Even in the cold the sun beat down on the back of Wyatt's neck while he stretched himself over the exposed engine of the box truck. He gnced down and saw Bonnie below him, she was crouched down looking at the underside of some of the wiring while Wyatt had climbed up on top to investigate the valve levels. She wasn't too far away, though she was wearing that straw sun hat that rarely left her head, and when it did it hung from a string around her neck, the hat shielded her from the harsh sunlight and kept her from getting a grimace like Wyatt's.

  Wyatt grumbles. He rubbed his face, flinching briefly when he lightly prodded at his puffy eye and felt a sting of pain. Yep. Still sore.Despite the heavy rays from the sun there was still a deep chill in the air that rolled down from the snow capped Aryt Drak Mountains. Wyatt adjusted the colr of his hunting jacket to better shield his neck, then he shrugged his shoulders.

  Bonnie's expression wasn't a normal one for her face, it looked odd, the angry angle of her brows contrasted with her round features in a scary way. Her face contorted sternly. Almost seething. However she was keeping it to herself as she worked diligently on the truck. She started to take deep breaths, attempting to calm herself down, ease her fluctuating anger, she stuck her arms in the exposed space around the cooled engine. Light taps of her tools echoed against the metal before she huffed, cocking her head to look at the rusting edges of the flipped open hood.

  Wyatt took notice, he opened his mouth then closed it. Gncing down to the engine before returning to attempt to look her in the eye but her hat made that impossible “You okay?” he asked, shifting back to better rest his leg against the thick shell.

  “I'm surprised nobodies askin' you that.” Bonnie scoffed, snapping her head to the side as rolled her eyes and sighed. Then she looked up and met his eye, or tried to under the bill of her wide brimmed hat “You doin’ okay?” she asked softly. Then she blew out a puff of air knocking away a few loose strands from her eyes.

  “Awh please,” Wyatt said, forcing a dry, humorless sort of chuckle, “This ain't nothing, trust me Bonnie.” he said sniffling, then he tried to bring confidence to his face, fshing a grin. It wavered, a bit unsure, then whatever had puffed him up quickly left him as his expression fell, turning to bury his face back into their repair project he then cleared his throat.

  Bonnie huffed.She wanted to continue. She wanted to keep asking questions, she wanted to grill him but Bonnie wasn't a pusher, or she never wanted to be, she looked up again and stole a gnce at Wyatt's neutral frown.Bonnie just had one more thing to say.

  When she opened her mouth however, Arlene stepped up to them, so she stopped. If she was going to bring up something sensitive she sure as heavens won't spill Wyatt's business in front of his sister. Not when she feels she's built up some sort of a trust with Wyatt after their many encounters on the road to and from Benslow from their respective, reclusive, housings.

  Arlene gave them both a forced smile because her face clearly shows frustration. Taking in a deep breath she spoke up “How is it?” she asked as she looked between the both of them.

  “Alright.” Wyatt replied.

  “Do you have everything you need?” Arlene asked, cocking her head to try and better meet Wyatt's eye as Bonnie had her head buried in the open chassis. He simply shook his head no. “I cooled Ralph down,” Arlene remarked, as if trying to continue any sort of conversation “He won't be taking any swings at Decker at least.” she added with a forced ugh.

  “Uh huh.” Bonnie grumbled.

  Arlene pinched her brow together, a bit taken off guard by her response, but she moved on easily enough, crossing her arms she looked back and forth between the car and the slow meander of the other survivors as they chatted or moved around them.Iona peeled away from her wagon and approached the truck, which Arlene noticed as the two repairing were too engrossed to notice.

  Gncing back and forth between the rger group Iona trailed to them, Arlene gave her a short wave but didn't speak up, waiting for Iona to instead.

  However Iona simply studied the van, looking at the open hood and the machinery once hidden beneath and without much fanfare at all she turned to Bonnie “How are repairs going?” she asked pinly.

  “Alright.” Bonnie parroted Wyatt. Even simir in tone, though it made Bonnie sound more angry than she meant, even if she was still fuming, just not at Iona.

  “How long do you think it will take?” she asked as she crossed her arms across her chest, shifting her stance to send a look Wyatt's way, expecting one of them to answer. Iona knew she'd have better luck with Bonnie and turned her attention to her.

  She was right. Bonnie replied to her again, not that Wyatt was ignoring her. He was mindlessly biting at his bottom lips as he tightened the cap after draining an oil jug into the engine “Just needs a tune up.” Bonnie replied “Ran the thing too hard 'n it broke down, ain't gonna be too long gettin' it back up 'n runnin'. If City Man knows where the keys are anyway, he sure in Hells' ain't givin' 'em to us.”

  “I'm not askin'.” Wyatt said pinly, but he was attempting humor.

  “Nancy will get them.” Arlene quickly added, almost interrupting him.

  “Good.” Iona's gaze trailed to the van the twins were in, squinting at the slight movement inside.

  Arlene took notice, gncing down as she dug the tip of her boot into the cracked concrete below her “Fronie's fever is getting worse, she keeps thrashing in her sleep.” Arlene expined lowly, her voice was quiet and a bit nervous, like she didn't want the others to hear “Bed rest will do her good, are we close to this pce?” she ended with a question.

  “I don't know.” Iona's voice was near snapping but she reigned it in, gring forward but at nothing in particur. “It's Decker's pn. Remember.” she crified, feeling like she had to add something after her sharp reply.

  Arlene shook her head getting more frustrated at the sound of his name, she huffed, looking around until she spotted her brothers' truck, and her older brother inside, she made a wide, surprised gesture, before spping her hand down onto her thigh “I guess me and Ralph will go check some of these cars.” she said with a vague gesture over her shoulder “Maybe I'll grab Renáta too,” then she chuckled jokingly “She can be my buffer.” with forced humor.

  “Keep 'n eye out.” Wyatt warned, suddenly looking up from the gauges to meet her eye, while she wouldn't call it a warm expression Wyatt gave her a long look to prove his worry, then he looked back to the machine hoping to get the thing working again.

  “Will do.” Arlene nodded. Then she turned, moving towards the other cars were most everyone else was hanging around, Dixie and Iona's parents were in their own cars, Penelope was sat in the open door of her mother's van with El-Mae sitting dejectedly on the ground beside her, still giving her best effort to entertain Penelope and give interest in whatever book she had on her p but with a gnce you could tell her heart wasn't in it, still thinking of Fronie.

  Shifting her weight to her other leg Arlene turned ever so slight and brought two fingers to her mouth, she let out a high whistle that seemed to be a known call as Ralph's head shot up and sought her out, when they met eyes Arlene waved him over and Ralph reluctantly pushed himself up out of his seat, grabbing his crossbow he began to saunter towards her.

  “Be back in a bit.” she announced to everyone around her before she moved towards the sleek car Renáta was in.

  As she approached Ralph fell into an easy gait beside her, he nodded at her but didn't speak up.

  Renáta was leaning zily against the car door in an attempt to be comfortable, her eyes were rolling over the pages of the book on her p, by the distant look on her face it was obvious she wasn't enthralled.

  Arlene tapped on the window and startled her, she shut the book without marking what page she was on. The cover has an artist's rendering of the pnet and the surrounding stars, it was a whimsical depiction but Arlene didn't manage to catch the title before Renáta put it to the side and stepped outside. She shut the door and faced them with a smile fit for acquaintances. She kept her eyes mostly on Arlene, as Ralph picked at his tusk with his tongue.

  "Hi." she greeted softly.

  "Hey, we're going to check some of those cars for supplies or gas, want to lend a hand?" Arlene asked, giving a reassuring smile when Renáta looked worried, her hand unconsciously folding over the bandages around her arm.

  Still. Renáta swallowed and nodded "Sure." she replied, she wasn't thrilled but she was honest when she said she wanted to help more.

  Renáta then quickly looked around, then into her car, then down at her hands."Um-" Ralph cut her off unintentionally, with a quick remark "What'Cha looking for sweet cheeks?" wearing a smirk on his face.

  "A weapon." she replied, quick and low.

  "We'll grab something for you, c'mon." Arlene said with a quick wave.

  Renáta weaved around her car's front and trailed just a few feet from Arlene, they moved forward and Renáta took in the details of the rge box truck beside her. It was from a moving company that was popur all over Edgeridge. It looked incredibly worn, the paint was scratched so poorly it was nearly unrecognizable but the color scheme definitely remained and from what she was able to tell there was a bit of their oval-shaped logo.

  Ralph let out a deep yawn as he stumbled behind them, scratching the back of his neck after. His eyes wandered the area around them with a zy gleam. He wasn't taking in the details of the sparse bunches of tall field thistle with small but brilliant purple blooms, nor the far off rger bustles of long bdes of grass and thicker stems with almost pinecone like bulbs spotting the tips.

  He was searching for any obvious undead, there were no far off figures or moving creatures, he didn't notice any immediate dangers so his gaze trailed back in front of him, at the two women, eyes lingering a bit longer on Renáta.

  Bonnie took a deep breath, giving Renáta a nod of greeting before Arlene spoke up "Bon, can Renáta borrow the bat in your wagon?" she asked and Bonnie just nodded yes in reply, the usual energetic fir was long gone as her teeth grinded together.

  "Are you okay?" Renáta asked suddenly, now standing slightly in front of Arlene as she moved closer, cocking her head trying to better see Bonnie's expression but the farm owner sure wasn't giving her any attention as all her focus was kept on fixing the engine in front of her.

  "Fine." Bonnie said as she stepped back, setting the wrench back into her tool box she pushed away from the truck and walked towards her own car, which still had the trunk pulled up and open from when she gathered the needed supplies to tune up the truck.

  Ralph scoffed "What crawled up her ass?" he asked, adjusting the crossbow strap that rubbed against his neck.

  "Decker has that effect on people." Arlene said jokingly, shaking her head just a bit when she was met with Renáta’s confusion but she kept her attention towards Bonnie, watching her dig through the back until she produced the wooden baseball bat.

  Ralph chuckled, following her line of view to look at Bonnie as well, but his face didn't hold the concern hers did. "Heh," he scoffed "Better watch out there lil brother, yer gonna lose 'er to 'uh hate fuck." Ralph joked, chuckling to himself as Wyatt did nothing but gre at him before returning to his work.Then Ralph peeked up at Wyatt, clearly displeased at the ck of attention.

  Bonnie returned before he had a moment to say something else, she handed the bat over to Renáta without another word and swiftly returned to working on the moving truck.

  "Thank you." Renáta blubbered. She then trotted to quickly catch up as two of the three McKinley siblings began the walk towards a few cars that were long abandoned by fleeing civilians, or by those who succumbed to infection and left the machines to seek out uninfected bodies.

  The first target they pnned on hitting was a rge bubbled truck, bck and rounded at near every edge, the bed was mostly empty but they felt like they might as well search it anyway, they'd siphon the gas from it ter.It was only a few yards from Nancy's car. As they passed by her SUV they noticed Nancy with her head against the wheel of the car, she was exasperated, now and again looking up to shout something at Dominic, who wore a mixture of shame and regret on his face.

  Renáta and Ralph were looking elsewhere but Arlene noticed. She just looked away. Chest tightening.

  Meanwhile, Iona stepped away from the repair duo and walked over towards her parents once again. Ruth was sitting in the backseat, her hands gripping the seat and the handle of the inside of the door.She was breathing heavily as Irvin fanned her with his hands, when Iona saw how red her mother's face was she flushed with panic and ran to her side "Mom?" she called as her hand nded on her shoulder.

  She rubbed gently. Trying to comfort her as best she could "Are you okay? Deep breaths." Iona reassured, her neutral expression cracking into deep worriment "Dad get her meds." Iona said, it wasn't a command nor really a question, sort of her just simply speaking.

  Irvin flustered but remained in pce.

  "No, no," Ruth wheezed out before bringing a hand to her chest as if that would calm her rapid heartbeat "No need I'm fine." she assured, trying and failing to wave her off, she smiled but quickly began coughing. Sucking in air in a frantic way as Iona rubbed her back as gently as she could.

  "No you obviously need it," Iona said as she turned to meet her father's eyes, he was frozen, eyes wide watching his wife and daughter as his hands shook like there was an earthquake, Iona huffed and waved her hand fast "Go! Dad, what are you doing!" she shouted, eyes squinting in frustration.

  Ruth gently grabbed Iona's wrist trying to pull her back, steal her attention with a smile, Ruth was huffing, finishing her coughing fit, she patted Iona's hand with her other "I'm fine," she wheezed "I'm fine sweetie." she assured but the shake in her body and the way her face contorted as sharp bolts of ache ran through her body.

  "Fine." Iona yanked away from Ruth but made sure she didn't hurt her at all, snapping around with a massive frown on her face "I'll get them myself." she added but before she managed to storm to the trunk Ruth's voice sounded again.

  "Iona." This time her call was stern. Deep. Then Ruth coughed again, waving Iona to return to her side which she reluctantly did.Ruth gnced at Irvin who couldn't look her in the eye, his expression drained to such a deep shame he didn't have the heart to. His chest was tight and he felt the sting of tears he tried to force away. She didn't look away. "Your father has done the best he can in taking care of me." the warmth in her gaze and her voice returned as she stared at the man she loves "He's massaged my aching bones, fanned me through my hot fshes," she coughed "He's dealt with me waking him up every ten minutes with my coughing." she added pyfully.

  "And?" Iona's voice shook as she asked her questions, eyes searching her mother's strained expression.

  "I ran out of pills almost a week ago." Ruth stated pinly.

  "What!" Iona exploded, her voice screaming so loud that if there were any birds left around they would have flown away in fear from the sudden bellow "Why didn't you tell me!" Iona shouted, stepping back to now wave her arms as her emotions overwhelmed her, her voice started and stopped over and over again. Words failing her.

  Irvin looked down at his feet.

  "We aren't going to find my medication at any normal drug store Iona, you know that."

  "I, but," she shook in frustration "If you would have told me we could have done something! We, we, we could check hospitals or something-" "Iona." Ruth spoke over her again.

  "We both know you're smarter than that." Ruth said with a smile.

  "What, what, that, what does that mean?" Iona's stuttering panic came hoarsely, straining her tone to a near whine.

  "We keep going of course." Ruth replied with absolutely no uncertainty in her voice. She reached out and gently took Iona's hand again. She caressed her thumb over the top of her hand letting her warmth seep into Iona "It's okay baby." Ruth said when she noticed the tears in her eyes.

  Ruth couldn't force herself to stand no matter how much she wanted to, instead she pulled, dragging Iona close enough to hug "You're too strong for tears, baby." Ruth said as she gently rubbed her back trying to soothe her, Iona did her best to hold back her tears but she trembled in her mother's hold.

  "I'm doing okay." Ruth added softly. Irvin approached, he gingerly pced a hand on both of their shoulders showing his support, his head leaning forward to rest gently against Ruth's.

  "Mom..." Iona whined into her neck, burying her face against her mother desperately fighting the sting of tears, Ruth just strokes her comfortingly. Trying to ease her best she could.

  Irvin opened his mouth to attempt to comfort the both of them but suddenly they heard a loud bang, startling the three, and just about everyone looked down the road.

  The three scavengers, Arlene, Ralph, and Renáta, were at that bck truck and they could see Ralph spping the hood over and over again.

  He was ughing.

  In the front seat was an infected Veriyn, their body was fused to the seat by pnt matter and slogging flesh. Arms that were shortened, pinned to the main mass of the bloated form, skin and bone rotting to the point only twitching vines and hardened bark managed movement.

  The head of the creature has hair matted and falling out in rge clumps, repced, or joined, by tendrils of fern and curling bdes of long grass like leaves. It attempted to move, neck straining and bulging in an attempt to get closer to the three living bodies that inched closer.Lips were peeled back exposing green tinted gums and browned teeth that gnashed towards them with a desperate hunger.

  "Ugly bastard!" Ralph said with a massive grin. He moved towards the broken window on the driver's side door. Renáta cringed, electing to ignore it as she went to the truck bed.

  Arlene shook her head as she gred at him. Moving towards the passengers side door as Ralph brandished an arrow and jabbed it into the eye of undead, the fight was over in an instant as the infected went limp. Arlene then popped open the door and eyed the unmoving corpse in the front.

  She shivered. Describe inside of carThe inside of the truck was filthy, with stained chairs and what looked like a bag in the back, the rest was trash, crumpled papers and more than a few commercial coffee cups. Squeezing herself in the small break between the chairs she patted around until she gripped the strap of the gym bag and yanked it, there was a bit of a struggle, the bag bulged, it didn't want to fit through the thin opening Arlene tried to pull it through, she grunted, yanking, tugging, with another grunt she finally managed to forced it through and nearly tumbled back out of truck from her own force.

  She stumbled to stand, letting out a deep 'whoo' as she swung her arm. Gncing over to Renáta who was pulling open a thick pstic cooler on wheels.Zipping the bag open Arlena shifted through it, spare clothes, plenty of socks. Even a pair of shoes. It was all sized for an average Edgeridge man so she assumed it belonged to whoever the driver was, zipping it back up with less excitement than she opened it with she slung it over her shoulder.

  Before Arlene could even ask a question Renáta spoke "Ew!" she excimed before quickly shutting the lid "That's inedible." she said with a humorous scoff, she wiped her hands before looking over the messy truck bed to look at Arlene "Next car?" she asked, cocking her head ever so slightly with a half smile.

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