Author's Notes: Yeah, so with this whole hiatus, I'm getting withdrawal symptoms, and I'm worried for my health. This helps. I like the idea of future Judith, so this is her hypothetical story, which we won't be able to really see. If you don't like it, then write your own damn story. Oh, and review.

Chapter 1:

Home

I crouched there, hidden behind the turned over car just waiting for the herd to clear. Couldn't have been more than fifty of them, but apparently it's better to be safe then sorry. So here I was, glaring at those bastards, not being able to do anything about it. It was a tease is what it was!

This is the part I hated most; just waiting when there's a fight to be won. Hell, it's all about the fight. I can take down twenty of them surrounding me with nothing but a broken arrow to keep me safe—which I've done before. One other time I was able to take down an entire herd with only a machete and a bow and arrow, but nobody believed me when I told them.

It took every ounce of restraint that I had not to slaughter them all; and I would have to if it weren't for my dad.

Rick Grimes.

To our people, he was a hero; to Daryl, he was a brother; and to my brother, he was nothing short of godlike. But to me, he was just a pain in the ass. He was all 'no using your gun unless necessary', 'no putting your life in danger to help strangers', 'no killing walkers without a chaperone', blah, blah, blah... What a buzz-kill.

The last of the herd just passed the car when I couldn't wait anymore. But when I reached for the machete by my feet, Carl's hand gripped at my arm and I couldn't withhold my eye roll.

"No," he grunted warningly. Carl was just about the coolest guy in my family and was pretty much my best friend, even though he was thirty and I was seventeen. But he treated me like an equal when no one else did, and that was awesome. He and I had a lot in common, except he was cleaner. Apparently a sense of personal hygiene can skip a generation.

"Fine," I sneered through a forced grin. The Southern heat was killing me so I tied up my long brown hair into a ponytail, but it still heated up my shoulder blades. Carol used to say I looked just like my mom, but I could never know that for sure. There were no pictures of her and no one really liked to talk about her, except Carl.

The herd was about ten yards away from us when Carl finally let go of my arm. My hand gripped tightly around the handle of my machete as we stood. Across the side of the highway I saw dad's shaggy head pop up from behind another rusty car, and then Michonne's. Dad looked all weary-eyed and intense like he almost always does while Michonne looked all elegant with her head held high and her sword hanging off her shoulder—like a queen. The next face I saw was Beth's fresh faced one. She wasn't much older than Carl, but somehow looked younger than me and I don't know if that says more about her or me, age wise. I cocked a brow when her huge form came into view; no matter how many times I saw her, the pregnancy thing still threw me. It was weird; Beth still seemed too young to have a kid, and Daryl seemed way too old. Speaking of Daryl...

"Where is he?" I whispered and Carl knew who I was talking about.

He strode quietly towards the middle of the highway with me lagging behind him. "On a hunt. We're almost outta food so it seemed like a good idea."

I shrugged. "Alright, but I could've helped if he just asked."

Carl looked at me and snorted, tugging back his overgrown hair behind his eyes. "Yeah, like Daryl would ever ask for help." I grinned in agreement and the two of us stood in silence as the others approached.

"That was a close call," Rick warned them as he marched to the middle, "We gotta be more quiet."

"We know, Rick," Beth told him with a small smile in that reassuring way she always did. "And we will be. I guess it's just good to be back," she said, her smile becoming an excited grin.

"Guess it has been awhile," Abraham agreed from behind me. I liked him. He was like a big bear; fun to cuddle—you know, when you're not doing serious stuff like killing walkers. Then I felt Tara's presence as she flicked me in the back of the head. I knew it was Tara because no one was that immature, that and her giggle was very unique. As was the snort that followed.

"Dude," I hissed with yet another eye roll, but she knew I was kidding when it was followed by my hidden smirk. Dad didn't appreciate it when I wasn't taking things seriously.

"Judith," Rick warned and I just smiled back innocently. He looked from me to Carl and they exchanged a look. He put his hands on his hips and began his inevitable speech. "Y'all need to be more careful, now that we're back in Atlanta. It's not as safe out here like back in Washington."

"Yeah, why is that?" Tara asked, genuinely confused.

Rick glanced down at his worn out shoes. "Seems to me like the walkers have been migrating down South, further away from the cold."

"So what does that mean for us?" Beth asked, placing her hand on her back for support.

Rick sighed tiredly over the news. "Means... It means we gotta be more careful..." Dad looked directly at me then, like I'm the only one who needed to be told. I bit my tongue to stop from saying something snide or sarcastic and Carl gave me a look to support that.

It sucks being the youngest.

Dad used to treat me like an equal, until the night Carol died. I was around thirteen then. After that dad never treated me the same, and Carl started treating me like an equal. He said that he understood me.

"You all know why we're back here. And we gotta make it work, this time. This was our home," Rick told us and his voice grew louder and louder. "This was always our home. It's time we came back to it... Back to where we belong."

Everyone looked to him with proud eyes, nodding slightly in agreement with everything Rick was saying, but I couldn't join in. Not really.

The only home I know of is Washington, and it's destroyed.

Author's Notes: Okay, so not everybody is still alive, but just because they're not in the story yet, doesn't mean they won't be later... Or does it...? Heh.