(REWRITE)
001
The night had come quick and the chilly breeze flew in the barn. Glenn had just left a note for Maggie to meet in the barn, unknowing what he'd find in there. He tried opening the doors from the front, but it was locked. He walked up the steps, each stair creaked as he stepped on it. The door opened, but there was no lock.
A smile lit up on his face, "Well this is different for sure." Glenn had this thing planned out. He was ready, and hopefully Maggie was too. In his arms, were two towels and a flashlight in his hands. A putrid smell wafts through the air. Glenn began sniffing the towels, then himself, thinking of the most reasonable things.
The cries of a small child were then heard. "Sophia? Is that you?" he called out, hoping the little girl the group had been spending days to find was in here. No reply.
He shined his flashlight around, revealing a tiny girl with brunette hair and a pink top. She was definitely not Sophia. "Holy shit," Glenn muttered under his breath.
Glenn crouched down and slightly shook the kid, "Hey, hey. You're okay." It wasn't her who smelled either. The girl sobbed in her arms, not even looking up at the voice talking to her. Glenn got up, and shined his light at a few other spots. Then finally, he saw the smell he'd been getting. A herd of walkers in the barn, snarling and groaning. "Holy shit!" he said once again.
He swiftly picked up the girl and ran off in one quick move. Why were there walkers in the barn? And this little girl? What had the Greene family been hiding from them?
"Glenn you weren't supposed to– who is that?" Maggie raised a brow, panting.
"I don't know. I saw her in the barn full of walkers. I just picked her up and ran I couldn't leave her there, she was sobbing and it all happened so fast!" he shouted worriedly as he still held onto her.
Maggie lightened her tone, "Ya can't tell anyone about this, please. Just say she was wanderin' around and collapsed as soon as we found her."
"Okay. Well, I'll let 'er sleep inside. She looks real young. We'll tell them in the mornin'," she offered. Glenn agreed, carefully handing the girl.
He frowned, "Must be starving. Make sure she eats as soon as she wakes up." He then puts his hands in his pockets awkwardly. They walk back together, Glenn only walking her to the door. Everyone seemed to be fast asleep.
Maggie quietly opens the front door, heading to her room. "Maggie?" Beth calls out. "Whose that?" she furrowed her eyebrows at the young girl.
"I'll explain it to everyone tomorrow, get some rest," Maggie replies in a hurried tone. She then walks away, giving Beth no time to answer back.
Finally making it to her room, Maggie sighs and sets the child down on the bed. "Poor thing. Wonder where her parents are at." she thinks to herself as she shut the door behind her.
Maggie puts a pillow on the floor and lays down, in case she woke up and finds a stranger next to her bed. She stared at the ceiling until she fell asleep.
Daylight came, and Ella sat up shouting for her dad.
"Hey. I'm Maggie, it's okay I won't hurt you. What's your name?" the girl looks up at her settling down a bit. A shiver ran down her spine. She had no idea who this woman was or who this house belonged to.
"Ella." She stutters.
"Where's your parents, Ella?" Maggie asks in a soft tone. The girl shrugs.
"Alright, well why don't I take you to meet someone." She reaches out her hand to walk her outside.
"Hey! Maggie!" Glenn shouts out.
Ella quickly hides behind Maggie, covering her face. "Don't worry Ella. Everyone here is friendly, that's Glenn." Maggie explains. Ella peeks out behind Maggie as Glenn smiles at her waving.
"Hey I found some clothes for her, I don't know if they'll fit but they'll do." Ella looks up at him smiling. "I think she likes them.. and me!" Glenn thinks to himself proudly.
"Okay well, let's go take 'er to meet everyone," Maggie says as the 3 of them walk over to Rick and everyone else.
"Hey look, before you guys say anything I found her wandering around shivering so we had to take her in," Glenn explains to them.
"Ella this is Shane, Rick, Lori, Andrea, and T-dog" Maggie bends down whispering to her"
"Are you serious? Let me ask you sumn'—" Shane gets cut off.
"Now hold on a second there Shane. Don't get all mad. The little girl needs us. We can't leave her out there to die." Rick argued.
"Whatever. If er' parents or group comes don't be surprised when they turn on us." Shane snarled, walking away.
"Well uhm, what's this little cutie's name?" Lori asks smiling at the young girl hiding behind Maggie again.
"Her name is Ella. I'm gonna go put her in some fresh clothes and tell my daddy." Maggie replies, taking the clothes Glenn has for Ella.
"I can wash her clothes if she'd like," Andrea says softly, smiling at Ella. The young girl smiles and nods
There were still a few others who hadn't met the little girl yet. Dale was on top of the RV scouting, and Daryl went out to look for Sophia while Carol was in the RV grieving her daughter. Maggie sets up a warm bath for Ella and helps her change into new clothes. After she's finished, Ella walks over to the bed in her baggy clothes to take a nap. Maggie notices a note in Ella's pants. Opening it carefully the note said,
"Hello, if you're reading this you have met my daughter Eleanor Pierce or Ella. She's only 7 years old. I was bitten by a walker and had to let her go. She's extremely shy at first and is quiet until she's warmed up to you. She has no family left so it's best you don't try looking for us. Try talking to her about the moon, she'll like you more. - S.P"
"Oh, this poor girl." Maggie thought. She looks at Ella taking a nap on the bed. She puts a blanket over the small girl and goes over to her father.
"Daddy, I have to tell you something," Maggie says fidgeting with her hands nervously. Hershel turns around, mumbling a hm. "Me and Glenn- We found a young girl and her parents are well, gone. We have to take er' in. She's only 7, she won't make it out there." Maggie explains.
Hershel gave a look of worry. "We could take her in but when Rick and 'em leave she's goin' with 'em," he replies. "We can't take care of that many people." Hershel felt a slight guilt creep down his spine, but he knew that was what had to be done. With his two daughters and an additional two people, including himself, the chickens couldn't feed them forever, right? Maggie nods at her father knowing deep down she wants Ella to stay. Her heart ached for that girl. She had lost a lot and Maggie couldn't just do that to her as Ella's getting comfortable around her.
Maggie walks over to Beth's room knocking, "Beth? Ya in there?" knocking again. A small blonde girl opens up the door.
"Hey, do you mind watching the little girl? Her name is Ella, me and Glenn are gonna find er' some stuff in the town." Maggie asks.
"Yeah, of course, stay safe out there" Beth smiles softly at her. Maggie thanks her and walks off to look for Glenn. On her way out she spots the 2, Carl and Evelynn playing around the corner.
"Hey! Carl, Ev!" she shouts from a distance. The two look over at her, waving. "Go inside and ask the new little girl to play. She's a bit younger and shy but she'll get used to y'all," Maggie says, walking closer to them.
Evelynn had a disappointed look on her face, "Oh.. no Sophia?" They both missed her a lot but Maggie thinks that young girl is dead out there, but of course, she won't tell them that. It was too much for two little kids to think about.
"Uh, nope. Not yet. Daryl's out lookin' don't ya worry. Now go on and play with Ella." Maggie fidgeted with her hands again. The 2 kids start running inside, pretty excited.
Meanwhile, with Ella, she's awake listening to Beth sing. Ella's eyes sparkled and smiling.
"Haha! I beat ya here," Carl laughs after running into the room. Ella looks over at them, jumps off the bed, and hides behind Beth.
The two kids giggled. "It's okay we won't hurt you!" Evelynn promises. "My name is Evelynn but you can call me Ev, and that's Carl." Ella peeks out behind Beth, then walks out to be fully seen noticing how much Carl resembles her older brother. Quickly, she felt a relaxed feeling.
"Do you wanna play with us?" Carl asks. Ella nods. She isn't much of a talker, not yet at least.
"Follow us!" they both say running out as Ella follows. The 3 kids sat in a tent.
"You should sleep here with us. It's always so fun," Evelynn exclaims.
Carl smiles, "Yeah! The grown-ups are usually still busy so we just do whatever we want."
"Uhmm, maybe.." Ella responds quietly. The 2 looked at each other, surprised to finally hear her voice."
"Okay well, Ella right? What do you like? Me and Carl love playing superheroes. One day maybe we could all save the world together," Evelynn says proudly.
"I like uhm, space," Ella commented.
"Ooh, sounds fun!" Evelynn says, excited to talk to her since she really wanted the little girl to like her.
Carl's eyes lit up, "Oh, I think Glenn has a guitar! If you sleep out here we could get him to play."
"Hey you know, there's another girl. Her names Sophia! When Daryl finds her we can all have a big dance party!" Evelynn states, smiling.
The 3 kids then decide to just play superheroes and run around doing random stuff. About 2 hours later, maybe more than that Lori goes over to them. "Hey kids, come on ya know what we gotta do," she says. Carl and Ev run into the tent grabbing a notebook pencil, and an extra for Ella. She tilts her head in confusion.
"Oh, sorry Ella, I'm gonna teach y'all sum' stuff since schools out," she smiles at the young girl. "Do you know how to read and write?"
Ella shook her hand side to side in the air which meant, 'kind of.'
"Alright well better teach ya then." Lori smiles. The four of them walk over to the table, Carl and Evelynn already get started since they know what to do. Meanwhile, Lori teaches Ella on her own.
It'd always been Lori's job to teach the kids. She's done it since they were at their survivor camp in Atlanta. Now, they were far from there yet she still continues to teach.
"Do you know your abc's?" she questioned. Ella nods her head. "Great. I'll write some words, you read em' to me okay?" she says.
"Okay," Ella responds. Lori writes down easy words like cat or dog.
"Sound it out darlin' you'll get the hang of it." Lori smiles. Ella easily read the words, she was smart enough to know. Footsteps proceeded to walk toward them, coming from around the corner. It was Glenn.
"Hey guys! Ella, we found you some clothes and a nice surprise!" he exclaims. Eleanor smiled with excitement. Glenn brings his hands out of his back, showing a stuffed bunny. The little girl's eyes sparkled with joy as she smiled real wide, hugging the bunny as she spun around.
"Thank you!" Ella says, awkwardly giving Glenn a hug as well. Maggie watches from a distance smiling, happy they're getting along. It was cute to her to see her boyfriend be so kind to a kid.