A Strange Visitor
'What are we going to do?' Carol sobbed from her seat in the RV.
'We'll keep looking until we find her,' Lori assured the other woman, putting an arm around her for comfort. The two women sat in silence until the RV slowed to a stop.
'We're going to camp here for the night,' Dale called back before heading outside to join the others.
As the sun began to set in the distance, the group concentrated on setting zombie traps and preparing a fire. Under the light of the moon and stars, the group sat around the small fire, cooking their dinner and doing their best to keep their hopes up.
'Is that your family?' the dark haired boy asked, peering through the bushes at the large group of adults sitting around a fire.
The little girl nodded, clasping the boy's hand tightly in her own.
'Do you want me to come with you?' the boy asked.
The little girl nodded again, pulling the older child's hand persistently.
'Alright. I suppose I could stay for a little while,' the boy answered, letting the younger girl tug him through the bushes toward the group.
Daryl was the first to notice the two small shapes slipping out of the bushes. He immediately brought up his gun, just in case they turned out to be walkers.
Andrea spun out of her seat quickly, aiming a flashlight in the direction Daryl's gun was pointing. The light arched over the faces of the two children and drew a strangled cry from Carol.
'Sophia!' the older woman could barely contain her shout of joy as she stood, arms outstretched. The little girl dashed forward and clung to her mother, tears streaking down her dirty cheeks.
'And who might you be, son?' Rick asked, motioning the boy forward into the light of the campfire.
Stormy blue eyes peered at them from beneath a messy head of dark brown hair. The boy seemed content to keep his distance from the group as he watched them fuss over the little girl now back in their midst. Rick tried to encourage the child to come closer, assuming he was just shy of strangers. It wasn't until Carl stepped out from behind his mother that the new boy perked up, darting immediately through the adults to stand in front of the other boy.
'I'm Peter,' the messy-haired boy put out his hand, waiting.
'Carl,' Rick's son smiled, shaking the new boy's hand.
'You poor thing. You look hungry. Would you like something to eat?' Lori asked, resisting the urge to sweep the child into her arms. He looked barely a year older than her little Carl. He must have been on his own for a while, given how dirty his dark clothes were.
'I suppose I could stay for a little while,' the boy announced, grinning directly at Carl.
Daryl snorted, shaking his head at the new boy's ragged clothes. A brown shirt and pants with a faded yellow cape. It was as if the boy had been in the middle of a school play when the zombie apocalypse had happened.
'Thank you for bringing my little Sophia back to us,' Carol watched the new boy shove beans into his mouth, rapidly chewing them. The poor boy must be half starved.
Peter just shrugged at her words, barely paying the woman any attention.
'Peter was amazing, mother! He fought off a zombie man who was trying to eat me,' Sophia spoke up, snuggling deep into her mother's embrace.
'Brave boy. Nice knife you got there,' Daryl pointed out, eyeing the blade tucked into the boy's belt.
'There's a lot more than pirates around here,' Peter tapped his knife and threw the adult a smirk.
'You fought pirates too?' Carl asked, eyes wide with wonder.
'I fight pirates all the time. The dead adults are a new adventure though,' Peter laughed cheerfully, ignoring the startled looks the adults were throwing him.
'It's dangerous to be all by yourself. Where is your family?' Lori asked.
'The lost boys are my family,' Peter stated, twirling his spoon in the air.
'There are more of you?' Rick asked, glancing toward the dark forest.
'Sure, back in Neverland,' Peter answered, draining a glass of water in one gulp.
'So, that would make you Peter Pan?' Daryl scoffed, shaking his head and propping his gun up next to his chair.
'Of course. Who else would I be?' Peter dropped his plate on the ground and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
'You're the real Peter Pan? The boy who never grew up?' Carl peered at the other boy in wonder.
'That's me. Do you wanna be a lost boy?' Peter asked, slipping out of his seat to grab Carl's hands.
The adults just threw each other a mixture of sad and amused smiles. The poor boy was clearly deluded. He escaped the world of zombies by pretending to be a storybook character.
'Sorry. I want to grow up and protect my family. Just like my dad,' Carl answered, throwing his father a smile.
Peter frowned, looking around at the circle of adults surrounding them. 'I guess growing up is a pretty big adventure, but it's not for me.'
'You can stay, if you want to,' Rick encouraged, hoping that the boy wouldn't run back into the woods the minute their backs were turned.
'Nah. There are too many adventures to be had. Still, I think you would have made a great lost boy,' Peter suddenly swooped closer and pressed his lips against Carl's quickly, before darting away with a laugh.
Andrea hid a smile at the looks on the other adults' faces at the adorable kiss. Good thing she was raised in a very open-minded family.
'Come on, Tink. Stop playing with her hair; it's time to go home,' Peter called out. A flash of light darted from Sophia's hair, fluttering over to the boy.
Wide-eyed, the group watched the little boy lift off into the air, hovering briefly to give an exaggerated bow, before disappearing into the dark, star-strewn sky.
'Did anyone else just see that boy fly off into the sky?' Daryl asked, after the silence had stretched on for nearly 10 minutes.
'I told you he was the real Peter Pan,' Sophia said, rolling her eyes at the adults. She shared a smile with Carl as they watched the adults shake their heads, still dazed.
...the end...
Note: Just a quick little crossover.