep it that way."

Claire huffed, looking back behind her at the empty road, before back at a fidgety Rick, "We'll find shelter somewhere, there's gotta be a place."

"Rick, look around. Okay?" Glenn shook his head, "There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something." Rick blew air out of his mouth, "There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other. I know it's out there. We just have to find it."

Maggie looked back at Glenn, before back to Rick, "Even if we do find a place and we think it's safe, we can never be sure. For how long? Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that that was safe." Hershell sighed, turning on his heel so he wasn't facing the group, "We won't make that mistake again."

Rick placed his hands on his hips, pointing to an old, broken douse brick house, that was more or less just walls now, "We'll make camp tonight over there, get on the road at the break of day".

"What if walkers come through, or another group like Randall's?" Beth stepped forward worriedly. "You know I found Randall, right?" Claire turned her head towards Daryl with furrowed brows, "He had turned, but he wasn't bit." Claire's jaw went slack, and she took a step closer to the man, "How's that possible?"

Rick didn't answer, and Lori spoke up, "Rick, what the hell happened?" A moment of silence passed, before Daryl said something that caught everyone's attention. "Shane killed Randall. Just like he always wanted to."

"And then the herd got him?" Lori frowned, turning her head between Daryl and Rick. Rick sighed, looking away from, his wife before speaking again, "We're all infected."

"What?" Daryl squinted at the man, Claire's face falling, eyes shooting up to glance at Roman quickly, who was squinting at Rick and leaning against Glenns car.

"At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it."

Claire inhaled a deep breath, turning on her heel and stepping away from the group. How could she carry it? It's in the air, that's the only explanation. Once you die, it doesn't matter if you're bit or not, you just turn.

"And you never said anything?" Carols voice flooded Claire's ear, and she turned back to Rick with teary eyes. "Would it have made a difference?"

"You knew this whole time?"

Rick's lip twitched upwards at Glenn, "How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazy that mo-" Glenn cut the man off, "That is not your call. Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone. "Well, I thought it best that people didn't know." Rick snarled, turning around and stepping off a few feet away from the group.

"Carl, stay with Claire." Lori mumbled, letting go of her son and walking off after her husband. "C'mon, bud." Claire smiled weakly down at the boy, grabbing his hand and guiding him over to where Roman, Glenn, Kira, Marcus and Maggie were mumbling to each other.

Claire bent down, hoisting Carl up on her back for a piggyback ride, "So, what? Now we're all fucking infected? How the hell does that work?" Glenn shook his head, running a hand over his face, "We gotta be more careful from now on." He turned to his sister, "You, especially. No more running off without me. Any of you-" He turned to the others, "No running off without all of us. I can't imagine what could happen now."

★

Claire rubbed her hands together, pushing her arms out towards the fire in an attempt to warm up. She had let Carl keep her hoodie, and she pulled on a long sleeve she had grabbed from a store, but it was still pretty chilly.

The heat against her face was intense with how close she was, illuminating the dirt smudges across her pale skin. Although it was stingingly hot against the skin closest to it, she felt almost protected by the fire, comforted by it. She looked up past the flames, where Marcus was sitting on the other side of the fire, head tilted back as he stared up at the clear sky. "Here. It's cold."

She felt the jacket encasing her shoulders before she looked up, smiling at Roman, who was wearing a different jacket then he had been earlier, "Thanks," She mumbled, slipping her arms into the sleeves of the heavy brown jacket, her hands not quite emerging the whole way out of the sleeve. It smelt good, shockingly enough. Definitely not of soap or cologne, more of a natural scent. Grass, pine, and whatever he smelt like. She could tell he had just taken it off; the fabric was still clinging to the warmth that his body provided. With a relieved smile, she snuggled into it to trap in the warmth.

Roman sat down in the seat beside her, putting his own hands out towards the fire. "We can leave while they're sleeping. If you want to go looking for your brother." He whispered in her ear, so low she almost didn't catch it. She shook her head, turning it towards him, "I not too sure that's a good idea. With us on the move, it's too risky, we wouldn't be able to get back to everyone." Roman turned his head towards her, fire illuminating the side of his face, the blonde watching as his eyes flicked around her face. She swallowed thickly with a gentle nod, "As long as Rick keeps his promise to actively look for him, we can find him in a large group just as well-"

Her head perked up at the sounds of leaves rustling, Roman whipping his head around to stare out at the thick, dense woods swallowed by darkness around them, "What was that?"

Daryl stood up with a look around, "Could be anything." The rest of the group stood up quickly, Claire crossing her arms in front of her as Roman's jacket pooled around her. "Could be a possum. Could be a raccoon-"

"Walker." Glenn muttered under his breath, effectively cutting Daryl off.

"We need to leave. I mean, what are we waiting for?" Carols voice was shaky, and Claire turned her head towards Glenn as he pressed a hand against Maggie's back, "Which way?" Maggie pointed behind her, at the woods behind Claire and Roman, "It came from over there."

"Back in the direction we came." Beth softly spoke up, Maggie nodding at her sister to acknowledge her.

"The last thing we need is for everyone to go running off in the dark. We don't have the vehicles. No one's traveling on foot." Rick put his foot down, softly speaking to the group in an authoritative tone. "Don't panic." Hershel mumbled as another branch snapped. Claire's heart was beating in her ears, the blonde slowly reaching into her pocket and pulling out her knife, clutching the handle as tightly as she could.

"I'm not sitting here, waiting for another herd to blow through. We need to move, now." Carol pleaded, but Rick swung around to her quickly, "No one is going anywhere." His voice was stern, a hint of aggression behind his words, and Claire took a small, instinctive step back.

"Do something then!"

"I am doing something!" Rick raised his voice a touch, pointing his gun down at the ground, "I'm keeping this group together. Alive. I've been doing that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this." Claire's eyes widened as Rick snarled at the group, "I killed my best friend for you people for Christ's sake."

Claire's stomach dropped, grip of her knife loosening, the object clattering to the dirt. Tears began to flood her eyes at the revelation. Rick killed Shane? Why would he do that? Shane was his partner, his best friend.

The group was silent, and Rick took a calm step back, "You saw what he was like, how he pushed me, how he compromised us. How he threatened us." He paused, looking down at Lori and Carl, "He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He gave me no choice. He was my friend, but he came after me."

Claires face fell as Carl started sobbing into Lori's chest, the woman shushing her child. And Rick paced forward, "My hands are clean." The group stayed quiet, Claire averting her gaze from Ricks to avoid the tears from falling. The word ending does something to people. People you thought were good, people you thought were kind and pure.

"Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead." He gestured towards the road, "I say there's a place for us, but maybe- maybe it's just another pipe dream. Ma- Maybe I'm fooling myself again." Rick gestured his gun to the group, before pointing it back at the road again, "Why don't you- Why don't you go and find out yourself? Send me a postcard."

Claire fiddled with her fingers, pulling the jacket further around herself, the heavy material and large size giving her a sense of protection from the man's mental break. Rick shot a shaky finger out behind him, "Go on. There's the door. You can do better? Let's see how far you get." The group remained quiet, Claire's eyes averting to Kira, the girls eyes wandering to Claire at the same time.

"No takers? Fine, but lets get one thing straight. You're staying. This isn't a democracy anymore."

Claire swallowed thickly, watching as Rick looked around at the silent group before turning around and walking away into the darkness of the woods, far from the shocked group of survivors.