Chapter 53

- Author -

The group had only made a single stop since they left, to communicate where they would be going. The plan was not to stop until they left the city, as they argued the explosion must have alerted every walker for miles, an assumption that was quite justified, judging by the amount of walkers they passed by, contrary to their first trip to the CDC.

They had been driving for a few hours, until they reached the surroundings of their first camp, a place far enough from the city, perfect for their temporary stop. They would be discussing their next course of action.

"Carl! What are you doing?!" Lori said scandalously, as she saw her son playing with what looked like the biggest gun she's ever seen, sitting on Daryl's pickup.

"Nothing." Carl hid his hands behind his back sheepishly, knowing he wasn't supposed to do what he just did. Lori was glad there was no ammo on that thing. She proceeded to admonish him for both touching things that weren't even his in the first place, then that they were extremely dangerous, and he could've hurt himself.

It brought the attention to the machine guns, however, as they had just been discussing the ridiculous amount of guns Dale and Jim found in the RV.

"How come he hasn't found a single box of ammo." Rick remarked. "There must've been a dozen of military crates in there. They're usually full of ammo, if I'm not wrong." They were very impressed by everything Xenon had managed to scavenge, and felt their confidence soar with the new hardware. Not only that, but they would be significantly less afraid of encountering walkers from now on.

"Maybe he's keeping them in his van." Shane thought out loud.

"Let's check it out." Rick nodded, turning the attention towards Glenn. "You got the keys?"

"Yeah... That's not gonna happen." While Glenn was hesitant at first, as he usually succumbed to pressure easily, but he resolved himself when he considered how wrong everything sounded to him when he's been warned beforehand to guard the van, an extremely reasonable request as far as he was concerned. "That's Xenon's van. You can ask him when he wakes up."

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind." Dale remarked. "He did take the weapons so WE could use them, did he not? We're all on the same side here." Daryl snorted.

"It doesn't matter." Glenn shook his head firmly. "I promised to look out for his van, that's what I'm gonna do." While Glenn meant well, he didn't always measure his words before saying them, and the rest quickly caught on to what he meant.

"Xenon asked you to LOOK OUT for his van?" Lori asked incredulously. "What for? There are no strangers here, are there?"

"Well..." Glenn quickly realized his mistake, but was lost for words, as he realized there was no undoing what's already been said. Thankfully, Daryl came to his rescue.

"Un-fucking-believable..." Daryl had gotten enough of their nonsense. "You've got some guts asking for his stuff after everything you've done."

"And what could we have possibly done?" Lori was incensed. "We didn't do anything at all, he stayed out there out of his own free will."

"That's right. You've done nothing. Absolutely nothing. While you've been enjoying your hot shower, eating good food and drinking fine wine, he's been out there, busting his ass off all night, getting shit done. And I ain't even talking about cowboy here who led us to our death, when HE WARNED US not to go there!" Daryl was enraged at how entitled they were acting, especially since they didn't even have the decency to at least wait for the man to wake up, going through his stuff without permission was utterly repulsive after everything he's done for them.

"Now hold on a minute," Shane interrupted him. "Rick did nothing wrong. We've all agreed to go there, remember?"

"His point still stands." Andrea came to his defense as well. "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he left us after what happened. He tends to act alone, but that doesn't mean he likes being taken advantage of, and that is what we've been doing, isn't it? I mean, what the hell have we done for him since he joined us? It's always been the other way around."

"That's not how it works, Andrea." Dale shook his head. "And everyone in this group has been contributing in their own way."

"None of that matter now." T-Dog said. "Bottom line is: That's Xenon's van, only him gets to decide what happens to his stuff. Period. I don't even know why we're still arguing about this." Rick and Shane stayed silent, both knowing that their words held at least some truth to them.

"Well said..."

- Xenon -

I called it. Call me crazy, but the universe doesn't want me to sleep, this is definitive proof. I woke up to the sounds of shouting, coming from an obviously heated conversation. I wanted to go back to sleep, my head was still hurting, and I could still feel the exhaustion throughout my body, albeit it has significantly lessened.

I spent a few seconds, listening to what they were talking about. I quickly caught on to the subject of conversation, and I immediately thought it would be wiser to strike the iron while it's still hot. There is no need to give them time to prepare their arguments, or lay the ground for our eventual argument, because at this point, our disagreement was inevitable.

"Well said..." I announced my presence, as I approached the group. A few of them looked ashamed of themselves, even though they didn't particularly do anything to me, giving me complicated looks. Others were angry at me for some reason, namely Shane, Rick and Lori. Dale looked disappointed more than anything, but I suppose even him can see how I wasn't at fault here.

"Good, now that he's awake, feel free to ask him." Daryl remarked sarcastically.

"Ask me what?" I gave him a "puzzled" look, I think I'm getting better at acting.

"We found weapons in the RV. Rifles, Handguns, SMGs... But not a single box of ammo." Rick said, and I caught on the unsaid question.

"Sorry about that, Dale." I turned to the man in question. "I was in a hurry, and just stashed them on the RV. I'll take them back now." I apologized for my clumsiness. Daryl was crackling in the background.

"Is this a joke to you?" Rick was angry at how dismissive I was of the issue. He thought I was just playing with them, it seems.

"I am dead serious." I answered with a cold look. "Why? You've got something to say?"

"Yeah, I do. I feel like you've got something to say, so stop wasting everyone's time and say it. We've got more important matters to discuss."

"We do have important matter to discuss, and my possessions are not a subject for discussion. Not after you nearly got us all killed with your idiocy."

"Now hold on a second." Shane interrupted. "Going to the CDC was a collective decision. You came of your own free will, we never forced you."

"You gave me an ultimatum." I answered calmly. "I either follow you to the CDC, or go my own way, like Morales did, yeah?"

"That's right. It was a group's decision, and as a member, you're supposed to follow the majority's." Rick affirmed.

"Good. And now, out of my own free will, I will decide whether I want to stay with the group or not, depending on where it is headed." I used their words against them.

"That is fair enough." Jim intervened. "Let's discuss it then, where are we going next? It's clear the CDC has been a spectacular failure."

"Fort Benning is still an option." Shane remarked. "You were supportive of the idea the first time, weren't you?" He directed the question at me.

"No." I denied. "I only argued against going to the CDC because it was suicidal. I believe both options are equally stupid."

"You're unbelievable, you know that." Rick said with a low voice, shaking his head. "You're throwing tantrums, refusing every single possibility, but you haven't contributed a single solution."

"There was a perfectly reasonable solution." I kept my calm, regardless of how much I wanted to strangle the guy. "But you guys would never have accepted it at the time. Daryl said it, and I'll say it again. I say we take care of ourselves. We don't need to rely on any government to keep us safe, not when we have the means to do so. If the situation at the CDC is any indication, it's safe to assume there is no more government. It's only us against the walkers now."

"That's funny." Shane chuckled. "What do you expect us to do next, rebuild civilization from scratch? Fort Benning is heavily armed, chances are it's still standing, hosting the last survivors in Georgia."

"What if it isn't safe? What if it's overrun? What do we do then?"

"What if it is?" Rick retorted. I just gave him an unimpressed look.

"If you're going to build your whole plan on the premise that perfect conditions are always met, I can't even take you seriously anymore." I shook my head. "You're driven by your desperation to find a magical place out of the walkers' reach, clinging to any idea that brings you hope. You've deluded yourself into believing the CDC was a safe heaven, and you're doing the same again." He was about to say something, but I pressed on.

"The CDC was supposed to be humanity's last line of defense in case of such emergency. You said it yourself, didn't you? That the government would pour all resources to keep it safe. And now, you want us to believe that Fort Benning is still standing when the CDC isn't? Even worst, you want us to go there blindly with no backup plan." I shook my head. "That's a recipe for disaster."