Surviving The New World (Book Six in the Surviving The Walking Dead Series)

Locked Away Memories

"I don't know where it went, Harper," I sighed as I quickly placed a sorghum pancake in front of her. "Did ya leave it in your pants from yesterday?"

"No," Harper sobbed. "I put it on my table and now its gone!"

"Maybe Makeda took off with it. Eat your breakfast and we'll look around together."

"But I want it now!"

"Harper, I understand that, but ya need to calm down. Remember what I told ya about lookin' for things?"

"To not—" Harper hiccuped. "—panic."

"That's right, because if ya panic, ya won't be able to concentrate, will ya?"

"No," Harper whimpered.

"So, eat and calm down, okay? I'm sure we'll find it." I cleaned up the last of the dishes and put them away and began to clean up the leftovers. As I opened the fridge to put everything away, I paused...something didn't look right. "Harper? Did ya get up for a late night snack?"

"No," Harper sniffled.

"Ya ain't in trouble if ya did, ya know."

"I didn't get up all night except to pee."

"Huh, weird." I placed the pancakes in the fridge and dug around. I was low on cured ham and the homemade cheese looked like it was gotten into. I walked over to the cabinets and began to search, only to find out that a few cans of soup was gone, too.

"Hi, Michonne!" Harper smiled.

"Hi, sweetie," Michonne quickly responded. "Michaela, we need to talk."

"Just a minute, I'm tryin' to—"

"Now." I looked over at Michonne and instantly saw the panic in her eyes.

"Harper, finish your breakfast, I'm gonna step outside and talk to Michonne, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy." I made my way outside and Michonne followed after, slamming the door behind us.

"Christ, Michonne, just break my damn door off, why don't ya?"

"What did you do?" Michonne grumbled.

"Excuse me?"

"What did you fucking do?"

"I...made pancakes? I dunno what ya want me to say."

"Where is he?"

"Who?"

"Negan! Where is Negan?"

"H-He's not in his cell?"

"No! Gabriel put him in his cell last night and when I went to take him his breakfast, his cell door was wide open and he was gone."

"Fuckin' Christ," I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. "It makes fuckin' sense now."

"What does?"

"The necklace Harper made for Negan is gone and so is some of my food."

"What? When did you discover this?"

"Harper woke me up crying about the necklace, but I assumed Makeda decided it was a toy and took off with it. She and I were gonna look for it after breakfast."

"And the food?"

"I noticed it just moments before ya walked in. It's weird though, I always have the front door locked."

"Apparently, Negan knows how to pick locks."

"Yeah, and apparently Gabriel doesn't know how to shut doors or lock them. Seriously, this is the second time he's done this. Y'all should've learned by now."