Chapter 32 Journey

As the group had traveled to the prison, they would stop periodically. Looting cars for gas, or looting houses for food and supplies. Over this time of traveling, the group had become closer to each other.

They had also gotten better at killing walkers, now relying less on guns. Learning that a melee weapon could be more useful in many situations. The entire group had killed a number of walkers and were now more comfortable when fighting against them. John and some of the better fighters being close by just in case an accident occurred, also helped them grow their confidence. Even the older kids had killed a couple walkers each, John having convinced the group that they had to be able to protect themselves as well.

The trip felt like it took twice as long because of how long they would be in the cars. It was safe to say that everyone was tired of traveling, of being cooped up.

The looting sessions were good for both scavenging supplies and giving everyone a break from the inside of a vehicle.

Daryl and Merle, who were riding their motorcycles had it the worst. They had eventually given up riding them and had put them in the bed of one of the trucks.

When John thought about how the group had progressed he was very impressed. They had gone from being scared shitless of walkers to being semi adequate when fighting against them. In John's opinion, this was a win.

He remembered how in the beginning, the rest of the group had sat in their vehicles. While John, Rick, Glen, Daryl, and Merle had gone around scavenging. But as each day passed, John would bring Amy and Maggie out to scavenge as well.

This caused the rest of the group to realize that they will never truly be safe. They learned that the only way to be protected at all times was to have strength. Strength you gained by yourself and not strength you borrowed from another.

Along the way, there had been some close calls. Sophia and Dale had both almost been bitten by a walker, but luckily they save just in time. John had always been watchful of everyone, but there is only so much he could focus on at one time.

A situation had happened where Patricia had lost her life, her neck had been ripped to shreds. John remembers that when it happened he had been occupied by Beth who had almost been bit. While he was saving Beth, a walker had snuck up on Patricia. Without any time to save her, as she died, the group had been there and comforted her.

Hershel, Beth, and Maggie had been the most affected by this incident. Beth had grown stronger and she did not have a mental break. She had handled the situation very well, and it helped that Maggie and Hershel were there to help her.

During this time, John had gotten rid of his bullet proof vest. He was almost sad to get rid of it, but he still did.

His new setup was magazine holders that connected to his belt. These holders were on the left side of his waist and there were 8 of them. He had put his big ass knife in the back of his belt. He mainly changed this because the vest was getting in the way some and messing with his flexibility.

When he was trying to climb into windows, the vest made it even more difficult. Especially so because he already had a large body frame. This also helped him improve his stealth, the extra weight from the certainly made the floors creak under his weight even more.

John almost slapped himself for not thinking about this sooner. Stealth was one of the most important things to have in the apocalypse. Another important thing is nimbleness, without the vest John will be able to move in and out of tighter and smaller areas.

Moving on, over the time spent traveling to the prison, Sarah had become closer to everyone. She had mostly forgotten her trauma. John chalked this up to her being very young, also because she had received love and affection from all the members of the group, but she received the most from John and his women.

Amy had almost never left Sarah for the time they traveled. Amy was really taking to her role as a "mommy". John was only able to get her to leave Sarah when he dragged her to go looting. Amy didn't fight him either as she knew that Maggie would take care of Sarah while she was away.

John had noticed that Amy preferred to sneak up on walkers and kill them, while Maggie liked to trip the walker and then stab it in the head. John had given both Amy and Maggie knives made from the same material as his knife. The only difference you could notice was that they were smaller and easier to handle than John's knife. John had also given both Amy and Maggie, a Sig P365. He chase this pistol for them because it was relatively a lightweight pistol and he thought it would be perfect for them.

The two of them had quickly adjusted to the new handguns they were given. They didn't have much chance to use them but at times it had helped them out of a bad situation.

After traveling for about 2 and a half weeks, the group had arrived at the prison. Seeing it's tall fences and sturdy brick building, they had hope for making this base their new home.