All right! Another chapter! Time for us to meet the rest of the Group!

Disclaimer: I own nobody. Only Michelle.


As we got closer to the prison, I noticed there was a man at the entrance. He was in his early twenties, wore a white T-shirt with dark blue sleeves, jeans stained with mud, boots, and a sun-faded red hat.

"Glen!" Michelle shouted. "Open the gate! We're being followed!"

"Who's that with you?" Glen shouted back.

"He's with us! Just open the gate!" Michelle almost screamed.

Meanwhile, I was getting lightheaded. Was it because I was running faster than I had ever gone before? Was it because I had to worry about running and breathing at the same time now?

Glen opened the door to the fence and the three of us bolted through. Glen quickly slammed the door shut. The walkers crashed into the gate, gnashing their teeth and growling. Some of them reached for us by sticking their hands through the gaps.

I was scared. I'd never seen anything like these things. I just wanted to go home. I didn't know where I was, or how I got here. I really wanted to know how I was human.

My thoughts were interrupted by Carl, who was on my right.

"Hey, Moe. Are you aware your head is bleeding?"

I felt my eyes grow wide and I quickly put my hand on the right side of my head. When I touched it, I felt as though someone had set my head on fire. When I pulled my hand away, I noticed my glove fingers were covered in some sort of red substance. Blood. My blood.

My mind started to whirl. I've seen other people's blood, but never in a million years would I expect to see blood flow my own body, let alone my head. I guess it was too much for my mind to handle because the next thing I knew I was staggering and then the world went black.


When I woke up, my wrists were bound to a pair of poles by ropes. The poles were supporting another mattress. I was lying in the bottom half of a bunk bed. Sitting at the foot of the bed was Michelle, who was watching me with a knife in her hand.

I started to panic. Did she plan on killing me while I was asleep? And if so, why hasn't she done so already?

"What's with the knife?" I asked, with an edge of fear in my voice.

"Relax. I only planned on using it if you had turned, but you clearly didn't."

Turned? What? "What?" I asked.

"You know, became a walker."

"Oh."

Michelle stood up and undid the ropes. I sat up. "So what happened after I passed out?" I asked.

"Well, Carl caught you before you hit the pavement. Glen carried you inside. His girlfriend, Maggie gave us a confused look but said nothing. Daryl, another person in our group took one look at you and said, and I quote, 'He looks like he's never killed a walker in his life.' I told him you probably haven't and we won't know for sure until you woke up. Glen laid you on the bottom bunk we're sitting on right now, while Carl went to get the first aid kit. You were breathing, just unresponsive. I tied your wrists to the poles. This way, if you wake up and you were a walker, you wouldn't harm anyone. Once I did that, Carl showed up with the first-aid kit. I wrapped your head in case you were alive and still able to be saved."

"Oh. Thanks," I said.

We sat in silence for a few moments.

"So what happens now?" I asked.

"We wait for Rick to come back from his run and then he decides if you can stay or not. Just between you and me, I hope you get to stay. You may be a noob to this lifestyle, but I feel like everyone deserves a chance. I just hope Rick sees that, too. He's just been ... off ... lately. Ever since his wife died. To be honest I don't miss her. But I do feel bad for Carl and Rick. Especially Rick."

"Why do you feel bad for Carl, though?"

"Did I mention he's Rick's son?"

"No."

"Ah. Lori - Rick's wife - was also Carl's mother."

"Okay."

We sat in silence for a bit. I was just thinking about Michelle. Her beauty, her generosity, her strength, no one has ever made me feel this way before. Am I ...? No. Wati. Yes. Yes, I am falling for her. Now I can say I know how WALL-E felt when he first met EVE. I guess my only complaint about Michelle is that her clothes are disgusting and she doesn't seem bothered by it. Me, on the other hand, would do anything to stay clean. Part of me wanted to ask her if she wanted to go out with me, but I decided to get to know her better first.

"So. How did you end up here?" I asked.

"How did I end up here?" she echoed.

I nodded, trying not to look eager. I failed miserably, but I don't think she noticed.

"Well, for a while it was me, my mom, my dad, my older sister and my twin brother. The five of us were running smoothly. One day though, everything changed. We lived in a town pretty far from here and one night it was flooded with walkers and there was no sign of them leaving. They stayed in that area for days. We were running out of food and we needed to get out of the town. It just wasn't safe anymore. So my dad carefully stepped outside, killed a walker, and brought the body inside. At least he tried to. On the way back in, another walker snuck up behind him and bit him where the neck connects to the shoulder. My dad collapsed, screaming in pain, and dinner was served for the walkers. The rest of us cried out, but there was nothing we could do,"

Michelle's eyes were welling up with tears as she told the story. She wiped her tears before continuing.

"My mom looked outside and said that there were fewer walkers in the backyard and that we should escape that way. So we did. Trying not to call attention to ourselves, we only killed walkers that came close to us. We also used knives instead of guns. One to save the bullets for a bigger emergency and two, the gunshots would echo and just call more attention. Unfortunately, my brother turned his head at the wrong time and he got bit the same way Dad did. I killed the walker that bit him while my mom took off her sweatshirt to see if she could stop the bleeding. Of course, the second she did that the walkers turned on her and my brother. There was nothing else my sister and I could do, so we just bolted. We shoved every walker out of our way and headed straight into the woods, hoping we'd lose the ones that were following us. That plan backfired. My sister tripped on a tree root and twisted her ankle. I know that sounds cliche and all, but that's what happened. I raced back and helped her up. She was slowing both of us down and she knew it. The walkers were catching up. She told me to just let her go and that I deserved a chance to move on. I didn't want to, but she almost pushed me away. Once she did that, the walkers dag into her. There was nothing left I could do, so I just ran.

I was by myself for a long time. Eventually, I stumbled across this prison, told Rick my story, and he let me in." She concluded.

I felt my own eyes well with tears. "I'm sorry, Michelle. I kind of know what that's like. Before this, a close friend of mine," I hesitated, trying to think of a way to put this without revealing I was once a robot and scaring Michelle or have her thinking I was crazy. "He died medically speaking, but he got resurrected."

Our conversation was interrupted by a voice I hadn't heard before.

"So Coral, where is this kid you want me to meet?"

"Up here, in Michelle's cell," said Carl's voice.

I looked around for the first time and noticed we indeed were in a small room with gray walls and the only way out was a door made out of steel bars. The back wall had a large red stain on it and I had a hunch what it was.

"Here comes Rick. Guess this where we find out if you're staying or not."


Aaaand that concludes another chapter. Until next time! Byeeee!