62. trouble on the road

MILO

     THE ROAD FLASHED PASSED THE WINDOWS as the music from the radio sounded through the bus. Milo was seated alone on one of the benches, staring out the window as his thoughts swirled around without end. Worry for his sister was eating him alive, tearing a hole in his heart.

Deep down inside a voice was screaming for him to turn back and go find her. But one look around the bus showed him why that was impossible. He promised these people his help, and he never broke a promise. He simply couldn't. He had to trust Rick and the others to find them. He had to trust Daryl to keep her safe like he had done before. Even though she was perfectly able to protect herself, having someone watch your back was a necessity these days. And it had surprised him that person turned out to be Daryl Dixon. Quinn probably hadn't even noticed how his gaze always went to her, checking if she was alright.

Milo wondered what had happened between the two of them to cause the sudden need they felt to protect each other.

'It's getting a little messy for you,' Rosita's voice sounded through the bus, pulling him out of his thoughts.

He turned his gaze away from the window, watching as she ran her hands through Abraham's red hair.

'Getting ready for retirement,' the soldier replied, never failing to keep his eyes on the road. 'Relaxin' the grooming standards. Thinkin' about becomin' a plumber, a sheepherder, or something.'

'You ain't herdin' sheep now, Abraham,' Rosita told him. 'Eyes on the prize.'

'Damn right,' he replied, unable to keep himself from staring at his pretty girlfriend through the rearview mirror, a smile forming on his face. 'That's my girl.' He took a deep breath before adding. 'Maybe I'll let you shave me down all over, dolphin-smooth.'

Rosita chuckled, hitting him on the shoulder. 'I'll cut it for you tonight,' she said, ignoring his earlier comment.

'Yes, ma'am,' Abraham replied.

'Hey, maybe Rosita can give you a trim while she's at it,' Tara spoke up, turning to look at Eugene. 'Party's getting a little long in the back.' When the scientist didn't reply, she teasingly added: 'Or is it your source of power?' Earning a small chuckle from Milo.

'I ain't slayin' a lion anytime soon,' Eugene replied. 'I wouldn't be pacing any wagers on seein' me dispatch a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass.'

'Yeah, you just settle on saving the world instead,' Milo joined in, eyeing the man from his seat.

'Yeah,' Eugene muttered, but didn't seem too pleased with it. In fact, his gaze was rather sad as he kept on staring out of the front window.

'What's up?' Tara questioned. 'Last night?'

'Nope,' was the simple answer but after giving it a second thought he added: 'Yes, that and tomorrow. And I'm thinking about that preacher, what he did.'

Tara took a deep breath, looking away from him as her thoughts seemed to go back to it as well.

Milo turned his gaze back to the road, not wanting to think about the church to avoid feeling that familiar stab of guilt...

'Maybe they're just behind us,' Maggie spoke up, noticing the look on Milo's face. 'Maybe Daryl, Quinn and Carol came back. Maybe they took the map, found some cars and they're just down the road.' Her eyes went to Glenn while talking, clearly Milo wasn't the only one having difficulty with the decision they made.

'They'll catch up,' Glenn said, but it sounded as though he needed some convincing himself. 'We're clearing the way for 'em.'

Maggie turned in her seat, looking at Eugene who was seated behind her. 'How long will it be?' She questioned. 'After you get on that terminal and do what you have to do?'

Glenn turned around as well and Milo found himself sitting up straight in his chair. He felt honestly curious to how saving the world was going to work. It probably all sounded a lot easier than it was.

'Depends on a number of factors,' Eugene spoke. 'Including density of the infected around target sites worldwide.'

'Wait,' Glenn said, frowning, 'target sites? Are you talking about missiles?'

Eugene stared at him, seeming to think over his words for a moment before saying: 'That's classified.'

'I thought we were over that,' Milo sighed. If he was going to help safe the world, didn't he at least deserve how it was going to happen?

'What if we all live?' Eugene questioned.

'The secrets will matter then?' Milo added.

'They might,' the scientist replied, 'anyway, the speed with which things normalize depend on a number of factors including worldwide weather patterns, which were modeled without the assumption that cars, planes, boats and trains wouldn't be pouring hydrocarbons into the atmosphere this long. Changed the game quite a bit when it comes to air-transmissible pathogens.'

Silence fell as the group tried to process the words. Even though Milo had finished high school and then studied politics, which he dropped out of eventually but that was beside the point, he never paid much attention to science. He was much more interested in people than the mysterious ways of mother nature.

'Why the hair?' Glenn suddenly broke the silence, earning a small smile from Maggie.

'Because I like it,' Eugene simply replied. 'And no one is takin' scissor or clipper to it anytime soon. Do you hear me, miss Espinoza?'

'Yes, loud and clear,' the girl chuckled, followed by some laughter from the group.

'Ya'll can laugh all you want,' Eugene said.

'No one was makin' fun,' Maggie pointed out with a smile.

'The smartest man I ever met happened to love my hair,' Eugene sighed, staring out of the window while thinking of happier times. 'My old boss, T.Brooks Ellis, the director of the Human Genome Project. He said my hair made me look like and I quote, "A fun guy,". Which I am. I just ain't Samson.'

He had barely stopped speaking when suddenly the bus groaned loudly, swaying on the road while Abraham desperatly tried to keep it steady.

Panic waved through him upon seeing the smoke that was coming out of thing. The brakes screeched loudly as Abraham tried to steer them to safety, cursing while do so but it was useless, as suddenly the bus hit a lonely car on the road.

The vehicle was launched into the air. Milo screamed in pain as his shoulder hit the window while he was being thrown around. Finally they came down, the impact taking his breath away and for a second he just lay there, desperatly gasping for air as the world spun around him in colors and shapes he could not make sense of.

He blinked rapidly, groaning in pain as he turned on his side, trying to make sense of his surroundings. The bus had fallen on its side, meaning he was now laying on the windows, instead of being seated in his chair.

'Eugene!' Abraham called out while everybody was slowly making their way out of the bus.

'Eugene are you okay?' Tara called out.

Milo groaned as he sat up, something was wrong with his arm, it hung weirdly beside him and was hurting like hell. Looking at it he realised it must be dislocated.

'Eugene!' Abraham shouted again, while climbing out of his chair.

'The preacher...didn't see another way out,' the scientist mumbled but Milo didn't really care as the pain in his arm was blinding.

'Everyone okay?' Abraham asked.

'Yeah,' Glenn panted, while helping Maggie up.

'Yes,' Tara also said, climbing from beneath her chair.

It was only then Milo heard the snarls and moans of the walkers. He turned his head to see them pressing themselves against the glass of the back doors of the bus, pounding with their fists against the glass. It wouldn't be long before it would break.

'The engine's on fire, we gotta get out of here,' Rosita's voices cut through the noise the walkers were making.

'Alright,' Glenn said, gesturing at Abraham. 'You and I go first, knock 'em back, clear the way for Maggie, Rosita and Milo to get out, then we all start hitting them, okay?'

'Yeah, all right,' Abraham agreed, climbing from the front to the back. 'We'll do it live.' He pointed at Tara. 'You cover Eugene, come out when it's clear.' The girl nodded at him, taking her knife in her hand.

Milo reached for his axe, biting his lip to try and ignore the pain when Rosita walked up to him.

'Let me,' she said, making him nod. Carefully she placed her hands on his arm and then without any sort of warning she pushed his arm back in.

A startled yelp left his lips, quickly followed by a sigh of relief when the pain slowly subsided.

'All right, everyone ready?' Abraham questioned and upon receiving a few nods he added: 'Okay, on my go!' He took a second to steady himself before giving the signal, kicking against the door to open them. As soon as they were, he and Glenn climbed outside, starting to fight off the walkers as soon as their feet hit the ground.

Milo, Rosita and Maggie were quick to follow. His arm was still hurting, but way less than before but to prevent it from injuring it any further he took his axe in his other arm. Swinging the weapon at the nearest walker, he managed to cut its head clean off. Quickly he spun to take care of the walker behind him, kicking him away before bringing his axe down through its skull.

He pulled the weapon back out, throwing it at another corpse that came stumbling way too close, making the decayed body fall down, lifeless. He ran forwards, picking up the axe, ignoring the blood and brain matter that was stuck to it.

Swinging it once again he cut off the arm of a corpse that had stretched its gray fingers out to him. The limb fell to the ground, right before his feet and Milo bit his lip to not throw up from the smell that came free. Quickly he moved and threw the axe into the forehead of the now one armed walker, sending the corpse to the ground.

Breathing heavily he looked around, seeing the others had taken out all the other corpses that now lay in piles on the ground.

Rosita was sitting on the ground, gathering herself while Abraham pointed at Eugene. 'Check him, see if he's hurt.'

'I'm fine,' the scientist replied. 'Just cuts and dings is all.'

'Check him,' Abraham repeated.

It was Rosita who stood up to see if he was hurt. But Eugene didn't seem too worry about himself and instead pointed at Abraham's hand. A cut was etched into his skin, deep, fresh blood leaking from it.

'Damn thing opened again,' Abraham explained upon seeing his friend's gaze. 'I swear, the cuts are finer than frog's hair. They're just big bleeders.'

'First aid kit's in the bus,' Maggie said, 'I'll see what we have.' But as she turned to walk towards the vehicle the fire from the engine turned out to have spread, setting the entire bus on fire. The flames rose high as they quickly ate through their transport.

'We not stoping,' Abraham said, gesturing at the bus before taking one of the bags that he had somehow taken with him outside, off the ground and put it over his shoulder. 'We'll find another vehicle down the road. The mission hasn't changed.'

'Devil's advocate, nothing more,' Eugene interjected. 'We smashed to a stop hard. We spend a lot of time rolling things out of the road. The church is just 15 miles back that way...'

'No,' Abraham interrupted him roughly. 'We don't stop. We don't go back. We're at war and retreat means we lose. The road fights back, the plan gets jacked. You all know that!' He looked around, as if daring anyone to tell him otherwise. 'Now, we will get through this because we have to. Every direction is a question. We don't go back!'

Then he turned and started walking north, only to be stopped by Glenn. 'Hey, are you okay?' He questioned, frowning.

'I am fit as a damn fiddle,' Abraham shot back.

'We are going with you,' Glenn clarified, 'you are calling this thing. I just need to know you're good.'

Abraham nodded slowly, seeming to gather himself before he answered. 'This is how things stop. I can't afford that right now. The world can't afford it. Listen, I took a pretty hard shot to the sack with that crash. I am stressed and depressed to see that ride die, but if you say we're rolling on, I'm good.'

Glenn slowly nodded. 'We're rolling on.'

'I'm gonna rub some dirt on it and walk it off,' Abraham said.

'Yeah,' Glenn chuckled as Milo bent down to clean his axe with a shirt of one of the walkers he put down. He could use a break, but moving seemed like the best option to him too.

'We'll find what we need like we always have,' Rosita added. 'On the way.'

'Okay,' Maggie agreed, then added with a smile. 'I'm not rubbing dirt on anything.'

'All right,' Abraham said, nodding while looking around, as if he couldn't believe he truly had people backing him up. Then he shook himself out of it and started heading down the road again, followed by the rest.