A Complete Unknown | TWD

051: I'm in the Trees, I'm in the Breeze

 There was a walker, stumbling closer as Rick crouched beside Noah.

"I'm sorry, Noah. I truly am." He stood, glancing at the others. "We should see if there's anything we can use and head back."

"Then what?" Michonne questioned, her tone curt, before she glanced at the walkers.. "They see us."

Glenn watched her go, sword out. "We can do a quick sweep."

"I'll stay with him." Tyreese stood protectively behind Noah. 

Danny glanced from Tyreese to Rick, unsure of where to go.

"I promised Sam I'd look after you," Tyreese said. "You stay here, too."

Danny nodded. He didn't particularly want to go into a lot of the houses. 

At first, they gave Noah space. Danny leaned against a wall near to him, and just . . . waited. He watched the birds fly overhead. He looked at his arm, which thankfully wasn't hurting much compared to normal, though it felt weird. 

Until, after about ten minutes or so, Danny made his way over, sitting in front of Noah, legs crossed. 

"You know, before all this, the only family I had was my Ma." He explained, not really sure how or where to start. "But, I mean . . . she's dead now, probably. Sami heard about me - half brother his mother was dragging around in America - and his plan was to bring me back to Uruguay, I think. To live with him. Anyway . . . world ended and I knew nobody. I'd lost my mother, and Sami couldn't speak English. I barely spoke. We lost a lot of people." 

Danny hesitated, unsure of where the hell his words were going. 

"I think of all of them - a lot. But . . . Sophia, my friend. She died because I wasn't fast enough. T-Dog died because I couldn't just . . think for a moment. I just ran at walkers. I wasn't even there for Beth or Hershel." He chuckled bitterly. "You know, I don't even remember the last time I talked to them, I was so sick. But . . . my family's still here. Rick, Michonne, Glenn, Maggie - I knew nothing about them, once. You're - I mean, if you want - you can be part of our family, too. We'll find somewhere safe, and protect you. You're one of us, now. This isn't the end."

Noah had stopped crying, now, and sat there for a moment, before getting to his feet. 

Tyreese walked over, smiling a little. "That's it."

Noah stood, unsteadily on his leg, and looked down the street towards the houses. 

Danny knew he was going to take off before he did. Tyreese ran after him, and Danny got to his feet. Much slower, since his tailbone hurt from earlier, but he found getting up easy enough, now, and walked after the other two, as they weren't going too fast. 

They'd stopped outside a house when Danny caught up, midway up the garden. 

Noah panted, looking up at the windows. "This is my house."

"You don't want to go in there." Tyreese tried.

"Yes I do."

Noah took a step forward, but Tyreese put a hand on his chest, stopping him.

"Let me see it."

"I can go in." 

They looked back at Danny as he spoke.

"I'll yell if there's a walker, but if it's something else . . . I'll see if it's alright for you to go in."

"I'll do it."  Tyreese pulled out his knife, and turned, making his way towards the house. Noah followed anyway, and Danny was right behind him.