Who We Are | TWD

.041

"Do you have any idea where Sasha might've gone?" Michonne inquires. Our pace is fast as we walk towards the gate.

"Like I said to you earlier, she spent the night in the tower and nobody's seen her."

"So you don't know?" I ask.

"Maybe, but I'm not sure."

"We'll go there first. Even the smallest lead is better than nothing," Michonne decides.

When we reach the gate, Abraham opens it to let us out, telling each of us to be careful. He gives Rosita a quick hug. I've always found their romance to be sweet. Once the doors squeal shut behind me, I realize that I'm finally outside of the walls for the first time in what feels like forever, but I'm not quite sure how to feel. On one hand, I'm elated because after some time, the walls began to get more suffocating than comforting. Getting out of my bedroom, the place where I've been more often than not, feels equally as nice. On the other hand, I've been out here long enough before to know exactly what kinds of dangers are right under our noses. Then again, I guess you have to have danger to feel security.

Rosita leads us into the woods just to the right of the community. We walk quietly, only exchanging a few words here and there. One thing that immediately strikes me as odd is the lack of walkers. There had been corpses lying in puddles of their own, fresh blood on the pavement as we were leaving Alexandria, so why are their no signs of the dead out here?

We cross a slightly grassy area before being submerged back into a grove of trees. The thick limbs and covering of leaves causes shadows to crawl against the forest floor. It's all ominous to me.

"It's up ahead," Rosita says.

"She told you about it?" Michonne follows up.

"I saw her going out one day with her rifle. I knew somebody was already in the tower. I asked." Rosita predicting that Sasha is here makes sense. I just don't understand why.

With everything that she lost after her brother had died, especially shortly after Bob, I can see her reasoning for the severe change in emotions. I feel bad. The worst thing is that I understand it all. I don't know how I manage to contain my emotions as well as I do. Sometimes, I know that's not the case.

A branch snaps and the three of us are sent into defensive positions. Rosita and I grab our knives and raise them while Michonne holds out her handgun. My eyes scan the tree line, waiting for something to emerge. I'm expecting a walker, or perhaps Sasha, but I don't even see the slightest glimpse of movement. Once Rosita and Michonne lower their weapons, I know I'm safe to do the same. We all begin forward again, going in the direction that Rosita had pointed out earlier.

"It's the first time I've been out since we've been here," Rosita comments.

"Me, too."

"Same," I say. I exhale, watching as my breath forms a cloud in the air that eventually blows into the breeze and dissolves. I'm assuming that's why we're all tense. Having not been out here everyday makes you desensitized to the hazards that we had constantly faced in the past.

"It already feels different." This comes from Michonne who exhales the words sharply.

"That's good," Rosita decides. The sound of walkers has begun to grow as we've proceeded forward which causes me to stay on alert.

"I don't know," Michonne sighs.

"After Eugene, after finding out he lied, I was screwed up because I lost something. You seem screwed up because we found something." I know that Rosita isn't talking to me, but as I trail a few paces behind the two, I understand what she's saying.