Dead Love

Chapter Fourteen: Surprise

Chapter Fourteen

Lizzie

We are all sitting on the couch and floor next to the fire in the living room. Carl and I are next to each other on the couch along with Carol. Tyreese, Rick, and Mika are sitting on the floor. Judith is asleep on a small crib we made.

"I gave up on counting the days." Carol says.

"I haven't," Mika says, "It's January twenty-third two thousand thirteen."

"Two thousand thirteen?" Carl repeats.

"Yeah. It's been two years. I'm twelve. I just realised that!" Mika's face lights up excitement.

"You're fifteen, Carl." Rick says.

"So are you, Lizzie." Mika says.

"When is your birthday?" Tyreese asks me.

"December twenty-fourth." I tell him.

"Christmas Eve. It was a crazy Christmas, from what I was told." Mika says.

"September eleventh." Rick says looking at Carl.

"So, you kept track of the date for a little bit, since you told us he was fourteen." I ask Carol.

"Yeah. I gave up because I thought it was pointless. Why did you say you were fourteen and didn't even know it?" She asks me.

"This all happened in the end of November. So, a few weeks in, I just said I was fourteen." I explain.

"We'll never know when Judith was born." Rick sighs. Carl doesn't talk after that.

"We should get some rest." Rick sighs as he gets up.

He walks down the hall and into his room. I get up and go into mine. Carl follows me and we both lie down together, the same way we were last night.

***

"Lizzie?" Mika asks me from behind. I turn to her from where i am and see her behind me, a scared look on her face.

"What are you doing?" She asks.
I look to the person stuck in the railroad. I am holding a mouse up to his face and he tries to eat it. I put it into his mouth.

"Sorry. That's all I have today. I'll come back tomorrow and give you some more." I tell him.

"Lizzie, they are dead!" Mika tells me.

"No they're not. They're just . . . different." I tell her.

"You're so stupid, Lizzie." She tells me.

Then, a whole bunch of them emerge from the woods. Mika screams and I run back to the house with her. I look back and see they are all burning. We hop over the fence but Mika's leg gets caught in the wire.

"Lizzie!" She yells.

I see Rick and Tyreese run outside and start to shoot them. I turn back and get Mika away from one that was about to turn her. We run into the house and Carol checks us for bites or scratches. After, I run to Carl and he holds me in his arms as I cry.

"Are you guys bitten?" Rick asks as he enters the house.

"No, they're good." Carol says. Rick looks at Carl and I and stares us down. Carl doesn't budge and stares straight back at him. Rick soon looks away and goes back to whatever he was doing before. Later during the night, we all eat the leftover deer from a few nights ago. It's not the freshest, but it's still good. I'm starting to enjoy meat. It still makes me feel kind of sick but it's good.

"We'll leave tomorrow," Rick announces,"Tyreese, Carol, Carl, and I will go hunt before we leave. Lizzie and Mika will stay with Judith here. We'll leave you two a gun. Remember, only shoot when you need to. Not when a Walker is thirty feet away."

"Okay." I say. Carl and I lay down in our room.

"You're dad still doesn't like me." I tell him. I breath into his shirt and his arms tighten around me.

"He just doesn't believe that you're safe to be around." Carl tells me.

"Is that what you and him were talking about?" I ask.

"No." He says flatly. He kisses my forehead and we both sleep in peace.

In the morning Carol and I make tea for everyone. We eat the last parts of the deer and Rick, Tyreese, Carol, and Carl get ready for their hunt. Carl kisses me goodbye and I see Rick from the corner of my eye, his eyes staring at our lips colliding. He hates me.