FEAR ⇾ THE WALKING DEAD

xxv. | seven months in

One day they'd figure it out. Maybe.

"Hey, Daryl found a-" Glenn cut himself off when he saw what she was looking at. He noticed there was blood in the crib. He prayed she didn't notice that. "E-"

Ella set her gun in its respective holster. "I always wanted one. . . a kid," she looked to Glenn. "Well, I wanted a lot of things like marriage, building a house with some cherry trees and rose bushes, buying a mustang," she smiled at the thought. "But I can't have those anymore either. . . n-not in this kind of life, you know."

"You can still have all of that." Glenn whispered.

"How?"

"Find a ring to get married, find some an island with no walkers or people and build the house, then when you feel secured and tight, have that baby," he paused, a small smile forming on his face as he took her hand to give it a squeeze. "First, you gotta find that person to do all that with though."

Ella glanced at the nursery, her eyes twinkling. "Sometimes I think I already have." she bluntly told him.

"What?" Glenn chuckled and dropped her hand, jealousy hinting at his eyes.

"Glenn! Ella!"

She raised her eyebrows. "We should get back."

He nodded in agreement.

Glenn had his hand on her back as they returned to the main room. She found Lori sitting on the ground. She smiled and sat down with Lori. Ella put one hand on the side of Lori's stomach to feel a kick from the baby. Lori stared at her stomach and Ella's hand, a numb happy feeling brought to her heart.

Carl began to open the can of dog food. Right as he got it opened, Rick ripped the can from his hands and read what it said. He scoffed and threw the can at the wall. Ella kept her gaze on the ground, Rick didn't have to be so rude sometimes. He scared the majority of everyone at times.

T-Dog caught everyone's attention by making a hissing noise, his head tilted towards the window. Ella and Beth stood up from the ground to help Lori up the best they could. Ella put her hand on Lori's back, telling her it was okay.

The group picked up their belongings and exited the house through the backdoor as quickly as they could, looking around the area before they went forth to the cars.

Thankfully, they managed to get away before the walkers found them.

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"WE GOT NO PLACE LEFT TO GO," Rick spoke up to the group as Maggie sprawled out a map on the car hood. He was right, of course. They had to find a place, before things turned extremely ugly for them out here on the road. Ella didn't care where it was, she just wanted to be safe, she wanted everyone to be safe.

Maggie pointed at the map. "When the herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off," she sighed. Ella pressed her pointer fingers into her cheek, her elbows laid up against the car hood. "We'll never make it south."

"What would you say?" Daryl questioned Glenn. "That was about a hundred fifty ahead?"

"That was last week," Glenn stated. Ella's eyes flickered to him as Carol came up the other side of her. "It could be twice that by now."

"The river could have delayed them. We might have a shot if we tear right there so long we move fast." Hershel explained.

T-Dog shook his head. "Yeah, but if that group joins up with this one, they could spill out this way."

Ella frowned, standing up straight. "So no way out this one."

"Yeah, we're blocked." Maggie agreed.

Rick put his finger on the map. "The only thing to do is double back to twenty-seven and swing towards Greenville." he stated.

"Yeah, but we picked through that already." T-Dog mentioned.

Ella nodded. "Yeah."

"It's like we spent the winter going in circles."

"Yeah, I know. I know," Rick snapped. "At Newnan, we'll push west. We haven't been through there yet. . . we can't keep going house to house. Need to find someplace to hole up in for awhile."

"Okay, okay," T-Dog said. Everyone started to get in the cars. "Is it cool if we go to the creek? We need some water, we gotta refill. We're running low on it. We'll boil it later."

"Knock yourself out."

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ELLA FOLLOWED RICK AND DARYL on the train tracks. Instead of filling up on water with everyone else, Ella decided she'd go hunting with the two older men. The owl just didn't fill up anyone, and she wanted Lori to eat some more food for the baby she was carrying inside of her.

There was a handful of walkers groaning nearby, they could tell. As they came to a halt, they saw a prison stretching beyond them for miles it seemed. Ella widened her eyes.

"That's a shame." Daryl spoke up.

"A shame?" Ella laughed. "No, that's a miracle."

This could be their new home, a place to stay in for a real long time, a place they could rebuild, a place that could be their safe haven.

It would be theirs, it had to be.