Terror | | TWD

[𝟎𝟐] 𝐔𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐤

Maxine giggled, relieved she wouldn't have to go through all of that trouble. Sometimes; being a girl wasn't that bad. Sometimes.

"I'll believe that when I see it." Carl said.

"Tell you what, you just get through this with some manly dignity and tomorrow I'll teach you something special." Shane promised, making Maxine sit at the edge of her seat. Something special? She wanted to know something special - outside of the thousands of facts about the universe.

"I will teach you to catch frogs."

The young girl slumped in her seat, completely uninterested again. Of course her dad would think catching frogs was special.

"I've caught a frog before," Carl boasted, seemingly as unimpressed as she was.

"I said frogs - plural. And it's an art my friend. It is not to be taken lightly. There are ways and means. Few people know about it. I wanna share the secrets."

"Can I also join?" Maxine asked shyly. She wasn't interested in frogs, not at all, but if her dad thought it was important to know, then surely she should learn, right?

"Sure ya can, missy." Shane smiled, booping her nose. Maxine screeched and tried swatting his hand away, but it was too late. The damage was done.

"Why do we need frogs, plural?" Carl finally asked.

"You ever eat frog legs?"

They all broke out in disgust, scrunching their noses. "Ew!"

"No, yum!"

They continued to banter for a while about the frogs, when Shane finally said something that made Maxine feel weird.

"Heroes, son, spoken of in song and legend. You and me, Shane and Carl."

Her heart dropped to her stomach. She was confused at the feeling arising in her chest. What about me? She thought. But maybe it was just a boy's thing. Maybe it wasn't Maxine that was the problem, just her stupid gender.

Maybe Maxine should have just been born a boy. But that wasn't right. She was jealous, but she shouldn't be. Shane was her dad. He would never like Carl more than her, even if Carl was his best friend's son. That wouldn't make sense would it?

She hoped not.

Her wandering thoughts were soon deafened by the loud sound of an alarm. The sound reverberated against the valley's sides, getting louder and louder.

Shane was on his feet in an instant, running towards the source of it, while yelling out, "Talk to me Dale!" Maxine followed close behind.

"I can't tell yet," Dale informed, watching closely through his binoculars to find the source.

"Is it them? Are they back?" Amy asked.

"I'll be damned." Dale muttered under his breath.

"What is it?" Maxine moved to stand beside the old man, holding lightly on the edge of his Hawaiian jacket.

"A stolen car is my guess."

The group all waited intrigued for the car to stop. It was bright red and rather cool-looking, Maxine thought. When she grew up, she wanted a car like that.