Rae wasn't allowing herself to focus too much on the cold. Yes. It was cold, and yes her winter jacket was still tucked away in her bag, but there was a lot to be happy about that day. When it came to Eli's brother, his status and the end result of this trip? Rae had a good feeling. He'd be happy. She'd get to see another one of those huge smiles, those patented Eli smiles that she saw so rarely nowadays, and that would make this whole move worth it.
Besides that, they were going to an island. Yeah, there were still zombies there, but it was one of the safer places left in the city. Rae sincerely wondered how more people hadn't gotten this idea on their own. It was just… logical. Surrounded by water; where better to make a home? Her dad had, once again, saw this whole thing as unnecessary. He'd given her a lecture about how she was setting them up for disappointment, and she was endlessly grateful that Eli hadn't been around to hear it. It would've devastated him. She knew it.
Rae firmly, completely and totally believed that David Zimmerman was alive. She didn't know how she knew, but she did know, damn it. The world just… couldn't be that cruel to Eli. He didn't deserve it. He was brave, strong, kind and good and she refused to believe that the world would be so cruel as to take his one remaining family from him. He didn't deserve that.
"You're anxious," she responded, not trying to tell him how he felt, but trying to give him a good word to describe it. "I understand. But I believe in this whole thing. If I didn't, I wouldn't have been so adamant to take us all here," she half-smiled. "We'll find him and it'll be great, Eli. I promise."
Her father made a disapproving noise behind her, and she knew why. She knew that she probably shouldn't promise things that she didn't know she could keep, but she just… felt it. Eli was going to see David again, and it was going to be everything he thought it would be. And no one, not her father, not Eli's worry, was going to convince her otherwise. They all needed something good in their lives, and this was it. It has to be, she thought.
Rae chuckled at the concept of being able to run around outdoors again and she shrugged. "If I'd known you wanted to walk around, I'd have taken you, you know. I know it's not responsible, but we all need to get out of the stuffy safehouse once in awhile, I can understand that," she shrugged at the end of a row stroke. "Seriously, from now on, if you want to take a walk and you don't feel comf—"
That was all she got a chance to say. She felt a sharp tug on the oar in her right hand and gasped. At first, she didn't go over. She was smart enough to let go of the oar and into the water it went. But then, before she got a chance to react, she felt a stronger tug on the right oar and because she'd been so busy focusing on the first oar, the tug was strong enough to pull her straight over the edge and into the ice cold water…