Author's Note: This one's a little shorter, but it's eventful! I actually rewrote this because the first version didn't feel right. This one definitely does. Thank you so much to everyone who's followed and favorited this story so far! Please let me all know what you think. :)
We woke to trouble the next morning. Unfortunately, peace and paradise didn't last long in this world, and we were no exception. I'd gone inside just before dawn to close my eyes for a few minutes of rest; Sophia had been taking watch in small shifts until she could resist a child's easy exhaustion. I was woken by her shaking my shoulder, whispering fiercely that there were roamers outside—a lot of them. Instantly, adrenaline coursed through me and we gathered what we could in our packs.
I held a finger to my lips, urging her to be quiet as we ducked out of the way of the windows. Through the dirty glass, I counted at least four roamers, but more were milling around the cabin. Internally I sighed. Nothing gold can stay. Ares was at my side, ears perked and hackles raised, lip curled in a silent snarl.
"Okay," I whispered, crouching low next to Sophia, "I'm going to knock on the front door, draw them towards this end. Then we're going to make a run for it out the back, lose them in the woods. Ready?"
Sophia, wide-eyed but strong, nodded firmly. She moved silently to the door, Ares beside her, and they waited. I took a couple deep breaths and then crept to the front door. One more look was thrown at Sophia, and then I raised my fist and started pounding on the door. The effect was almost immediate. I threw my body against the door as the roamers began pounding against the wood, anxious to get inside. But they did what I wanted and left the back of the cabin free for our escape.
"Ready?" I called to Sophia over the groaning and snarling. She nodded, casting one fearful glance to the door as the wood bowed. She put her hand on the doorknob at the back and I held up one hand, counting down from three. On one, I pushed off the door and propelled myself to the back of the cabin, allowing the roamers to crack the wood and seep into the cabin like a diseased flood.
Sophia and Ares were waiting for me, and I managed to curl my hand around the door to yank it closed behind me.
But luck runs out.
As the door slammed closed, my fingers were caught between it and the door frame, and I heard more than felt the bones crack. I cried out and yanked my hand away, pulling the door closed with my uninjured hand against the roamers as they made it to the back of the cabin. Adrenaline pumping wildly, I cradled my injured hand to my chest and urged Sophia and Ares forward into the trees just as the first of the roamers rounded the corner of the cabin.
We ran at a breakneck pace to put as much distance between us and the dead as possible. We didn't stop running until our sides were splitting. As the adrenaline wore off, so did my temporary painkiller, and as we finally slowed to a stop, my broken fingers screamed in pain. I grimaced and pulled my hand away from my body to inspect the damage. My middle, ring, and pinky fingers were bent at awkward angles and were quickly bruising. Tremors shot through my hand as I examined them, and Sophia gasped beside me.
"Claire! Are you all right?" she asked, worry pinching her face. We looked down at my hand together and I managed a nod.
"I'm fine, but I think they're broken. I need to splint them. Can you find me three small twigs?" Sophia nodded and scoured the ground, coming up a few moments later with exactly what I asked for. "Okay, now you need to peel the bark off in strings on one of the twigs. We're going to use those as strings to tie the splints. Now, gently, use your nail and peel it off in a single strip. There ya go. Now, I'm going to hold these twigs against my fingers, and you need to tie that string around them all, very gently. Here we go."
The pain was blinding as I held my fingers still so Sophia could secure the twigs. I exhaled a sharp breath in place of crying out, my hand shaking even worse. Finally, Sophia finished the knot and stepped back. My fingers were still shaking and still in agonizing pain, but at least they would—hopefully—heal straight. I tried to tune out the painful pulsing in my fingers in order to figure out where we would be headed next. We managed to grab all of our cans of food as well as a few of the water bottles we'd refilled with boiled stream water. I gave Ares a drink of water and took a long pull from one myself before capping it one-handed and shoving it back in my bag.
"Come on," I started, rising to my feet. I kept my splinted hand cradled to my chest protectively. "We've gotta put some more distance between us and those roamers before they figure out where we've gone."
Sophia kept pace with me as we trekked even further into the woods. She hissed when she skirted by some thorn bushes and snagged her arm on one but she hardly spared it a glance. We were far too used to them by now, and I found myself wishing we could just find a housing development that was still untouched by all of this, just so I wouldn't have to trip over any more fallen logs or spear myself on branches.
The woods were hot and muggy, and my shirt clung to me like a second skin. Exhaustion was taking its toll. Paired with next to no sleep for the past month, the heat was slowing me down. Even on Sophia's face it was obvious that we were both feeling rundown. Dark circles took up permanent residence under our eyes, our stomachs were constantly cramping from lack of a proper diet, and our strength was waning.
We needed to find somewhere more permanent soon, or we'd both fall.
In a hot and sweaty daze, I hardly noticed the railroad tracks until I'd fallen on my face, nearly jamming my chin on the metal on the other side. I managed to catch myself in my weakened state on my forearms, and I couldn't help but yelp as my broken fingers were jostled. I kept them tucked to my chest, breathing heavily through my nose as I waited for the pain to subside. The fingers were bruised to a dark and ugly purple, and I momentarily wondered if they would ever heal.
"Son of a bitch," I groaned. Crunching footsteps sounded behind me before Sophia wrapped her arms around my bicep and hauled me to my feet.
"Smooth move, Grace," she chirped, helping in dusting down my front. I quirked an eyebrow.
"You know, you've gotten sassy in your old age," I retorted, clenching my teeth against the pain in my hand. I straightened my pack, hefting it higher on my shoulder.
"Old? You're one to talk!"
"Oh, she's got a mouth on her," I jested, ruffling her hair with my good hand. She giggled quietly and Ares yipped, wanting to join in on the sudden playfulness. It was short-lived, though, as my fingers throbbed again and I hissed.
"How are your fingers?" Sophia asked, leaning forward to look down at the purple digits. The twig splints weren't working as well as I'd hoped, but they were keeping my fingers straight.
"Hurt like hell," I replied honestly. "We need to find somewhere semi-permanent. Moving around so much isn't helping them heal."
We continued on after that, and Sophia forced me into a half-assed game of I, Spy. Every other answer was a tree, a rock, the train tracks, another tree, a roamer… The roamer was hardly a threat as it was pinned beneath a fallen tree. It snarled and groaned, reaching out its one good arm towards us, but we merely walked on by.
Up ahead, the trees on the right parted to open up to a clearing with a view to a field down below. As we passed it, I stopped in my tracks.
"I spy with my little eye, a safe haven," I breathed, looking out across the fields.
Two rows of fences surrounded the entire property, and beyond, the prison loomed, a dark shape against the bright sun. Two watch towers stood sentry, and the entire building looked untouched.
Except for the fact that there were people—living people—working in the field, tending to what looked like a plot of crops. Not too far away sat a makeshift shed surrounded by a fence, and in the middle of the pasture was an honest to God horse. Voices carried across the open space, and a couple of them sounded like children's voices.
I felt the breath leave my lungs rapidly, and out of disbelief I rubbed my eyes, wanting to make sure I was actually seeing this. Beside me Sophia was looking out as well, her eyes scanning the landscape hopefully.
"You think my group might be down there?" she asked, turning wide eyes up to me. I hugged her close to my side.
"Only one way to find out. Come on."
We took the slope slowly to avoid the roots and tangled brush. Once we hit the bottom, we took cover behind some bushes. I peered through the branches, narrowing my eyes as I took in the number of roamers wandering the outside of the fences. Closer to the gate, they'd begun clustering, and the chain-link fence bowed under their combined weight. A few of the people behind the fence looked over warily and then two of them headed down to the gate, long poles in their hands.
I watched as they opened up the main gate and began spreading the roamers out by banging on the fence and yelling. Like starved dogs, the roamers followed. I ducked even lower when one of the survivors, a young Asian man, drew a cluster of roamers to the portion of fence right in front of the bush we were hiding behind. I watched as he popped them through the fence with the pole.
Once the roamers were dead, the man began to walk back towards the gate. Now was our chance. I took a deep breath and looked at Sophia.
"Stay here, wait for me to call you," I ordered calmly. She nodded after a moment, and I stepped out from behind the bush.
"Hello?" I called. The man whirled around, dropping his pole in favor of reaching for a gun behind his back. He quickly aimed it at me, though I noticed it shook.
"Don't come closer. Who are you?" he demanded, going against his own order by taking a step closer to me. I held my hands up, wincing as my broken one protested the movement.
"My name's Claire. Yours?"
"…Glenn."
"Glenn," I repeated with a nod. Then, with a small wry smile I gestured at the gun. "Mind lowering that?"
"I would actually," he shot back. We turned our heads simultaneously as footsteps thudded against the grass, and we were quickly joined by a young woman with short dark hair.
"Glenn?" she asked with a southern twang. Her eyes turned to me and then I had two guns raised on me. "Everything all right?"
"Peachy," I replied, "at least on your side of the fence. Not really the case on mine."
"What do you want?" the woman asked, brushing off my attempt at humor.
"Honestly? A chance. A bed to sleep in for the night, a meal if it weren't too much trouble."
"Asking a lot these days," Glenn retorted. The barrel of his gun dipped a bit as he weighed the option of lowering it.
"I know."
"You injured?" He nodded down to my cradled, bruised hand.
"Broken fingers. Jammed them in a door."
"You alone?"
I hesitated. "No."
"Where's your group?" the woman asked. She kept her gun raised but pointed lower at my chest. I swallowed and had a brief passing thought that this might not have been my best idea. It didn't go unknown by me that when the world changed, humanity did too. Rules of morality were warped; it was survival of the fittest.
With that thought in mind, I turned my head and called over my shoulder, "Come on out."
Slowly, Sophia's blonde head appeared from behind the bush and Ares followed her out. Both moved slowly, the former eyeing the pair on the other side of the fence warily. They came to a stop on either side of me, and I didn't miss the way the Glenn's face seemed to change to one of shock.
"Get Rick," he said hurriedly to the woman beside him. When she gave him a look, he all but shouted, "Go!"
The woman needed no further instruction as she turned and ran back towards the gate, yelling for this man named Rick as she went. By now, Glenn had lowered and holstered his weapon.
"Sophia?" he asked. I whipped my head down to look at her to see her take a small step closer to me, huddling into my side. I wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Sophia, is that you?"
There was a pregnant awkward pause, where Sophia gazed at Glenn, trying to search her memory. I looked back and forth between the two of them, and I could only conclude that Glenn had been part of her missing group, but Sophia didn't remember him. In this period of silence, more footsteps sounded, and four other people, all armed, joined Glenn on the other side of the fence. A weight hit me in the chest as one of the newcomers, a woman with short grey hair let out an anguished cry.
"Oh my god, Sophia!" She pressed herself against the fence, tears streaming down her face. I glanced down at Sophia to see the same look mirrored on her face.
"Momma," she sobbed. "Momma."
They embraced through the fence, made difficult since the Sophia's mother couldn't fit her arms through the chain-link, but she made do. She turned to the men behind her. One of them was taller than the rest, with dark hair streaked with grey and a beard to match. He wore a holster on his hip, the end of a revolver just peeking over the leather. The other was about three shades darker than his comrade due to the dirt and grime coating his skin. His face was concealed behind a curtain of greasy hair and he held a crossbow loosely down by his side.
"Let them through," the woman sobbed. Apparently, her expression brooked no argument because Glenn was waving Sophia and I down the fence towards the front gates. A few roamers had been drawn to the commotion and ambled after us.
Once we reached the gate, Glenn and the young woman passed by us to dispose of the small group of roamers tailing us, putting them down quickly and quietly before ushering us through the gate. I smiled softly as Sophia then collided with her mother, no longer separated by the fence.
"I thought you were dead," the woman admitted into Sophia's hair. Her face was crinkled with emotion, an endless river of tears streaking through the dirt on her face. She pulled away slightly to hold Sophia's face in her hands. "My God, you got so tall."
The tall man with the revolver watched the reunion with an unreadable look on his face before he turned to me.
"Name's Rick," he said, his voice gruff as he stepped closer to me. He stuck out a hand.
"Claire." I took it gingerly before letting go quickly. At my feet, Ares yipped. "This is Ares."
"Where'd you find her?" asked the filthy man behind him.
"Found her holed up in a farmhouse pantry. Poor thing was starved."
The archer and Rick exchanged a meaningful look, though what it meant I wasn't sure, before Rick turned back to me.
"How many walkers you killed?" he asked.
"That what you call them? Too many to count."
"How many people you killed?"
I was half-affronted by that, and I think it read clearly on my face. "None."
"Why?" The look on Rick's face told me I'd better answer his question correctly.
"Never had a reason to." He mulled it over for a moment before his gaze dropped to my hand tucked against my chest.
"Come on then. We'll have Hershel take a look at that hand."
Hershel was an elderly man with one leg. He got around on an old pair of crutches and had the whole apocalypse-Santa thing going on with his overgrown beard and white hair pulled into a ponytail at the back of his head. But he had very kind eyes and a gentle nature as he pulled my injured hand into his lap to get a closer look.
I had been brought into one of the prison cells, no doubt used as an infirmary. Sophia was reuniting with her group in the common area, and I could hear everyone's excitement over seeing her again after so long. I was not alone, though, with Hershel. The dirty archer stood sentry in the doorway, crossing his arms over his chest as he no doubt made sure that I meant no harm to their doctor.
I hissed as Hershel removed the homemade splints from around my fingers, tossing them aside.
"How'd you break 'em?" the archer asked, his voice even rougher than Rick's. I still couldn't see his face very well and it made me just a tad intimidated by him. My gaze bounced to Hershel, who was smiling softly.
"Daryl's bark is worse than his bite," he assured me, as if he could read my mind. Daryl grunted in reply, but he never looked away from me, still waiting for an answer.
"Slammed them in a door running from roamers." I reached up to scratch my forehead with a fingernail as Hershel continued to examine my fingers. I twitched and jerked as he moved my fingers, sending a searing pain up through my arm. "Sophia and I found this little hunting cabin and stayed there a couple days. One morning we woke up and we were surrounded by them. Barely made it out of there. Stupidly got my fingers caught in the door."
"Better than having them bitten off," Hershel countered. "They're definitely broken. I'll need to re-splint them since it doesn't look like your twigs were helping much." His tone was joking and his eyes were bright as he smiled up at me, and I admit, it calmed me a little more, opposite to Daryl's presence.
"I figured, but I tried." I offered Hershel a wry smile in return. Determining I was no longer a threat with broken fingers, Daryl pushed off the doorframe of the cell and turned to head back out into the common area. I couldn't help but watch him. He was silent on his feet but boasted a presence amongst his people. "Is he always so…"
"Brooding? Yes. That's Daryl. Our very own guard dog. He's harmless but loyal to his family." I didn't miss the underlying threat there. Try anything and he'll come after you. "How long have you been with Sophia?"
"A couple months now. Ouch." Hershel looked up in apology as he wrapped my fingers in gauze after using a small piece of wood as a splint. It definitely served better than a twig. "I couldn't just leave her there. Plus Ares took a liking to her."
"Well, my thanks go out to you. We were all devastated when we decided to accept the inevitable that she wasn't coming back. Daryl took it the hardest, I think." I looked at the doorway Daryl had walked away from in curiosity. "Our resident redneck isn't as much of a hard-ass as he'd like us to believe."
"Could've fooled me. How can he see through that mane of his?"
Hershel chuckled and sat up straight, leaning back in the chair. "We've all been wondering the same thing. Carol keeps trying to get him to cut it."
"Carol?"
"Sophia's mother. Why don't we introduce you properly?" With that, Hershel grabbed his crutches and hauled himself out of the chair. He hobbled out ahead of me, and heads turned like a flock of flamingoes as I entered the room.
The common room was set up with a number of tables, at which sat the rest of Hershel's group. I found Sophia amongst them, seated next to her mother, but when she saw me, she shot out of her chair and ran over to me to hug me around the waist.
"Are your fingers okay?" she asked, picking up my newly-bandaged hand. I smiled down at her.
"They'll be good as new in no time." Movement out of the corner of my eye made me lift my head, and I balked slightly when Carol stepped in front of me, an unreadable look on her face.
Then she was hugging me tightly, avoiding my injured hand, and I slowly let my arms come around her.
"Thank you so much," she said quietly into my ear. "Thank you for bringing her back to me." As she stepped away she wiped away a fresh bout of tears and gave me a wide, thankful smile that I didn't need to force myself to return.
I shrugged, unsure of what to say to that other than, "You're welcome."
"As far as I'm concerned, you're family now," she told me, and I felt myself lose my breath. She stepped away to sit back down and Sophia went with her, leaving me in a state of massive confusion. Then Rick, Daryl, and Hershel all approached me, crowding around me with the others watching patiently.
"We've talked it out," Rick started, his hands on his hips. Then he turned his bright blue eyes to me and I felt myself wanting to shrink away, but I didn't. His eyes narrowed and he smiled a small grin. "And you're welcome to stay, if you'd like."
I looked between the three of them; Rick was still smiling, as was Hershel, but the archer, Daryl, was watching me through narrowed eyes. Even standing so close I couldn't see what color his eyes were, and it unnerved me. I swallowed, choosing my words carefully.
"If I may ask, what made you decide to let me stay? I mean, you don't know me from Adam."
Rick turned and nodded at Sophia. "She did." He turned back to me and continued, "There aren't many people in this world who would help a child in need, but you did. That says something to all of us. So the offer to stay is there for you."
I turned it over in my head for a few minutes, looking around at the group. Sophia's family. They were all watching me, waiting. I hadn't been around people, besides Sophia, since this whole thing started. It would take me a while to reacclimate to living with other people and socializing like a normal person. But would it be worth it?
I took one look at Sophia, happily reunited with her mom, and my answer was decided.
