Author's Note: Warnings about language/racial things, detailed descriptions about gore and sexual things, and certain other things that might keep this story at a rated T level.
"Hey," Zach greeted as he walked up to the blonde Greene sister, "I was just about to come find you." Pressing his lips against hers softly, she smiled. "The council pulled back everyone on the coal crew from going on the run." He explained to her, "They're shorthanded right now, I figured I'd step up to help and go with 'em." He looked over her face. "I just wanted to see you before."
Beth smiled and replied, "Okay."
"Ya' you know, it's dangerous out there."
Beth giggled, "Yeah I know." Kissing him on the cheek before walking away.
"Okay are you going to say goodbye?" He asked, speaking to her back.
"Nope!" She replied simply.
Daryl, hearing the whole thing, walked back to the back of his truck. "Damn romance novel." He placed down his crate and looked up to see another body sliding across the wall of the pickup. The dark brown hair pulled into a loose braid and deep green eyes smiled when he saw her. "What?" He asked with no sudden change in his mood.
She shrugged. "Thought I come see how the set-up is going." She leaned forward against her hand as he pushed up the end of the trunk. A mischievous show of teeth in her smile made Daryl look away.
"You can't go Kenz." He ordered as he walked away to gather more crates. The olive skinned girl groaned and rolled her eyes as she followed him from the other side of the truck.
"Oh come on, Daryl," She argued, "Just one run! You haven't let me go on one for weeks." She crossed her arms over her chest when Daryl turned around with a crate in his arms. He looked down at her and saw the frustration in her face. He licked his lips and tried hard not to smirk or anything at her. This woman, the one that only joined their group less than a month ago, had done a lot already for everyone. His main reason for forbidding her to go one runs, with a few others on the council's consent, is to let her rest and relax for a little while.
Walking around her, Daryl heard her groan again and he just tossed the last crate into the back of the truck. When he tried to walk up to his bike, he was stopped by her once again. Getting up on her toes, she wrapped her arms around his neck and he hesitantly snaked an arm around her lower back. "Come back." She mumbled in his ear. He nodded, just like he always did when she saw him off. Once they released each other, Kendal stepped aside and let Daryl walk up to his bike and watched him drive off.
Kendal watched until everyone stopped and walked up to see what was going on. She saw two familiar bodies at the front of the line of vehicles and a smile spread across her face. Walking a little faster than normal, but carefully watching her step as she went down the hill, the brunette rushed to greet Michonne's return. She reached her friend just as the line started to move again.
"How was your trip this time?" Kendal asked the woman. Michonne shook her head and Kendal's smile faded. "Still nothing?" She couldn't help the sound of disappointment in her whisper.
"I'm sorry, Kenz," Michonne whispered, "But are you sure about keeping this a secret? Shouldn't you tell Daryl?" Kendal shook her head and Michonne exhaled through her nose.
"I'm sorry that I have to ask you to do this, Michonne," Kendal looked around as she whispered and walked with her friend, "but you know how Daryl won't even let me go on runs anymore, there is no way he, or anyone, would let me go looking for him." Kendal and Michonne scanned over each other's expressions before the katana-wielding woman nodded. They both smiled.
"You know, you and Daryl-"
"Will you stop with that?" Kendal chuckled, elbowing her friend.
"- are strangely perfect for each other." Michonne chuckled lightly looking down at her mixed friend. Kendal rolled her eyes again. "Once you stop denying it, the better the teasing will be."
"You know it's not like that," Kendal looked up at the black woman. "I work because I feel indebted to everyone. I do what I do to pay off debts." Pointing back at the gates, "Daryl saved my life, so I feel like I owe him." Michonne was obviously not buying it and the half-asian woman didn't seem to want to talk about it anymore. "So I heard that you are going back out right away," Kendal finally asked, "Want company?" With an angled looked from her friend, she knew the answer and raised her hands up in defense. "Can't blame a girl for trying."
Back inside the prison, Kendal walked around inside the halls. She held a knife firmly in her right hand and was careful with her steps. The area around the cell block was cleared, but no one every explored far enough to find holes or entrances for the walkers to roam in. She managed to walk all the way to the office room without running into trouble, but she still rushed to lock it behind her. Standing with the door pressed against her back for a moment to listen to the silence was comforting. Not a single footstep bothered the silence. Kendal couldn't remember the last time she enjoyed pure silence. Now, there was always some sort of noise around her; whether or not it was people chatting, walkers groaning, or the wind brushing the trees. She even held her breath to keep quiet.
The moment she exhales, Kendal took a step forward. Walking around the room often reminded her of her life before the mess started. It's strange how the prison office reminded her of her high school classroom whenever it was empty.
She searched the bookshelves for a small brown book. Opening it, she found articles of someone's thoughts and memories on the pages. They told stories of their days in the world, before and during prison. She found it a few days ago and started reading it from where she left off. Kendal couldn't remember the last night she held a pen or wrote something down on paper. She read the journal up to the page when he started talking about the outbreak and the riots. The pages seemed to run quickly through her mind as she quickly flipped through them, but stopped when she found a page covered with dried blood. Her chest tightened as her past started to flow back in her head like a movie screen. She dropped the book and kicked it across the floor.
Turning back to the door, she heard footsteps outside of it and froze. There was more than one thing moving outside, but she couldn't tell if it was a walker or people, or both. Sliding her knife out of the back of her pants, she held it readily before slowly turning the knob and swinging the door open. She drew back her knife and found a small skinny blonde girl looking up at her frightened. She looked around the hall and found no one else.
With a long exhale, Kendal lowered her knife and crouched down to be eye level. "Lizzie, what are you doing back here?" She asked calmly.
"I was playing with some friends," She explained, "But they just left."
"Well, next time you guys play," The woman rubbed her thumb across the pale girl's cheek to wipe away some dirt, "Stay closer to your cell block." Grabbing her shoulder, Kendal led her back to the cell block. "Isn't it storytime anyways?" Turning to look behind her, she could have sworn the rats on the ground weren't there before.
"Yes ma'am it is." Turning down another hall, they found the library. Opening the door, Kendal nodded to Carol.
"Keep watch on this one," The brunette chuckled, "She likes to sneak around." Rubbing the back of her messy braided hair, she gave the kid a light shove into the room before closing it behind her. Just as she was walking away, a boy names Patrick ran into her. "Hey, careful," She took him by the shoulders. He was sweating a little, but Kendal thought that it was from him running in the hallway. He mumbled 'Sorry' before slipping around her and into the library.
When she got back to her cell block, she found that supply run group had returned. Looking around at some of their faces, she could tell that something went wrong. She made eye contact with Glenn and he just shook his head. She then counted all that had went. Bob, Daryl, Glenn, Tyresse, Sasha, and another. "Wait…" She mumbled to herself as she looked over everyone again before covering her mouth with her palm. Zach was missing.
Finding Daryl in the corner of her eye, she saw Beth come out of her cell and hug him. "As long as she's okay." She thought to herself as she started walking to her own cell-room. Walking past the two of them, she heard her name called.
"Hey, Kenz," She turned and looked at the two looking at her, "Did you hear?" She nodded at Daryl and looked at Beth with worry in her eyes. Beth just nodded with a small smile and Kendal returned a smile.
"If you need anything," She said, "just ask."
"I will."
Then she kept walking until she found her cell. Setting her things down on the desk, she paused when she found a necklace on her desk. It was an old necklace that she got from someone outside of this group and she knew that she should have just thrown it away. But she couldn't.
Sliding it into one of the desk drawers, and placed it under some random objects that she had scavenged along the way. She closed the drawer and turned to lay down in her bed. Staring up at the bunk above her and let her eyes close on their own until she felt herself totally relax into her sleep.
