"How old are you?" She asked looking at me as I sat back in the chair. It was super comfy compared to the ground. I realized my bag was still on and I took it off and held it in front of me.
"I'm fourteen." I replied with a small nod.
"So you've grown up in this. Did you do anything before?" She asked as I gave her a small nod.
"I did some gymnastics and some singing." I replied as she smiled.
"I'll have to hear it sometime." She nodded once.
"How long have you been with this group?"
"Not long. Half a year maybe." I answered.
"Who were you with before you found them." She asked me.
"Well a lot of different people." I said as she stayed quiet for me to tell her. "I was with my mom and dad. Then just my mom. Then just me. And then two new friends. And now everyone else out there."
"How long were you by yourself? How did you end up that way?" She asked looking at me. I didn't like all the questions.
"I was by myself for over a year. My dad got bit. My mom turned after her appendix ruptured." I said looking around again.
"I'm sorry to hear that." She said with a nod. "Are you friends that you met part of this group now?"
"One of them is. The other one got bit too. Michonne is my other friend." I explained to her.
"I see." She nodded. "You don't like all the questions do you?"
I looked at her sort of surprised that she could tell. "No ma'am." I replied.
"I have a few more and then I'll be out of your hair okay?" She asked as I nodded slightly.
"When you were by yourself how did you make it?" She asked as she leaned forward a little bit.
"Well after my mom turned I sort of just walked I went through towns and little stores scrounging and I did some hunting." I explained to her.
"That's really brave of you." She smiled lightly. "What did you hunt with?"
"My dad's hunting knives." I answered her.
"Do you have them with you?"
"Yes ma'am." I nodded as I patted my bag.
"How many?" She asked curiously.
"Enough to keep me alive." In responded.
"What else is in that bag? I want to see." She said with a slight smile.
I sighed lightly and took out my things. My book. My blanket. My pen. My knife sharpener. My pictures. My medicine.
"And the knives are in there too?" I nodded to her question as I put everything back. "I can trust you not to hurt anyone with those knives right?"
"Yes ma'am." I nodded as I put everything inside.
"Are those your parents?" She asked looking to me as I nodded. "And this is you I can tell. It's adorable. And is this your sister?" She asked looking at the last one.
"My best friend. I don't know where she is." I replied looking to her.
"Alright three more questions. What are the tic marks for?" She asked as I looked at my wrists. I forgot I rolled my sleeves up.
I quickly pointed to my right arm. The walker side. I hoped she didn't notice my other arm. "This is how many walkers I've killed. I've killed-" I counted. "-92. I count because I knew they used to be people. It's how many people I've set free." I smiled lightly.
She nodded. "And what about your other arm?" She asked looking to me. I looked to her and shook my head.
"It represents your mom?" She asked as I shook my head. "I promise I won't be upset."
"How many people." I mumbled quietly.
"How many?" She asked looking at me.
I showed her my wrist. "One." I answered simply.
"Did you want to?" She asked as I shook my head looking away. "Okay. One more question. What are the scars?"
I looked at her and shook my head. "I don't want to answer."
"How about answer this: Before or after?"
"It happened before." I replied as I covered my wrists up again.
"You don't have to cover it. I'm just nosy person. I don't want to make you uncomfortable." She said looking to me.
"It's fine I'll just cover it." I said as I hugged my bag. I was done talking. I didn't want to anymore. I knew I shouldn't have pulled up my sleeves.
"I've noticed something, Lyla Rose. You never say the word die." She said looking at me. Out of everything she could've picked up on me personality wise I was shocked she picked up that.
"I don't. I haven't since it started." I replied looking to her. I wanted to keep it simple.
"Well you can keep that to yourself if you'd like." She smiled lightly to me. I smiled back fake and as soon as I did I could tell she knew. "Alright you can go." She said as I stood up and put my bag on. "I want you to know that no matter what you look like everyone will accept you here okay?" She asked as I held my bag and looked to her. I nodded once and walked out. I don't know but I didn't believe her.
I went out and she said Carl next. He brung Judith with him.
"You okay?" Michonne asked as she came over to me.
"She asked about everything. My parents and my marks and my scars." I said looking at her.
"On purpose?" She asked almost about to get angry.
"No she didn't know." I responded with a small smile. "Still hurts though." She put her hand on my shoulder and rubbed it lightly.
Soon enough after Carl was done talking to her too. Aaron showed up soon after that and Michonne went inside to talk to her.
"Rick I'll show you your houses. When all of you are done talking to Deanna you can go ahead and look wherever you want." Aaron smiled as everyone nodded. Aaron motioned for Rick to come and Carl and I went with him. I wanted to be in a house.
"These two are for your group." Aaron said looking at them.
"Both of them?" Rick asked surprised.
"Yeah. There's enough room for everyone plus some extra space." He said with a smile.
"Thank you." Rick nodded.
"Your welcome. If you need anything call me. We don't have phones but I live four houses down." He corrected as he looked to Rick. "Feel free to look around whenever." With that he left.
We went inside and looked around. "This is nice." I said to Carl as he nodded and walked to the sink. He pressed the handle and it turned on. He chuckled lightly looking to Rick and then to me.
"I call shower first." I said quickly as I ran upstairs to find the spare bathroom since I knew Rick would want the master one.
"I'll get you back for that!" I heard Carl say as I got upstairs.
I went into the bathroom and closed the door. I turned on the water to medium heat and it was heated. I jumped up and down happily. I wanted a shower so bad.
There was a shampoo bottle and body wash. I didn't have a rag but I saw a towel on the toilet seat. I just used my hands and stood there for a second feeling the water. It was so dirty underneath me from all the gross things I had in my hair and on my body.
It was heavenly. I finished up and wrapped around in the towel. I heard a knock at the door.
I opened it to see Carl. "They had clothes. I picked some for you to wear." He said as he looked at my eyes making sure not to look down.
I took them and smiled. "Thank you." I closed the door and put them on.
I tied my hair up with a hair tie I found in the medicine cabinet. I put it in a braid. I looked at the side of my neck. There were a few burns but it was okay. I could handle it. I put on my backpack and walked downstairs.
I walked out and the others had come in. I saw Rick and I chuckled lightly. His hair was cut and his beard was gone. "What?" He asked raising his eyebrow.
"I've never seen your chin before." I smiled as he let out a soft chuckle and shook his lightly.
I noticed Daryl cutting open the possum. I looked around and wondered what was in the other house. "You two can go look if you want." He said as I noticed Carl. He had changed his clothes and wasn't wearing his hat.
We walked into the house and looked around. Carol came in after us. "These are like mansions." Carl said looking around.
"And they are just giving them away." Carol sighed looking out the window.
"You coming?" Carol asked as she headed out.
"I wanna look around a little more." I smiled to her.
"Yeah." Carl responded as he looked at the books. I looked at the other side of books when we heard creaking. I looked to him confused.
We headed upstairs to check it out. I lifted my shirt and pulled out my knives as we heard more noise. We got to the room and Carl had his knife out too. I stayed by the side while he opened the door.
He flung it open and looked around. I got behind him and looked. Someone was staying in there. There were magazines and DVDs all over the place.
There were some pillows and blankets too. "Someone's living up here?" I asked looking at him.
"Looks like it. They must've climbed out the window." There was a rope coming from the window.
"They've got some good ones." I said as I looked at the comics. He nodded with a smile. "We should get back." I said as he nodded and we headed downstairs. We all sat in the living room.
"They gave us toothbrushes." Michonne said as she came over to me. I immediately stood up and she handed me one. I brushed my teeth and smiled. They probably still look gross but it felt good.
"How do I look?" I asked as I smiled to her and she spit out some toothpaste.
"Amazing." She smiled. "You can take off your bag you know. It'll be okay." She said looking at it.
"Yeah but just in case." I nodded lightly. "Just for right now." She nodded still smiling.
"And another thing. You got something to tell me about you and Carl?" She asked as I felt my face heat up.
"We kissed twice." I said quietly. "But I don't know if we are dating or something yet. I don't really know how that works."
She smiled at me. "I knew it would happen eventually." She smiled at me as she put her hand on my head.
I rolled my eyes still smiling. "Sure you did." She chuckled lightly.
"Has he told Rick?" She asked me as I shrugged lightly. "That'll be an interesting conversation for you then." She smiled as I sighed lightly.
I walked out and Michonne stayed there to keep brushing. She was definitely excited about it.
I sat next to Carl as he held Judith. I played with Judith's hand for a little and eventually Deanna came by. She was shocked by Rick's face too. She said how she loved that we were sticking together. She left and we all got ready to sleep. Carl put Judith in the carrier and we both laid down. I was asleep in no time.
I woke up the next morning and the others were cleaning up and getting ready to check the place out. They gave us a stroller for Judith. I walked with Carl as he pushed the stroller.
"This feels surreal." I said looking at him with my arms crossed.
"It weirds me out a little too, we'll get used to it." He replied as he grabbed my hand and I smiled.
I hoped to God this was real life and I wasn't just dreaming about us being somewhere safe.