It is Friday, people! And I got another chapter! Second in a row on the right day. I'm proud.

I'm still trying to survive the apocalypse of six months and a couple weeks, which will end when season 5 starts. I can't help but to keep repeating the last scene of the season finale. Just the last couple of seconds.

"They're gonna be pretty stupid when they find out."

"Find out what?"

"That they're screwing with the wrong people."

Brilliant!

So, back to the story!

(Disclaimer; I do not own The Walking Dead)

Leave a review if you like! And not if you hate the story. Nah, that's OK. (*cries inside*)

Enjoy! ;)

Chapter 9: Opinions

I smile in myself as I hear Alexa yawn from her cell. I hear some thuds, and a couple seconds later, the sleeping beauty walks out of the cell. I grin at the sight of her sleepy hair and wide t-shirt hanging around her shoulders.

"Good morning, sunshine" I say. Alexa rubs in her eyes, and yawns again.

"What time is it?" she asks, before grunting annoyed. "Wait, forget that. No one has a watch anymore nowadays. Sorry."

"Still sleeping, huh?" I ruff through her already messy hair, and she looks annoyed at me. I walk towards a small table Glenn brought this morning, and hand Alexa some of the leftovers from breakfast.

"How long do you think I slept?" Alexa asks, while chewing on something that looks like dough.

"At least one whole night and half a day."

Alexa widens her eyes. "You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm being serious" I chuckle. "After one night without sleep and a full day of walking, it's not a real surprise, is it?"

"I've never slept this long in my entire life" she says dramatically, with a dramatized sigh at the end.

"Oh, you're so helpless" I say sarcastically, and Alexa sticks out her tongue. "Just eat your breakfast, lady. Perhaps you can still make something of this day. What's left of it."

"What are you going to do?"

I shrug. "I was thinking about staying here for the day. We don't have to go anywhere. Glenn and Daryl picked up the last of the supplies from the car last night."

"So we're good to go, right?"

I lift an eyebrow. The way she says it, doesn't make it sound like she really wants to leave. It's more like she wants to know. I smile. Must be Rick's kid. "Well, basically, yeah."

Alexa nods. "OK."

"But for today; just rest. You're gonna need it. Just, try to get to know some of these people. Get comfortable. There not so bad as you think." While she's listening, Alexa puts down the dough, but doesn't look up. "Carol, the short haired woman, is really sweet. And Beth, Hershel's daughter, is just a few years older than you. I hear she's into music, maybe you could jam sometime. Glenn's a cool guy too. But I've seen that you've been getting along just fine with Rick's son…?"

Alexa's cheeks get a red blush on them, and she rolls with her eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"

I stand up, taking her plate from her. It's pretty much empty, except for the dough in her hand. "I think you know exactly what I mean."

"Shut up" she murmurs, putting the last dough in her mouth. She then stands up, mumbling something about changing clothes.

"Of course," I say, "you must look pretty for mister Carl Grimes."

"Seriously!" Alexa says irritated from her cell. "Stop it! It's not funny!"

I chuckle to myself as I clean the two plates and get rid of the little breakfast. I'm feeling really happy. This kinda of stuff always happened in the camp, before Leighton and Mark started doing the things that changed everything. Alexa and I were just teasing each other, making jokes. Sometimes Alexa would get really angry, and make a long walk to calm herself down. But she always came back, giving me a hug and apologizing for being such a hot head. I would ruff her hair, and she'd look irritated at me for ruining her haircut.

Those were the good days. I hope we can get to that point again, maybe here, in this prison. I don't know for how long we'll be staying here. It's not like I really had a plan. The first thing on my mind, was just getting Alexa as far away from those two bastards as possible, and think of the future later.

I remember my nephew, who was nine the last time I saw him. I took him to the biggest toy store in town, just to let him see some of the stuff kids played with those days. His mom, my mom's sister, had some money trouble, and I tried to help out as best as I could. My nephew wanted some new toy real bad, but I just couldn't afford it. When I told him, he started crying, he was so sad. At the other side of the street, there was an ice cream tent. I took him there, where they sold cones for 1 dollar. I made him choose four different flavours, and half an hour later, we were walking back to his mom's house, and he had all forgotten about the toy he wanted so bad.

As I walk towards my own cell to put on a clean shirt myself, I think of my little nephew. Kids used to be so easy. They were sad for a short time, and found something new to enjoy. Alexa's almost fourteen now. Forgetting won't be as easy as when you're eleven, but I can always hope. She won't forget what Rick has done to the two men whom she thought were her family, but perhaps she could try to forgive him. If she just starts seeing these people for who they are; people like us. Survivors.

I try to make something of my dark hair, not bothering to look in the mirror. My last girlfriend complained over my long hair. She'd get a hard attack if she could see it now. She'd run back to that other guy just as hard as she did before.

"Alexa!" I shout. "You done?"

"Almost!"

"Forget the lipstick" I tease. "C'mon, let's go."

Alexa sighs, as she comes walking out of the cell. "I have a bad hair day, OK? Give me some credit, man."

I purse my lip, patronising. She has put her brown hair in a ponytail. "You look cute. I bet Carl loves it."

"Shut up about him!" Alexa says again, flattening her t-shirt. She looks at her jeans, probably the cleanest one she could find. Still, it has some stains on it.

I roll my eyes, as I make my way to the other cellblock, the one where Rick and his group stay. Beth, Hershel and Maggie are the ones inside, and they look up.

"Good morning, or day" Hershel greets. The two girls smile sweet at us. I greet back, and I see Alexa just nods at them, with a shy smile. We join them at the metal table, Alexa sitting close to me, as if she's scared.

"How are the beds?" Maggie asks Alexa, who's surprised that she's paying attention to her.

"Better than a tree" Alexa shrugs, and Maggie smiles.

"Thanks" she quickly ads later. I'm surprised. Hot head Alexa is nowhere to be seen now.

"How's your shoulder?" Hershel asks, pointing at the spot where the tick had been yesterday. Alexa touches the skin with her finger, and squints her eyes.

"Still hurting a little…but I can live with it. And…uh…thanks, for patching me up."

Hershel smiles through his beard. "You're welcome."

Then, Judith, the baby, seems to want to make a statement too. She makes a baby-alike cry, kicking her feet and swinging her arms around. Beth smiles, rocking the baby in her arms.

"How old is she?" I ask. Suddenly, the faces of the family saddens. I swallow a lump down my throat. Did I say something wrong.

"About a month" Hershel says, with sad eyes. I suddenly remember Glenn telling me about Rick's wife. Shit, should be more careful. An awkward silence follows, with Alexa looking around confusingly.

"What's her name?" she tries to break it.

"Judy. I mean, Judith" Beth says, and then giggles. "Daryl calls her 'Lil' Asskicker'."

"Cool" Alexa says, trying to be stay nice. I know she feels very uncomfortable being with these people in here. And I dragged her to here, but really, she needs to get to know more people. She can't just stick with me all the time.

There will be a day where I won't be there to protect her any more.

I shake the thought away. Don't think like that.

"So, where are the others?" I ask, trying to change the subject. "It's quiet in here."

"They're trying to repair a weak spot at the fence" Maggie says, still eyes on Judy. She then looks at Alexa. "Carl's on the courtyard, if you wanna go talk to him."

Alexa nervously bites her lip, and I look the other way as I see her blush again. "Uh, yeah. OK. I'll guess I'll go…see him. Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me for everything" Maggie says, as Alexa stands up. I see Alexa makes fists of her hands, as if she's thinking different things than her face shows.

"OK, I'll try not to do that" she says in a weird voice, before walking away, almost rushing. Maggie watches her.

"Did I say something wrong?" she asks me. I wave it off.

"Don't worry about it. She's just a hot head, that's all. You should've seen her this morning."

At that moment, some door is opened, and someone steps inside. As I look up, I recognize the man as Daryl. He nods at me, and then turns to Maggie.

"You're up for watch" he says, and Maggie sighs. She gives her dad a kiss on the cheek, and pats Beth a quick hug. Judy gets a funny face, and I a polite nod.

"See you guys later" she says, while grabbing a machine gun. The sweet girl I was just talking to, suddenly turns into a rough survivor chick.

I see Hershel is thinking the same thing as he watches his daughter leave the cellblock.

"Are the watch duties for….that one guy?" Yeah, I kinda forgot his name. Hershel nods. Daryl grunts as he puts down his crossbow.

"That's right. Stupid man don't know anythin' 'bout takin'a break." The man grabs a handkerchief from the back pocket of his pants, and wipes the sweat of his face. He sits down on the ground, with his back against the wall, not bothering to come sit with us. Daryl eyes me. "You're lucky to not have met the guy yet. Especially with a pretty girl like yours."

I chuckle, and Daryl lifts an eyebrow.

"She's not mine" I explain. "Dude, I'm 23."

Daryl shrugs. "Ever heard of teen parents?"

I shake my head at the words. "Nah, it's not like that. I found her in a house, hiding in a closet. She was…starving. Sick. Scared to death." I feel the smile on my face fade away as I think back of that moment. It makes me sad. "There were two walkers on her. They almost burst through the wood. I had just got there in time."

Hershel nods with something on his face which I haven't seen in a while; respect. I feel overwhelmed by it. Personally, I respect Hershel a lot. He's doing the best he can with what he's good at, even though he has only one leg. He tries to do the best for his daughters, but also for the others.

"Did she have any family left?" the old man asks.

"She never talks about her family, or what happened to her" I answer truly. "Not even to me. Maybe she knew the two walkers attacking her, maybe she didn't. I know it wasn't her own house she was hiding in. When I helped her out there, she didn't want to go to another room to get stuff or anything. It took her some time before she started talking to me. And when she did, it just developed to what it is today."

Hershel nods understandable. I'm really starting to like this man. He doesn't say much, but when he does, the right words just roll out of his mouth. The words you really want to hear.

"And what about you?" Daryl suddenly asks. I turn to the redneck again. Really personal and all. I shrug as an answer.

"I didn't have any real bonds with anyone. My whole family isn't exactly…the ideal one. I just tried to make the best of it, and I still do."

Daryl nods, and looks at the gap in his pants, where the knee is supposed to be. I guess he's done asking questions.

Before someone can bring up another subject, the door to the courtyard opens, and Carl and Alexa come storming in. They both have serious expressions on their faces, like some real mature stuff is going to happen and they're going to be a part of it.

"Where's my dad?" Carl asks Daryl, who's standing up real quick, grabbing his crossbow.

"Fences. What's goin'on?"

Carl quickly walks past Daryl, who follows him. "It's not bad. I think. It's just…weird. It's Andrea."

The whole atmosphere in the room seems to gasp at the name. I look at Alexa, who is fully concentrated on Carl, with one hand at her belt. Normally, there would be a weapon hanging there, but now there isn't. She probably didn't think it would be necessary, but the hand being there is just something that became routine for the day. I try to catch her eyes. Are you okay?

I'm fine she replies. I keep looking at her with a worried look. What is going on?

Carl and Daryl walk to the back of the cellblock, Alexa quickly following them. I stand up too.

"Who's Andrea?" I ask, wishing I had brought a weapon too. Daryl holds his crossbow in front of him, finger on the trigger.

"An old friend. Sorta." We go into a dark hall, and Daryl keeps his crossbow in front of him, swinging it around every corner. "Merle? Where you at?!"

Seeing the importance of getting Rick, I don't bother to ask who the hell Merle is. I don't have to, because just a couple doors further, there's a man coming out. He sniffs his nose, stumbling on his feet and leaning against the wall.

"Whattup, lil' bro?" he says, with the almost same accent as Daryl. So, there are two of them, huh? Terrific.

"I thought you were with Rick" Daryl says to his brother, lowering his crossbow. Merle shrugs, not caring at all.

"Officer send me away. Guess he didn't need my wonderful presence." He quickly looks over our little club. "What's goin' on?"

"Blondie showed up" Daryl grunts, walking down the hall in a faster pace. Merle lifts an eyebrow at me, but doesn't say anything. By the looks, I don't think I'd like to get to know this man.

When the hall ends, there's a beacon of sunlight.

"Dad!" Carl asks seriously. A shadow comes to stand in front of the light, with the silhouette of the sheriff.

"What's wrong?" he immediately asks, walking towards his son.

"You gotta come quickly" Carl says, already running back. "Andrea somehow found a way here."

"Andrea?" Rick repeats. He starts running too. I still have no idea who this person must be.

When we're back at the cellblock, and everyone starts grabbing guns, I'm starting to think that this woman must be a terrorist or something.

Rick hands me a large shotgun, and I blink. I eye the man questionably. Rick shrugs. "We gotta need all the help we got."

I nod, and turn to Alexa. "You know what to do, right?"

Alexa nods, and for the first time in forever, she doesn't argue. Whatever happened out on the courtyard, it suddenly made her sane. I rub over her shoulder, before following the other man outside.

Merle is the first one to run out, and I see the blonde woman whom I think is Andrea nearing the gate. I frown at the weird sight. She has a walker walking in front of her, his neck in some sort of walking stick, which she's holding to lead him. The other walkers don't seem to care about here when they see one of their undead friends. Smart strategy.

Merle runs up to a metal table, a gun hold in front of him. He looks around. "Clear!"

Rick and Daryl follow to the second table, and I go the other way. I quickly scan the woods for any strange activity. This woman must be very dangerous.

"Are you alone?!" Rick shouts at the woman. Andrea is nearing the gate now, with her walker still in front of her.

"Rick?! Open the gate!" she shouts back, instead of answering.

"Are you alone?!" Rick repeats. The walkers around Andrea are starting to turn their heads. Her cover is blown.

Merle fires a shot, killing the walker instantly by a bullet through its skull. Andrea stumbles back, pulling at the gate desperately.

Rick runs towards it, Daryl and Merle following him. They each stand at one side of him, keeping attention on the roads leading to the prison.

I feel goofily as I run towards them too. Rick pulls Andrea on the courtyard, and I close the gate behind him, aiming my gun in that direction, so that it looks like I know what I'm doing.

Rick quickly pats Andrea's body, looking for anything weird, while Andrea is struggling.

"Rick! It's me! I'm your friend!" she tries, but Rick pushes her against the fence, removing her bag from her shoulder. He pushes her on her knees, looking through the bag. The woman holds her arms above her head, like she's a criminal.

When I look around the courtyard, I am surprised. On the catwalk above the ground, I see Glenn and Carol walking around with guns, and the dark skinned woman with a samurai sword appears from behind one of the tables. Maggie has a sniper spot somewhere high, looking through a smile binocular on the rifle. This is pretty damn serious.

When it's certain there is nobody else here, Rick pulls Andrea on her feet by her shoulder. As we walk into the prison, he mumbles something to her.

"Welcome back."

As we enter the cellblock, the first thing Andrea does, is hug Carol. They hold each other tight, like they're really old friends.

Alexa walks up to me with a slight smile on her face. She's glad I'm OK.

Andrea lets go of Carol, and gasps as she looks around the place. "Oh God...I can't believe this."

She looks over all the people, and has to look twice to make sure that we are the new ones. She turns to Rick. "Where's Shane?"

Rick just stares at her, saying nothing. Andrea's face gets a horrified expression. She looks around again, and seems to miss someone else. "Lori?"

Rick's eyes get a sad, watery glance, as he bows his head. Lori must be his wife.

"She had a girl" Hershel answers for Rick. "Lori didn't survive."

"Neither did T-dog" Maggie adds. Andrea's jaw drops, and she turns to Carl.

"Oh, Carl…"

The sheriff's kid has a cold, hard expression on his face, revealing nothing. I hear Alexa gasp softly, staring at the kid. I have to admit that this gives me a whole different view of these people. I had no idea how great their losses must be.

"Rick…" Andrea tries, while stepping towards the man. Rick avoids to look at her, with a whole different attitude than I saw of him before. He puts his hands on his belt, sniffing his nose, like he doesn't care. But we all feel the hurt, and that one move tells all of us that he does not want to talk about this right now.

Andrea turns towards me, and stares at both Alexa and me. "You must be new here."

She offers her hand, which I'm not sure to shake or not. I decide not to, and leave her hanging there. Andrea drops it, and looks hurt. I'm actually not sorry for her. The way the group treats her…it just doesn't feel like I should be nice to her all the sudden.

Andrea looks around the room. "So, you all live here?"

"Yeah" Glenn says, when nobody answers. "In the cellblock."

Andrea looks past Rick and points. "In there?"

Glenn nods, and Andrea takes a step towards the gate. "Can I go in?"

"I won't allow that" Rick says, blocking her way. Andrea sighs a little annoyed.

"I'm not the enemy, Rick!"

"Oh yeah? Well, we had that feel, on the courtyard, when you're boyfriend stormed in and brought down the fence with a truck and shot us up."

Alexa widens her eyes, and her jaw drops.

"Harold is your boyfriend?!" she says without thinking. Andrea turns around, confused. Alexa looks at her in horror. I lay a hand on her shoulder.

"Please, just…shut up, OK?" I whisper in her ear. Alexa opens her mouth, but then shuts it, biting her lip and folding her hands into fists. I see Carl making a face to her, telling her the same think I told her. Andrea turns back to Rick.

"He said you fired first" she says slowly. Rick shakes his head.

"Well, he's lying."

"He killed an inmate who survived in here" Hershel says, and Andrea puts a hand over her mouth. Alexa grabs my hand, and I look at her. She is totally confused. With this Andrea being here, we learn more about this group's history than we would like.

"We liked him" Daryl says, "he was one of us."

I see Carol bow her head in sorrow, and I just wished that this whole breakout never happened. That's probably what everybody wants. But at this moment, I'm really praying. To God. To Allah. To the Gods. To the universe. To the aliens. Whatever. Just, somebody, listen.

"I didn't know anything about that" Andrea defends herself, and I'm starting to not like her every minute she's in here. "I had no idea. I came as soon as I found out. I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shootout."

"That was days ago" Glenn says through his teeth, and the skin around his black eye seems to get a little more red. I look at Alexa again, who's only looking at Carl, who's trying to avoid her eyes.

"I told you; I came here as soon as I could" Andrea says again, still defending. The dark skinned woman with the sword moves a little closer to Andrea, leaning against the wall. She has a cynic expression on her face. Andrea quickly turns around. "What have you told them?!"

"Nothing" the woman answers coldly. Andrea turns towards the group, really pissed off. I look at Hershel, and I see that even the old man has a cold expression on his face. The group who invited us into their home seems to have a much darker past than I could ever imagine.

"So now what?!" Andrea says. "I left Atlanta with you people, and now I'm the odd man out?!"

"He would have killed us" Glenn objects, and I think that with 'he', he means that guy. Harold or something. "And he would've killed us."

"With his finger on the trigger!" Andrea points at Merle, who's holding a large gun in his hands, and leaning against the railing of the stairs. He doesn't really seem to give a damn. I knew there was something off about him. "Isn't he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you?!"

I look at the ground. Man, this is getting more ridiculously complicated by the second. When this woman is gone, I'll need to have a real damn chat with Rick. What the hell is going on?!

Andrea sighs, lowering her voice. "Look, I cannot explain any of what Philip has done, but I am here, trying to bring us together. We have to work this out."

"There's nothing to work out" Rick says, shaking his head furiously. Andrea opens her mouth to say something else, but someone clears her throat.

I then realize it's Alexa, who's suddenly stepping forward. "I'm sorry, it's Andrea, right?"

"Alexa, stay outta this" I warn her, but she ignores me. Andrea turns around.

"Hey, I don't wanna be mean, or anything" Alexa continues, and somehow, all the people in the room are listening to her. She sounds like she's talking to the meanest girl of high school, with a real bad attitude herself. "But c'mon, you gotta face it; that guy you're dating is a real mess. I met him, yesterday, in the forest, and he told me his name was Harold. Around here, he's called the Governor. And now you're saying his name is 'Philip'. To me, it sounds like you don't know this guy at all."

With that, she steps back. "Just saying."

I grab Alexa's arm. "You did not just do that. What is wrong with you?!"

Alexa shrugs. "I just felt like I needed to make a statement. I don't understand any of this, yet. But I think she could use an opinion like that."

I open my mouth to go against it, but then close it. Suddenly, I'm not mad anymore. It actually makes sense. An opinion from the outside…when did she became so smart?!

Andrea looks at her, not knowing what to say. She turns back to Rick. "Who are they?"

There's something weird on Rick's face. It seems like a smile and a angry face at the same time. I'd almost say that he's amused. I even see Daryl shake his head with a little humour, and Merle chuckles softly.