The door of the crate creaks open eventually, revealing Rick and the others.
A handful of weapons for the entire group are handed out, most of us have nothing. As we make our way towards the exit, we scavenge weapons from dead Terminus people, and broken pieces of metal littering the ground. All the while we are dodging shufflers as the herd is attracted to the loud gunfire of the Terminus people and the smell of living flesh.
Left and right I'm smacking the ugly bitches with my metal pipe. Somehow our group, nearing the fence by the forest gets split.
Suddenly, it's me with my pipe, Carl and Daryl with guns. The undead have surrounded us, I'm covering our rear as Carl and Daryl try to clear a path. From the other side of the fence I see everyone with guns trying to help clear a path, drawing attention away from us and shooting at the undead in front of us.
"No!" I turn, Rachel and Elena have hopped over the fence, whacking their way back to us. It was Glenn who yelled that. We meet in the middle and suddenly Rachel and Elena are flanking me, helping keep the walkers off Carl and Daryl while simultaneously clearing a path.
"Terra, watch out!"
I react late.
.Judith.
After the propane tank blew, I make my way into the compound, avoiding shufflers as much as possible. Eventually, by luck I come across the weapons stash.
"Oh, thank God!" I whisper, shoving weapons in my duffel. I manage to grab Elena and Rachel's sword thingies (So they were here!), a few guns, and ammo. Then, I hear footsteps.
Obviously, I quickly take my leave back the way I came. The herd has thickened in this area and I make a mad sprint through the herd, making my way back to the gate.
Several meters from the gate, I'm cornered by a crate.
Nowhere left to go but up. I think to myself. Using a nearby fence that managed to stay upright I climb the chain, kicking at shufflers as they tried to grab at my ankles. I climb on top of the crate, breathing heavy.
I hear, "No!" And turn to the voice. I lol through the lens of my rifle and see them.
Rachel and Elena. Their headed towards a group a little ways away from the fence.
Terra! And two others... They are fighting their way to the fence but are sorely outnumbered by shufflers even with Rachel and Elena's help.
I keep an eye on the group, trying to make sure no shuffler catches them by surprise.
I catch a shuffler that slipped past Rachel and Elena's crude club-like objects.
I aim and fire, shooting it right in the head, as Terra turns to react.
"Bulls-eye!" I smirk, Terra follows the bullet's path and looks at me, I tip my cowboy hat and she beams in my general direction.
I provide covering fire as they make their way to the fence, and climb over. The shufflers in my area have mostly cleared out. I carefully jump down from the crate, careful not to make any noise.
As I land on the ground and gather my stuff...
Bam!
All I see as my vision darkens are dark silhouettes.
.Terra.
I was relieved when the bullet hit the shuffler. Relieved when we made it to the fence. Relieved when we got over the fence.
But when I saw them take her.
Oh, I was furious. Livid. Enraged. Words didn't even begin to describe how I felt. I would raze Heaven and Hell to get to her and Rachel and Elena knew it.
When I turned around and saw her body drop, I rushed the fence, Rachel grabbed me by my arm and Elena grabbed me by the other arm and yanked me off the fence I was already half way up. When I shook them off, Carl stood in front of me and I collided with him, both of us falling to the ground.
He had me tight around the waist as I struggled to pry his fingers off.He manages to roll me over and pins my wrists above my head. He's breathing heavy, his eyes hinting at anger. My breathing is ragged. My eyes wild. I'm thrashing underneath him, yelling obscenities at him. He patiently waits for me to calm down, the shufflers at the fence still clawing at us.
I hear footsteps approaching, the rest of the group is here.
I stop thrashing, my eyes locked on his. His blue eyes are steel, hard and cold. Mine are like a volcano, erupting with emotion, wild, untamed heat.
Everyone silently watches our battle of wills.
Slowly, the anger dissipates and dissolves into something else: despair.
I was so close. She was so close.
Carl sees the change and releases me, kneeling next to me.
I'm kneeling now and suddenly Carl is right there with me. Comforting me, Elena and Rachel rest a hand on my back.
"It's not fair," I whisper as the tears slowly leave tracks in the grime on my face.
And then my voice of reason appears.
"Life isn't," I look up at Elena, everyone probably thinking it's harsh, but I know better.
"There's no point to tears," Rachel's soft smile convinces me to stand, take a deep breath, and wipe my tears.
Carl steps away from me, before smirking at me, "So does this count towards our competition of who owes who more?"
I punch his arm lightly, "You'll always owe me more, Little Grimes, remember that."
That breaks the tension and we're all laughing.
Suddenly, there's a rustle in the trees and a figure covered in shuffler guts emerges with a large black man holding a baby.
"Is that a-" I start.
"Carol!" Daryl.
"Tyreese!" The one named Sasha.
"Ju-" Carl falters next to me. I remember now that he said he had a baby sister named Judith, but he thought she had died in the prison or something.
"Judith!" I can hear the brokenness, and raw agony in Rick's voice when he says her name. They both walk forward tentatively, before bursting into a run, taking Judith from Tyreese's arms and sinking to the ground, in tears.
I smile softly at them.
At least they got their Judith back.
Rachel grabs my fist which I had unknowingly been clenching to the point that I had broken skin and small beads of blood rose from the half-crescents in my palm. She slowly pulls my fingers into a relaxed position and holds our hands together, kissing them.
Elena offers me a steady look, an unwavering gaze that told me we wouldn't give up until we had our Judith back.
I glance up as I feel a tap on my shoulder. Carl is holding Judith, her eyes watching me curiously, she was all chubby cheeks and wide-eyed stares.
I offered her a small smile. She giggled.
It was the purest sound I'd ever heard.
She reaches a tiny, chubby hand out at me, I grab hold of it.
.Carl.
Terra is completely absorbed by Judith. She holds her hand, completely oblivious to the world around her.
Judith makes incoherent baby noises at her, and reaches towards her for her to hold her.
Terra takes her no problem and soon Judith is fast asleep on her shoulder, but I never take my eyes off of her, neither does my dad.
I still can't believe she's alive.
I owe Tyreese and Carol the world for saving her. I can't describe all the emotions I feel when I see her alive and well, chubby cheeks and curious eyes.
My baby sister. The only reminder left of my mom.
Terra is quietly humming to Judith as Carol and Tyreese talk about their journey. They mention Terra's Judith often during the second half of their story. Terra's humming becomes more strained. Finally, it stops altogether.
"Where's Judith? Is she with you?" Carol looks over the group, searching.
Terra bites her lip, you can barely hear her response.
"They took her," She whispers almost disbelieving. Almost like she just realized that they had taken her. It had just fully sunk in.
They had no reason to keep her alive.
They were going to kill her.
And then they were going to eat her.
.A/N.
Sorry it's a little shorter. Been a little busy lately and things are kinda tense in my house rn.
I'm tryna get back on track for my writing schedule.
As always Read and Review!
P.S. I'm considering starting to draw again and if I do I'll draw my characters and post them on my IG.
Till next time,
~WiseChic~
