Michonne loved stale M&M's, she was craving them at the moment but unfortunately the house she was scouting for supplies had almost no food in it and all the food she found was no longer edible. She had moved to a bedroom upstairs to look for medicine or anything the crew at the prison could use.
As she shuffled through the drawers in the dresser she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. She pressed herself against the wall next to the window that overlooked the backyard. She peaked just enough to see who it was.
The stranger was on their knees digging around the ground near the backyard fence. Michonne waited to see if the presence was a walker or not. After about 4 minutes the person stood up and looked at the house, but Michonne still couldn't tell. Usually Michone would be in and out without trying to take out the undead but there was a chance this was a survivor.
Michonne moved through the house quietly, trying to keep her presence unknown. As she made her way to the kitchen which had a door to the backyard she gripped at her sword ready to attack. Her steps were light and slow, her breathing almost non existent.
As she got closer to the backyard she felt a pressure on her back, pushing her out the door. Before Michonne knew it she was laying on her back a walker lunging at her face. She used her arm and pushed against its neck. With a swift movement the walker's head was sliced clean off and Michonne practically jumped to her feet.
Michone looked around the backyard hoping that, that thing was the only thing she had to deal with. About halfway through looking around the backyard she met with the someone's gaze,and it was definitely not the gaze of a walker.
Michonne sheathed her sword and watched as the stranger picked up the not quite ripened tomatoes that they just dropped. Michonne couldn't tell if they were a young man or lady, brown hair unruly but didn't quite cover their cool grey eyes.
"Are you alright?" the voice was calm, the stranger's face showed worry."I'm sorry I didn't help, the whole thing happened so fast I didn't even have time to react.
"Michonne didn't respond, she wasn't sure what angle the person was coming at. Her brown eyes glanced around the backyard looking for any companions the person might have.
"It's just me." they wiped a tomato off and held it out to Michonne.
"My names Stacie, Stacie Beaulieu." they had a bit of an accent, french probably.
Michonne hesitantly took the tomato but didn't eat it. She figured if she could take it back to the prison they could grow more. She figured it was safe to at least talk to them, well as safe as it could get.
"What are you doing here?" Michonne was brief.
Stacie pondered the question. "Food, medicine, change of clothes. really anything that would serve could use." they held up the tomatoes.
"What about you?" Stacie asking was only natural.
"Same as you, gathering supplies. Haven't found much around here." Michonne looked back at the house and shrugged.
Stacie nodded glancing at his small pile of tomatoes and held them out.
"Here take these, they aren't much but they're better than nothing. I also have some water you should take." Their expression was honest.
Michonne took the pile and set them gently in her messenger bag. She watched as Stacie moved to their own bag and pulled out a bottle of water. It looked so good to Michonne right now and as soon as it was given to her she took a huge drink of it.
Stacie watched her drink for a moment and turned away. They began moving back towards an opening in the wooden fence lined around the backyard.
"Do you have a group?" Michonne called out, just before Stacie was out of sight.
The other looked back and shook their head. "No, I'm best alone." the response was short yet not so sweet.
Michonne couldn't help but laugh, she remembered when she thought that way, before she met Rick and his people. Stacie watched her laugh and tilted their head.
"Do you have a group?" Stacie asked.
"Yes actually, but I remember when I used to say things like that. A lone ranger combing this world of the dead." Michonne spoke mockingly.
"I wouldn't say that, I was kind of a lone wolf before all of this." the grey hues met Michonne's.
"It's getting late so you should probably get back to your people before it's too late."
Michonne wasn't sure what to say so she stayed quiet. She wasn't sure how to feel about the brief encounter, if she felt anything at all.
"Can I ask you a favor before we part?" Michonne was brought back from her thoughts with the sound of Stacie's voice.
"What?" Michonne was quick with a reply.
"Can you tell me where I'm at?" Stacie pulled a folded map out of their satchel.
Michonne held her hand out so that Stacie could give her the map. After the map was open she located their general located and pointed it out. Stace handed her a pen so that she could circle it.
"Where are you headed to anyways?" Michonne handed the pen and map back.
Stacie examined the new marking on the map, they flipped the map around. It was easy to tell that the kid had no idea what they were looking at."Washington DC" they replied.
Michonne gave the stranger a pained expression, she snatched the map out of their hands and pointed at a new location."You're way off base, you're in Georgia and DC is way up here." she dragged her finger from their location a few inches up.
"What?" Stacie looked at the map and let out an exaggerated sigh. "What the hell.".
"How did you fall so far from the path?" Michonne handed them the pen and map once again.
"I'm bad at reading maps, especially American maps." Stacie looked like they wanted to cry.
"Where are you from?" Michonne was curious because of the accent.
"I'm French-Canadian, from Victoria B.C. Lived in Oregon and Washington State before the infection though." Stacie folded up the map.
"Before you put that away, let me write some form of directions. You might not run into anyone friendly for awhile." Michonne offered, her eye's searching Stacie's expression.
"Thank you." Stacie handed the map back, the map had never been so popular.
While Michonne scribbled a few lines on the back of the map she couldn't help be curious of what the other was going for. As she wrote the last line of directions she felt the pen drag. She needed to ask the stranger.
"What are you going there for?" Michonne capped the pen.
Stacie searched for the best way to respond, there was nothing wrong with his reason just a matter of wording."Before the infection I was about to graduate with a Medical Lab science degree. Blood work, medicine study, diseases, y'know the works. Sounds like with the right material I could be of some use to figure this whole infection out. At the least be of some service." Stacie ran their hand up and down their arm, as if uncomfortable.
Michonne was surprised about the answer, she figured he would have said family or for a safe place.
"What makes you think they don't already have a team working on it?" Michonne was curious.
"Well I'm hoping for that, I mean the infection has been on for awhile. Lets hope they have something together working on it. I'm hoping to just be an extra pair of eyes."
Michonne handed the map and pen back, this time Stacie put it directly into their satchel. The pair just stood in silence, Stacie ready to depart and get back on track but Michonne set her hand on their shoulder.
"My people are set up in a prison, its safe. We have food and a place to sleep. Come back and get some supplies, a good nights sleep, a less fucked up map, and some better directions. Please." Michonne wasn't usually so open but the kid couldn't be that bad if they didn't ask anything from her but directions and was ready to be on their way, plus they were pretty damn lost.