"You didn't wake me up." I heard Carl say as he walked towards me.
"You thought I would?" I asked looking at him with my arms crossed. He stayed quiet. "You needed sleep. The most action out here was a piece of paper being blown by the wind from opening a door." I smiled.
"Fine." He sighed lightly. "I'll take over now. The little kids are starting to ask for you."
"Okay. Let me know if you need anything." I replied with a small smile. He nodded once and walked down the hallway. He was stubborn which was something we had in common.
I walked back to the room and waited there for a while mostly reading to the little ones. Carl ran in and called me over. "Can you keep watch? My dad wants me to help with the fence since the walker build up grew."
"Yeah." I nodded as I walked out. "He got this just in case." Carl said pulling my pistol out of his pocket. I opened it to see a full magazine.
"Okay." I nodded putting the mag back and holding the gun. "Be safe." I said instinctively. He nodded before walking out. I usually only told Michonne that. I guess I got used to it like some sort of routine.
I heard a whole bunch of gunshots after a while and I went to the kids to tell them we were safe since Beth said they were getting worried. After waiting a while I kept looking around to make sure nothing was getting in.
I started to hear rapid fire and I got worried. I stayed inside even though I really wanted to go outside to check but I didn't want to act stupid. After about thirty minutes or so Carl walked in semi out of breath.
"The walkers broke the fence. We got most of them and blocked the entry so they can't get in." He said knowing I wanted to know. Who wouldn't?
"Is everyone okay?" I asked concerned.
"At least by the fences. There were gunshots by the Death Row Block too. I don't know what's going on in there." He responded as I sighed lightly.
"Good God." I said naturally reminding myself of my mother. "Well are you going to check?" I asked looking at him.
"Yeah I was but I wanted to make sure you knew what was up first." He replied. That was thoughtful. I mean he probably was just doing it because he knew I would've tried to find out on my own if he didn't tell me.
"Okay." I nodded. "Thanks." He nodded once before leaving. I quietly told Beth what was going on while I waited for Carl to come back. I hoped everyone was okay. People I knew closely were in there. Hershel, Glenn, Dr. S, just to name a few.
The little kids had been asleep for a while. A lot of them were worried about their parents and wanted to be with them. I knew the feeling. I felt like laughing, but you don't laugh when shit like this happens right? Maybe I was going crazy not being able to know what was happening outside this building.
Carl came in the room and he looked worried. I quickly and quietly got up and walked over to him. "And?" I asked waiting for him to tell me.
"A lot of them didn't make it. Glenn, Hershel, Sasha, Izzy, and Max are still okay." He explained listing the people he knew that I knew.
"Dr. S?" I asked as he shook his head. "Oh." I looked down. The apocalypse sucked. "Alright well is it slowing down?" He shrugged. "Ok." I answered. I felt like I was talking to myself.
"My dad said he was gonna talk with you and Michonne in the morning. What's that about?" He asked looking to me. Of course they told him.
"Your dad was telling me what to do and I didn't like it. He was acting like he was my- just I didn't like it." I responded with a sigh. "They just want to talk about it I guess."
"He's not doing it to be mean. Just so you know." Carl said trying to cheer me up a bit.
"I know. It's just weird." I replied looking at him. "Having people want to take care of me again like I'm their own." I shook my head. "It's weird to handle."
"I get it. Want my advice?" He asked looking up to me as I shrugged lightly. "My dad wants you safe. We all do. You should let everyone take care of you." He said truthfully.
"It's weird realizing people care." I let out a soft chuckle. I was happy in a way. "After everything." I shook my head. "Thank you." I smiled up to him. He smiled back before we both walked back to the room. I laid down with my blanket and slept while Carl kept watch.
The next morning came around and I woke up to Beth talking with the kids. She smiled to me as she held Judith. "Good morning. Carl said to tell you to go outside when you woke up."
"Alright." I nodded as I put all my stuff in my bags. I left a knife on my side and left the rest in my bag. I had a feeling that the sickness would be over soon and I wanted to be ready to go back to my room. I stood up and walked out leaving my bag on the ground inside.
I looked around and saw Carl against a wall. "Hey."
"Hey. They said we are allowed to walk around now. Dad and Michonne are waiting in the cafeteria." He explained as I nodded.
"See you later then sheriff." I said walking by as I headed to the cafeteria. I was hungry. I had some peaches and apricots yesterday for dinner that Carl brought in but I was still hungry.
I walked into the cafeteria which was way emptier than usual. A lot of people most have gotten sick. I saw Michonne and Rick talking about the walker bodies outside and I sat with them. They had already made my plate.
I started eating and I could feel them staring. "Sleep well?" Rick asked as I nodded.
"So what do you want to talk about specifically?" I asked getting straight to the point. No need for awkward silence.
Michonne chuckled lightly. "I just wanted you to know that I'm trying to help." Rick answered looking to me.
"I know." I nodded as they looked at me surprised. "I had a lot of time to think about it." I smiled lightly. "It's just that whenever either of you try to care it reminds me of my mom and dad." I looked down at my eggs. "They did things differently then you. When you tell me to do things that they wouldn't it reminds me that they aren't here."
"I'm not trying to replace them." He shook his head. "But I am trying to do what's best for you just like I am with Carl."
"Everyone of us wants you to live. That's why we tell you what to do." Michonne answered looking at me.
"Yeah but I've already grown up." I replied with a sigh. "Being a kid by yourself nowadays doesn't leave much room for being a kid."
"Doesn't mean you aren't one or can still be one." He replied to me. "Everyone here in this prison is part of a family including you."
"If you think you can do all of it by yourself still then I'm not stopping you but it'd be easier for everyone especially you to let us decide things and for you to listen to them. Family wants what's best for each other." Michonne replied.
"It sounds an awful lot like everyone becoming my parent." I replied to them as I took a bite of eggs. They stayed quiet for a second. "Maybe that'd be easier."
"What would be easier?" Rick asked looking to me.
"If I got new parents." I replied with a small sigh. "Being an orphan kinda sucks. Having no one to help me grow sucks. Being alone sucks. So maybe it'd be easier if I got new parents." I said as I finished my plate. "I just don't want to forget them. I won't but I don't know-" I shrugged not sure how to put it.
"You want them back." Michonne said looking to me. "You want someone like them to be here and the only people to be them are them."
I nodded. "I wish you could've met them. They were nice. My moms name was Daisy and my dad's was Alex. They were good people. They didn't deserve what they got." I crossed my arms on the table. "They should be here still."
"A lot of people should be." Rick nodded. "But there's nothing we can do to change that. All we can do is remember them and keep going."
I nodded. "So what now?" I asked looking to them.
"Now we just want you to listen. I know you don't think of me as your mom and I don't expect you too. We usually know best and we need you to accept that." Michonne said as I nodded.
"But what if you're ever wrong?" I asked looking to her.
"I'm never wrong." Michonne answered seriously before cracking a smile.
"Of course." I smiled back. "Sorry for being a jerk. I just don't like thinking of things that make me sad cuz it just makes me angry."
"I get it. Just don't let your anger control you. It's a bad place to be in." Michonne responded as I gave her a nod. I was happy to know that they wanted the best for me.
"Thank you for caring about me too. You guys and Hershel have been the most caring and I think it's kept me sorta sane."
"Meeting you has kept me sane too, Lyla Rose." Michonne answered with a sigh.
"So we're good now?" Rick asked looking to me as we all stood up.
"Yeah." I nodded as I walked over and hugged him. He hugged me back and I smiled and then hugged Michonne.
We all knew. They were like my parents. All of them. They all had given me advice on life, made sure I had all I needed. Michonne, Hershel, Maggie, Rick, Dr. S, the list goes on. My mom and dad were still my mom and dad but so was everyone else putting me before themselves.
"I gotta go load the walkers from last night." Michonne explained looking to me.
"I can help." I smiled to her. "I need to get some muscle."
"Alright. Let's go then." She replied as Rick picked up my plate for me.
We got outside and started lifting the bodies onto the truck.
"What are you two up to?" Hershel asked walking over.
"We were gonna take the bodies out and burn them." Michonne said looking to him.
"Wanna help?" I asked looking at him.
"Hell yeah." He smiled as we both chuckled. "So I assume y'all talked about everything?"
"Yeah." I nodded. "I haven't gotten the chance to thank you yet for caring about me. So thank you."
"Well I'll treat you like you're my own daughter. It's just my nature." He smiled as I smiled back. "You're a lot like how Maggie was when she was younger. You've just got a little more spunk." He replied as we got in the car to take the bodies outside.
"My spunk is just deciding wether it's good or not." I replied as he chuckled lightly.
"I'm leaning towards good." He replied with a smile as we got to the outside of the fence and headed away from the walkers.
We got all the bodies in a pile and we set them on fire. "Well I think I can already feel my m-" I started before everything went
black.