Everything had been against her from the moment she took her first breath. She'd heard the story too many times to count about how her mother had chosen to give up her life in order to save her child. It was a big responsibility to think that you owed your life to someone else. Judith had always felt like she needed to prove herself.
She didn't remember anything about her first home, the infamous prison. Her Dad still talked about it. She could tell he missed it. Maybe it was because her Mom was buried there. She hoped she'd get to see it someday, maybe find that missing picture of her Mom that Carl said he had hidden away for her.
Through the years her family group had lived in a lot of places, never one spot for more than a few months. The earliest memory she had was of a place with big windows that smelled like motor oil. Carl told her it was an old auto repair shop that they'd stayed at one winter. Then there'd been a farm house surrounded by big trees. They'd stayed there the longest of any place she could recall. She'd loved that place until it had been overrun.
It was always the same. Their presence seemed to attract the walkers eventually no matter how quiet they were. She had learned from the earliest age that crying or shouting were not allowed because loud noises were dangerous. Being quiet and still were things that most two year olds didn't understand, but for those like her, born in the new world of the walking dead, learning those things meant survival for themselves and their family.
People in their group came and went. Her family, Rick, Carl, Daryl, Carol, Maggie, Glen and Beth had always been there with her. Somehow they'd all stayed together despite all the hardships. They'd watched their friends fall, either to sickness, injury or bites. There had never been other kids her age around to have as playmates so she'd learned how to fit in with the grownups.
She'd learned self-defense from her Dad. Carl had taught her how to shoot. Daryl made sure she knew how to hunt and track and use a bow. Carol, who had been her Mom for all intents and purposes, taught her how to use a knife and about first aid and natural medicines. Glen taught her how to be sneaky and fast on her feet. Maggie and Beth had taught her all the girl stuff she needed to know along with a bunch of Irish folk songs. Each of them had made sure she knew how to survive.
It was weird to hear the others talk about how things had been before the turn. What they remembered sounded like a fantasy to her. What would it be like to be able to push a button and have light whenever you wanted it or go to a store and buy fresh food or have hot water to shower in and wash your clothes, doctors and medicine to treat the sick or wounded, planes that could fly you anywhere in the whole world? Those were foreign ideas to someone like Judith, not that there were many like her.
There had been other babies born in their group, none had survived very long. Maggie and Glen had a baby boy when Judith was about six. He was born too early and only lived a few days. With no doctors or medicine, babies had to be tough and strong. Judith always wondered if her Mom's sacrifice had somehow given her extra protection. She'd gotten sick a few times over the years but she'd always managed to recover. Daryl just joked and said she was living up to her nickname, "L'il Asskicker".
Judith awoke on her the morning of her 16th birthday to bright sunshine flooding through the window. They were living on the second floor of a building on an old National Guard base. It was a pretty secure location, completely surrounded by a fence. They'd been here now for almost four months and her Dad wasn't talking about leaving yet.
She got dressed in her worn old jeans, a t-shirt and boots before pulling her long dark hair into a ponytail. She checked her reflection in a piece of broken mirror that she'd propped on a table next to her bed. Carl and her Dad always told her that she looked just like her Mom except for her blue eyes.
She skipped down the steps singing a tune to herself. It was an old song that Beth had taught her, "Well, he bought her a dime store watch and a ring made from a spoon". She turned the corner at the foot of the stairs and ran smack into Daryl.
"Happy Birthday, Little Asskicker," he said, giving her a hug.
She blushed as she looked behind him to see her whole family standing around the table. Carol and Beth had made pancakes with wild blueberries, her favorite. They'd put flowers on the table and there were a couple of small gifts wrapped in pretty scraps of fabric and ribbon.
"You guys shouldn't have done all this," she muttered.
Rick walked up and swept her into a bear hug, "We wanted to Judy. I can't believe my baby girl is 16."
"Oh, Dad!" she said but she hugged him back with a big smile.
Then she ran over and hugged Carol and Beth together. "Thank you both. I know you did all this cooking and decorating. It's great."
Carol smiled and pushed a strand of hair behind Judith's ear. "Glad you like it. Happy Birthday, sweet pea," Carol told her as she hugged her close.
Beth just smiled and gave her a big kiss on the cheek.
She sat down and Carol loaded her plate with pancakes and topped them with honey that Daryl had collected from a hive a few weeks ago. He'd earned a few stings but with the first taste she figured it had definitely been worth it.
The family gathered around the table and everyone dug in. At an adjacent table sat two people who had recently joined their group, Len and Constance. Len was a tall, gangly fellow with a bushy beard. He was in his late 30's and had a long angry scar on his left cheek. He was even less communicative than Daryl which Judith found hard to fathom. Constance was younger, maybe even in her early 20's. She was friendly but still a bit standoffish. Judy figured they were still trying to figure where they fit in.
At the moment Constance was about 8 ½ months pregnant which led everyone, including Len, to view her with a mixture of hope and fear. It wasn't helping her to feel at home even though Carol was trying to let them know they were welcome.
They all ate silently for a while until Carl grabbed one of the packages and tossed it to Judith. "Here, sis, this one is from me," he told her. It was a box wrapped in a big green bow. She eagerly pulled at the ribbon and opened the box. Inside was a holster similar to the one her father carried only it was smaller. She turned it sideways and saw that her initials and a rose were burned into the leather. She immediately stood up and tried it on. It was a perfect fit and her pistol fit snugly into it against her hip.
"Thanks, Carl. I love it," she told him. Her big bro beamed with pride.
The next gift was from Daryl, Carol, Glen and Maggie. Carol prefaced the gift by saying, "This is something for when the weather gets colder." They'd all worked together gathering rabbit pelts and sewing them into leg warmers. It was the softest thing she'd ever felt. They wrapped around her calf just above her boots and tied with laces around her leg. "This is beautiful. Just perfect. Thank you all," she said with a huge grin.
Beth was next with a box that had been decorated with hearts and flowers. Judith opened it to find a dress of ivory lace with a blue sash at the waist. It was pretty but not exactly Judy's style. She looked up at Beth quizzically. "I know," Beth said sheepishly, "I just figured you needed one girly thing. You never know." Beth always hoped Judith would turn out to be more like her but she'd never outgrown the tomboy stage. It wasn't really practical to be a girly girl in this life.
Daryl chimed in, "You know you're gonna have to model that for us, don't ya?" Everyone else readily agreed.
"Oh, yeah, Judith in a dress! It'll be a miracle," Carl laughed. She threw one of the empty boxes at his head as punishment.
"I've worn dresses before," she reminded him.
"Not since you were old enough to dress yourself," he smirked.
Finally her Dad handed her a small box wrapped in pink satin. She took the box and untied the bow. The fabric slid off revealing a small square box. She opened it and inside lay a silver heart locket. "It was your Mom's," he told her, "I've been saving it for you." Tears welled up in her eyes making her feel like a big jerk but when she looked up everyone seemed to wiping away tears. She picked it up with shaking hands and placed it gently around her neck. Rick did the clasp for her. She looked down where the locket lay against her chest. It was the prettiest thing she'd ever owned.
"Well, I think it's time for a fashion show, don't you?" Carl teased. Everyone was looking her way and smiling.
"Oh, my God. Okay! I'll try on the dress for heaven's sake," Judith huffed before heading upstairs to her room.
She pulled off her worn old clothes and slipped the dress over her head. It fell to about her mid-thigh and zipped up the back. She was squirming around trying to reach the zipper when she heard Beth slip in the door behind her. "Here, let me," Beth said. She zipped the dress and tied the sash.
Judith turned around. Beth gasped, "Wow! You look different!"
"Different good or different bad?" Judith asked nervously.
"Good, definitely good. Oh, gosh, I wish we had a mirror," Beth exclaimed. Judith picked up the small piece from her table and tried to see as much as she could. She couldn't see what the fuss was about. It was pretty but totally impractical. "Come on, you've got to show your Dad," Beth said pulling her towards the stairs.
Beth stopped her at the top of the stairs and yelled down, "Okay, guys, get ready for a shocker." Then she pushed Judith in front of her and whispered, "Go on."
It was beyond weird to know she was walking down the stairs while everyone stared. What was even weirder was that everyone at the table was staring at her in open mouthed surprise.
"What?" she asked. "Do I look awful? Why is everyone staring?" She couldn't help it. She could feel the tears starting. She turned and ran back up the stairs and into her room slamming the door behind her. She fell onto the bed weeping in humiliation.
A few minutes later she heard a knock and Rick stuck his head in the door. "Judy, can I come in?" he asked quietly. She nodded with her head still stuck in the pillow.
He sat on the bed beside her and rubbed her back. "Honey, I'm sorry. We weren't makin' fun of you. It's just with that locket on and the dress, you looked so much like your Mom it was spooky. You looked…you look beautiful baby. No one was laughin' at ya. I just, well I guess we forget that you're growin' up. You looked like a real lady standin' there. It was a surprise, a wonderful surprise. We all love you. You know that, don't ya? We wouldn't laugh at ya. Now come on and give your old Dad a hug, okay?"
Judith sat up and wiped her eyes. "Do I really look like her?" she asked as she settled against his chest.
"You do, baby. Your Mama was the prettiest girl I ever saw and you are every bit as pretty as she was. You know what, though, you're not just pretty. You're also smart and strong like she was. She'd be so proud of you," Rick told her, putting his arm around her. That one statement more than anything else that had happened on her birthday made her feel a little bit more grown up and a little bit more confident.
Carol was soon knocking and coming in to apologize along with everyone else. She forgave them all but shooed them all out of her room so she could change back into her regular clothes. She hung the dress carefully over a chair. As Beth said, you never know. She might need it one day.
She joined the others back downstairs where they were discussing an upcoming run. Carol was talking with Constance about what she needed for the baby. Everyone was back to their regular routine. Judith felt at ease again. She sat down next to Daryl and picked at a leftover pancake. He was sitting quietly watching everyone else as usual.
He turned and looked at her. "Hey short stuff," he said, "ya ain't got nothin' to be embarrassed about. Ya look good in that dress and you're a damn good shot too. That's a winnin' combination." She reached over and punched him in the arm. He rubbed his arm and frowned, "Hey, that hurt."
She shook her head slowly. "Damn, you're gettin' old Daryl Dixon," she teased.
"I can still outhunt and outtrack you, little girl," he replied seriously, "and don't forget it."
"For now," she told him with a mischievous gleam in her eye, "for now."
Carol began clearing the dishes and Judith stood up to help. Times like this didn't come along often. Judith stopped for a moment and looked around. Her whole family was here. They were safe, fed, healthy and happy for the moment. She reached up and placed her hand over the locket. A little piece of her Mom was here now too. This was the best birthday she could remember.
