Chapter 4: When I Was Innocent

"Ready?" Michonne asks after a long day of waiting. "No, but…I'm still going." Michonne nods and we walk towards the gates. "Why is no one at the gates?" I whisper. She shrugs. "They probably are gonna follow us, so we need to watch our backs." She says. I look around nervously. "Alright…" I murmur as Michonne pushes open the gate and steps outside with me at her heels.

"Do we know where we're going?" I ask. Michonne looks at me. "I have a few ideas, but for now we need to find a temporary shelter." She says. "Mkay." We start walking at the edge of the woods. "Have you had to kill a lot of them?" I ask. "Yeah, I don't even keep track. Too many." She says. I don't answer. "There's one now, you wanna do it?" She asks. I look in front of us where a walker limps over to us. "Yeah." I say solemnly. I take out my knife and jog towards the walker. "Don't hesitate." Michonne calls. I don't glance back at her, I know better.

Once the walker and I are face-to-face I drive the knife into its skull, remembering when I was innocent.

"You have to learn to grow up, no offence." Emma says to me, her green eyes boring into me. "What?" I ask softly. "You can't be a little kid forever Sophia. Things are gonna happen and you'll have to know how to face them." Emma explains. I don't answer. "I'm serious. Like what if someone tried to kidnap you, or worse? What would you do? Cry?" She asks. "I don't need you to lecture me on this Emma. I'm not stupid." I say.

Emma sighs. "You're too innocent." "And that's a bad thing?" I ask. "It can be." "I'm not as innocent as you might think." I mutter, looking off into the distance. "Then stop acting like it." I look down. "I don't know how. It's just easier for me to hide away I guess." "I get it Sophia, but that won't work forever. Hiding won't get you anywhere in life. You have to learn how to fight."

"Good job." Michonne places her firm hand on my shoulder. I nod and take a deep breath. "It'll get easier. I promise." Michonne says. I look at her. "I never said it was hard." "I see it in your eyes. The hurt." I glance away. "You have to remember that these aren't people anymore. They are just an empty shell of who they used to be. For all we know…they're suffering, so killing them is the best thing to do."

"What did you do before all this?" I ask suddenly. Michonne looks away. "I was studying to be a teacher." She says under her breath. "I can see you being a teacher. I know most people wouldn't, ya know with the sword and all, but I see it." I say with a smile. Michonne smiles slightly. "Yeah, I liked kids, still do I guess, but I never had any of my own." She shrugs. "Kids are more understanding then adults." Michonne finishes. I nod. "Yeah. Some anyways, some kids are jerks. Some of my friends were. I just hope Carl is still okay." I say. "Carl?" "He was my friend before I got separated from my group." I explain as we start walking again.

"So where are we gonna take shelter?" I ask, glancing behind me. I have the feeling that I'm being watched. "There's a little store not far from here where we'll get supplies from. But we'll have to get there tomorrow, we don't have time tonight. So what I'm saying is we'll have to set up camp somewhere safe, but quick." She says. "So we'll have to keep watch on and off?" I ask. Michonne shakes her head. "No, I know a place." She says.

I sit on the bed in the small cabin somewhere out in the woods. Michonne is right in the next room, but I still feel as alone as I did when I as lost. It's a feeling I get more and more lately. I chew on my thumbnail as I think when suddenly I hear the door creak open, the front door.

I stand up slowly and open my door and peak out. Sure enough, the door is slowly opening. I jump as it swings open all the way, hitting the wall with a bang. I pray that Michonne will wake up. "It's empty." A voice says and a tall man with dark skin walks in with four other people behind him. "Sasha, go check out the other rooms." He instructs and a pretty, young girl with dark skin and curly hair nods and starts to do as he says. Oh shit.

I close my door with a soft click and grab my knife and gun that Michonne snatched for me. I stand there in panic as the door opens and the girl, Sasha, stands there staring at me. On instinct, she draws her gun and points it at me. I probably look older than I am in the dark. I'm tall for my age, so she probably thinks she's facing another person her age, not a thirteen-almost fourteen-year old kid.

"Michonne!" I scream. I hear a loud bang from the room next to me and hope that it was Michonne. I draw my own gun and point it back at the girl. "Come on, we don't need any trouble." She says softly. "Yeah, so leave." I snap. Suddenly Michonne's sword is around Sasha's neck. "Don't you dare hurt her." Michonne says between gritted teeth. Silence ripples through the room. "Drop the gun." Michonne say and Sasha does as she says. "Tyreese!" Sasha squeaks out. "Lower the gun Sophia." Michonne says and I do.

The rest of the group comes into the room, all aiming their weapons at Michonne and I. "Let her go." The big guy, Tyreese, says. "Promise not to shoot?" I ask. He nods. Michonne releases her captive. "Wait, you're just a kid." Sasha says to me, stepping towards her group. I nod. "Yeah, and?" I ask. "Look, we're as lost as you two, can't we just get along?" Tyreese asks. Michonne and I look at each other. "We were here first." Michonne says. "I don't see why we couldn't just share this place for one night. Tomorrow we'll go our separate ways." I say. "Yeah, please." Sasha says. "We don't even know you people. You drew a gun on her, how can we trust you?" Michonne asks. "We don't want to hurt anyone; we're just protecting each other." Another man in the group says.

"Fine, but tomorrow we forget we ever met." Michonne says. "Thank you." Sasha mutters and they leave the room. Michonne does too, but comes back seconds later with some bed sheets which she spreads on the floor. "I'm not gonna leave you alone in here." She says. "Good, I don't like being alone anyways." I smile.

Michonne lies down on the bed sheets and closes her eyes. I plop down on my bed and do the same. I fall asleep to the chatter of the other group outside our door. I don't know if we can trust them, but all I know is that is that was me I would want the other people to let me in…let me stay. So I'm going to be the bigger person here and let them stay for the night. I'm not saying I want to get really friendly with them, but I'll be nice while I have to. I'm not just going to throw them back out there at night to get eaten alive. Every survivor means something. A small twinge of hope amongst all this. I respect that. There aren't many people left so the few that are are important.

The more people that die, the more walkers there are. And the more walkers there are the less of a chance the human race has. That means I'll never live a normal life again. Not that I did anyways, but I had hope…nowadays I'm not so sure, but I still hang on to it when I can find it. Michonne is that hope now. For all I know, we could die tomorrow, but I'll hope that we don't. I'll hold on until that last breath. The hope might not be there, but the will to live will always be there. It's instinct. And instinct might just be more important than hope…

Thanks for all the positive reviews and thanks for reading. Sorry about any errors. R&R :D