CHAPTER NINETEEN,
the girl.
"You die now." A whisper was heard. Walkers upon walkers surrounded them.
"Go. Now." Michonne whispered to them.
"Aiden, we gotta go." Nathaniel said through his tears.
Daryl and Nathaniel picked up Jesus' body, "come on! Let's go!" Daryl ordered.
»
Aiden couldn't breathe as she trudged along side everyone else. Her sobs were suppressed. Everyone else walked in front of her— they found the horses.
Jesus' body on one, the two women on another and Eugene on the the other.
Aiden walked by herself. Tears falling down her face. Hands shaking as she clutched her Bowie knife.
"We got some tails," Aiden heard one of the new comers, Magna, say. She looked up at Dog after hearing him bark.
"The living kind or original recipe?" Eugene asked.
"Let's find out," Daryl said and they walked in the direction of the walkers of people. "Good dog."
Aiden could feel the hatred surging through her bones. They approached the bridge. Aiden and Daryl stood side-by-side. He fired his crossbow into one walkers legs. It kept moving like normal. He fired into the next ones legs and he fell to the ground screaming. It wasn't a walker after all. The three normal walkers started to eat him.
One of the others was killed by Michonne, "drop it!" Aiden yelled at the other one who pulled out a knife. They dropped it and hit their knees with their hands up.
Aiden ripped the mask off and a terrified, teenage girl stared back up at her, "please... please don't kill me! Please!" She begged. Aiden handed the mask to Michonne.
"How many?" Michonne asked harshly.
"Please... you killed them all. It's just me now." The girl said.
Michonne held here katana to her throat, "I don't believe you."
They heard walkers growling. They looked and saw a herd coming towards them, "there ain't no time. We'll take her with us." Daryl said. Michonne looked at him like he was crazy.
"We gotta." Aiden said. Michonne pulled her katana away from her and Daryl yanked her up.
"Hey! You try anything," Michonne held the mask in the girls face, "you won't have to pretend."
"Let's go. Come on." Daryl said and they walked off.
The girl cried and whimpered the whole way back to Hilltop. They walked through the gates. Everyone looked so happy as they returned but their faces dropped when they saw Jesus' dead body.
"Is that Uncle Jesus?" Aiden heard a small voice. She whipped around and saw her two children standing not five feet from them.
Their eyes were wide and mouths open.
She walked over to the two and knelt down in front of them, "um, out there... there- there were people in walker masks. Uncle Jesus didn't realize. And one got to him before he got out of the place. He was trying to help us, to make sure we lived." Aiden said and flared her nostrils to keep her tears back, "Uncle Jesus is better off now. He won't have to deal with anymore pain."
Elliot's lips quivered and a single tear fell off of his face. Beth and Elliot hadn't ever experienced a death like Jesus. Uncle Rick was the first person Elliot lost. He couldn't understand it then but now he could. Beth understood better than a kid would in the old world. She was being raised to expect death.
Beth's tiny body crashed into Aiden's and Elliot ran off. "Elliot!" Aiden called but her ignored her.
She moved her eyes and saw Payton looking at her. "There's Uncle Payton." Aiden said smally.
"I know. He's been watching Elliott and me." Beth informed her.
"Go find your brother, stay inside." Aiden said to her. She kissed Beth's forehead, "I love you."
"I love you too, Mama." She replied before she scampered off to Barrington House to find her big brother.
Aiden walked over to Payton. The two hugged tightly, "hey." He said to her. "I'm so sorry. So, so sorry, Aid."
She sniffled and looked at him, "it just happened."
»
"No more bullshit!" Michonne snarled as she rolled the blind fold off of the girl. Tara, Aiden, and Michonne all stood in the cell.
"What's your name?" Tara asked her.
"I don't have one." She replied.
"Oh, that's bullshit. What's your goddamn name!?" Aiden yelled.
The girl flinched and sobbed, "I don't have one!"
"How many more of you are there?" Aiden questioned her.
"I already told you-"
"How many more of you are there?" Michonne asked her.
"They're all dead. My families dead. Please just stop," the girl begged.
"Not until you start answering our questions." Michonne said.
"Your name. Start with your name." Tara hissed.
"I told you, I don't have one. None of us do. None of us did. That's not how it works." The girl said.
"How did it work?" Michonne quizzed.
"Why do you wear their skins?" Daryl asked from outside the cell. "Answer!" He yelled when the girl didn't reply.
She flinched again, "they were... they were good people. We were good. It's what we did to live. That's- that's all we wanted to do. Live."
"Oh, you're saying you had to do this?" Tara asked her dangerously.
"You wouldn't understand." Said the terrified girl.
"Then make us understand. What the hell were you doing?" Michonne asked.
"We... we were just trying to see if they were good people, too. But then you attacked us and now they're dead. They're all dead. And I don't have anything." She cried.
"What did your people know about us? Did they know about this place?" Michonne asked her.
"I don't know."
"Huh!?"
"I don't know. I don't know anything! They didn't tell me anything! Please stop asking me." The young girl sobbed, "just leave me alone, please. Please just leave me alone."
Aiden made a face and they left the basement. "I don't trust a word coming out of her mouth." Michonne said to them.
"We'll get it out of her." Daryl said to her.
"We try again in the morning." Tara nodded.
"You'll have to do it without me. Taking my people back first thing. Can't risk them not knowing about this back home." Michonne said.
"Okay. Thanks- for being here and for helping. That group you brought in, I'm gonna let them know they can stay. Guess it's my call now. It's what he would've done." Tara said.
"Thanks, Tara." Michonne thanked the new leader of the Hilltop. The woman nodded and walked off.
"Keeping her here is a risk," Michonne said to the Dixon couple. "You both know that. We all do."
"Yeah. I know. I'll get her to talk, we both will." Daryl said.
"If she doesn't... you know what you have to do." Michonne stated calmly.
Aiden nodded and Michonne walked off. Aiden looked at Daryl, "what the hell, dude? What the fuck is happenin'?"
"I don't know, Aid. I wish I did." Daryl replied.
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word count: 1,162
episode: adaption
here's an edited chapter for you folks.
kinda short chapter but is everyone still heart broke because of jesus' death? because i wrote these chapters weeks ago and i still cry over it.
but elliot & beth's reaction absolutely broke my cold heart ☹️.
but lydia is here and i'm so exited for her relationship with the dixon family.