Chapter 84
The weather was perfect.
The sky, which had been bright and sunny just moments before, suddenly darkened, and the faint rumble of thunder could be heard. Large raindrops pounded on the ground, followed by a torrential downpour. Everyone forgot their anger and looked at the sky with surprise and joy.
This is more than just a rain shower.
Rick's expression relaxed, and everyone laughed happily, looking up with their mouths wide open.
Lina stood up, looked up at the sky, and said, "My grandma said that drinking rainwater will give you a stomachache." Lina wiped her wet face.
The weather changed so suddenly.
However, the happy crowd, enveloped by the thunder, did not hear Lina's words.
"Never mind, even the Great Sage used the water from the rootless river to make pills," Lina said, opening her mouth wide to let the rainwater fall into her mouth, even though she had just drunk quite a bit, it still didn't completely quench her thirst.
Tara and Rosita simply lay down on the ground and enjoyed the rain.
After opening her mouth for a moment, Lina closed it again with some disgust. It felt a bit strange. She was drinking the water that the handsome guy who was secretly watching her, Aaron, the strongest native of Alexander, had sent her. It's a pity he already has a boyfriend.
Lina looked around. Gabriel was weeping bitterly in the rain, Herschel was patting his back comfortingly and saying something, and Sasha was as depressed as ever, perhaps she was crying in the rain.
Maggie hurriedly put the waterproof backpack on Beth's arm. Even though the splint had been removed, it was better to keep her arm dry and warm.
After enjoying the rain for a while, Rick immediately realized what was happening and told everyone to start collecting rainwater in containers. No one knew what would happen next, so they should collect as much as they could for now.
Daryl snatched the water bottle from Lina's hand, opened it, smelled it, glared at Lina, poured out all the water, and started collecting rainwater.
Lina's lower lip pouted in a wronged and angry tone, slightly covering her upper lip. Her cheeks puffed out in a huff—this was the downside of knowing too much. She didn't even dare to imagine how much she would be scolded afterward.
The weather worsened, with more thunder and lightning, and a dark mass loomed in from the horizon, causing everyone's expressions to turn grim.
“Let’s keep going,” Rick said, looking at the dark horizon. They could leave the container here and come back for it later; right now, they needed to find a place to stay.
“There’s a barn nearby!” Daryl shouted.
“Where?” Rick asked.
Daryl led everyone into the barn, where Maggie found a walker through a small door; otherwise, the barn was clean.
After easily dealing with the zombie and having finished inspecting the entire barn, everyone finally had a relatively safe place to stay.
Lina sneezed as soon as she came in.
Everyone was watching her.
Lina froze. "Yeah, there was so much dust, it was choking me!" Please don't catch a cold, don't get a fever! Please don't catch a cold, don't get a fever!
Glenn shook his head helplessly. He found some broken planks and started a fire in the center of the room. Lina sat down by the fire, trying to dry herself off as quickly as possible.
There wasn't much dry wood, and the flames were neither big nor small. Because Judith was small, she wasn't too wet under Karl's hat. After warming herself by the fire for a while, she fell into a deep sleep in Karl's arms.
The children had a lot of yang energy. Carl, Dewayne, and Sophia were almost dry, while Lina was still shivering around the fire, her hair wet and sticking to her cheeks.
Daryl found a relatively clean cloth in the barn and handed it to Lina so she could change out of her wet clothes. Lina didn't care about complaining; she felt she was really going to catch a cold, and she didn't have time to be coy.
Lina changed out of her wet clothes and hung them by the fire to warm herself. She wrapped herself in a rag and huddled by the fire, not snuggling into Daryl's arms, simply because he was also wet and exuded a damp aura.
"Have some hot water," Andrea poured hot water from the jar and placed it next to Lina, then touched her forehead.
Andrea frowned. It wasn't that the temperature was very high; in fact, it was excessively cold.
Daryl looked for some relatively dry wood and tried to make the fire bigger, but instead, some black smoke came out; it was too damp.
"This rain is so unreasonable," Lina said, shivering. "And how come you're all completely unharmed? It's just too outrageous."
Mo'er glanced at Lina, seemingly wanting to say something but stopping herself. Was this outrageous? No, it was her who was outrageous! The rain was practically hot on her skin!
“Hey kid, here you go,” Abraham tossed a bottle of wine to Lina, “to warm you up.”
"..." Can I beat him up? Lina stared at Abraham, her eyes narrowing.
"..." Daryl manually turned Lina's head to direct her gaze elsewhere.
As for the alcohol, Daryl hesitated for a moment, "Why don't you have a couple of sips?" Strong liquor can indeed warm you up.
Lina hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth and said, "Give it to me." She didn't drink much, just took two sips, and shoved the bottle at Daryl with a menacing expression.
"I feel like my esophagus is on fire." Lina stuck out her tongue in disgust. So bitter! So spicy! So awful!
“You don’t know what’s good for you,” Moore said, taking the bottle from Daryl and taking a sip with a satisfied grin. He glanced at Amy sitting opposite him and compared the bottle in his hand with the bottle in his own.
Amy hesitated for a moment, then sat down next to Moore, took the bottle, and took two sips. Unlike Lina, she wasn't a novice, so she didn't react violently when she drank it.
After Andrea finished distributing the hot water, she turned around and saw Amy and Moore huddled together.
She gritted her teeth in anger, squeezed between the two of them, and plopped down on the floor.
Mohr sipped his drink, glanced sideways at Andrea, and chuckled.
Amy looked at Andrea with some annoyance. That's enough!
Rick and Michonne immediately lowered their heads, exchanged glances, and pretended not to have seen anything.
I can't manage any of the household chores.
Unaware of all the turmoil and entanglement, Lina had already fallen asleep by the fire. Daryl sat beside her, watching her and pulling the cloth wrapped around her tighter.
To be honest, Lina's sleeping posture is really quite ordinary.
It's just that she might have been cold today, which is why she curled up in a ball and didn't move much. Normally, her hands and feet would be nowhere to be seen.
Rick turned around and looked at Carl and Judith, who were asleep. The children were all curled up together and asleep.
He turned around and poked the fire with the branch.
“They’ll be fine; they’re very resilient,” Carol said. She had seen children broken down by the world, but not Carl, not Dewayne, and not Sophia. They were all very strong.
“I used to feel sorry for the kids growing up in this world, in this apocalypse, but I think I was wrong,” Rick’s voice was low and hoarse. “Growing up is about adapting to this world, and that’s easier for them.”
Everyone listened quietly.
“The world isn’t like that, it isn’t,” Michonne retorted. She had wavered, given up, and struggled, but she knew that she had to hold onto hope and keep moving forward, instead of dwelling on the past or getting lost along the way.
“Perhaps,” Glenn said, glancing at Maggie. His world now consisted only of his wife, his family, hope, and the illusory dream of luxury.
“That’s giving up,” Michonne said, frowning. She understood everyone’s frustration, but she was really worried about the future if things continued like this.
The world hasn't defeated them yet, but they're close.
“That’s reality,” Glenn said.
“We have to accept all of this before we see any hope,” Rick said, breaking the tension. He lowered his head and began to tell his story. “When I was a kid, I asked my grandfather if he had killed any Germans in the war, and he wouldn’t answer.” Rick thought back to the past. “He said it was an adult thing, so…” He paused, letting out a short, meaningless breath.
“So I asked him if any Germans had tried to kill him.” He looked up at a point in the void. “But he was unusually silent,” Rick shook his head, then lowered it again, poking at the fire. “He said he was already dead the moment he stepped into enemy territory. Every day he woke up and told himself, ‘Rest in peace,’ then got up and went to fight.”
"After pretending to be dead for several years,"
"He came back alive."
“That’s probably the secret,” Rick looked up and gazed at everyone sitting around him. “Do what we’re supposed to do, that’s how we survive. But whatever we find in Washington, I know we’ll be fine, because that’s how we survived. We tell ourselves that.” Thunder pierced the night, and Rick’s deep voice struck everyone’s hearts heavily.
"We are the walking dead."
These words were clearly quite shocking, and Glenn's eyes seemed to well up with tears. He looked at Daryl, who raised his head and said, "We are not."
Rick looked at Daryl, waiting for him to continue.
Kalil wasn't a talkative person; to expect him to speak eloquently in front of a crowd was perhaps a dream come true in his next life. He lowered his head and tightened the cloth covering Lina's body.
Rick stared at Daryl. “We’re not them, hey, of course not,” he said, tilting his head to look into Daryl’s eyes. He liked to make eye contact during conversations, perhaps as a professional habit, or perhaps it helped him to understand the other person better.
Daryl nodded, stood up, looked at Rick, and said, "We are not them." He picked up his crossbow and walked outside.
Moore tightened the cap on the bottle, handed it to Amy, and stood up to chase after her.
Outside, wind and rain raged, and the barn door was relentlessly pounded on, the chains fastened to it clanging loudly. Daryl looked at the doorway with some annoyance.
"What's wrong?" Moore chased after Daryl, who looked to be in a bad mood.
“…I don’t know, I don’t know how much longer she can hold on,” Daryl suddenly said. He was much older than Lina, and he had experienced far more than Lina, though he meant much worse.
Lina is hallucinating, and perhaps even auditory hallucinations. Her mental state may collapse at any time, and he is at a loss as to what to do about it.
She didn't even want to talk to him about those things.
Daryl watched in frustration as the door was blown open wider and wider. He stepped forward to close it, but lightning flashed in the darkness, and he saw a horde of corpses appear at the doorway.
Daryl quickly closed the door and braced himself against it with his back.
The violent impact and the howls of the zombies drew everyone's attention to the doorway. They all rushed forward and together they struggled to hold the door shut.
Live on.
Live on.
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