Playing For Brains

The group were still all in the church, sat around a map discussing what they were going to do now that Eugene wasn't a scientist and didn't need to get to Washington. The church had been tidied up a little. All the bodies had been taken outside; the priests had been buried while the others had been burnt around back. It was as if the horrors of the previous night had never happened other than the stains of blood that had seeped into the wooden floor.

"What are you thinking?" Daryl questioned as he walked towards the rest of the group, to take a look at the map. Arlie followed shortly behind him, deciding to make an effort with the group while she makes her mind up on whether she should stay with them or go back out there on her own. She was sure that they would understand.

"Eugene chose Washington for a reason so he must have thought that it was safe there. We think if we take this road here we will be able to pass by the actual main part of the city and scout around here maybe find some sort of place that we can settle down in. Everyone here thinks it could work, what about you two?" Rick seemed slightly more positive than he had been the last couple of days so Daryl nodded trusting his judgement. Arlie on the other hand didn't agree with the decision.

"If you decide you're going to go that way then this is where I leave you. I don't want to join you on your little suicide mission you've got going on here, but I do wish you luck with that. If any of you have sense you're free to join me on a safer trip" she felt nervous about how they would react, did she really just say their plan was shit and that she was leaving with whoever wanted to join. That had to be the worse way to try and get along with the group, make them not hate her as much as they currently do. She really wasn't good with her words.

"And what is wrong with my plan exactly? Do you think you can find us a better possibility?" Rick looked slightly pissed off but at the same time intrigued at her contribution to help the group. He knew that she had wanted to leave the group at the beginning but this wasn't the reason why she didn't want to go he could tell there was something else. She invited people to join her, she warned them that is was dangerous. She was trying to give them some advice and help them out. Maybe she was a good person and a valuable asset to the group, he didn't want to lose her. He was actually beginning to like the girl, and he had to admit she reunited him with his daughter and so he owed her in a weird way.

"The entirety of Washington is over run, even the outskirts are dangerous. It's best to avoid the Washington area and a 15 mile radius around it, to be on the safe side. Now in my opinion we should head this way up here, there is a number of housing estates dotted around which could have supplies to use, maybe even find one that we could fortify and make it somewhere to stay for longer than a night" she was unsure on what the groups response would be, she had never had to come up with a plan for other people. It was only ever the places she would go, so if it was a bad idea and went wrong she was the only one that suffered. If Rick and the group were to go with this plan then she would be responsible if something happened to anyone, she didn't know if she wanted this many people's lives in her hands.

"You really think that there is anything left in these places? That there is a possibility that there could be somewhere to settle down?" Rick questioned with a hopeful glint in his eye. The plan that the young woman in front of his had come up with was a long shot but she knew more about this area, so her plan would be their best hope at survival. Arlie seemed to think for a while about what to answer, Rick could see in her eyes that she was finding it difficult to say yes, that she was worried making such a decision. It was difficult to be the leader of a group in such a world, to try and make decisions that are best for the entire group, and she certainly wasn't used to making decisions for people. She was used to being on her own, only looking out for herself, he understood that.

Arlie eventually nodded her head, realising that it would be better for the group to follow her idea than Ricks as theirs was unsafe and would result in them all no doubt dying, at least there was a 50:50 chance that her plan was going to work. "We collect as many supplies as we can to take with us, work on finishing that bus outside. We leave tomorrow morning as soon as the sun breaks."

Everyone was assigned jobs. Eugene, Rosita and Abraham were working behind the church on the bus that needed some tweaking so that it ran better and would hopefully get them further down the highway before giving up. Sasha and Maggie were assigned watch so that those working on the bus or anyone else around in fact couldn't get ambushed by walkers or another unfriendly group like the people from Terminus. Everyone else was collecting up supplies, whether it was boxing up the stuff from inside the church, out on a run to shops and houses nearby or out in the forest hunting.

By nightfall the bus out back had been fixed, with a large pile of boxes containing supplies stacked near the church door. The squirrels in which Daryl had caught earlier in the day were airing from the pews at the back. Each of the individuals in the group were worn out after the busy day they had experienced, but sleep didn't come easy to many. The worry of what was to come on their journey ran wild in their minds, the bad outcomes were endless, getting more and more severe. It was Rick and Arlie who's mind were running wild the most, Rick wasn't just worried about himself he was worried about his family not just those that were his blood but the whole of his group including Arlie who was worried sick that her plan was going to get people killed.