(TW!! Mentions of Bolemia!!)
It's been a few weeks since the museum run and the bridge fell. We now have a camp in the middle of all of the communities. Everyone from everywhere is here: Saviors, Alexandrians, the Kindom's people, Oceanside's people, and a few of the Hilltop's people.
Alyssa, Inejra, Damien, Cato, and I all live at this camp now and Alyssa loves it. Her Bolemia has gotten better now that Damien and Cato are back with us, I guess she has more distractions with them around.
"Adrian!" I hear someone call from the right.
I groan and walk away from my tent, allowing Alyssa to eat breakfast with Damien and Cato in peace- she's not allowed to eat alone in case she purges right after.
The remnants of the voice in my head lead me to one of the Saviors, a girl, Laura. "Hey," She smiles. "I found this at the Sanctuary."
I raise an eyebrow as she holds out her hand, showing me a pistol.
"No fuckin' shit." I whisper, running my finger over the Shane Walsh engraved on it. "Fuck, I remember losing this at the Sanctuary and then like...completely forgetting about it because I got zooted out of my mind with Nick like four seconds later."
Laura chuckles, "Yeah, I found it in the rec room. Had your last name so I figured it was yours. Who's Shane?"
I stare at the name, "My dad." Laura's face comes back into view as I finally pry my eyes away from the pistol. "He died around the beginning."
She nods, "How?"
I don't want to tell her that Rick killed him. I hate thinking about it. I hate thinking about how Judith is technically my little sister and that my dad was fucking insane. And, if I tell them Rick killed him, that could become dangerous for Rick.
"Walker." I fib. "The farm got overrun," I pull up my "boy shorts" and show her the scar on my thigh. "Took out a good half of us."
She frowns in understanding and says, "Where'd you get the gun?"
I shrug, "I honestly don't remember. I think I found it in my backpack a few days later. He might've given it to me beforehand."
"Shit, Adrian!" Inejra's voice calls.
I quickly turn around and holster my gun in my waistband, "Woah, what?"
"Alyssa's gone. I went inside y'alls tent to grab one of Alyssa's sweatshirts because she asked and when I came back out she was gone."
I groan, "Damn it. Check the outhouse?"
She nods, "I can see it from here and a Savior went inside like thirty seconds ago."
"Fuck," I whisper. "Where's Damien and Cato?"
"The bridge."
I nod, "Split up. Don't freak her out. Take left, I'll take right, if you find Damien or Cato tell him to let Rosita know so she knows to be on the lookout."
With a nod, Inejra and I split up, searching for Alyssa without making a big fuss.
"'Lyss?" I announce, checking behind tents.
There's no sign of her anywhere. No footsteps, no food, no shreds of somehow perfectly golden blonde hair. Nothing.
I groan quietly after a few minutes and run my fingers through my hair.
"Hey, you good?" Tara asks, noticing me standing behind a tent.
I nod with a sigh, "Yeah, just...Alyssa left after eating breakfast and I don't know where she went. I think she went to purge."
Tara nods in understanding, "Need help..." Her voice trails off. "Listen," She whispers.
My ears perk up at the faint sound of crying just past the line of the woods. Not dangerously deep but deep enough that she can't be seen.
"Damn it. Go tell Inejra I've found her." I order, running into the woods.
"On it." She replies, running the opposite way.
"'Lyss!" I call out, cupping my hands on the side of my mouth as a makeshift megaphone.
"Adrian, I just wanna be alone." I hear from the distance.
I follow the voice and find Alyssa hunched over on the ground, trying to get herself to throw up.
"Woah, woah," I say gently, pulling her hand away and sitting her up.
"Adrian, please." She cries, her blue eyes now reddened and puffy from tears.
I've found something out from dealing with this. Alyssa hates talking about her feelings. She hates seeming like she can't only ever be happy.
I pull her into a hug, both of us still sitting on the ground. "Damien and Cato are like... inseparable. There has to be somethin' there."
Alyssa scoffs tearfully, "How long until they're together?"
I shrug, hugging Alyssa a little tighter. "Better be soon or I'm callin' in some reinforcements."
Alyssa looks at me confusedly, "Reinforcements?"
I nod, "You, me, and Inejra may need to step in."
Alyssa smiles, "Sounds like a plan."
I scoff without a smile and stand up, helping her up too. "Did you throw up?"
She shakes her head, "No, you came just in time."
I roll my eyes and begin walking back to camp with her, "My bad."
"Alyssa!" Inejra groans as she and I make it out of the woods. "Dude, Gabriel and-" She fake gags. "Gabriel and Anne are-" Another fake gag. "They were holding hands."
Alyssa's eyes widen, "What?!"
Inejra nods, "Come with me to beat Gabriel's ass."
Without another word, Inejra grabs Alyssa's hand and they run off, presumably to chew up and spit out Gabriel.
"Why're you doin' labor with us?" Daryl asks, sawing a limb off of a tree."
I shrug as I throw some unneeded sticks into the woods to give myself some room to cut a bit off of my tree. "I was bored."
"You decided to do what all of us wish we weren't because you were bored?"
I nod and begin sawing a limb off of my tree, "Hell yeah. And Damien and Cato were here and Alyssa requested me to...see if chemistry is brewing."
Daryl scoffs, "Of course she did."
The horses freaking out behind Daryl catches both of our attention.
The sound of Walkers growling then brings our attention to the opposite side of the horses.
"Got 'em." Daryl says, grabbing a sharp limb and walking over to the Walkers.
After he kills a few, I notice more and more walking out of the woods. "Damn it, Daryl!" I yell, pointing to the herd when he looks at me.
He quickly turns to the workers and yells, "A herd's comin'! Bug out, now!"
"Shit," I whisper, running up to Daryl and helping him kill a few more walkers with my knife.
They just keep coming, it's like they're never-ending. It's not good for the work we're doing right now.
Suddenly, the sound of an agonizing groan comes from the log mound.
Daryl and I both turn and there Aaron is, lying on the ground with a log on his arm.
"Get them mules out of here," Daryl orders a few other workers. He waves to me to run with him and he points to a few other Saviors, "You- get over here right now!"
Damien and Cato, without being asked, they run over to the log and both begin trying to lift it.
"Go! Get out of here!" Aaron groans.
"Aaron, shut the fuck up and let us help you!" I yell, groaning as my arms strain from the weight of the log.
"Keep an eye on him!" Daryl says as he turns around and kills a few approaching Walkers.
"Stick that under the log!" Cato orders a Savior at the base of the log.
The Savior complies and once the stick is under the log, he pushes it down, leaving enough room for Aaron to pry his arm out from under the tree.
"Aw, shit!" Aaron yells, noticing his bloody, crushed, and unmoving arm.
Daryl helps him up and they begin running, Damien, Cato, and I behind them for back up.
"Fuck, they won't stop!" I yell as Walkers slowly surround me.
Just then, an arrow shoots at a Walker dangerously close to me and when I look, a woman from Oceanside is holding a crossbow. To her left, our group comes running to help, armed with knives and guns.
I gunt as I crack my whip, cutting a Walker's face off.
"Adrian, a little help!" Damien yells as Cato gets cornered by Walkers.
Without wasting another second, I leave my Walkers and run over to Damien, helping him take down the surplus of Walkers around Cato.
"Fuck!" Cato grunts as he gets pushed to the ground by Walkers.
"No, no, no, Cato!" I scream in desperation. With shaking hands, I grab Walkers by their shoulders and pry them off of the dog pile that's now forming on top of Cato.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Damien panics, doing the same and killing the Walkers I didn't manage to for me.
Panic rises quickly throughout my body, causing all smart ideas I have to spill out of my ear and instead be replaced with the image of a funeral for Cato.
"Damien! Leave those Walkers, Rick's-" Just as I say that, the stack of logs comes tumbling down, smashing any Walker in its path- including the Walkers I pried off of Cato's dogpile.
As we continue, when we get deeper into the dogpile, Damien and I notice dead Walkers all around Cato, protecting him from any other Walker's snapping jaw.
Damien lets out a sharp sigh of relief as he and I pull those Walkers off too.
Cato sighs when he's finally free, "Jesus, they smelled like death."
I exhale to release the tension in my body and chuckle, "Jesus, I can't leave you unsupervised for three seconds."
Damien smiles and cups Cato's cheeks, leaning down and kissing him passionately. "Fucking dumbass!" He yells, breaking the kiss.
I purse my lips to hide my smile, imagining the excitement Alyssa and Inejra are gonna have when they find out about this.
Cato smiles, "Alright then, mate. Don't save me next time."
Damien scoffs, "You saved me once. My turn." They kiss once more and Damien helps him up. "Now we're even."
They both turn to me and groan quietly at my excited reaction. "Adrian," Cato groans, tilting his head back.
"Shut the fuck up and let me admire my work." My words result in chuckles and laughs from Damien and Cato. "It's almost like," I smirk, turning around and beginning to walk back to the group. "I called it."
An hour later, Alyssa jumps up and down in excitement. "No way! No way, no way, no way!" She exclaims as she sees Damien and Cato holding hands (as requested by me so I didn't have to say "Damien and Cato kissed).
"God, I fucking knew it!" Inejra smirks, crossing her arms.
"Oh, piss off." Cato groans, dropping Damien's hand.
"How'd it happen?" Alyssa asks, quickly turning to me.
I smirk, "Damien saved Cato's life. 'Now they're even'."
Damien chuckles and grabs Alyssa's hat, "I'ma burn this if you make a big deal about this."
Alyssa scoffs and rips her hat back, "I'll just have to hide this then because I'm never living this down."
Damien rolls his eyes, "Yeah, you're Alyssa Grimes, of course you won't."
She smiles and nods, "Yes I am and no I won't."
She decided to go by Grimes after Rick offered her Carl's hat. He said she could wear it until Judith grew up though, Alyssa denied it.
She said she liked her hat from Damien and she had her necklace from him.
"But I'll take his last name." She suggests, smiling up at Rick.
How could anyone say no to Alyssa with that smile? It's like there's no more pain and suffering in the world when Alyssa smiles.
How? I have no idea, but it's one of the most beautiful feelings anyone can ever feel.
Rick smiles, "I think Carl and I would both like that."
She smiles broader and hugs Rick tightly, thanking him profusely.
I smirk at Rick, "So what does that make you to me?"
He shrugs, letting go of Alyssa, "Guess we'll find out."
Alyssa looks quickly at me. "That's what you say."
I don't know if Alyssa will ever date anyone again, especially since she took Carl's last name. But I pray to whatever the hell there is out there that she does.
She's almost sixteen, she's way too young to never be in another relationship again.
But, until she's ready, and even after she gets into a relationship, she's a Grimes. Through and through, even if that makes me the only Walsh left.
It's dinner time, the sun has gone to bed and is now replaced by the moon though, our bonfires illuminate us with a comforting orange glow.
Damien sits with Cato's arm around him, and Alyssa, Inejra, and Henry sit in a circle, just talking. I sit with Tara, Rosita, and a few others, laughing and telling stories.
"Excuse you?" Alyssa's voice cuts through the laughter. "What'd you say?"
"Oh fuck. That's her angry voice." I point out, setting my plate down on a log.
Everyone quickly turns and sees Alyssa standing toe-to-toe with a Savior. This Savior, in particular, is buffer than Daryl, Damien, and Nick combined. He's got the body Tyreese had and he's tall.
"I said...honey," He smirks, crouching down to be at eye-level with Alyssa. "Nick was a lucky man to be able to see Adrian undressed-" Alyssa cuts him off with a slap across the cheek.
"Oh shit." I smirk, standing up as everyone quickly gasps.
"You know what you are?" Alyssa spits, reveling in the man's red cheek. "You're sad. Sadder than I think any of us ever have been in our lives. You haven't felt the touch of a woman in what...your whole life? Not even your mother would touch you because she knew you would infect her with some sort of Gonorrhea or some shit."
I scoff and allow my mouth to drop open before covering it with my hand, deciding to not intervene.
The man straightens up, "Go on. Get it all out."
Alyssa narrows her eyes, "You wish your dick was big enough to fit inside any woman, that's why you pick on Adrian. You think she'll do whatever you want regardless of your dick size because you know Nick's was record-setting small."
Everyone gapes around us, not wanting to interfere. It's a rare sight, to see Alyssa chew someone out. But when she does, she does.
"I'm sorry we don't have PornHub anymore so you have nothing to finger yourself with."
The man interrupts her by holding his hand up, "It's called jerking off, babe."
"Don't call me babe, and not for you. You have to be able to wrap your hand around your dick for that. You? You can use your pointer finger and thumb and in three seconds flat- boom, all done." Alyssa hisses. "I'm sorry you think you can get away with anything because we're not allowed to slam your face into the trunk of a tree and you think Negan is getting out of that cell any time soon but...you can't. Not with me around."
The man narrows his eyes and steps dangerously closer to Alyssa. That causes me to step closer and Damien, Cato, and Rosita stand up.
"And what are you gonna do about it, hm? You're a teenager, you can't do shit." He says, puffing his chest out.
Alyssa clenches her jaw, "Adrian didn't raise a bitch."
The man smirks, "Oh yeah?"
She nods, "Yeah, and you may not wanna fuck around and find out." She punches him in the jaw and shoves him backward- though, with his weight, he doesn't budge. "Go jerk off to the thought of your mom, asshole. Get the fuck outta here." Alyssa says, turning around and quickly stopping when she sees everyone's eyes on her.
"Sorry." She mumbles, quickly checking to make sure the Savior is walking away.
Without another word, I burst into laughter, hunching over and holding myself up by putting my hands on my knees.
My whole body shakes with laughter as I replay that scene over and over in my head.
"Oh my god." I laugh, straightening up and holding my stomach as it strains uncomfortably. "Oh my fucking god."
Slowly, everybody around us starts to laugh. Inejra first, then Damien and Cato, then everyone else gradually joins in, filling the air with a burst of shared laughter.
"Jesus fuck, 'Lyss! When have you ever been able to come up with shit like that on the spot?!" I exclaim, walking over to her and high-fiving her.
She smiles as she high-fives me, "Learned from the best."
"Alyssa," Inejra laughs. "That was fucking golden oh my god."
"I can't tell if you taught her well or if this is a bad thing." Rosita queries from next to me.
I shrug, "I guess we'll find out."