I am indeed alive. This still takes place before the season 7 finale with the first battle of the war- i'm currently writing Jamie's story line in the pre-war while I debate how to hash out several... situations... that have occurred in season 8.
It rained most of the night.
She heard it go from a gentle drizzle to a dull pounding to a marching cacophony on the shingles above her. Occasionally there was thunder. And at times, it was still enough to make her think it was all over and the storm had stopped. But it was only a moment's reprieve, an hour at most, before the drizzle started again.
She'd thought having a bed would solve all her problems, but the rain was always in the back of her mind, waking her several times during the night.
She finally woke up, heading to the window to peer out.
It was heavy and overcast- she'd had to wait longer than usual, since while dawn came at the same time, the large amount of clouds meant that little light came through. It put her about an hour behind schedule.
Still- she found herself sluggishly gathering her things.
She scoured the cupboards one last time, coming up with a stale pack of fruit snacks, and chewed each one twenty times to make it last. She drank straight from the tap, as much water as she could, before she was stepping out onto the porch, peering around, before locking the front door of the house behind her.
She either had to reach the kingdom today, or kill a rabbit by nightfall. The hunger was starting to get to her.
She ignored it, trudging along the road- towards east. It was cloudy enough she couldn't see the sun to tell direction, but she knew the road went East- so she would, as well.
The fine mist that seemed to hang in the air before attacking all at once, starting as a drizzle and snowballing into a downpour.
Within two hours, she was absolutely sopping wet.
She just kept walking on, though. It'd been a rough two days- and while she was a little cold, she was more annoyed about her her boots squished with every step than endangered by the rainfall. Her hair hung wet and stringy around her face, and she kept going.
Around noon, thunder started to split the sky, and was soon joined by a few lightening bolts. The wind started to pick up.
She looked into the distance- there was a small grey house. But what really caught her eye was the metal fence around it. It was protection from both whatever walkers the thunder would stir up, as well as a roof over her head and a potential source of food.
That was what she was thinking when she let herself in the metal gate, thunder obscuring the sound of rainfall as she scaled the porch steps, sitting down for a moment beneath the shelter of the roof and enjoying being out of the downpour for a brief moment.
The front door of the house opened a crack, and she jumped backwards, tumbling down the steps and pulling her pistol from her waistband on instinct.
Heart hammering in her chest, the door swung fully open...
"Jamie?"
"Carol?" she looked up in disbelief. She scrambled to her feet, pistol altogether forgotten, as she peered through the rain at the woman she'd thought long gone a long time ago.
Carol blinked a moment, surprised, before jerking her head towards the house.
"Well don't just stand there. Get inside before you catch pneumonia."
She bent down, retrieving her pistol and happily obliging, stumbling into the house and out of the downpour happily.
"What are you doing out here?" Carol asked, eyeing her critically.
Jamie leaned her bow against the wall before using a sleeve to scrub at her face unconsciously. Carol hated it when she came in the house filthy. Or at least, she;d pretended to, always giving her and Daryl a hard time but smiling at them. She was pretty sure the rain ahd washed off msot of the dirt anyways, though- as it was, she stood dripping on the floor.
"I'm trying to get to the Kingdom. Heard my Dad was there- I wanted to see him."
Carol's face changed inexplicably for a moment, before she frowned.
"You came all this way by yourself?"
"Wasn't like they could spare anyone else. I just wanted to see him. He's been gone awhile."
Carol frowned, placing her hands on her hips and scrutinizing her. for a moment, the only sund beside the rain on the windowpanes was the sund of her wet clothes dripping on the floor.
"Good Lord, you're going to flood the house at this rate." Carol sighed, but there was a spark in her eyes. "Take those wet things off before you freeze." she turned and disappeared into the house.
Jamie peeled off her shirt and started to unbutton her jeans, leaving her in a damp sports bra and grey boxers. A blanket was tossed over her head a moment later, and she wrestled it around her shoulders, wearing it like a robe.
"Sit." Carol pointed to a small table that was set, and Jamie frowned, looking at her, from where she was still wrapped in the blanket.
"You know something, don't you? About my Dad?"
Carol frowned. "I'll tell you all you want to know just as soon as I get these clothes drying by the fire and some tea on. Lord knows you Dixons make a mess..."
Jamie smiled. That meant it was good news, then, since Carol wouldn't be teasing her about her father if something bad had happened. She sat down at the table and puled the blanket together around herself, happy to be warm, and watched Carol bustle about the small house, much like she had the kitchen in Alexandria, setting her clothes out by the fire to dry, putting on a kettle, and finally coming over with two cups of tea.
One was set in front of her, and she drank it eagerly. She'd never been a fan of tea, but at the moment, anything hot was welcome.
Carol watched her for a moment before sipping her own cup, setting it down.
"So- how's my Dad?"
"He was doing well the last time I saw him. He told me about Alexandria- Glenn, Abraham- your arm." Carol eyed her sadly.
"My arm's fine." she muttered, not looking up. She still remembered the night they'd lost Glenn and Abraham, albeit through a haze of shock and blood loss.
"Seems like it, if you managed to get this far by yourself. So- where have you been?"
She shrugged, fighting off the urge to shiver before bringing her teacup to her lips again, taking a warm swallow. "Around. Back roads, mostly- I was gonna cut through a town, but the place was a walker hive, so I had to detour through a woods and a ravine to get to a road and crash in a subdivision for the night..."
"So that's why you look like hell." Carol looked slightly amused.
"I'm not that dirty!" she protested. Sure, there was some dirt under her fingernails, but she'd tried back at Alexandria- that stuff never came out.
"No, you aren't- the rain washed it off of you. But you look like you got in a fight with a rose bush." Carol reached across the table, lightly tracing her thumb over one of the scratches on her cheek knowingly.
Jamie sighed- she could get nothing past Carol- and the woman smiled.
"So- how far is the kingdom from here anyways?"
"Oh- about a thirty minute walk."
Jamie's knees banged against the table as she started, and she looked at Carol incredulously. "I'm that close?" it seemed impossible, after all the time she'd spent getting here, that she was only such a short walk away.
"Yes. But you aren't going anywhere until your clothes dry out and it lets up a little outside, so calm down." Carol said, sipping her tea.
She waited. Thunder made the house rattle a little, but it was warm- and solid, compared to the places she'd spent the past two nights. It was homey. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed having a real person until she'd run into Carol.
She was tempted to rest her head on the table and sleep. But then she would've missed the sound of the rainfall lessening, and she stood, letting the blanket fall off her shoulders and wandering, barefooted, across the floor towards the fireplace, pulling on her dried shirt, wrinkled and smudged with dirt as it was, and her damp jeans.
"I didn't say we could go yet." Carol quirked an eyebrow, looking amused.
"I've spent too much time waiting already." she laced up her boots, moving onto the porch to grab her backpack.
The screen door banged shut behind her.
"Hold up a goddamn minute." Carol was jogging down the path behind her. A moment later, the woman fell into step beside her. "Do you even know where you;re headed?"
"East. It got me this far."
Carol rolled her eyes, and they continued on, the sprinkling rain wetting their faces.
By the time the walls came into view, they were met by three men. Their metal body armor was interesting, as were there weapons.
She only recognized one of them. "Morgan?"
"Jamie?" he smiled.
"Carol. I see you brought a friend" A blonde woman in armor looked at her, smiling. She must've looked scruffy, in her filthy scratched up clothes.
"She's here to see her father, Daryl."
The woman's eyes lit up with recognition, and they all started towards the gate.
"Have you had a long journey?"
Jamie paused for a moment, looking at the woman oddly. The way she talked was... different.
"Three days."
"You came all this way alone?"
"Didn't have much choice. Can't spare the manpower, with the war coming soon."
The woman nodded, falling silent as they reached the gates.
The gates opened- she came face to face with planters and a brick building.
The inhabited feeling washed over her. People looked up as she walked in- women in the planters, minding the children. Men on top of the walls, standing guard.
She only had eyes for one face, though.
He strode around the corner, in a wrinkled white button up shirt hanging over his blue jeans. He paused when he saw her, and she dropped her bag, grinning.
"Dad!"
She nearly tackled him in a hug.
He looked shocked for a moment, before he returned the gesture, wrapping his arms around her and tucking her head beneath his chin.
"How the hell'd you get here? You smell awful."
She laughed, looking up at him happily, never taking her arms from around his waist. "I missed you too."
"You're 'sposed to be in Alexandria."
"Not anymore."
Daryl pulled back, holding onto her shoulders and looking at her carefully. He hadn't seen her in so long. She'd gotten taller. He didn't have to look down as much anymore.
"How's your arm?"
"Healed up, mostly."
He paused, tracing a thumb over a scratch across her cheek. "You get in a fight with blackberry bushes?"
"Somethin' like that."
She smiled. It'd been a long time since she'd done that. like the glass face she wore was finally breaking away, showing what really was.
"How've you been?"
"Good." she smiled slightly. "I wanted to see you. Before everything happened."
Daryl frowned. "I been thinking about that. Thinking it might be best to send you to the hilltop with Maggie."
"Why send me away when I could stand and fight?"
Daryl frowned. "We'll talk about this later. When's the last time you ate?"
She paused. "Yesterday." she felt hollow inside.
Daryl threw an arm around her shoulder, leading her towards the large brick building.
Lunch that day was chili, and she absolutely destroyed two bowls of it, doing her redneck father proud.
Daryl smiled, occasionally eating from his own bowl and watching her with amusement before sliding her half of his bowl.
"Seriously, you been starving or somethin'?"
"Didn't have time to hunt. Fire would've drawn too much attention." she muttered around a mouthful of food. finally, once she;d finished everything off, she wiped her mouth on her sleeve, smearing red sauce on her face.
"How'd you get here? You walk the whole way?"
She nodded, sipping from a glass of milk. "Took 3 days. Had a map Carl and Enid gave me. I was going to go straight through, but the town Enid mentioned had a herd come in. Wasn't gonna get through it, so I hunkered down in the safe house and had to make a detour next morning. Took a day to get back on a clear road, and then I found another place to crash. Ran into Carol today and finally got here."
"Herd the only trouble you had? No people?'
"'None 'cept Carol."
Carol sat down on the bench beside her. "Good Lord, I can't take you anywhere." she licked her thumb, scrubbing at the sauce on Jamie's face.
Jamie wrinkled her nose but tolerated it. It was nice to have people caring for her, after two months of trying to shepherd the people of Alexandria from threat to threat.
"Nice to see ya." Daryl smiled at Carol.
"I'd visit more, but whenever I do this redneck comes over and harasses me like a honeybee on a flower." she said, but there was no real bite in the words.
"Daryl!" a booming voice made her start a little from where she sat. She watched as a tall man with long swinging dreadlocks and a cane, dressed in a long brown coat, crossed the cafeteria and beaming. "I was not aware you had relations!"
Jamie paused, fighting the urge to grin. Did everyone here talk so strangely?
Daryl nodded. "This is my daughter, Jamie."
"It's nice to meet you. We haven't had such a young face around here since Benjamin..." he frowned, quickly changing the subject.
"Did you have an eventful journey?"
She nodded. "Ran into a herd of walkers, had to cut through the woods. But I got here."
"That's grand. I'm King Ezekiel- come to me if you have any qualms."
"I will, thank you."
"I hope you enjoy your visit here." he turned and strode off, cane clicking on the tiled floor.
She waited one second, two...
"Do they all talk funny? And is that dude really a king?"
"Yes." Carol smiled slightly. "And he has a tiger."
"bullshit."
"'S not. He's got a tiger." Daryl said, watching her eyes widen and looking amused. "I'll take you to see it sometime if you're good."
"Like, a real tiger? Not a stuffed one or some taxidermy?"
"Yeah, she's real. I ain't pulling your leg."
"I wanna see it."
"Later. You just got here, it's getting late. Maybe tomorrow."
She sighed, before peering out the window and watching as dusk started to settle in outside.
"C'mon. I'll show you where I've been staying. They gave me a room, it's got a bed and a couch in it. I''ll take the couch, you can have the bed. We'll see about getting you a shower tomorrow..."
Carol gave him a disapproving look.
"The kid looks exhausted. She can scrub up her face and hands an shit before she goes to bed and do the rest tomorrow."
"Don't expect me to be washing your sheets if she gets them dirty."
"I'd rather wash 'em in the creek myself than have you hollering at me 'bout 'em. Sides, it gives me an excuse to come visit an eat your casseroles."
"I want mac an cheese." Jamie piped up, looking excited. It'd been so long since she'd had Carol's mac and cheese.
Carol rolled her eyes. "Scrub up good tonight before you get in bed and I might make you one. If I feel like it. I have to get going if I'm going to make it back by dark."
"You ain't staying?" Jamie frowned.
"Nah, she lives in the cottage. But I got some dirty laundry we can bring over tomorrow so we have an excuse to visit her..." Daryl smirked and Carol swatted him lightly, though she was smiling.
"Do you have to go?" her voice was quiet, lacking her normal bravado. It was hard- finding her family again after so long going without- only to have to part again.
Carol looked down. "I might come back in the morning. I had to sew up one of Jerry's shirts for him anyways...
She smiled slightly, relieved, as they all stood, Carol heading for the gate and Daryl steering her towards another squat brick building. He tugged her upstairs, onto the second floor. She scrubbed at her arms and face for a long minute in the sink before she peeled off her boots and crawled beneath the sheets. She was out like a light- she was home.