An asian boy who looked to be in his late teenage years to his early twenties untied my arms. He quickly turned to my legs and untied them while a girl with dark red hair or brunette hair untied my neck and stomach. I laid there emotionless as I breathed slowly. I stared up at the ceiling lost for words. I was almost brutally tortured. Their expressions were mixtures of worry, concern and relief. Though, I did not sit up. I was lost for words. The woman grabbed my hand and put her other hand on my back, slowly lifting me to sit up. I had nothing to say, nothing to do. I just sat there.
"Little girl, are you alright?" asked the boy.
I tried to speak, but alas all I did was open my mouth. The lady spoke. "Are you bitten?"
"B-bitten?" I asked, unaware.
"Yeah, like did the walkers get you?" asked the boy.
"W-Walkers?" I said, confused.
The boy turned to the lady. "She's totally unaware of all that's been happening..."
"That's impossible! How could she be unaware after years? Or...at least one..." asked the lady.
"The people she was with probably did a damn good job of keeping it secret!" the boy explained.
"Unaware of what?" I asked.
"Excuse my manners, I'm Maggie. This is Glenn.We can take you. Right now, we just came back from a pharmacy. Come with us," offered Maggie
"W-What?"
"Listen, um, what's your name?" asked Maggie.
"A-Allie," I replied.
I quickly changed my answer who knows what'll happen if I tell them my real name. What if I come into contact with my father again? He'll know who I am! I can't let that happen. I'm not going through that Hell again.
"I mean-Jade. Yeah, my name's Jade. I think I'm thirteen," I said.
"Oh, Jade, well...Sometime ago there was an outbreak. Some people got some kind of disease..." Maggie started.
"It was weird, Atlanta was hit really bad. Now, there's these geeks who...um..." Glenn paused.
"They're murderers. No one really knows what to call them yet. No one really knows what they are or their total truth, actually. For now, we call them walkers," Maggie explained.
"Oh..." I said.
"Listen, Jade, we want you to come with us. Can you shoot?" asked Glenn.
Shoot? They don't know the half of it. When I was little, I stole my fathers guns and practiced. There on, I protected myself with firearms. I kept one under my pillow. I wonder what happened to it since my father took me from my home and left me to be a maid at this house. Guess it doesn't make a difference now, no one knows about it. My parents probably left with my sister. Well, possibly my sister. My sister could have had the same fate as me for all I know. I hope not though. I can't think about her like that. She can't be working for someone else like a slave. No, she would have been about nine now. Not at that age. I was able to handle it because I can fight for myself. Not Sophia, I can't see her killing or hurting anything dead or alive. She didn't even kill her father.
"Yeah, I can shoot, I'm a pretty good shot, to be honest," I said without a story.
"How? You were here all this time," Glenn asked.
"I..I had my ways, " I explained simply.
Changing the subject rather quickly, Maggie spoke. "Are you coming with us or not?"
I was unsure. I barely trusted anybody at this point. These people seemed nice, but it was hard to trust anyone. Then again, they were probably the only living people for miles. There was food here, but the fact I'd be lonely and there was wooden doors would be too much on my back. I need people. I may not trust them, but I'd go insane without them.
"Yeah. I'll come with you, but if it's not too much to ask, can I be, like, introduced to everyone or...I don't know," I requested.
"Um, yeah," Glenn accepted. "I'll show you around when we get back to camp, uh I mean, Maggie's house."
They both nodded and started walking out of the building, gesturing me to follow. I did, but right before I went out, I looked out the people I had once knew to be evil. I had a gut feeling of sorrow, but in my mind I felt it was karma. Seeing as Maggie and Glenn were already out, I ran out and followed them. They went on horses, but I told them I would walk as they rode. We finally made it back to a huge farm and I stood there awkwardly. I looked around, and started to daydream. I could tell many people there were trying to ignore me, figuring Glenn would probably exlain. He did, and that was just before he came back to me.
"Jade?" he tapped my shoulder. " I want you to meet everyone from our group, Maggie already told her family about you."
I nodded. "Of course."
Glenn smiled and lead me over to people. He pointed to a bald, tall and seemingly strong man with a black mustache. I learned his name was T-Dogg. I was lead over to another man, seeming to be in his sixties, his name was Dale. I met a girl with blonde hair, Andrea, a girl with long, brunette hair, Lori, and a man with slightly curly hair, Rick, who seemed to be the leader. I met a man with a shirt that had ripped sleeves and his name was Daryl. Glenn lead me to a boy who seemed to be about my age. He had shaggy, dark brown hair and blue eyes. It looked like he had just recovered from something, but Glenn told me that he was shot in a hunting accident. I let it aside and learned his name was Carl.
"Glenn told me what happened," I said to Carl, just as Glenn started to leave the room. "Are you alright now?"
"I think so, are you new here or another daughter of Hershel?" he asked.
Hershel was Maggies father. "Um, no, Glenn sort of-"
"Oh..."
"Yeah..." I mumbled. There was a short period of silence, and slight glances at each other. "How old are you?"
"I don't even know the date... Thirteen, maybe?"
"Nobody seems to know the date, weird. Same here."
"Cool," Carl said, as there was nothing else he could say.
Glenn walked in. "Two more people you got to meet, are you ready?"
I turned to Glenn. "Yeah." I turned back to Carl. "I'll see you around. Feel better."
Carl smiled and waved me goodbye as I followed Glenn out the door. He lead me to the kitchen where a woman with greyish hair stood, just finishing up a conversation with Hershel. She smiled at me and I smiled back, Glenn walking me closer. I looked at her eyes. I gasped slightly. The eyes were key. I tried to make sense of it though there was none, it was unusual. She reminded me greatly of my mother.
"Jade, this is Carol," Glenn introduced.
I stuttered for a bit. "Hi, Carol."
It all made sense. Carol...That was my mother. I barely called my mother mom, I always called her by her first name because it seemed more fitting. It was my mother. She was alive, but I had to keep it to myself for now. I basically lied to everyone in the group about my name, so I might have to keep it low as it seems they are now deciding if I could stay or not. Carol obviously didn't recognize me. I had already went through puberty, so that was probably the reason. Carol always told me I had my fathers eyes, but I never saw it. To this day I'm still unsure if it was because I didn't want to believe it or I didn't see it. It confused me for awhile, but then she stopped saying that once she was pregnant with Sophia. Just a little before Sophia was when Ed hit us. I was the only one to fight back, though Carol did occasionally.
"Welcome," Carol said warmly.
That was the thing I always loved about my mom. Whenever you were around her, somehow, you always felt a tiny bit happier. It was some sort of energy, I guess.
"Well, Carol, I have one more person to show Allie, so you guys can talk later," Glenn explained, smiling.
Carol nodded. "Oh, Shane."
"Yeah," Glenn said, walking off with me. As we walked, he started talking again. "Sorry if people might not seem to friendly today...A lot of..um...bad stuff happening."
"Nah it's cool," I told Glenn. "What sorts of bad things? I mean, if it doesn't depress you to explain..."
Glenn came to a stop, making me stop too. "You know Carol back there?"
"Yeah."
"Her daughter has been lost... Everyone is pretty depressed about it..."
Unless there was another child born...That was Sophia. The sister I hadn't seen since I was a child... I bit my lower lip. "O-Oh..."
"Yeah...We have experienced so many deaths, too, it's really been hard on all of us. We also had a funeral, today... Maybe you'll bring some life," Glenn explained, starting to walk again.
I followed closely, and I came to a man that had almost like a buzzcut sort of hair and he had a scar on his scalp. He smiled lightly as Glenn and I walked up to him.
"This is Shane," Glenn said.
"I-I'm Jade..." I introduced myself.
"Shane Walsh," Shaine said, having a slightly weaker accent than Rick.
"Well that's about it for introductions, I got to go, you can...wander around or whatever..." Glenn walked away, leaving me with Shane.
It was almost sunset and I felt like I had to say something, but Shane did instead. "So, how'd you get here?"
"Um Glenn and Maggie found me," I explained openly and smiled.
"Makes sense, they're good people."
"Yep."
"Are you alright? You feel a little...uneasy."
I hated lying, but I had to. I could not make a second lie, so I accidentely busted out the words, "Not really..." My eyes widened at what I said. So much for keeping it low, eh? Was it that obvious that I was uneasy?
"No sense keeping in your thoughts, Jade. It makes you go a little aggressive, what's the problem?" asked Shane, leaning up against the tree.
I said nothing for quite a while, but then spoke. "I feel really...guilty..."
An expression of empathy filled Shanes face as he nodded. He stuck his hands in his pockets. "Explain?"
"I...I can't really say anything else...Trusting people was never my thing, though I wish it was."
"I know how you feel, you have to be careful who you trust always, especially in this kind of world. Though, you can trust me. I know exactly how you feel but my case of guilt is probably worse than yours..."
I sighed. I knew I would just feel more guilty if I didn't explain. "I lied about my name..."
Shane smiled and slightly rolled his eyes. "That is lowerclass lie," he joked.
Shane made me smile. It would have been the first time I had smiled the whole day...Or possibly in years. It felt good to smile again. "Haha, I guess."
"What's your real name, then?"
"Allie..."
"Well, Allie, you are some sort of different girl. But that's good."
"I hope so."
"Did you meet Carl yet? He's about your age, give or take."
"Yeah, he's a nice guy."
"He's just recovering, you guys should get along."
The sky was dark purple."Well, I had been up since two this morning so I think sleeping is a valid option."
"Good night, Allie. Go to Dale, he'll figure something out for you."
I was about to turn away, but I had one more thing to say. "Thanks, Shane. Glenn helped me understand things, but you...I really needed someone to talk too..."
"No problem."
"Oh and make sure not to say Allie in front of the others? I'll tell them when I want to."
Shane nodded. "Yeah, got it. Just don't wait too long."
I smiled and nodded at him, turning towards Dale and walking to him. He was at the other side of the farm and I tapped his shoulder.
"Um, excuse me, Dale?" I tried to get his attention in an unannoying way.
Dale turned around. "Oh, Jade, is it?"
I nodded. "Um, Shane told me to come to you about a place to stay? I hate to bother you but for awhile I had only gotten four hours of sleep each night and tried to take thirty minute naps in the day."
"Oh, so you spoke with Shane?" Dale paused for a moment. "Alright, we have Carol, Daryl and Andrea staying already, I'm sure I can make arrangements. Maybe not a bed, but a chair and a blanket," Dale said welcoming.
"Fine with me," I replied, stepping into the RV with him.
Dale lead me to some chairs with a table. The chairs were cushiony, they were grey and brown. Dale gestured me to sit. They were actually quite comfortable. Dale gave me a blanket and I cuddled into it.
"Thanks..." I thanked him ."You're really kind..."
"No problem. Comfy?" Dale asked, about to leave.
"Very..." I paused. "I never had a bed before..." I mumbled.
Dale looked at me in a way of feeling sorry for me. I could tell he heard me, but that didn't bother me. "Good."
Dale walked out of the RV, and I was slowly...drifting...off to sleep...