sapphire ; carl grimes [𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙚𝙙 ]

two; gummy worm diet

henley fell asleep in her parent's bed, only to be woken up by the sound of pouring rain.

she quickly hopped up and grabbed her duffel, making her way downstairs.

after checking the pantry one more time and deciding that she had everything she needed, henley ran to the garage, hopping into the old black mustang her dad owned. they had left it there in case of trouble, and this, henley decided, was an emergency.

she wasn't going to lose this car.

james had taught henley to drive in secret; her mother didn't approve, but henley's father believed that this would make her even more ready when she had to take the driver's test.

little did they know that that day would never come.

she turned on the machine, soaking in the sound of its purr of the engine that her father loved.

henley drove out of the neighborhood, leaving the hungry walkers aimlessly trudging around the drenched streets.

-------

3 hours later, the rain had stopped, and the car was low on gas. henley pulled into a hess gas station, looking around for walkers. she didn't see any outside, which was good.

inside, though, she wasn't sure if there were any.

taking a deep breath, henley opened the car door and hopped out, then opening the gas station door.

there were dried blood marks on the floor, but there were no sounds.

henley walked around the station, grabbing things of interest to her.

she decided that living off of gummy worms, stale doritos, and water was an okay diet.

henley left the store and refilled her gas tank, stabbing one walker in the temple before hopping inside and locking herself in the safety of her car.

she ripped open the pack of gummy worms, relishing in the fact that she had gotten her hands on good tasting food.

the sound of an engine snapped henley out of her thoughts as she saw a green-ish colored kia driving its way towards the station.

"oh, crap," she muttered breathlessly and climbed into the backseat, crouching down with her father's gun and her machete.

the car pulled up and two men hopped out of the front seats, but she could see one- no, two? more people in the backseat.

"alright, daryl," one man with a scruffy beard and a thick southern accent spoke. "let's split up. you scavenge the gas station and i'll fill the tank."

"a'right." the other man (daryl, supposedly) growled, with a more redneck-ky accent. that was the best possible way henley could describe it. he had hair longer than the first man's, a leather vest with angel wings on the back, and a crossbow.

"what about this car o'er here, rick?" he asked the other man, supposedly 'rick'.
daryl pulled rick to the side. "rick, this's been used in the past hour," he said in a harsh whisper.

"i'll check it out," rick spoke.

daryl nodded and headed inside.

henley was swearing repeatedly in her mind. she had no idea what to do. her father would've calmly handled this, maybe tried to negotiate. but that didn't seem like a good option to henley.

a few minutes later, daryl emerged from the store with a bunch of food that henley hadn't grabbed.

frozen steaks, frozen easy-microwave dinners and such.

why these things? she wondered. do they have access to things like microwaves and ovens?

"you check the car yet?" daryl asked rick, throwing the food in the trunk of the car.

"no, not yet." rick responded, clicking the hammer of his gun, walking slowly towards the car.

daryl stayed behind, his crossbow up, ready to fire.

rick stealthily worked his way to the passenger seat door, silently pulling on the handle, but henley had locked it.

he peered in the window, but seeing nothing, he went to look in the backseat window when henley opened the car door with as much strength as she could, knocking rick to the ground.

"get the hell away from me!" she shouted, holding two guns each in her two hands, aimed at rick, her machete hanging loosely by her hip.

"hey hey hey, who the hell are you?" daryl asked, his fingers tightening around the trigger of his crossbow.

"put the weapons down!" henley shouted, no detectable sense of fear. but hell, she was terrified deep down.

two people hopped out of the backseat of the car.

a boy with bright blue eyes around henley's age, with longish hair that went to his shoulders. it wasn't too long where it was unattractive; this boy actually was quite intriguing. he wore simple flannel and a sheriff's hat.

the other person was an asian man in his 20's or so, wearing a baseball cap and carrying a baseball bat.

the younger boy pulled out his gun, now trained on her.

"seriously?" she muttered.

"look, we don't want any trouble," rick started, now having scooted back and up on his feet again.

"okay, then give me your weapons," henley started. "i'll let you keep them, just give them to me and let me leave in peace."

the boy looked to rick, giving him a concerning look.

"hey!" henley shouted, firing a bullet right next to rick's foot.

"next time i won't miss. you're testing my patience,"

"alright," rick caved. this girl'd had training; she hadn't just missed his foot with a lucky shot. maybe it was the way she composed herself, maybe it was the way she held the gun.

he slid over the gun, gesturing for the boy and daryl to do the same.

"thank you," henley muttered and slid the weapons behind the car.

"just, let me leave please. you don't understand," she said, starting to make her way over to the driver's seat.

"who are you?" daryl asked.

"why do you care? want to build me a grave after you kill me?" the girl let out a cold laugh. "yeah, i don't think so."

"we have a home. a town." rick started. "a place to live. it's civilized, with houses and a community,"

this caught henley's interest.

"how am i supposed to know that i can trust you?"

"you don't. but you seem very adapted and skilled, something we'd value at our camp. i'm rick, and this is daryl," he motioned to the redneck. "this is carl," he motioned to the boy, "and this is glenn. we come from a place called alexandria."