We all sit down for dinner in the Greene house, Rick, Glenn, and Hershel still not back yet.
"Carl, I want you to keep your head up." Shane says, spooning green beans onto his plate. "Your old man, he's the toughest son of a-" "No cussin' in the house." Patricia interrupts my dad.
Because oh no, cussing will banish us to hell forever.
"Sorry." My dad smirks. Alyssa looks at me, "Hear that? No cussin'." I smirk, "I dunno what you mean. I've never said a cussword in my life." She giggles.
"Lori, dinner." Carol calls. "She's not in there." Maggie turns and looks at the hallway behind her. "Where is she?" Dale quickly asks.
Nobody responds, Maggie looks around at everybody.
"Carl, when's the last time you saw your mom?" My dad questions. "This afternoon."
"She was worried about Rick, asked me to look in on Carl." "And she trusted you?" I mumble so quietly nobody, but Alyssa can hear me. She laughs and covers her mouth; everybody quickly looks at her. "Sorry, remembered a funny joke." She says, her face turning red. I smile and nudge her shoulder; she hits my bicep lightly.
"She went after them?" Dale asks. "She didn't say that." Andrea quickly replies. My dad stands up and says, "Nobody panic. Gonna be around here somewhere." Alyssa leans in and whispers, "Sometimes, I never understand what he's saying." I smirk, "Me neither."
Everybody stands up to go help look for her.
Carol runs off to go talk to Daryl, Shane goes to the barn and T-Dog checks the yards. We're all standing at camp waiting for them.
"She's not at the barn." Shane announces. "I checked the yards." "Well where is she?" Carl is beginning to become nervous. "Hey, we'll find her." Alyssa puts her arm around his shoulders. I raise my eyebrows and smirk. She mouths stop through gritted teeth and shakes her head.
"She asked Daryl to go into town." Carol runs back to us. "Must've gone herself."
Carl whimpers and shoves Alyssa's arm off of him, running off. "Carl!" Alyssa calls, chasing after him.
"Did you know about this?" Shane interrogates Dale. "No." "Did she take a gun?" "I don't know. I wouldn't let her go out there alone." My dad turns and begins walking to the van behind him without another word. He tosses his shotgun in the passenger side of the car and gets in, closing the driver's side door.
He quickly starts the car and drives off, wasting no time.
About an hour later, Shane's car pulls up and him and Lori step out. "Oh my god you're alright, what happened?" Andrea says, running up to them, We all follow.
"She was attacked." Shane says, inspecting her wounds. "I was in an accident. I'm fine, I'm fine. I really am." She waves him off. "Where's Rick?" She asks Andrea. If it wasn't silent before, it definitely is now.
When nobody responds, the puzzle pieces connect in her mind. "They're not back?" Her shoulders drop and her face immediately becomes worried. "Where are they?" She asks my dad, her tone more firm.
"Look, I had to get you back here." He tries to explain. "You asshole." She whispers, quickly approaching him.
Oh shit.
"He's my husband!" She yells shoving him. "Lori, I will go after him! I will find him!" Shane says, his voice shaking as Lori is shoving him. He finally shoves her off lightly and says, "Hey! Now, first things first- I gotta- I gotta look after you. I gotta make sure the baby's all right, okay?"
OH SHIT.
Carl comes out of what seems like thin air and exclaims, "You're having a baby?" "What?!" Alyssa gasps, standing next to him, her mouth gaping open. "Why didn't you tell me?" Carl's voice becomes firmer.
Lori just stammers, Shane rests his hands on the van and sighs.
"Come on. Let's make sure you're all right." Dale says, waving for Lori to go with him. "Come on." Andrea says, softly. Lori walks away, glaring at Shane. Carl follows shortly after, leaving T-Dog, Shane, Alyssa, and I.
"Welp." I say, rocking on my heels. My dad looks at me and pushes off the car, walking up to the house.
Alyssa looks at me, her eyes wide her words coming out breathless and, in a gasp, "Lori's having a baby?!"
In the morning, I'm sitting at the picnic table finishing my bracelet. I'm wearing blue jeans and a black t-shirt, tucked into the waistband of my pants. "Dude." Alyssa says, her voice dropping a few octaves. She sits across from me and interlinks her fingers like she's a manager about to fire someone.
"Dude." I respond, setting my bracelet down and looking at her. "Wanna go bunny hunting?" "To kill or keep?" Her cheeks flush, "Keep." She mumbles quietly. I scoff, "I was plannin' on goin' with everyone to help find Rick but, I assume they have enough people. Grab my bow and arrow and backpack and shit." She smiles broadly and runs into the tent quickly. She comes out with my bow and arrow around her chest, my backpack in hand, and my gun and its holster.
I scoff and grab two out of the three things. "Bow and arrow?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. "Mine." Her eyes narrow. "Alright then, bow-women. Let me go tell Dale. I'll meet you at the entrance of the woods." She nods and begins walking behind us, towards the woods behind Daryl's new set up.
After I tell Dale, I meet up with Alyssa at the beginning of the woods. "Bunnies are friends, not food." She says, turning and beginning to walk into the woods. I scoff, "Okay Bruce." She turns her head while walking and looks at me with a confused look.
"Oh c'mon...you know...Finding Nemo?" "OH!" Alyssa giggles.
It's been almost an hour of us walking through the woods and we stop by a creek. "You know what creeks have?" I ask Alyssa. "Geodes!" She yells quietly, taking her shoes off and walking slowly into the river. I smile, "I'll look around the sides, but I am not taking my converses off, it'll be nightfall by the time I get them off." She giggles.
"Woah it's deep over-AH!" She screams, her arm being grabbed by a hand from under the water. "Alyssa!" I scream, immediately running into the water and running to her.
I can't see the Walker's head and I don't want to risk drawing more Walkers by firing more shots than necessary. I wrap Alyssa's upper body in my arms and begin pulling, trying to get her out of the Walker's grasp.
"Adrian kill it!" She cries. "I can't see its head! We can't risk it!" Before anything else happens, and arrow pierces into the water and the hand around Alyssa's arm goes limp.
I quickly look up and see a man standing at the top of the hill to the left of us, holding his bow and arrow. He lowers it and looks at me.
He begins walking down the hill, slowly approaching us. Alyssa and I step back and the man stops; I guess he can sense that her and I are a little nervous. He sets his gun, knife, and bow and arrow on the ground and puts his hands up; beginning to walk again.
When he makes it down the hill, I get a better look at him. He has dark skin and dark eyes, his hair is shaved, and he has a thin line of stubble on the bottom of his jaw and bottom of his chin, as well as his upper lip. He has big lips and a chiseled jaw line. One of his thick eyebrows has two scars on it, though they seem older than the apocalypse. He's dusty but not terribly dirty, he obviously keeps himself groomed.
"Name." I spit. "You're welcome." He retorts, smirking. "Damien. Damien James." Alyssa, who is hiding behind me like she's my daughter, giggles and blushes. I scoff, he notices too and chuckles lightly.
"And you are..." He slowly walks closer and closer to us, stopping about six feet away; his hands still in the air. "Adrian. Walsh." He nods, "And your daughter?" I scoff and Alyssa laughs. "Little sister. That's Alyssa." "Oh, my bad." "What are you doing in these woods?"
"I could ask you the same thing."
"I asked first."
"Fair enough." He inhales. "Been on my own since the beginning. I've just been trailing through these woods for a few days. My camp is over there." He points behind him. I look over his shoulder then back at him, "You're telling us where your camp is?" He shrugs, "You're kind of scary but...your little sister-not daughter, looks like she would hug bunnies and refuse to eat them." She smiles and nods. "Bunnies are friends, not food." She repeats from earlier.
He nods, "Called it." He looks me up and down and crosses his arms, "Yeah you really terrify me." I nod, "Thanks." Damien raises an eyebrow and looks around, "You guys look too clean to be on your own. Not saying you should invite me to wherever you're staying but..." I hesitate. "He did save my life." Alyssa pushes. "You just want him with us because you think he's cute." I smile. She giggles and hides her face in my back, "Stop!" She sqeals. Damien laughs lightly and says, "Thanks. But I'm a little too old for you."
Okay, green flag.
"Fine. But I don't know how long my group will let you stay so don't count on being with us forever. I'm not in charge." "'s fine. Can I go grab my shit from my camp?" "Yeah, we're coming with. You can grab you weapons after you get your stuff from your camp."
"Deal." He says, turning and beginning to walk the way he came.
(Authors Notes!!)
Louis Cordice as Damien James