Issue #21, "The View From Below"

Judith didn't want to leave the bedroom, not now that the old acquaintances had arrived. She truly did not know how to feel about this. She flipped the pages of her book, not even reading the text, just going through her thoughts.

Garrett slid his hand over Judith's back, raising one of his eyebrows. "Want me to give you a massage?"

Judith jumped up from the bed, shoving him backward and onto the ground. "No, Garrett! I don't want a freaking massage! Leave me alone." She went back on her elbows to finish reading her book.

"I'm just being nice, Judith." Garrett shook his head at her. "Girls, man." After speaking, he exited the room.

00

"You want to go after her?" Jonah paced around the cabin while Mike slouched on a couch, tapping the cushion repeatedly with his fingers as if he were waiting for something.

"She took something of mine." Mike said, his eyes determined angrily.

Shaking his head in confusion, Jonah stopped walking. "She took what?"

"My box. The one full of the pills and syringes." Mike's nostrils flared in anger. "She was never one to play by the rules."

"So let me get this straight, you want to go after drugs? We could get seriously injured going out there." Jonah sighed. "Think this over, Mike. I'm heading back down to the light-poles."

When Jonah left, Mike stood from the couch and went to the dining table, there he picked up the kitchen knife. "There's nothing to think over."

01

Using one of Skye's pink rubber bands, Michonne pulled her last pair of dreads into the flexible band and tightened it against her head. She stood in the trailer's tiny bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror.

She was scarred.

Physically by the short jagged scar against her cheek that she remembered Angelica's knife slicing through. And mentally by the loss of her friends and family. Every day she saw the faces of her son, her sister, and her friends.

"You look about seventeen." Michonne heard Rick as he squeezed into the room behind her.

Michonne broke the gaze she held with her reflection and looked down at her hands. "What, because of the hairstyle?"

"Exactly." She saw Rick grab the toothbrush packet, pull one from it and sit the pack down.

Michonne sighed, tilting her head in the mirror. "Wolfram did it for me. Said that we'd been living in this world too long for me to keep wearing that same old do."

"Not sure I said this before, but I'm sorry about that guy. He seemed like such a—" Rick broke off, looking down for a second before chuckling softly.

"What? What's so funny?" She asked, looking at him in the mirror.

Rick shook his head. "I was just about to lie. I barely knew him, and when we did speak he was an asshole."

Michonne stifled a laugh. "He could be a bitch sometimes."

"I'm sure."

"Well, I'm all done here." She said, turning away from the mirror and facing Rick.

As little as the bathroom was, she really didn't notice that it was small enough to have them chest to chest. Michonne was truly surprised at the close proximity.

"You know," spoke Rick, a lift to his chin. "If I had a dollar for every time you and I got into an awkward position I'd be rich."

Michonne tugged at her bottom lip with her tongue, raising one of her eyebrows at his statement. "And if I had a penny for every time you looked like you wanted to kiss me, I'd be a billionaire."

Rick's lips parted. "You—"

She tapped his shoulder. "Have fun brushing, officer." Michonne brushed past him on her way out.

02

Judith opened the trailer door and stepped out after Garrett; the weather was colder these days as usual. "I just wanted to show you a surprise."

"Okay. Where is this surprise?" He asked, his arms out.

Judith grinned, walking around the generator, her hands on Garrett's shoulders. "Come on."

They headed toward the back of the trailer, where you could almost see the world stretch out around you from the hill.

The sky was an intensely dark blue since it was night. She had no way of knowing the time, though.

"Isn't it beautiful?" She said, watching a blonde Garrett. "I've always wanted to live near a view like this."

"Very." Said Garrett before turning to her. "But I hope this isn't the surprise. Anything else you have for me?"

Judith shook her head, knowing his eyes were on her chest, as they always were. "I just wanted you to see something beautiful before..."

"Before what?" He eyed her mysteriously.

She shut her eyes for a second, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Garrett."

"Sorry for wh—?" He didn't get to finish his sentence before a simply quick shove to his shoulder sent him flying over the edge. It was almost slow-motion as Judith heard his violent screams muffle when he reached the bottom, smacking against a thick rock before landing into the ocean.

A single tear trickled down her cheek, thinking that maybe it was the wrong thing to do.

But it was done.

Judith wiped at her face and turned to go back inside, but gasped at the figure that had awaited behind her. "Please—please don't tell." She whispered.

Standing there wide-eyed and slack-jawed, and her arm in a sling, was Michonne. She looked horrified, the sword she held in her only hand dropped to the ground.

"Judith, what in the holy shit did you just fucking do?" She exclaimed in blank shock.

I had so much fun writing this. Tell me what you think. Thanks so much for the reviews! 58! Almost 60!