chapter eighteen !
❪ who's afraid of little old me? ❫
RILEY HAD watched the walkers that were on the side of the road. abraham drove past them, the leafs blowing past their trail. her head was leaned against the window and enjoyed the peaceful car ride.
she was sitting with carl and judith, the brother bouncing the baby on his lap. her eyes grew more tired and before she realized it, riley fell asleep.
it's been awhile since she gotten rest due to her last night conversation with maggie. her sleep fell deep and she dreamed. . .
and dreamed.
riley opened her eyes, standing alone. "hello?" she called out. all around the girl was nothing but bright white.
she wondered if she was in heaven or something. did she die? "anyone there? hello?" riley continued to yell out.
"sweet girl," a voice mumbled from behind her.
riley turned around and squinted before seeing the person who she's been waiting to see since forever. "mom?" she chocked out.
lucille couldn't say another word since her daughter ran to her arms, making her stumble back a little.
"oh, my girl." her mother hugged riley tighter. the brunette felt so safe and relaxed in her mother's arms. she missed her presence dearly.
"i missed you so much," riley mumbled. "why did you do it? why did you leave?" the smith daughter pressured her with questions.
"riley–"
"everything fell apart when you were gone. like dad. i don't know where he went and i'm so scared."
"riley, you–"
"i needed you the most and you just left. . . why? huh?"
"you have to–"
"why did you leave me?!" riley sobbed in her mother's arms.
"riley!" her mother finally snapped. the girl finally looked up with blurry eyes, tears streaming. "you have to wake up."
riley's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. wake up? she stepped back until she felt herself falling down.
"wake up!" carl whispered, shaking the girls shoulder one more time till she finally woke up.
riley slightly jumped awake, looking at carl like she had just seen a ghost. "you okay?" the boy asked with worry.
the brunette glanced around her and turned her head towards the window. they were parked outside of alexandria, steel walls all around.
"we're here," she muttered.
"yeah," carl nodded and looked out the window also. "you ready?"
riley gazed at the boy. "mhm," she hummed. carl let out his hand for her to grab and she did. his hands were so warm while hers were icy cold.
she got chills from the contact and he helped her up from her seat. their hands untangled and the two made their way out the bus.
"what happened to judith?" riley noticed the baby wasn't with the boy anymore.
"when you were sleeping, the bus broke down and i gave her to my dad."
the group got out of the vehicles and carl saw his dad and judith trailing behind. riley and the others shared glances with each other before walking towards the steel gates in front of them.
carl turned around, narrowing his eyes at an abandoned house with a broken window, seeing a figure but then it was gone in a second. riley noticed this and stopped in front of him, "you okay?" she turned around to look at the direction he was staring at.
the girl didn't see anything and looked back at carl. he glanced at riley and nodded, "yeah, i'm fine... thought i saw something."
it was quiet until a rattled noise came from a trashcan and everyone snapped their heads with raised guns. the animal squeal died down when daryl shot an arrow at it.
the gate opened, revealing aaron with a man. he was wearing a beige shirt and had slight curls in his hair. daryl grabbed the possum as it hung from his hands.
the unnamed man continued to look at the group, giving them looks. "we brought dinner," daryl told him.
"it's okay. come on in, guys." aaron welcomed them.
riley and the rest of them stepped inside the community, looking around. the gates closed behind them, "before we take this any further, i need you all to turn over your weapons. stay, you hand them over."
riley rolled her eyes, she already dealt with that last time back in terminus. "we don't know if we want to stay," rick stepped in.
"its fine, nicholas."
"if we were gonna use them, we would have started already," rick confessed.
"let them talk to deanna first." aaron told nicholas.
"who's deanna?" abraham abruptly interrupted.
"she knows everything you'd want to know about this place. rick why don't you start?" the grimes man looked behind the gates, a walker coming.
"sasha," he stated before glancing behind her. the woman raised her sniper and aimed the target at the walkers head before pulling the trigger, a whisper shot coming out.
the walkers head exploded with blood and fell on the ground, dead. the second layer of the cage was covering and sasha turned around to face the group.
"it's a good thing we're here," rick stated, beginning to walk further into alexandria.
RILEY SAT OUTSIDE, on the porch with the others, waiting for their names to be called for the interview process.
she was one of the last ones. carl came out of deanna's house, rick walking towards him. "you okay?"
"yeah," he muttered.
riley came to him, "what did she ask you?"
carl opened his mouth to respond but before he can a voice cut him off. "riley," aaron stood next to deanna, near the door frame of her house.
the girl stared at the woman and looked at the group with slight worry. daryl placed a hand on her shoulder, "we'll wait for you, kid."
she sighed before walking towards deanna. the door closed behind them and she led riley towards the living room that was filled with bookshelves and the setup was neatly nice. a video camera was pointed towards the seat that riley assumed that she was gonna sit in.
"please, take a seat," deanna told her.
riley sat on the chair while deanna sat on the couch opposed from her. the girl continued to look around until the woman started to speak.
"hi, i'm deanna monroe." she smiled, crossing her legs in her seat.
"i know," the brunette muttered, "i'm riley."
"no last name?" she tilted her head.
"smith, riley smith."
"mhm," deanna hummed. "is anyone in your group related to you?" riley looked down at the carpet, "brothers? sisters? mom? dad?"
she shook her head and glanced up at the lady, "no, i found them when i was on my own."
"you've been on your own since the breakout happened?"
"um," riley bit her lip, "i had my mom and my dad." she began, "but... my mom died and my dad left so." the girl shrugged, a nervous chuckle leaving her mouth.
"your mom..." deanna started, "what happened to her?"
"i found her as a walker," riley fidgeted with her hands. "she killed herself."
"i'm sorry to hear that." the lady folded her hands.
"i basically killed her... i lit my whole house on fire when i found her."
"do you know if your father is still out there?"
"no," she shook her head with a frown. "um," riley sighed, "i guess you can say my life went very shitty when the world ended."
she blinked away the tears that were gonna form. "and i'm having a really hard time moving on."
her face was slightly scrunched up with tears in her eyes. she pinched herself repeatedly so the tears didn't fall from her brown ones.
"how long have you been out there for?"
"a very long time," riley swallowed away the sorrow. "half that time... i was on my own."
"here at alexandria, it's home for everyone." deanna gave her a nod.
"it's home for you and you deserve to be apart of this community. you are an incredibly strong girl, riley."
"THEY'RE STILL your guns. you can check them out whenever you go beyond the wall."
the group placed their guns inside the bin, "but inside here, we store them for safety."
riley walked up to the bin with carol and the two gave their weapons in. riley placed her pistol and knife in the bin and carol did the same with her weapons with a smile.
another woman from alexandria smiled sweetly at them with raised eyebrows and started to roll the cart away.
"should have brought another bin." she joked.
"i can show you guys your houses," aaron told the group.
when he said that, rick began following him and then everyone else did. "you excited, roommate?" riley asked daryl while walking side by side.
"roommate? god, help me." daryl huffed before continuing to follow the others.
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AUTHORS NOTE:
guess who updated? me!!!
next chapter... riley's new look 😏
i had a little motivation for awhile because my readers count dropped on this book and people stopped commenting so i was thinking y'all were getting bored of this book lmaoo
but im back now and since their in alexandria, cariley angst will be starting with drama hehehe
please vote for the next chapter and DONT BE A GHOST READER <3