Chapter 20: Chastised

Before I could go try to find Carl, I took a step backwards in a movement to change directions and was surprised to run into Glenn.

"Glenn!" I exclaimed as I turned around to see him. "Hey."

"Hey," he said, looking thoroughly distracted. "You look... conscious."

I gave him a funny look. "Um…thanks?"

"Sorry," he said, "I've been…busy lately."

"Busy?" I asked. Glenn looked jumpy, like he had somewhere he wanted to be, and he was looking at something over my shoulder. I turned and, to my shock, found myself looking at Maggie Greene, who was walking towards the chicken coup across the yard. A grin crept onto my face as I turned back and gave him a look. "Oh. Busy."

He looked annoyed. "Noah, you're not allowed to pry."

"Pry? Me? I would never."

He groaned. "Seriously, Noah. I'm not even sure what I'm doing."

"I do," I said. "You're shooting for a woman who is way out of your league."

Glenn looked offended. "It's because I'm Asian, isn't it?"

"No. It's because she's super pretty and has a confidence level about ten times higher than yours."

"That's offensive," Glenn said. "You got meaner while you were unconscious."

I laughed. "I'm just teasing you, Glenn, you know I am. I wish you the best of luck with her. Although I should be wishing you luck with her father, because that's where you're going to meet your biggest resistance."

He nodded. "Tell me about it."

"Well, hey, I'm going to go find Carl. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

I turned to walk away, but he gently grabbed my shoulder. "Wait, Noah."

I looked back at him, eyebrows raised. "Yeah?"

"I…can I ask you a question?"

I nodded. "Of course."

He looked hesitant, almost as if he wished he hadn't said anything, but then he continued. "If you knew something…that all the others didn't know, and it was important, but you know everyone would react super badly, would you still tell them?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Well, I can tell this is totally hypothetical."

"Not funny, Noah."

"Okay," I sighed. "Well, honestly, I'd still tell them. Just…at the right time."

"When's the right time, though?" Glenn asked in a low voice, almost to himself.

"Hypothetically?" I replied. "You'll know. It'll feel wrong, or it'll feel right. Up to you whether or not to go with the feeling." Glenn nodded, looking thoughtful. "I should really go," I tried again.

He kept nodding. "Okay. I'll see you around, Noah."

"See you."

He walked off toward the rest of the camp, and I found myself scanning the area around me for Carl. He didn't seem to be around, but that wasn't a huge surprise. The kid was an expert at being nowhere to be found.

I wandered around the farm, halfheartedly looking for Carl. I wanted to help him, to try and encourage him in some way, but I also had no idea what to say to him. Certainly not the truth, which was that he was right—Sophia was probably dead. It was a black thought in my mind, but I had to face the reality in front of me. It'd be hard for me to survive alone with no gear or food or shelter of any kind in walker-infested forests. It was impossible for Sophia.

But Carl shouldn't have to believe the worst of everything. He was just a kid.

So are you, a voice in the back of my mind whispered. I quickly stomped it out.

I don't know when I stopped looking for Carl and just started wandering. All I knew was one moment I was looking for a scrappy little boy wearing a cowboy hat and the next I was wandering along the outskirts of the forest, listening to the wind in the trees and thinking about my brother and sister and where they could be.

I was caught in a memory of my brother teaching me about osmosis, because it was a concept I had found myself struggling with in eighth grade, when I heard the gargling hiss.

My head whipped up and I was genuinely shocked to find a walker no less than four feet to my left emerging from the woods. And it was coming at me surprisingly fast.

I didn't have to look around me to know there was no weapon at my disposal. My best bet was to run, but even then the walker was quickly closing the distance between us and I had lost my window of opportunity to run away. After frantically glancing at the ground, I saw a particularly large rock that would be great for bashing a head in, but before I could reach down and grab it the walker was on me.

I screamed as its bloody hands grabbed my arm, leaving trails of sticky redness on my skin, and without thinking I slammed into the monster with my full weight, and I fell fast onto the ground, the walker underneath me, my arm still in its death grip.

We were about a foot away from the rock, and I didn't know if I was going to be able to reach it. The walker was gnashing its teeth, trying to get near my skin, but I managed to keep it away by using all of my strength. I screamed as I reached for the rock, hoping someone would hear me, but I wasn't sure how far I'd wandered away from camp.

Determined not to be taken down by a single walker, I cried out half in fear and half in disgust as I grabbed the walker by the forehead, knotting my fingers in its disgusting, bloody hair, and rolled over onto my back, dragging the walker with me. It flipped on top of me and before I could give it an opportunity to take a bite out of my face I rolled again, and just as I had hoped, the walker's head fell onto the rock with a sickening breaking sound. Knowing that it wasn't enough to kill it, I lifted the walkers head and with all of my force, slammed it down onto the rock, bashing its head on it over and over again until I knew it had to be dead. Once I was confident it wouldn't sit back up and eat me, I rolled off to the side, on my back, my breathing short and erratic.

"Noah!" someone yelled. "Noah!"

I couldn't respond. I wasn't able to catch my breath yet. I remained on my back, shocked, not moving an inch.

I could hear the sound of someone sprinting towards me, and within ten seconds I saw a face looming over me. To my surprise, it was Shane, looking worried out of his mind. I sat up on my elbows, staring at the walker I'd just killed.

"Noah, are you hurt?" he asked, quickly getting on his knees to help me sit up.

"No," I replied, still panting. "I just…I was just on a walk…didn't have a weapon…."

"You're alright," he said, looking at me steadily, resorting back to his calmer nature once ascertaining I was unhurt. "You're alright, you're alive. It didn't bite you, did it?"

I shook my head. "No, but God, it got close."

Shane looked at me carefully. "But you're okay. C'mon, let's get you out of here."

He offered me his hand, and I grabbed it, letting him pull me to my feet. Once I was standing, he let go and motioned for me to follow him. I did, and we slowly and quietly made our way back up to the farm.

As we got closer, I saw Carl talking with Rick. It looked a bit heated. Rick was clearly chastising him about something, and Carl was grumbling to himself. They both looked up as we got within earshot, and when he saw me Rick immediately abandoned the conversation and rushed over.

"What happened?" he asked, his face creased with worry.

I hated it. Yet again, I was someone to be worried over. Not two hours after finally being allowed out of the house again. How had this world not killed me yet, with my track record?

When I didn't immediately answer him, Rick looked even more concerned, and his hands found their way to my shoulders. "Noah, what happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said brusquely, pushing his hands off of me.

He was clearly trying not to look offended that I'd pushed him away. "You're covered in blood."

I inspected myself. He had a point. I hadn't realized it before, but my whole upper body was covered in blood, especially my bare arms. The teenage girl inside of me was already gauging whether or not my shirt could be salvaged. "It's not my blood. It was a walker. I killed it. No big deal."

"She wasn't carrying a weapon," Shane cut in. I turned my head to glare at him.

Rick looked at me sternly. "Are you kidding me?"

I looked down at my feet. "I didn't know I was going that far from the house… I wasn't thinking—"

"Clearly," he remarked.

My head snapped up. "Don't scold me like some kid. I know it was stupid, okay? And I almost got myself killed. You don't need to tell me twice."

Angrily, I stomped off. I was so tired of being the kid. The one that needed to be chastised. The one that could put other people in danger. It was high time I show everyone I could be useful, that I could actually help.

But how?

As promised, here are some answers to some frequently asked questions you guys have been asking me!

Will there be a love interest for Noah?

Many have asked, and the answer is yes, there is a love interest for Noah down the line. He is an original character, simply because there are no guys near her age around (except for Jimmy…and we know how that ends…). I will tell you, though, he doesn't come around until the prison storyline, and we're currently in Season 2, so there's a ways to go. I want time to build up Noah's character on her own so we have a good sense of who she is/is becoming without the influence of a guy. But I promise, he exists. And he's pretty super cool, too, if I do say so myself.

Is Daryl/Noah going to be a thing?

I ship Bethyl way too hard for me to put Daryl and Noah together, sorry. I will say, though, that their relationship is less father-daughter, less brother-sister, more inappropriate, protective best friends. It's fun stuff.

Why is Daryl being a dick?

Seriously, when is Daryl not being a dick? It's part of his charm.

Will Noah find her brother and sister?

That storyline certainly has more to be explored. I can't quite give you the full details, but Noah's in for an emotional roller coaster, that's for sure.

When's your next update?

Unfortunately, I'm way too unorganized to stick to any kind of schedule, but I'm organized enough to have the story mapped out until about mid Season 4 now, so I can say the updates will be more frequent.

Thanks for reading everyone! Follow, favorite, and review! ~ Lacey :)