Several hours ago.
Rick's group were quietly cruising along the interstate highway when they were forced to a stop.
"What in the bloody hell is that?" With half of his body sticking out of the sunroof of the SUV he's riding on, Gareth couldn't help but utter a yelp of surprise when he witnessed the horrifying scene down the road ahead of them.
Alighting from the car, Rick replied to his question. "It's a herd, and a big one at that."
There was a noticeable tremble in his voice, Rick still remembered their first experience of encountering them on that highway and how they had almost lost Sofia back then.
"It's my first time encountering something like this. Should we go around them and continue our way down to Florida or turn around and go back instead?" Gareth swallowed his saliva and looked at Rick. His hands were sweating from a mix of emotions, mostly negative.
Daryl got down from the bus and came walking over and heard him. "Let's just turn around and head back. Right now, Florida is too far and complicated for our current resources. Besides, Georgia still has a lot of places we can look into for resources. We also need Michael's and others' consent on this."
When he was saying those following words, Daryl was specifically looking towards Rick since he had the most say in their small group. It was also his idea for them to head down to Florida much to his displeasure since they had more problems back home that they should have been dealing with right now, like the issue with Merle and Shane, and most importantly, the group behind them.
With his hands on his hips, Rick contemplated for a moment while making small motions of nods. He looked at the ground then towards Daryl, and roughly wiped his lips before finally responding to him. "Yeah, you're right. This is on me, I was feeling too hasty. Come on, let's turn around and head back home. I'm sure they're pretty worried about us right now."
Daryl slightly smiled and gave him multiple pats on his shoulder before heading back inside the school bus.
Rick threw one last look down the road before hopping back into the car, and this time, their small caravan finally started their journey back home that had been delayed due to someone's selfish desire of venturing out of Georgia.
'That damn jerk, giving me false hopes!' Rick cursed inside when he thought about what took place a few nights ago.
A few nights ago, at a now abandoned diner beside a gas station.
When it was his and Gareth's turn to keep watch, Rick thought that this was the perfect time to temporarily leave camp for something he had been thinking all day.
"Hey, I'm just gonna go out there and do a number two, alright?" Rick told Gareth whilst already walking away towards the dark.
Gareth turned to look at him and responded. "Alright, be careful out there."
When Rick finally disappeared into the darkness, Gareth suddenly realized something and quickly turned his head towards the direction Rick had disappeared to.
"Hold on, but the restroom is that way." Gareth murmured with a tilt of his head, his finger pointing towards the restroom, beside the diner.
"Huh, I wonder where he's going."
Though curious where the man is going this secretly late into the night, Gareth prioritized his responsibility of keeping guard tonight whilst the others slept inside the diner.
"Dang it." Gareth cursed while he climbed his way up the roof of the school bus.
'I'm suddenly feeling a little curious thinking about it.'
On the other hand, Rick had sneakily made his way over to the opposite side of the road, and with the full moon shining above him. Rick followed this small trail that eventually led him to a small, abandoned and rundown chapel.
Whilst everything was taking place at Rick's side, one figure was quietly watching him from the darkness, and whoever it was disappeared when Rick was not far from reaching the chapel.
"I'm here. Come out. It's no use hiding, I know you're already here, watching me." Rick placed his back against the chapel's wall and quietly observed his surroundings for potential danger while addressing someone hiding within the darkness around him.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Soon, amidst the darkness surrounding him, a sound echoed within the darkness. Rick quickly caught the sound of someone walking, he turned his sight towards the direction where it was coming from and pointed his firearm towards whoever it was.
"Is it you?" Rick swallowed as the footsteps slowly inched closer towards him.
"Whoa, calm down man. It's just me. Though I was expecting you not to show up." From the darkness, the familiar voice of someone responded to Rick's words in a humorous tone.
The person slowly walked out of the darkness, and through the light coming from the moon, it shone onto a familiar face.
"Shane." Rick uttered in a gruff tone while having mixed feelings of relief and anger.
Shane just smiled, somewhat a little shy, but he couldn't hide the tinge of craziness contained in his eyes.
Rick lowered his gun, and looked at him with resentment. "Why did you leave and why did you call me out here?"
Shane had remained where he stood, and never took another step forward. He can feel the anger and resentment in Rick's tone towards him, and the reason behind it goes without saying.
Shane shrugged his shoulders at Rick's question before responding. "Anyway, as I mentioned earlier. I wasn't expecting you'd show up, I even thought you'd already forgotten our call sign when you were not responding to my calls."
"Forget?" Rick snorted, then added, "Who'd forget that worse imitation of a bird you call the sound of an eagle?"
"Enough chit-chat, and at this point, I don't even want to ask why you left us." Rick didn't allow Shane to respond and immediately cut him off.
"Hmmp, I think it's better that way." Shane lightly snorted.
"Anyway, I just wanted to see you and talk to you. You know, to catch up what had been happening back at the farm. By the way, did Michael already return from his trip? I didn't get to say goodbye."
'So, he still hadn't once gone back to check the farm?' Rick quickly caught on to his words. He wasn't an idiot, he quickly figured Shane didn't call him out here with pure intentions of just "catching up", and from his words, Rick figured he was just trying to fish for information from him.
'This jerk, it's clear he already had chosen his side.' Rick felt incredibly annoyed when he reached this conclusion in his mind.
"The farm is doing well. F*ck, did you only contact me just to ask me that question? Are you out of your mind, man?!" Rick said while gesturing with the hand holding his Phyton pistol towards Shane. The threatening actions from him revealed the negative emotions swirling inside him.
Shane raised his hands when he saw Rick's outburst of emotions, especially during the brief moment he pointed his gun at him. "Whoa, calm down, man. I didn't only call you out here to catch up with you, but to share some information I overheard from the Governor."
'Governor? Is it the man behind the group he joined?' Rick made a mental note with that name.
Calming himself down, Rick asked, "What kind of information and what do you want for it?"
Shane smiled, but it looked kind of crazy in Rick's eyes. "There's nothing attached to it. Since I can't leave right now, I thought about sharing it with you folks since I think it's worth a shot to go check it out. He mentioned a large survivor base somewhere along the coast of Florida."
With his interest piqued, Rick asked. "A survivor base? What organization is behind it?"
"The Florida National Guard."