Party Preparations
Author's Note: I do not own the rights to the Walking Dead, but I can certainly dream of one day working on one of the scripts. ;) Prequel to The Rebirthday Party, from Lizzie's perspective.
We call them Walkers and us Survivors as if the Walkers are something bad we should be rewarded with a special title for avoiding. I'm not sure how, but I know I can show them all that they're wrong. The Walkers are our friends! They're people, just like us, except way cooler. They have names and everything and we've been murdering them.
I would've joined them when the jail collapsed and all my friends came in to say hello. But there were too many and they were too excited. I knew they'd accidentally kill me because all of them would want to help make me one of them. I'd seen them get too excited before and I knew that wouldn't work. So I left with my sister and Carol and Tyreese. We found this pretty house in these pretty woods yesterday and decided to spend the night.
I can still hear my friends calling me to come play with them. They're far away, but they're there. I think I'll invite them over to play. I just need a few things. I'll have to do it while Carol isn't looking. I'm still mad that she killed my friend earlier. We had been having such a fun conversation about what it's like to be one of them. Mostly it's awesome. No rules, everyone is finally equal, and you can do whatever you want.
Carol and Tyreese go off to do… something, probably make out. I'm pretty sure they like-like each other. They look at one another with these funny looks every so often. I'm not sure they're even trying to hide it from us. Like last night. We collected pecans and baked them; the oven had just enough left in it for that. Carol mentioned something about a back-up generator in the basement and how maybe we could stay here for a while. She gave Tyreese one of those weird looks when she said it and he gave her one back. Adults are so gross.
Anyway, today they leave Mika and me to babysit baby Judith. After they finish kissing they'll probably go hunt that deer Mika couldn't shoot earlier. Silly, ignorant Mika. I've told her dozens of times that animals aren't people so it's ok to kill them but she just claps her hands over her ears and hums until I stop.
Once, she tried telling me animals go to heaven, too. I think she saw something like that in some dumb movie. I told her that wasn't true because they'd have to be able to talk to go to heaven. I'd tried to make some talk with my experiments and none had. Not a one. So they definitely weren't going to heaven.
They also don't come back here. When I pinned a rat to a board of wood, I cut and cut and cut, but it never "turned" as the others called it. I hate that term. I prefer… "perfected." Anyway, only people do that. And once they do, they're more than they were before. Yeah, they're hungry all the time, but there's no more arguing or yelling. They'll never die of old age or anything like that. Like vampires bu better because they're real. They're, well, perfect.
Mika thinks I'm crazy, but that's just because she can't hear them talking. That's ok. Maybe I can help her learn how? I don't know how I'll do that either, but I'll figure it out. And then it comes to me: I know how to make both Mika and Carol understand! Carol will believe me if it's Mika telling her the same thing! I smile and almost feel like jumping around, but I remember that I'm almost an adult now and adults don't do that.
I leave Mika to watch Judith while I collect what I need. I hum a pretty song and pass some pretty patches of flowers near the house. Maybe we can use those for our guests. Party preparations don't take long. Now all that's left is to prepare Mika. I walk over to her, playing with her doll next to Judith. I set the gun down and she makes a face at it. She hates them so much. She doesn't notice the huge knife I found in the kitchen until it's past the point of no return.
My heart thunders with excitement and my hands shake a little. I'm so excited for Mika! She's going to be the first of us to join them. But it's way harder to do than I thought. In the movies, people always stab each other so easily. But the knife slides off her the first time I try to put it in her because she moves. She stares at the knife then at me, her eyes wide as if I'm doing something wrong and she's going to tell on me. I can't let her warn Carol because I know Carol won't understand. So I grab her arm and pull her to me and shove the knife as hard as I can into her stomach.
She starts to cry but I put my hand over her mouth, a little surprised its taking her so long to die. Again, my knowledge gained from movies has failed me. People don't die so easily from knife wounds. But eventually I stab her enough times she stops struggling. Her blood keeps pouring out but I know she doesn't need it. It had already gotten all over my hands when I was helping her find her way. It's stick and slimy and reminds me of paint except it smells different. Maybe I can paint Mika a picture with her blood as her present?
I lay her down next to Judith and coo at the baby. I raise the knife and try to figure out where her heart is. This will go so much easier since she can't move away from me. Suddenly, I hear a rustling next to me. I look up at Carol and Tyreese, the knife poised over Judith. I see them staring at Mika, eyes wide, faces pinched. They probably think I killed her.
"Don't worry she'll come back. I didn't hurt her brain," I tell them, proud of myself for managing it. I look back at Mika and smile. I can't wait for her to wake up and tell them the good news so we can hurry up and celebrate her rebirthday party.