Jack's Diary - The Weight - Day 51

     I decided to reveal the festering thought the group had to Mike after we had packed up and begun driving again. It would've been completely stupid and irresponsible for me to just let all of this come up once we arrived at the base. Mike made his decision though: Julie was not staying with us. Either way, it doesn't matter to me, although I thought it would matter to him.
     Ann acted like a child today. Mike drive the car this time and a minutes in, Ann says she has t go to the bathroom and that's all she complained about until we reached a gas station. She didn't even bother to check for soulless before rushing into the restroom (there is seriously something not right about her). She came out and started yelling, "Walkers!" and Mike just got to her in time to kill a nearby one. There were a large amount of them and end situation came down to Mike staying behind to distract them. All of us, except for Mike, drove off. As I drove the car off, I could faintly see in the rearview mirror a figure running off toward the treeline.
     "Ann, what is wrong with you?!" I said.
     "What?" Ann said in shock and surprise.
     "You ran into the gas station and don't even check it for danger!"
     "I had to go to the bathroom."
     "I would have rather you pee your pants then put yourself and us in danger like that!" I yelled. Ann cowered and looked out the window with tearful eyes.
     "You're a jerk! Just because she's not a neurotic checker like you doesn't me you can yell at her!" said Julie.
     "It pretty easy for you to say that. You haven't lost anyone due to small mistakes like that, have you?"
     Julie stayed quiet for a moments.
     "I'd rather have Mike here," she said quietly.
     "I wouldn't get so attached, seeing as how we'll be dropping you off soon."
     Everyone was quiet. I guess it would be hard to start up a conversation after that. I drove for about another thirty seconds before pulling over and turned off the engine.
     "Why'd we stop?" asked Jess.
     "Because we'll be going back for Mike."
     "Okay, but why'd we stop? Mike is still a ways back."
     "Because the soulless will still be near the gas station. In about an hour or so, they'll have moved on."
     Jess seemed to think it was a good idea.
     "Aren't you afraid you won't deliver your package on time if you go back for him?" asked Julie in a snarky tone.
     "As far as I know, the Valors never gave us a time limit and even if they did, we'd still go back."
     "How do you know he's not dead?" she asked.
     "That's even more of a reason to go back. To make sure and to have no regrets or questions."
     For the next hour or so, there was almost complete silence except for some random snores from some of the others who fell asleep. I just waited and for me, the time passed by fast. As it turned out, I was right, when we returned to the gas station, the soulless were gone. I parked the car and we waited for about thirty minutes. I kept a lookout, but nothing within my range of sight moved at all except for a small bug on the windshield. No one complained though Ann and Julie looked a little restless. After another few minutes went by, I decided to take matters into my own hand.
     "Alright, I'll be back in a minutes. I'm going to check out the nearby forest," I told everyone.
     As I was walking toward the treeline, a bad picture of the future struck me. I walked back to the car and opened the door Julie was on.
     "You're coming with me," I said.
     She came out of the car without question. I didn't like the idea of leaving her with the others. She could easily escape and something could attack the car. Although I have trust in Jess and Victor, I don't know to what lengths they'd go to keep Julie out of the Valor's hands so by my side is the best place for her. Within a few minutes, we found a very recently extinguished fire, but nothing else. It was Mike's, but he was no where in sight. We searched for about 10 minutes before I thought to go back to the car. Had we stayed in the car for about 5 more minutes before, we would have seen Mike coming. Instead, we came back and saw him in the drivers seat. I peaked in the window to make sure it was him.
     "Are you two getting in or what?" asked Mike.
     We both got in and off we went. It may had been a good idea to shoot a flare to alert Mike we were near, but I didn't want to draw anyone else's attention. The rest of the car ride was quiet. No one dared  talk. Night came fast and Mike continued to drive. I'm debating whether or not I should sleep or just keep staring out the passenger side window; the view is a lot better than anything I could dream and is much more relaxing.

 - Jack's Diary