My dad and I were eating some food that we found. It was only a few snack things that my dad must have found in the kitchen. Stale chips was one of them. I kind of just picked at them, I wasn't hungry and had stuff on my mind. My dad was talking to me but I was being quiet. I wasn't in the mood to talk. He finally noticed.

"Abby, are you okay?" My dad asked me. "Are you still in a lot of pain?"

"Huh?" I snapped out of it. "Oh, no." I shook my head. "Sorry, I was just daydreaming." I pushed the bag of chips away and brushed the crumbs off of my pants. "And I'm not really that hungry, to be honest."

"Hm." He said with raised eyebrows. "Haven't heard you say that before." He smirked.

I gave a small smile back. "Yeah, I know. I think I'm just gonna lay down. But don't worry about me, I'll be fine." I said before getting up and taking my place back on the couch.

Stale chips aren't as bad as some things I have had to eat to stay alive. They fed me bugs. I remembered:

"Did you have a family?" I asked the girl in the cell next to mine. I don't know what she looks like, we only talk. I have been locked down here for days now. I wasn't even sure how many.

"Yeah. I was with a group. My dad, and little bro— I mean…sister." She corrected herself. "Sorry, I had a brother, too, but he died." She said sadly. I put my head down. "Anyway, they're part of the group along with some other people. We aren't related but…we're family."

"Yeah." I said. "I know exactly what you mean. I have that too. And same thing…dad and little sister. My brother died too." There was a brief pause after that.

"I always…always felt responsible. Sort of with my mom too." She said.

My eyes widened a little. This girl and me…our stories are so similar that it's scary! "We're the same." I told her. "That's why we're both here."

Just then, I heard footsteps coming. We were both quiet. The guard stood outside my cell, I looked at him in fear. He started to open my door. "Come." He said. I hesitated. "I said, come!" He startled me. I was breathing heavily and slowly walked up to him. When I was close enough, he grabbed my arm and pulled me out.

I tried to pull away so I could see the girl next to me, but he pulled me so I didn't get a look.

I was getting really scared at what was about to happen. Maybe they got sick of having me here and decided to kill me after all. I was breathing even heavier now and I could feel my heart pounding. It felt like it was going to explode.

He took me over to a woman, then walked away from us. I looked at the woman still breathing heavily. She gave me a small smile and handed me new clothes that was similar to theirs. I took it but gave her a curious look. "Strip." She said. I had no idea what she was talking about. "Strip." She said again and gestured to my clothes. My face flushed.

"W-what? My-my clothes?" I stammered.

She nodded. "Strip and change."

I didn't want to but I didn't really think I had much of a choice and this woman seemed nice enough. I decided to just listen to her. "Okay." I said. I took a look around, then quickly took my clothes off and put on what the woman gave me. It was a dress made from like leaves or something. It was itchy and made me feel weird.

The woman smiled. "You one of us now." She took my hand. "Come." She led us out to where everyone else was. What the hell is going on? I thought. She took me over to an older man that had some kind of stuff that he was using to paint people's faces with. "Sit." The woman pushed me down onto a chair. It was obvious about what was going to happen here. They wanted to paint my face.

"Oh no. That's okay." I said. "I don't need—" I stopped when I saw the look on their faces. They looked angry. "O-kay." I said nervously. The man began painting my face. The stuff was warm, which was weird because I thought it would be cold for some reason. "Look." The man said. He gestured towards a barrel filled with water. I looked at my reflection. He had painted two stripes of red and one white across and down my face. I wondered what that meant.

I looked back up at him. "Thanks…I guess." I said.

The woman took me away again, there were people cooking something. It didn't smell great. "Here." She handed me a plate with pieces of something on it.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Grasshopper." She said.

"Grasshopper?" I asked her again. She nodded. "No." I handed it back. "No, thank you." I shook my head.

They seemed to get angry. "You eat." She shoved the plate at me. "Eat! Now!" I was scared about what they would do to me if I didn't. I looked down at the fried bugs and swallowed hard. I can do this. I told myself. I picked one up and put it in my mouth, it crunched loudly, then was very soft. I gagged at the taste, hurrying to swallow. I nodded once I was done.

"Good, thanks." I said. It was awful. The woman smiled quickly, then walked away. Like she just walked away and left me. A few people gave me looks whenever they walked passed me. If there was ever a chance of me escaping, it's now. I saw the cook still looking at me, so I looked at him and said, "think I'll go have a look around." I nodded. He gave me a weird look and didn't say anything. I began to walk away.

I said hello to people and smiled as we walked passed each other, they were still giving me weird looks as if I didn't belong there. Trust me, I know. I thought to myself.

I stopped next to a sign on a tree that marked their camp. I remembered coming through this way. My eyes widened and I glanced behind me. No one seemed to be paying me any mind. I didn't want to draw attention to myself so I calmly started walking down the trail.

Just then, a spear right want passed my head and stuck into a tree. I jumped. "She's getting away!" Someone yelled. I freaked out and ran. I ran as fast as I could while people were throwing stuff at me trying to stop me.

I have to get away! I saw the opening of the woods. I'm almost out! I ran for it…but someone stood in front of me with their spear. I stopped dead in my tracks with wide-eyes and put my hands up. "Please don't kill me." I said. "I-I have to get outta here! I don't belong here with you people. I belong with my people." I tried to fake cry. Maybe I can make them for sorry for me and they will let me go. "Please…I— Ah!" I felt something sting my neck. I quickly pulled it out, it was a dart. I looked at the guy next to me that blew it at me. Then, I got really dizzy and the next thing I know, I hit the ground.

When I woke up, I was back in my cell laying on the floor and my hands had cuffs on them. My head felt fuzzy. I sat up and that's when I realized, I had different clothes on. Did someone really undress me? I was wearing a dark gray pair of shorts with a matching t-shirt. I stood up and walked to the cell door but almost fell. I must still be feeling the affect of the blow dart.

"Hey." I said to the girl next to me. "At least I'm back here with you." She didn't answer me. "Hey." I said again. "Are you there?"

I heard footsteps just then and backed away against the wall. A man emerged in front of my cell, his face wasn't painted. "Hi." He said. I was so surprised that I couldn't speak. "Do you know what any of that was about?" He asked me. I still didn't say anything. "That was a test, to see if you were really one of us and you failed by trying to escape. So, now…this is where you live. You will remain our prisoner for the end of your days." It felt like I was punched in the stomach. "We can't let you leave." He started to walk away.

"Wait!" I stopped him. I ran up to the cell door. "Who are you people? Why do you live like that?"

He kind of smirked. "We invented a new way of living after the turn. Well, not a new way, the way it used to be. The way it should be." He paused. "That's why we speak the way we do."

"You mean like cavemen?" I cocked an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't." He said. "You're in deep shit already." He gave me a scary look.

I stared at him for a moment before speaking. "Why can't you let me leave? Are-are you worried that I'll tell my people about you? Cuz I won't." I shook my head. "I promise. But if you don't let me go, if you keep me here, my people WILL eventually find me and all of your people are going to die. Is that what you want?" I nodded at him wide-eyed.

"Your people think you're dead." He glared at me. I gave him an unintentional shocked look. "Yeah, we know. Who do you think pulled you out of the water?" He paused. I just stared at him in disbelief. "No one's coming to look for you. And we can't let you leave. We want you as a servant." He looked at me seriously. "You'll start tomorrow." He began walking away again.

"W-wait!" I stopped him for a second time.

"What do you want?" He snapped.

"What happened to the girl in the cell next to mine?" I asked him. "You kill her?"

The man just stared at me. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He said.

I became angry. "There was a girl in the cell over there." I pointed. "We talked. What happened to her?"

The man started to laugh. "You silly girl." He mocked me. "You're the only one down here. There was never another person here." He laughed again.

"Liar!" I said.

"Why would I lie?" He smirked. "If I had killed someone, don't you think I'd tell you? You saw the people on the pikes." He crossed his arms. I looked down taking in what he said. He brought his face closer to mine. "Silly girl." He said, then walked away.

I was left with my thoughts. Did I imagine that girl the whole time? No one answered me when I called earlier and that would explain why we had so much in common. She's was just my conscience. But how? I was so confused. I whimpered and put my cuffed hands on my head. My mind! It's in darkness! I'm sick! I sank to the floor and pulled my knees to my chest. My eyes were wide and I sat there like that crying.

I wasn't sure how long I have been here but I know it's been a long time. The nights were getting colder, I was given sweatpants. I was a slave to these people. I made their clothes and helped find the supplies to make them, plus helped them find food. That's the only time I was allowed out besides one bathroom break a day.

If I made any kind of mistake, whether it was missing a bug or animals or if I didn't stitch something correctly, I was punished for it. I either got beat or I wasn't allowed to eat. Either one was fine with me, at least it let me know I was still alive.

I gave up hope a long time ago. I respected these people even though I was being treated like shit. I kind of had to, if I were disrespectful to them, especially the elders, it would just result in me getting punished.

I was allowed one meal a day with one cup of water. The food I didn't mind so much, it was the water situation that was torture. My throat was always dry, I was always thirsty. However, I had to do what I had to do. Even though my life sucked right now, I didn't want to die. So…I guess maybe I didn't completely give up hope. It was still there deep inside of me…maybe.

I was sleeping on the cold hard floor of my prison(well trying to) when Loretta came to get me. It was time to go look for food. "Get up!" She yelled. "Hunt time." She let me out and unlocked my cuffs, then we went outside.

She took me far into the woods, I was digging in the dirt for bugs. "Grasshoppers, spiders and beetles." She reminded me.

"Grasshoppers…spiders…beetles." I said slowly.

"That's right." She said. "We gotta cook them, then eat them."

No shit. I thought. As I was digging, I found a very pointy rock. It was like a light bulb went off above my head and got an idea. I had to keep playing along. "Grasshoppers, spiders, beetles." I said again. "Cook them, then eat them."

"Maybe one day I can show you how to cook snake." She said.

I already know how you dumb bitch. "Cook snake." I continued sounding dumb like them.

Just then, I spun around and stabbed her foot with the rock. She screamed and dropped down to the ground. I got up and ran as fast as I could. Unfortunately that wasn't very fast because I was weak from lack of food and water. And sleep.

I heard yelling from the other people but ignored it and kept running. If only there was somewhere I could hide. I desperately searched around. There was a little house in the distance. I couldn't believe my eyes and ran to it.

I got inside and looked around for weapons, there was nothing. I could see the tribe coming as I looked out the window. I know I'm just going to get caught again. I accepted it. However, I saw paper and a pencil laying on the floor. That gave me an idea. I quickly folded the paper up into a tiny square and shoved that and the pencil down the front of my pants. The door flew open just then and there stood three men. I put my hands up. I was hit and knocked around even though I obliged.

I got beat as soon as I got back to the camp. I was handcuffed again and thrown into my cell hitting the floor hard. I breathed heavily and pretended to be scared until they left. Then, I pulled out my paper and pencil.

Maybe I can tie a message to a bird's leg. Maybe I was out of my mind. But it was my only hope. I wrote a short message on it, then signed my name. That will have to do. I sighed.

Later on in the evening, I was staring out my cell window. The sun was going down, I hated when it got dark. The only light I had was the moon. I waited for a bird to come by all day but I didn't have any luck. I looked down at my note. I must be out of my head.

Suddenly, I heard a voice. My head snapped up and I looked out the window. There was a woman! She was wearing normal clothes and didn't have her face painted! She's not one of them! My eyes grew wide and I looked down at the paper. I got a new idea.

I turned the paper over and quickly drew a map to my community. It was kind of scribbly, I hope she will be able to read it. I was desperate. I waited for her to come closer, then I reached out and grabbed her ankle. She kind of squealed. "Please help me!" I said. "Please! Don't run away!" I said frantically. The woman seemed to calm down a little and gave me her attention. "You need to get out of here right now. There's bad people." I was wide-eyed. I saw the woman's expression change and she looked around. "I need you to go to my home and find my dad. His name is Rick Grimes." I said clearly. "Tell him his daughter is still alive and is being held prisoner. My name's Abby." I handed her the map, I was happy that she took it. "Go! Please! Go!" The woman ran away back the way she came. I watched her until I couldn't see her anymore. I was breathing heavily and needed to calm down. I hope she gets away, I hope she makes it.

I stared at the moon that night. I was feeling hopeful again. If that woman…if that woman finds Pine Lane and tells my dad and the others. They will come rescue me. I smiled a little. The night air felt good on my face.

I missed the fresh air. It smells bad down here in this dungeon. Like mildew and dust and just plain dirty. I coughed just then. I was feeling a little stuffy too. I must be getting sick.

I wondered how long it will take my dad to get here. I can't wait to see him along with the others. Daryl. I smiled. I wonder how things have been? What was everyone doing? Were they looking for me? Or do they really think I'm dead? The thought scared me.

Maybe he won't even listen to the woman, he did always have trust issues. Maybe the woman won't make it? I put my head down for a moment, then looked back up at the moon. No. Don't think like that. She's going to get there and tell my dad, then they are going to find me and everything will be okay. I nodded and forced a smile. Try to get some sleep. I laid down on the bench and closed my eyes. I can't wait to see my dad.

I coughed weakly as I lay on the cold, hard prison floor. It's been three days since I saw that woman. They're not comin'. I thought. I might as well just give up. So many things could have gone wrong. She could have got lost, she could have died. Maybe she threw my map on the ground and went back to her life. Or maybe she told her people and they went to my community and killed everyone and took their stuff. She seemed like a nice lady but who knows these days. I coughed again.

I was so sick. My chest and back actually hurt. I could barely breathe, my nose was stuffy as well. I was pretty much screwed. And I didn't care anymore. I was probably going to die anyway. So what's the point? I don't want anymore false hope. I couldn't bare it. I breathed in and out. I sounded horrible.

I heard footsteps, then one of the guys was standing there. "Time for fishing." He said to me.

"No." I said. There was no way I could do anything right now.

"What was that?" He asked me.

"I said, no." I raised my voice a little. "Do it your damn self."

He glared at me and began opening my cell. I knew he was coming to hurt me but I didn't care anymore. I was pretty sure I was going to die. "Barnard!" A woman yelled down to him. "Help!" Barnard looked back at me, then became angry and closed and locked my cell. He ran out of the dungeon.

I sat up because I thought I could hear yelling and running around. Maybe they found that woman and was bringing her in. I laughed a little. Wouldn't that be something? They wouldn't need me anymore because they would have a new slave. A healthy one. So they would just kill me. I don't care, I'm ready to die. In a way, that woman still would have helped me because she ended my suffering. I sniffled.

"Go around that way." I heard a familiar voice say. My eyes shot open. Dad? I rolled over and looked up at my window. I saw feet passing by. "Dad!" I called.

They came back and were standing in front of my window. "Abby?"

"Dad! It's me!" I yelled. "I'm down here!" I jumped up and down even though how I was feeling.

I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and then there stood my dad! "Daddy!" I said. I ran to the cell door.

"Abby." My dad was wide-eyed. "Hold on, baby. I'm gonna get you out. I'm gonna get you out." He struggled with the lock and the keys he had. "Damnit!" He said as he tried a third time.

"It's the square one." I said and looked up at him. "I think." I coughed. My dad tried the square key like I said and it finally unlocked. He threw the door opened and immediately hugged me. I began to relax as soon as my face was in his shoulder. My dad's face was on my head and he was crying into my hair. I couldn't hug him back because my hands were still cuffed. He let go of me and grabbed my face so he could look at me. He kissed my forehead. I lifted my hands up so he would get the hint. I was feeling totally out of it.

He unlocked my hands, it felt so much better. Then, he hugged me again. He was crying and kissing my head. "I'm so happy you're alive, baby." He sobbed. I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He looked at me again. "Are you okay?"

I just shook my head no and coughed into my shirt. I was feeling even weaker than before. I collapsed into my dad's arms.

I remember waking up before we got back to Pine Lane. Abraham was carrying me. I mumbled something like, "where are we?"

"We're almost home." He said in a rough tone. "Just go back to sleep, princess. I got you." So I leaned my head on him and went back to sleep.

I woke up again but this time I was in the infirmary back home. "What's wrong with her?" My dad asked the doctor.

"Well, besides being extremely malnourished and dehydrated…she's got a serious respiratory infection. Most likely from breathing in mold, mildew and whatever else was in that dirty cell she was in." Dr. Cohen said.

"Abby?" My dad said bringing me back to the now. "Should I be worried? You're acting strange." He looked like he got a thought just then. "You didn't hit your head, too, when you fell, did you?"

I had to think for a minute. "…n-no." I shook my head. "I'm fine, dad. Really." I paused. "If you want to know the truth, I was still thinking about it." I admitted. "When I was taken. I brought it up earlier."

"Yeah, I remember." He nodded. "I think about it too. I almost lost you twice. You were so sick when we found you. I…" He trailed off shaking his head. We were both quiet for a minute.

"Will you tell me a few things about it?" I asked him. He gave me a curious look. I cleared my throat and looked down. "What happened after I disappeared?"

My dad seemed to hesitate. "…we thought you were dead." He looked at me seriously. "We searched the area for a while but…we figured you'd got swept under and was…gone." He said the last part quietly. "I nearly had a heart attack when Glenn and Rosita came back without you. I just knew something bad had happened. And we saw it. We saw you go down and not come back up." My dad looked pained almost.

That's a horrible thing that he had to go through. To think that one of your kids was dead but you didn't know for sure and there was nothing you could do about it. He already lost one kid. I closed my eyes for a moment. "What happened when that woman I sent found you?"

My dad looked at me again. "I was at the front, at the shop when she came through. She was yelling for Rick Grimes." He nodded. "I was real curious as to what she wanted and how she knew me. So I said, I'm Rick Grimes. Then, she said, 'Abby sent me. She's still alive but she's being held prisoner.' I was just…"

"In shock?" I said.

"Yeah." My dad nodded. "Something like that."

"Well, thanks for coming to get me." I gave him a small smile.

He pushed my hair back. "I would do anything for you. And Judith." Then, he sighed. "And I would have done anything for Carl."

I nodded. "I know. I know, daddy." I put my hand on his hand.

He looked at me for a moment, then let out a small laugh. "You know, after we found you and you passed out, Daryl wanted to carry you but we wouldn't let him because he got hit with a spear in his arm during the ambush." My dad nodded. "He was pretty mad." He raised his eyebrows and grinned.

I had to smile at that. "You never told me. Neither did he."

"Well…I didn't want to talk about that time. That horrible time." He shook his head. "Like I said, one of the worst days of my life was losing you, then one of the best was getting you back. But then I saw how sick you were and it was like all over again."

"Well, I was okay. Just like I will be now." I smiled.

My dad smiled back at me, then kissed my forehead. "I love you." I got a random guilty feeling just then.

"Love you too." I smiled. He got up and moved over to the chair.

As I was laying there, I began to feel more and more guilty. About what though? I was so confused. Was it that he was honest with me and he answered my questions about that time? I was still keeping something from him. The thing I didn't get to talk to him about yet. I didn't like lying to my dad, it didn't feel right. I think it's finally time to come clean. "Dad?" I said.

"What?" He answered without looking at me. I don't know why but I was suddenly overtaken by emotions and I started crying. I put my head down and sobbed. Out of the side of my eye, I saw my dad look at me. "Abby? Abby, what's wrong, baby?" He came back over to me.

I tried to say something but I couldn't yet, I was still crying pretty hard. My dad hugged me and just held me there like that until I finally started to calm down. I pulled away from him and sat back, he gave me a weird look. "There's s-something I've b-been wanting to t-talk to you about." I said. I took a few minutes before speaking again and took deep breaths so I could talk normal. "I know about Judith." I looked at him. His eyes seemed to widened a little. "I saw mom and Shane one time…back at that camp." I looked down guiltily. "They were kissing in the tent. I knew they…they had a thing." I looked back up at him, he looked almost confused and was shaking his head a little. "I know Judith isn't yours. She's Shane's daughter." I tapped my fingers together nervously. "And I know that you know that. That's why you said that to me the other day. When you said I'm all you have left now. Because you know that Judith isn't your real daughter."

My dad was shaking his head. "Abby." He paused. "Judith is mine." I was about to say something but he spoke first. "She's my daughter and I love her. But you're right. She isn't mine. Biologically, she's not my kid." He shook his head. "But that doesn't change anything. That doesn't change how I feel about her. I love her just like how I love you and Carl."

"I know." I said wide-eyed and sat up a little. "I know and I would never doubt that. I wasn't saying that. I just meant that…I know." I shrugged. "And I'm sorry I never told you about mom and Shane. I just…didn't think it was for me to say."

"You're right. It wasn't." He said immediately. For a second, I thought he was mad. "And if that's bothering you, let it go right now because that had nothing to do with you." He shook his head.

I hesitated. "…I was." I shrugged. "I don't like lying to you. I hated having to lie to you about Daryl, but…he wouldn't let me tell you. I understood why but still…"

My dad nodded and sighed. "Well, it's okay. I hope you feel better now." He grabbed my hand.

I nodded. "Yeah. I do." I gave him a small smile. I'm glad I got that off of my chest. "Let's head out tomorrow." I said. "I'm ready to go home."