The Girl That Named the Bat.

The End of Normality.

The crisp air whipped my face as I brandished my gun, aiming for the bark of a lone oak tree. My finger twitching over the trigger,

"Hold." Michonnes stern tone ordered me to wait before taking a shot, her breathing was heavy, her fingers running down the handle of her blade. A few moments passed before she nodded, signalling it was time to take my shot. An echoing 'bang' rung out, my ears slightly ringing and my shoulders shifting back as the bullet exited the gun, lodging straight into the tree, causing bark remnants to fly through the air.

"Good. Now, we move," She ordered again, seemingly pleased with my aim. We headed towards the forest, slowly shifting through as walkers were drawn to the previous gunshot. Michonne unsceathed her blade, slicing through a few walkers' skulls as we passed in a calm manner. She was so effortless with it, I always wondered how she could be so calm, but then I recalled to when we found her. Two decaying walkers chained to her, their arms and jaws were gone, their flesh oozing out pus, and thick ropes of blood.

"Michonne," I spoke up, my voice quiet and soft,
"What do we do now?" My question was less about our current adventure and more directed towards Negans gang, who were still out there, doing God-knows what to whomever. I watched as Michonnes body tensed slightly. She inferred exactly what I meant by that question. Silence filled the air as she paused before shaking her head and continuing to walk, crisp leaves being crushed beneath her shoes.

"We wait." Her voice had a venomous tone, almost as though she was angry at me for questioning our next moves. A huff escaped my lips, and she quickly turned back to look at me. Anger filling her eyes as she furrowed her brows. "What?" She snapped.

"Wait? For what! What are we waiting for? We should be out there hunting them! Michonne, we can't just 'wait'." I threw my arms in frustration, looking away from her and towards the cloudy sky. I heard rapid footsteps approaching me, and I redirected my gaze to Michonne, who was thundering towards me.

"We wait. We don't know how many more men Negan has, and you saw how quickly he took control of us last time. If we go hunting them down now? Who knows whom else might die, Carl. Do you want that? Do you want more people to die?" Her question was obviously retoric, and I knew she was right, but I just wanted justice for Glenn. Her eyes stayed locked on me as I slowly looked to the floor and kicked a few of the leaves, I shook my head, submitting to her. I muttered a quiet 'no' before we continued, a tension filled silence as we walked.

-

By now, it had been roughly thirty minutes since I had let off my first shot. It was eerily empty in the forest, which usually would he good, but this was unnerving. Michonne would occasionally glance back at me to ensure my safety or offer me a sip of water. The tension had subsided by now, but I still felt like a child that had been put on the time-out step. Michonne finally broke the silence,

"Make a noise." She said, a brow raised as she looked around, her posture hunched as though she was anticipating an attack. I grabbed a large stick and began smacking it against different trees and yelling,'Hey!' over and over again. But still, no walkers.
"This is strange..." She stated, trailing off at the end. I went quiet, not wanting to attract any more unwanted attention to us. It was only us, just Michonne and me, so if we were to be surrounded by a wave of walkers, we wouldn't be able to fight our way through easily. As we continued to walk, more cautious than before, we heard a distant cracking noise. It sounded like someone was breaking bark or banging something against a tree. Michonne turned back to me and lightly nodded to the left, telling me silently to move towards the noise.
We both began to crouch as we walked, avoiding any line of sight if there were any people, I held my gun between my hands, my trigger finger laying down the barrel of the gun for easy access. My dad always taught me never to have my finger on the trigger. You don't want to take an unwanted shot. You don't want to waste a bullet either.