XXXI. everything dies

Mia felt the after effects of the bus crash. Her body hurt more than anything, being flung around like she was. Rosita rechecked the stitches on her head, saying that she'd been just fine. She kept the pain she was feeling to herself. She looked through the books that were left on the shelves.

"This town isn't in bad shape." She heard Maggie say from the other room. "This store wasn't even touched. We could make a good base here. Could spent one last day doing a sweep for supplies."

"We'll sweep as we go. We've done it since Houston. We're not stopping now." Rosita declared, eyeing Abraham as she talked.

He was satisfied with her answer. "You heard the lady. We're taking it north."

"Mia got pretty banged up yesterday. I don't think it's a good idea to head out right now." Glenn spoke from the doorway, his gun held tightly in his hands.

Mia didn't want to be the reason they stopped. Getting Eugene to Washington was important. Her pain wasn't. She quickly walked into the room they were all in. "I'm okay," she announced, giving Glenn a nod. "It's just a little pain. I won't die." She thought about that statement. "Well, not now, at least."

Tara snorted at that. Maggie gave her a look. "See? Little lady says she's fine." Abraham insisted with delight.

"We tapped out the toilet. Broad River is five miles west." Tara told them while looking at a map she found. "At the very least, we stock up from there before we find wheels."

"We got a vehicle." He stated and stood from his chair. He made his way to the door, which they had boarded up with cardboard. "Just so happens. . ." He peeked behind the board. "It's for 500 gallons of water on it."

Mia should've expected they weren't luck enough to find a vehicle that works. She stood by Glenn's side and watched Abraham throw a tantrum over the fire truck not running. ". . . There is no damn corner of this damned Earth that has not been dicked hard behind all damned recognition." He fumed and swiftly picked up a plastic bag from the ground. He started trying to pick the remains from the radiator."

"Abraham?" Said Rosita.

"What?"

"That feeds the radiator. The intake for the engine is actually on the roof."

Mia grinned at her knowledge.

Abraham paused what he was doing and looked at her. Slowly, and quietly, he nodded. Mia felt something hit her leg and she looked down, seeing that it was a fire. Furrowing her brows, she and the others looked to the cracked open door. Her eyes went wide when the stack of tires fell, snarling walkers stumbling out. "Oh, shit!"

"Tara, Maggie!" Glenn shouted for the girls.

Just as Mia was about to take out her weapon, Abraham grabbed his gun. "One damn time!" He hollered and started swinging at the walkers.

Glenn followed suit. Mia clutched her knife and stabbed the head of a walker that came for her.

"Abraham, just wait!" Shouted Rosita.

"Mia, back up!" Maggie yelled and grabbed her arm.

"No, I'm helping!" She dismissed and jerked her arm back. She stabbed another walker in the head. Then she sliced one's throat and it fell to the ground by her feet, allowing her to stand over it and stab it through the brain.

"There's more from the back. Mia, watch out!" Glenn shouted at her.

She swiftly turned around and saw more walkers appeared from the front of the fire truck. "Seriously?" Mia huffed and held her knife again.

Eugene took the water hose and started spraying the walkers from top of the truck. Blood mixed with water on the ground and the undead creatures toppled into each other. It kept them away at the moment, the strong force breaking apart their rotting flesh and limbs. Mia blinked multiple times, shocked that it was working.

"I've been to eight county fairs and one goat rodeo. I never seen anything like that." Abraham said loudly.

Mia looked up. "Nice job, Eugene." She praised.

"Thank you, Miss Amelia." He said back with one singular nod.

"There was a Goodwill over there by the bookstore. It's pretty blown up, but there might be some supplies, some dry clothes, maybe?" Glenn suggested.

"Not necessary." Abraham denied.

Mia cringed at the wet feeling of her shoes. "Really?"

"Yes, really. I can't clear intake in two shakes." He declared and walked around to the back of the truck. "Then the engine will get some wind and so will we." They watched him walk on the roof. "You'll air-dry. We roll on." Suddenly, he started to laugh. Cackle, more like it.

Mia glanced at Rosita, looking confused. The woman looked behind her and saw the words sick inside, let them die written in red on the ground where all the dead walkers laid.

"What? This shit is screwed up!" He cackled again, his face turning as red as his hair.

Mia scratched the side of her cheek. "Maybe that toilet water's going to his head." She said out loud, earning laughs from everyone else. She backed up when he started throwing the bloody remains on the ground, making her cringe.

Again, she didn't know why she was surprised. The truck ran good for few miles when they left the town. Mia thought there was a good chance that they'd get to Washington without any problems. But then the truck broke down again. She needed to quit jinxing them. She sat inside the fire truck with Abraham, watching as he tired getting it to start again. "What was your life like before?" She uttered. She'd been wondering about him since the day they met. He was a tough man. There was a roughness to him. Mia wondered if he was born like that or forced to be like that.

Abraham paused at the question. "Why do you ask?" He wondered and continued walking around the back.

"I've been wondering. I know it's not nice to ask, but, you're an interesting guy. Just wondering if you had an interesting life."

"My old life's not important anymore, little lady." He dismissed.

"Everyone's story's important." Mia declared.

"Not mine. Believe me." Abraham continued to dodge. He glanced at her. "I'm not much for chattin'."

She hummed sarcastically. "Clearly."

Suddenly, an awful smell filled the truck as he opened the hatch. "Oh, god." Mia gagged and quickly went to get out.

"Whoa, what the hell is that?" Glenn said when he smelled it.

"What?" Maggie appeared from behind the truck.

"The wind's picking up. You're about to smell it."

"Smells like something died." Said Mia and she covered her nose. "Which is probably what it is."

As the wind blew, the smell became more distinctive and they all gagged. "What is that?"

Abraham closed the hatch back. "Whatever's making that stench, it ain't nothin nice."

"No shit." Mia spoke out loud and gagged again.

"We're not stoppin'."

"Uh, we're stopped." Tara stated the obvious.

"Really?"

"Mia." Maggie warned as she started to laugh.

She shrugged. "Sorry." She began walking with them down the road.

When they made their way over the hill, the stopped when they saw a rundown farm ahead of them. Hundreds and hundreds of walkers were growing. Mia felt her stomach drop at the sight.

Glenn shook his head and turned around. "Let's go." He muttered to them.

"Don't have to tell me twice." She agreed and turned around.

"Abraham." Said Rosita.

He continued to stand there.

"Abraham, let's get out of here."

Abraham turned his head and looked at them all. "Hold up." He stated.

"We gotta go." Said Maggie.

"No. No, we don't. They can't hear us and they can't see us. Not from here. We're fine."

"Yeah, this is the definition of "fine"." Tara spoke sarcastically.

"We need the map. There's gotta be a detour." Said Glenn.

"I'm not doing it." Abraham said stubbornly. "We detoured and detoured and detoured from Houston to Georgia. I'm not playing that game anymore."

He walked past them and stormed up behind him. "We are not going through this, okay? It isn't gonna happen." He stated, finding his logic insane.

Abraham turned around and faced him. "You got a shitstorm behind door A and a storm of shit behind door B. If you're lucky, it's walkers or a shot-up truck. But sooner or later you get cornered. You wind up stayin' and you wind up killin'. We don't go back. We can't go back."

When he turned back around, Glenn raised his hand. "I'm not talking about going back. Just south a few miles."

Again, Abraham said no.

"We are literally cornered though." Said Mia, looking to her side at Rosita.

"I know." She muttered back while sighing.

"We already hit a full stop cause of an air filter compromised by innards. That will happen again." Spoke Eugene.

"Then we'll hit em with the hose."

"That tank is empty, Abraham." Rosita stated firmly, trying to get through to him.

"If we floor it—"

"They'll still slow us down." Mia said loudly, his stubbornness annoying her.

"I'm not saying we just go straight!" He yelled at her.

"Hey, don't yell at her!" Glenn snapped.

"That's the way the road goes," Maggie tried to remain calm.

"Abraham—"

"We can get through! I know it!" He fumed. "And that means we are not going south, going around, or going back!"

"No." They turned and looked at Rosita. "They're right." She proclaimed.

Abraham stared at her for a second. He looked at the walker infested road again and nodded to himself. He turned around and stormed off, taking Eugene by the arm.

"Hey, Abraham."

"Hey! Hey!" Glenn exclaimed.

"What are you doing? Stop!" Yelled Tara.

"Let go of him."

"I'm not going to let you do this."

"Yes, you are."

"Hey, hey, stop."

"Hey, you are done! You're done!" Glenn shouted in his face and shoved him.

"Do not! Do not!"

"STOP!" Mia yelled with a crack in her voice.

They started fighting while Abraham kept his grip on Eugene. "I told you, you do not touch me! You do not touch me!"

His rage caused him to push Rosita to the ground. Mia grabbed Glenn's arm as Abraham tried to shove him. "Stop! Let him go!" She yelled with spit flying from her mouth.

"Abraham!"

"Let him go!"

"I'm not a scientist! I'm not a scientist!"

Suddenly, everybody stopped and looked at Eugene. His chin trembled. "I lied. I'm not a scientists. I don't know how to stop it."

The hand Mia had gripped around Glenn's arm slowly unraveled. A pit formed in her stomach as she stared at the man in disbelief.

Eugene sniffled. "I'm not a scientist."

So many things went through her head at one time, making her feel so dizzy. Mia continued to stare at him as shame and regret colored his face. She brought one of her shaking hands to her mouth and covered it.

No words were said. They all stared at Eugene with different reactions. Confusion, disappointment, anger. Rosita finally stood from the ground. "You are a scientist. I've seen the things that you can do." She claimed.

"I just know things."

"You just. . . 'know things'?" Glenn repeated the words in disbelief.

"I know I'm smarter than most people, I know I'm a very good liar—" Mia started to feel sick. "—and I know I needed to get to DC."

"You've been lying this entire time?" She voiced shakily.

"Yes, because I do believe that locale holds the strongest possibility for survival, and I wanted to survive." He explained pathetically. "If I could cheat some people into taking me there, well, I just reasoned that I'd be doin' them a solid, too, considering the perilous state of the city of Houston, the state of everything."

Mia watched Abraham drop and lean on his legs like the new information was weighing him down. She ran her hands through her hair and tried to keep from throwing up.

"People died trying to get you here," said Rosita. There was a crack in her voice.

"I'm aware of that — Stephanie, Warren, Pam, Rex, Roger, Josiah, Dirk, and Josephine. And Bob."

Mia's hearing wavered until she almost heard nothing. She felt as if she wasn't present. Like she was on a different planet. Maybe she wanted to be. Maybe she wanted to escape to a different world where people around her weren't dying and she didn't have to kill. Where her family was and where she could be happy. Where Carl, Rick, Sasha, Maggie, Glenn, and all of them could be with her. Where the people she loved weren't dead.

But she wasn't on that planet. She was trapped in a broken world where she thought there'd be a chance of saving it. That she'd be able to get justice for what happened to her family. But it was all a lie. A shaky breath passed by her lips and her legs felt weak.

Tears leaked from her eyes when Abraham stood from the ground and punched Eugene in the face. Her legs finally gave out and she fell to her knees. She wasn't fazed by Tara and Glenn trying to get him away. In fact, she felt like she couldn't move. It was all a lie. It was all a lie. She pressed her hands firmly to the ground and tears fell on her skin, making her realize she was crying.

They tried getting Eugene to wake up, seeing that he was knocked out cold. "Mia? Mia, come on." Glenn uttered and went to help her up.

"No," she muttered. She wasn't loud enough because he grabbed her arm. "No!" She said louder and snappier. She ripped her arm out of his grasp.

"Mia—"

"NO!" She cried out and managed to get up herself. "I-I-I—" she stuttered uncontrollably. She glanced at the women who were around Eugene, their eyes on her now. "It was all a lie. Everything."

Glenn stepped toward her. "Hey, Mia—"

"I-I watched my family be ripped apart in f-f-front of me. I watched them die." She cried while stuttering. She raised her shaking hands to her hair. "I was going to get justice. I thought—I thought this was it."

"I'm so sorry, Mia." Rosita spoke with her own eyes watering.

Bile rose in her throat. "I'm going to be sick." She said and dropped to her knees again. The nausea got worse and she threw up on the grass. More tears formed in her eyes.

Maggie stood up and she watched Glenn bend down and put his hand on her back. "It's okay, Mia."

"It's not okay." She sobbed. She closed her eyes dug her hands into the dirt. "It's never going to be okay."

The blood that haunted her for so long rose to the surface again. It stained her hands and her clothes. She cried when she could hear her brother's screams of pain. When she could feel his body weight on her as she killed him. It all came back at once. It was never going to end. She killed her brother and she was going to die. That's always how it was going to end.