The Dead World/Issue 72

A few hours later, things had calmed down from the zombie herd on the road and the group had now decided that they should move on although they didn't have any destination and was just driving, hoping to come across any supplies or a house to stay in.

Following Will and Bella on the motorcycle, Anthony sighed as he was starting to fall asleep at the wheel, he hadn't got much sleep the other night but he refused to let anyone else drive the RV, just in case something went wrong.

"boo" Karen said in his ear making him nearly shout as he jolted awake glaring at her while she just laughed, sitting down on the chair next to his and after a couple of minutes they remained like that until Anthony spoke up.

"yeh, yeh laugh it up...karma is a bitch so watch out" Anthony warned but Karen just stuck out her tongue still smiling before they shared a look and both smiled, blushing slightly as they both looked other ways.

"so....we going to talk about our, ummm moment?" Anthony asked after a few moments of silence and Karen shrugged turning to look at him again with a raised eyebrow.

"well not much to talk about really, it just comes down to do you want to be in a relationship with me or not?" Karen asked making Anthony cough in embarrassment while playing with the collar of his shirt.

"well, I...ummm would like to be in a relationship with you?" Anthony literally pushed out of his mouth causing Karen to resist laughing as she listened to him. She really liked him herself but him when embarrassed was hilarious.

"do you want to be in one?" Anthony asked finally and Karen pretended to think about it for a laugh but when he looked kind of down about it she leaned over and kissed him full on the lips much to his surprise.

"what do you think?" Karen asked playfully but his face told her he wasn't thinking anything causing her to roll her eyes as she sat back in the chair. The two of them going into a comfortable silence...

Until the RV's radiator hose suddenly broke sending steam everywhere outside and causing Karen to shriek, briefly chuckling at her shriek Anthony pulled the RV over to the side signaling the truck behind them to stop.

"told you karmas a bitch..." Anthony mumbled to her resulting in a glare from her in response.

Getting off/out of their vehicles, some of the group kept an eye out for trouble while Will, Anthony, Bella and Karen gathered around the front to check the damage to the engine...which turned out worse that they thought when more smoke came out after Anthony took off the hood.

"god damn it, the hose is completely gone" Anthony stated as he waved away all the smoke sharing a look with Will before Karen spoke up.

"so?" Karen asked but Bella just rolled her eyes as she pushed them out of the way lightly and bended in to the engine to check the damage for herself, the men gentlemanly averting their eyes.

"it may not be completely gone but it is fucked, I could try and fix it or we could try and find a new one...the latter is very unlikely to be successful" Bella told them as she surveyed the damage.

"how'd you know that?" Anthony asked surprised that she knew all of that but she just shrugged as she looked at him squinting her eyes through the smoke.

"I was an air force mechanic, not exactly the same but I can give it a go" Bella stated in response while Will just sighed and rubbed the back of his head in thought as he looked around. They were in the middle of nowhere, where the hell was they meant to find a radiator hose.

"can we not try and carry on with out an RV?" Anthony asked the question again but he got his answer when they all gave him the look.

"that RV holds our things that we have worked hard to keep, if we put it in the truck it all will get wet or something as well as the fact that RV carries people we need a RV or something that can hold all our stuff and FIVE people" Will told him causing him to sigh and kick the RV in frustration.

"god just fucking hates us don't he" Anthony shouted drawing the attention from the rest of the group but they soon shrugged it off.

"Bella you and Anthony see what you can do with the RV, me and Karen will look around see what we can find" Will stated but Anthony just grumbled.

"look around WHERE?!" Anthony exclaimed but Karen put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down slightly.

"Will and me can take the motorcycle, check out places near here" Karen whispered to him and they all nodded in agreement.

Watching Will and Karen ride away on the motorcycle, Maria realized she had forgotten to give Will back his knife but when she held it in her hands she smiled at how she felt adult like holding it, until Lily came over gasping in shock.

"where did you get that?!!" Lily exclaimed but Emily stopped Lily from taking it off of the little girl and first here what she had to say.

"I took it off of Will during the zombie attack....I killed a zombie with it!!" Maria exclaimed and Lily sighed sharing a look with Emily.

"does he know you still have his knife?" Emily asked but Maria shook her head causing the girls to sigh again and nod to each other.

"although he did notice I'd taken it" Maria said making a confused face so the two lesbians shrugged.

"I know we told him to train Maria but...I think bringing a zombie herd may have been a bit to far" Emily joked with a smile on her face causing Lily not to help but smile too. At least Maria knew how to defend herself now.

The two of them rode for a while, coming across nothing but more and more trees and roads causing them to get frustrated. If they didn't find another RV or a radiator hose the group would be screwed.

"you think we'll be lucky and one will pop out of the sky?" Karen asked sarcastically but he wasn't in a joking mood and instead kept on riding, shaking his head in determination of finding one.

After a few moments Karen tapped his shoulder lightly before whispering in his ear "maybe we should go back, we don't want the motorcycle to heat up like the RV-" Karen started to suggest but Will soon skidded the vehicle to a halt nearly making Karen fall off if she hadn't been holding on to him.

"you wanna go back?!!! you can walk, I'm trying to make sure the group don't lose all their supplies or have you failed to notice that?" Will shouted in her face making her wince at having pissed him off but she still held her own.

"I'm only making sure we don't lose another vehicle you stupid asshole!!" she shouted back at him not regretting her words one bit.

"I'm the stupid one?, ha ok sure the one making all the god damn decisions and doing EVERYTHING for this group is the one that's stupid, ok. What about you? what the fuck have YOU done for this group?" he asked causing Karen to grumble and glare at him.

"explains why everything is going wrong because YOU are the one deciding what we do!!" Karen shouted but all Will did was laugh at her excuses for making an argument.

"YEH? well at least I try!" Will exclaimed and before Karen could stop herself, she said it...she regretted it but she knew she couldn't take it back.

"at least I didn't randomly attack some crazy guy's group and get someone's boyfriend killed before disappearing for a whole night because I lost my stupid fucking girlfriend!!!!!" Karen shouted holding her hand to her mouth in shock after she said it.

For a few moments Will just glared at her with a look that made her happy that looks couldn't kill before he finally spoke with such venom in his voice "get.off" he said quietly but she just stared at him in shock.

"I'm sorry..." she said but he ignored her and repeated his sentence so she got off the motorcycle saying another apology but he just speeded off down the road...leaving her to walk back to the group.

Watching Will ride away, Karen mentally face palmed at being so stupid. How the hell could she say that to him? HIM of all people. He's done everything he could to protect EVERYONE in the group and she just went ahead and said that to him.

She seriously felt like a bitch now, she told herself as she began walking back to the where the group had stopped on the road, keeping an eye out for any trouble that might pop out of the trees.

However she wasn't prepared when two people came walking out of the woods lost in chat, something about cold weather and animals until they turned to walk down her way, seeing her and raising their guns on instinct making her raise her hands in defence.

Looking them over, Karen saw one was a pretty woman who was currently looking her down as well, trying to see whether Karen would be a threat or not but smirked when she saw no weapon causing Karen to growl as she could tell what she was thinking. NO WEAPON?...what an idiot.

The man however was completely different, his eyes were calm obviously trying to see whether she was a threat or not but was more nicer than the woman and seemed to be feeling a little sorry for her at how she was alone without a weapon.

"look I don't know who you two are...but I'm just going back to my group that is all, don't want to kill you and even if I did how could I?" she asked gesturing to her not having a weapon and the two shared a look, the woman sighing.

"Harris, you cant be serious? she could've seen our camp!!" the woman exclaimed but he just gave a small sigh.

"oh Angelica, what ever happened to you to make you like you are?" Harris said with such wise ness in his voice Karen had to stop herself from laughing.

"the world ended, didn't you get the memo? we got to be careful about the people we come across" Angelica told him but he just shook his head chuckling.

"if we were careful about who we helped, our little community would be empty" Harris told her in response causing a sigh to fall from her lips.

"yeh...I'm surprised "our little community" hasn't fallen yet because of the amount of people we've took in" she responded but before he could say anything Karen spoke up excited.

"you have a community?!!!" she nearly shouted before going quiet again so she wouldn't draw any unwanted attention. Again the two's reactions were completely different, Angelica cursed and shook her head as she began walking down the road while Harris gave her a warm smile.

"yes we do, I'm Harris that lovely woman is Angelica" he said earning a "fuck you" from said woman while he shook Karen's hand smiling even more as he heard her telling him her own name.

"do you still accept people into it?" she asked excitedly and again he nodded, the warm smile still on his face.

"yep, would you and your little group like to join?" he asked in return remembering her saying something about going back to her group and she nodded smiling herself now.

"yeh, is it ok if you tell me where to go and I can go back and discuss it with my group?" she asked and Harris chuckled as he got out a map and pointed out where to go.

"its a small camp nearby Andrews here" Harris said pointing to a spot circled on the map before handing her the map itself "its surrounded by a medium sized fence and we tend to live in our RV's or tents" Harris said causing Karen to get even more excited.

"RV's?!! does that mean you have spare radiator hose's?" Karen asked and Harris chuckled nodding while Angelica roller her eyes from the distance. Great not only is he telling her where we live but he's giving her a hose...she thought to herself, not trusting Karen at all.

"great can you come and pick us up then? we're down here somewhere" Karen said pointing on the map and he agreed before the two shook hands.

"i'll get there as soon as I can" Harris told her and the two exchanged their good byes before Karen headed back to the rest of the group leaving Harris and Angelica alone again.

"you shouldn't trust her" Angelica stated but he just shook his head watching as Karen went around the corner.

"I will never stop trusting people" he told her making Angelica scoff but she couldn't help but envy him a little....she wished she could trust people and the world hadn't been so cold to her.

Riding down the road, Will tried to hold in his anger as he concentrated on where he was going, although he was unsure on where he was actually heading. How dare she say those things about him?

Who was it that had saved Logan earlier? who had saved Maria back in GeorgeTown? who had saved Karen herself back in Charleston? HIM, it was always him that came to save the day as well as their lives and she dared say that about him....

However after a few moments he sighed and swerved the motorcycle to a halt as he looked down the empty road and realized that she was right, he had just randomly left the group, he had attacked Riley's bandits and got Daniel killed....he was the one that caused them all to have to leave GeorgeTown.

Turning to look back at the road he had come down he thought for a few moments. The only sounds being made was the wind blowing through the trees and the sounds of insects hoping about...nearly complete silence.

He could leave the group right now, ride off and forget all about them as he survived on his own. That was what he was originally doing before he met Natasha, surviving on his own so the only one he would have to care for is himself, the only death he would blame himself for...would be himself.

Truth be told though, he couldn't bring himself to do it. These people were his life now, they were the reason he kept surviving, to protect them was his only goal. If he hadn't had met Natasha on that road a while ago, he would've gave up a long time ago....

Turning the motorcycle around, Will rided back down the way he had come, knowing he'd easily be able to find and catch up with Karen never mind what way she had went. He had a duty now, he had to protect his group, never mind the cost....