Vote. Comment. Enjoy!
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-Kyleigh's POV-
"MOM. DAD. WAKE UP," I hear a voice say. I open my eyes just as Cora catapults herself onto the bed and starts jumping up and down.
"WAKE UP. WAKE UP. WAKE UP," She repeats as she keeps excitedly jumping.
"Someone has a lot of energy today," I say, laughing at the tired look on Luke's face.
"I'M SO EXCITED," Cora replies happily.
"Really? I couldn't tell," Luke jokes. He reaches out and grabs her ankles and jokingly pulls her back so she falls down on the bed. She erupts into giggles as he teasingly tickles her side.
"You should go take your energy over to the other house and make sure everyone there is awake," Luke says, "Your mom and I need a few minutes to wake up."
"I'm on it," Cora says as she sits up and slides off the bed.
"Make sure to give Aunt Erica and Uncle Blake the same wake up greeting as you did for us," I say as she reaches the door.
Cora nods dutifully before shutting the door behind her. Luke and I chuckle as we hear her excitedly clomp down the stairs and run out the door.
"I wish I had that much energy in the morning," I say as I rub my eyes and sit up.
"Me too," Luke chuckles, "I didn't know she would be this eager to leave."
"She has spent nearly 8 years trapped within these walls," I point out, "Today is her big day."
"We better start getting ready then," Luke grins, "Don't want to make her wait any longer."
I agree and the two of us finally get up. We head downstairs and I start making food just as Cora runs back in.
"Everyone's up. Aunt E said they'll be over here soon," Cora tells us as she runs over to the kitchen.
"Sounds good," I say as I start cutting up a banana to put in our oatmeal. "Luke, can you grab her a sweatshirt from my closet? She needs more layers and we still need to find her a new jacket."
Luke nods before saying to Cora, "Come on. Let's go raid your mom's closet."
I smile as the two head upstairs and I finish making breakfast. I'm placing the three bowls on the kitchen table as she walks down, wearing one of my sweatshirts.
I laugh as she holds her arms out, showing just how big it is on her, "Do I have to wear this?"
I look behind her, seeing Luke standing on the steps, trying to hold back a laugh at the poor girl practically drowning in the sweatshirt.
I laugh, "Yes. You look cute, and it's better than you getting sick."
"Alright," She grumbles as she sits down at the kitchen table. The three of us finish eating just as Blake, Erica, Reece, and Ashton walk in.
Cora excitedly pushes back her seat and runs over to Ashton and Reece.
Blake and Erica walk over to us with Erica saying, "I can't believe Cora is finally leaving the base today. I never thought I'd see it happen."
"It was time," Luke shrugs, "I'm just glad she's so excited."
"Trust me, we know," Blake says, causing us all to laugh, "I have never seen her with that much energy in my entire life."
"She was the same when she woke us up this morning," I smile, "Where's Thomas?"
"We dropped him off with Jensen and Bailee before coming here. They volunteered to stay back and watch him. Plus, we thought it would be smart for someone to stay back and keep an eye on the place," Blake explains.
"Makes sense. I'm sad they'll miss Cora's first day out, but it's nice of them to watch Thomas," I reply as I grab my katana and slip into its sheath.
Soon, the seven of us finally grab all of our things and head toward the exit. We walk through the gates and the twins wave at us from the watch tower.
We decide to walk through the woods to get to the nearest town. This way, we can hunt for food in the woods, and then we can hopefully find Cora a new jacket. Plus, we were also hoping to find new hats and gloves. The weather has been pretty brutal recently.
We have only been walking for about five minutes, and Luke is already reminding Cora for the sixth time to stay close. She keeps getting so excited that she'll run ahead, which is putting Luke on edge. I get where he's coming from, but we haven't seen any walkers yet so I'm not too worried.
Ashton walks with Cora while the rest of us trail behind. We watch in awe as she looks enamored at all of the nature.
"I feel like she's Rapunzel leaving the castle for the first time," Reece says, laughing at Cora happily pointing at a butterfly.
"That's so accurate," Erica agrees, "Tangled is such a good film."
"If she's Rapunzel, that means Kyleigh is Mother Gothel," Luke cheekily points out.
I gasp, "No, I am not."
"You are," Luke laughs.
"If anything, you would be Mother Gothel. I'm pretty sure you would keep her locked behind those gates for the rest of her life if you could," I reply.
"So would you if you knew she'd be 100% safe. Plus, you're literally her mother," Luke says, nudging my side.
"Fine. If I'm Mother Gothel, then who are you?" I ask.
He takes a second to think about it before he confidently says, "Maximus. Obviously."
"How?" I ask.
"Wait, why can I really see that?" Erica says.
"I do, too," Blake laughs.
"See," Luke grins proudly, "I'm protective over Cora, plus I would like to think I'm funny, charming, and smart."
I shake my head and consider what he said with a laugh, "That is weirdly accurate. You are Maximus."
"Thank you very much," Luke says with a satisfied grin.
"Oh, I just agreed because I think you look like a horse," Erica jokes causing Luke to drop his jaw in fake offense.
He's about to reply when all of a sudden, Cora stops abruptly in front of us. All of us are immediately put on edge as we reach for our weapons, but then Cora points and quietly says, "Look."
I follow her direction and spot a bunny rabbit chewing on some foliage. I look back at Cora and see she looks absolutely mesmerized by the creature. I see Erica reach for an arrow to put in her bow, but as Cora happily says, "She's so cute. I love her," I know the thought of harming the animal exits all of our minds.
She'll have to learn about hunting animals at some point soon, but that day doesn't have to be today. I admire her childlike innocence as she takes a few gentle steps toward the bunny. The bunny suddenly looks up and starts hopping away, causing Cora to stall her movements. But then Cora squeals as three baby bunnies hop out of a bush, following their mom.
Luke and I smile at Cora's happiness, and then I look over at Erica. I know we're both relieved that we didn't kill the bunny, even if it would have been nice to have the food. The group resumes walking with Cora, Reece, and Ashton now leading the way.
"I miss the days when my first instinct when seeing a bunny was to say awww instead of killing it," Erica says as we fall back a little.
"Me too," I agree, "I feel like I disassociated from seeing animals as cute."
"Same. I had to," Erica replies, "We definitely need to go hunting soon."
"I can go with you later today?" I offer.
"No, I don't want to shorten Cora's day out. We'll go tomorrow," Erica says.
It doesn't take too much longer until the town comes into view. We agree to split up with me, Luke, and Cora going to the clothing store and everyone else to go check out the nearby stores.
"Wait here for a second, okay?" Luke says as the three of us get to the entrance. He does a quick scan of the store before telling us it's clear.
We're relieved to see a decent supply of winter jackets and start pulling a few options for Cora to try on.
"I don't really like this one," Cora frowns as she pulls off a jacket, "But I guess it's fine."
"There's no rush. We'll find one you do like," Luke says as he puts the jacket back on the rack, "Whatever you take today will be your jacket for a while, so we'll keep looking until we find one you feel comfortable in."
Cora grins up at him before continuing to scan the options. As she does so, I walk over to a section that has gloves, hats, and scarves. I'm pretty sure Thomas needs a new hat, so I look through the options before finding a cute one with dinosaurs on it. Then I grab some extra sets of gloves and some scarves and shove them in my bag. It's nice to have the winter supplies in stock for anyone else who needs them.
A minute later, Luke pulls out a dark brown leather jacket with a fluffy inside.
"What about this one?" He asks as he checks the size.
Cora's eyes light up, "I love it."
Luke smiles as he holds it open for her to slip into. She walks over to the mirror and pulls her hair out from underneath the jacket.
"It's perfect," She smiles.
"That looks really good," I compliment her, "Is that the one?"
"Definitely," She smiles.
"Is there anything else you need while we're here?" I ask her.
"Nope. I'm good," She replies, still admiring her new jacket. The three of us then decide to go meet up with the rest of the group. When we walk outside, we see Erica and Blake also walking out of a door a few stores down.
"Find anything good?" I ask as we walk over.
"Not really. We were just about to go find Ashton and Reece," Erica replies.
"I think they're at the hardware store, so hopefully they found something useful," Blake says, "How was the clothing store?"
"We found everything we needed, so it was good," I answer.
"That's good. Did Cora find a jacket?" Blake asks.
"Yeah," Luke smiles, turning around to tell Cora to show it off.
I turn around as well, seeing Cora nowhere in sight.
"Cora?" Luke says in a panicked tone. As if on cue, there's a loud crash coming from the store next to the clothing store.
The four of us run to the sound and rush through the door to see Cora standing by a case of board games.
"Cora?"
"Yeah?" She says looking over casually.
"What was that sound?" Luke asks, sounding relieved but confused.
"I killed a walker," She replies like it's nothing.
"What?" I say, walking over to her. As soon as I walk past a short bookcase, I see a knife in her hand and a walker on the ground.
Luke, Blake, Erica, and I look at each other in shock.
"That's what I was supposed to do, right?" Cora asks, sounding a little worried.
"Yeah," I reassure her, "Yeah, you did well."
"You did well, but I told you to stay close to us," Luke reprimands her.
"I know. I'm sorry," Cora says, "I got distracted and wanted to look at the games."
"How did you even do that?" Luke asks, referencing the dead walker on the ground that's clearly much bigger than Cora. Even though his tone is stern, I can tell he's impressed.
"I just did what Uncle Ashton taught me," She shrugs, "Kick the back of the leg and stab the head."
I hear Erica and Blake laugh as Luke says as he crosses his arms and says, "Uncle Ashton taught you that?"
"Yup," She says matter-of-factly before looking back at the board games, "Can I bring one of these home? I'm getting tired of the ones we have."
"Of course," I nod and she pulls one out. She starts to walk over to us, but Erica says, "You should grab a few more. I have enough room in my bag and I'm sure Thomas would like new games, too."
"Really?" Cora asks.
"Yeah," Erica says with a smile.
"You're the best," Cora says before running back over to the options.
A few minutes later, with both Erica and Blake's bags full of games, we meet outside with Ashton and Reece.
I laugh as Luke walks over and immediately punches Ashton on the shoulder.
"Ow, what was that for?" Ashton asks, rubbing his arm.
"I cannot believe you taught my daughter how to fight without asking me first," Luke says, but then he smiles, "But thanks."
"Why? What did I miss?" Ashton asks, looking at us confused.
"Cora killed a walker," Erica explains.
"You're joking," Ashton's jaw drops, "Cora killed her first walker and I missed it?"
"Yup," I reply, "To be fair, we all missed it. We just heard it."
"That's so cool," Ashton replies.
"Why are you guys talking about me like I'm not here?" Cora huffs.
"Sorry," I laugh and ruffle her hair.
She shakes her head before asking, "Mom, did you bring the camera?"
"Yeah," I say, reaching for my bag, "Do you want a picture?"
"Yes," She grins walking over to Luke, "I want one with Dad."
I pull the polaroid camera from my bag and turn it on. I smile as the two of them stand in front of the shopping center with cheesy smiles on their faces. I snap a picture before saying, "Everyone else get in."
"Are you sure you don't want to be in it?" Reece asks.
"Yeah. I like taking pictures," I reply.
I grin as Luke picks Cora up and places her on his shoulders. Erica stands next to Luke, and Blake stands behind her, loosely wrapping his arms around her waist. Reece and Ashton stand on the other side of Luke, also posing for the picture. Once they're all smiling, I snap a photo.
"That was so cute," I smile, "Definitely one of my favorites I've taken."
"And now we'll always remember Cora's first day out," Luke says as he walks forward with her still on his shoulders.
"And the first time she killed a walker," Ashton adds, reaching his hand out for a fist bump which Cora happily returns.
We all decide it's time to head home since it is getting darker and colder the more we stand there. I smile as Erica, Cora, and Blake walk ahead of us, and Blake says something to make all three of them laugh.
Luke breaks me out of my thoughts as he says, "I don't know if I like the idea of Cora being so close to walkers to kill them."
"She needs to learn how to fight and kill. It's the only way she'll survive," I reply.
"Yeah, I know, but I more meant that I don't know if I'm comfortable with her using a knife. I was thinking that we should maybe teach her how to use a bow and arrow instead," Luke suggests.
I raise my eyebrows, "Really?"
"Yeah. I know she would be good at it," Luke says, "We should also train her with a knife, but it does scare me that she'll run into a walker that's too big to just kick down. She's half the size of most walkers."
"It scares me, too," I admit, "But I think it's a good idea she starts actually training. She definitely would be excited to go out more, too."
"Exactly," Luke grins.
"I'll let you be the bearer of good news. She clearly had fun today, so she's definitely going to be excited," I say.
"Are you sure you don't want to tell her?" Luke asks, "I mean, I'm clearly her favorite parent already."
I roll my eyes and laugh, "Yeah, right."
Luke throws his arm loosely around my shoulders, "I'm obviously joking. But we can tell her together tonight."
"Sounds good," I smile as our home comes into view.