Save The Last One

Juliet

"Is this it?" Juliet asked Glenn quietly, not yet wanting to wake the sleeping T-Dog in the backseat, squinting in the dark to try and check the name on the mailbox. "I think that either says Green or Orion… I don't know anyone with the surname Orion. I'm pretty sure it's Greene. Or maybe the Orion's know where the Greene's place is and we should drive up anyway." Glenn smiled faintly.

"I think Greene. I'll get the gate." Juliet nodded and pulled the car to a stop. He got out and opened it, and upon his re-entering the car she shook her head.

"Shut it. Common courtesy should not go amiss, even now." He sighed but did what she asked without another word. She smirked to herself. She, like most people, gained a lot of pleasure when people did things for her without argument. Currently she was trying to focus on things like that and not how much of a bad daughter she was for abandoning her mother while she was upset, and not how much of a bad sister she was for letting Sophia get lost in the first place.

Carol had been more than happy to let her go – she understood that Juliet like her space and that she dealt badly with emotional people. Honestly, when she had spoken to her, Carol had seemed almost relieved that she was leaving, reassured by the fact she would see her in only a few hours. She probably needed time on her own to cry without Juliet there to tell her to pull herself together, not that she'd outwardly say that.

Juliet drove in slowly and parked the car not far from the house. She got out and woke T-Dog gently, helping him out of the car. He probably didn't need her hand behind him, steadying him, but she kept it there just in case.

"So do we ring the bell?" Glenn asked. "I mean, it looks like people live here."

"We're past this kinda stuff, aren't we? Having to be considerate."

"We had this row about the gate…" Juliet sighed as they walked up the steps. "We're knocking at least."

"You close it?" asked a voice from the porch. "The gate up the road?" Juliet saw a girl who couldn't have been much older than her crouching on a chair. She instantly recognised her as being the girl from the horse earlier. She smiled pleasantly at her.

"Hi. Yeah, I made him get outta the car and shut it."

"I did the latch and everything." Glenn told her almost proudly. "Nice to see you again. We… uh… met before, briefly." His tone was a little awkward now, and Juliet had to stop herself from putting her head in her hands.

"Look, we came to help." T-Dog began. If he hadn't, Juliet would have, if only to stop Glenn embarrassing himself in front of such a pretty girl. "There anything we can do?" The girl got up while he was speaking. He made a little pained noise and she looked worriedly at his arm. "It's not a bite." he assured her.

"He cut himself. Badly." Juliet interjected.

"We'll have it looked at. I'll tell them you're here."

"We have some painkillers and antibiotics." Glenn said, taking the bottle from Daryl's stash out of his bag. Juliet was still a little irritated that he hadn't opted to tell them about it sooner than one of their own nearly dying from blood poisoning. "I already gave him some. If Carl needs any."

"Come inside, I'll make you something to eat." She said, propping open the door so they could enter the house.

It had been a long time since Juliet had been inside an actual house. They'd been in the CDC, clinical, underground, and terrifying, the nursing home they had spent the night in when they were passing through the city, but not a house since the four members of her family had up and left, taking only the suitcase she had packed for her trip. This was a lot more like her parents' home than her own – Juliet liked minimalist decorating in monochrome colours, Carol had opted for furniture she had collected over the years, mismatched, whatever was cheap at a garage sale. This was a lot more toned down than Carol's house, but more like hers than Juliet's apartment. She missed that place.

"I'm Maggie, by the way."

"I'm Juliet, this is Glenn and T-Dog."

"Good to meet you. Sorry about the circumstances. your group's obviously been through the mill recently - Rick said you have a girl missing too."

"We do. My sister."

"Oh God, I'm sorry. I had no idea." Juliet waved it off with a weak smile. So much for coming here and forgetting about Sophia for the night. It was probably karma trying to remind her not to be so selfish in the future. "Beth, do we have any casserole left?" Maggie asked a girl sat at the kitchen table as they walked in to the room. There was resemblance between her and Maggie facially, but she had long blonde hair where Maggie's was short and much darker. She was pretty, but couldn't have been much over sixteen. Juliet thought she didn't look like she could handle herself very well in the apocalypse and then scolded herself for being judgemental and remembered that she didn't either.

"Yeah, lots, I'll heat it up for you. It's nice to meet you all." Beth said as she got up from the table and started preparing the food for them.

"Same to you. You guys have electricity here?"

"We have generators, they're good for a while. They're super good for everything, I don't know how I'd survive like y'all have with, like, nothing." she answered with a wide grin. Juliet wasn't sure what part of this sentence exasperated her more. "Hot water if you wanna get yourself cleaned up." Juliet might have been insulted but she hadn't had a hot shower in a long time, and since she's been combing the woods all day she wasn't surprised that she looked horrendous. It was the least of her worries. It did make her miss the rest of the group, they all looked as bad as she did so there was something of solidarity between them, no pretty teenagers telling her she looked so terrible.

A small smile passed over her lips as she wondered what Daryl would make of Beth. He was surprisingly patient with people who couldn't take care of themselves, he'd helped her learn to shoot after all, but she wasn't perky and smiley like this. He'd probably write her off quicker than Juliet had.

She was reluctant to admit it, but she missed him. She wished it was him, not Glenn who had come with her and T-Dog. Since everything with Sophia had started he had been her voice of reason, the only one who was positive they would find her alive and well.

She could really use that.

Beth sat with the three of them as they ate, talking chirpily. She was seventeen, her boyfriend Jimmy was living with them (Juliet had to choke back a laugh, it was going to be fun when they realised high school relationships never work and broke up still having to live together). Also with them were Patricia and Otis, their married neighbours. Otis had shot Carl, but he was out redeeming himself, getting vital equipment with Shane. She gathered without Beth saying it that the girl was a little country, not all that smart, and irritating at times, though she had her heart in the right place and as she spoke began to bother Juliet a little less. She'd put up with worse, she was just such a change from the people she was used to. It was clear she hadn't experienced much of the current world first-hand, or the world before it fell to shit for that matter. Juliet liked Maggie a lot more, she was reserved and said only what she needed to.

Juliet was happy to have finished dinner before an older woman, who she assumed was Patricia, entered the room to examine T-Dog. She moved away from the table. She could deal with the walkers being killed, no problem, but seeing a person in pain still made her squeamish. She wasn't sure when she had made the mental distinction.

"You got here right in time. This couldn't go untreated much longer." Patricia commented as she stitched his arm. T-Dog winced like Juliet did. It's worse for him, way worse, she tried to remind herself, but it didn't do a lot of good. "Merle Dixon. Is that your friend with the antibiotics?"

"We got them from his brother Daryl. Merle… He's not with us anymore." Juliet answered her diligently, knowing T-Dog couldn't. She realised she'd made it sound like Merle had died. That's what Daryl thought, he'd confided in her back at their old camp, but Juliet thought that Merle was way too tough to let something as small as losing a hand be what killed him.

"Not sure I'd call him a friend." Juliet was about to be insulted when she realised he meant Merle, not Daryl, and it wasn't her place to be insulted for him anyway.

"He is today. This doxycycline might have just saved your life. You know what Merle was taking it for?" Juliet didn't answer. Glenn took it upon himself to do so.

"The clap. Um, venereal disease. That's what Daryl said." She refrained from putting her head in her hands, but she was close.

"I'd say Merle Dixon's clap was the best thing to ever happen to you." It was more the fact that Patricia could say this with an utterly straight face while still pulling the needle through the arm of some guy she barely knew that made Juliet laugh than what she had said. She tried to cover it with a cough. Glenn gave her the same look she usually gave him when he was doing something wrong. She shrugged, and mouthed 'bad sense of humour'.

"I'm really trying not to think about that right now." T-Dog groaned. That set her off again. She decided to follow Glenn out of the room – that was a safe plan.

It might have been at least if she hadn't been ambushed by Beth.

"Daddy said you could camp out in my room 'til you got somewhere else. I made up a bed on the floor, but I'll take it, you can have mine for tonight. You can't sleep in your car, right?" Juliet felt instantly bad about everything she'd thought about her. This poor girl was just trying to make things easy on her. She'd probably been warned by her sister to watch out for the girl who'd come to stay, she had the probably dead sister.

"That's sweet of you. I'm exhausted." For once Juliet actually felt like she could sleep, and wanted to. She wanted to be well rested for the continuation of the search the next day. "I'll take the bed on the floor though." Beth looked like she was about to protest, and Juliet shook her head. "Trust me, I slept on a fold out chair on top of an RV last night, anything's an improvement." Beth laughed and led her up.

"Tell me about the rest of your group." Beth said, patting the bed, indicating that she wanted her to sit. Juliet did, and she went through everyone in the group, telling Beth as much as she knew about them. She was in the middle of explaining Hawaiian-shirt Dale to her, trying to form words through hysterical laughter, having forgotten how much fun teenagers actually were when you weren't berating them for being irritating, when there was a knock at the door. Suddenly, Juliet was fifteen again and it was three am at a friend's house for a sleepover, and their long suffering parents were telling them for the fifth time that night to keep it down. She was grateful to Beth for letting her have that.

"Just introducing myself." said the older man at the door.

"Juliet, this is my Daddy, Hershel." Juliet rose to shake his hand firmly.

"Thank you for everything you've done for us so far sir. It's a pleasure to meet you, you have a wonderful home and a delightful family." She knew how to be courteous and polite, and liked having an occasion to prove that.

"Much obliged. I was sorry to hear about your sister. I lost my wife and step-son, I know it's terrible." Juliet nodded. He was the first person who had spoken to her like there wasn't a chance Sophia was alive, and instead of being sad or angry she was grateful.

"I'm sorry to hear that." He nodded, and Juliet took that as conversation closed, which she was only too happy to oblige. "Please though, could you pass on my regards to Rick? I don't want to disturb him and Lori right now, they don't need me butting in, but just let them know I'm thinking about them tonight and that I hope to God Carl pulls through this." Hershel nodded, assured her he would and said goodnight to them both before walking out the room.

"Sorry 'bout him." Beth said, nibbling on her lip. "He sure knows how to kill a fun mood. He's just trying to be reassuring. He's a vet, he doesn't usually have to deal with people."

"That actually sounds like a preferable alternative."

"So… Any cute guys in your group?"

"Your age? No." It was the easiest answer. She knew if she named anyone specific she'd blush for the next three days looking at them. Immediately though she had herself considering the men in the group. Dale was an immediate write-off from age difference alone, but she'd always thought Shane was gorgeous, which sadly wasn't enough to make up for him being kind of an asshole most of the time. T-Dog was definitely cute but they didn't have a lot in common, Glenn was a little too geeky and besides, she went almost exclusively for older guys anyway. Daryl was another hot asshole, though less of an asshole now actually, but they were friends meaning any attraction she might have had for him had to be ignored, and Rick was definitely handsome but also married.

Once she would have enjoyed considering the guys in the group, the facts of whether any of them would go for her ignored in favour of pitting them against each other with a giggling friend like Beth; she'd done it all the time with the guys in high school. The apocalypse really made you put things like cute guys and relationships on the backburner.

She and Beth talked for another hour at least, and Juliet was happy to admit she had been wrong in her initial opinion of the girl. She was sweet, a little naïve, but not irritating or stupid. She was the only person who was able to make Juliet forget about Sophia and the issues of the group. The crashing back to earth happened when Shane drove up to the house. She excused herself from sitting with Beth and went to find him.

Shane was alone in the front room and Juliet knocked on the open door before she walked in. He turned to look up at her.

"We didn't find her." he said quietly as he returned to looking down at his hands.

"You tried. We all did. We'll find her tomorrow." she said with a shrug of her shoulders, though she felt anything but okay about it. It didn't seem fair to put the fact she was still missing on him. "How's Carl doing?"

"Better. I got what they needed for the operation. Their man… Otis. He didn't make it back."

"That must have been awful…" Juliet wondered if she should tell Beth. She didn't want to upset the girl, and it might sound better coming from someone she'd known for more than an evening, but she would feel strange keeping it from her. Hopefully her sister was up there now breaking it to her gently.

"Yeah. It was. How's your Mom doing?"

"Not great. I offered to come here rather than stay… I think I was making things worse for her."

"I doubt that. Rick'll appreciate you being here though."

"Well, anything I can do just let me know, I'm staying with Beth, the younger girl? It's only for tonight, but she's been so welcoming that I couldn't really say no. She's really good at pretending the world isn't ending."

"I think we'll be alright for tonight. Is everyone else coming here?"

"Yeah, we're joining up tomorrow morning, they wanted to give one more night for Sophia to come back and then put up a sign for her tomorrow morning just in case she arrives there without them being there." She caught Shane's look and choked back a laugh. "I know. It's a shitty plan, but they're holding on to it, and it was the only way Carol would agree to come here at all. I'm going to search the area closer to here after they arrive."

"I think they're holding some memorial for Otis first… Rick said we should all attend. I said I didn't know, but he's pretty set on it, show them that we're good people and all that."

"I'm happy to. Everyone else will be too, it just might take some convincing." Daryl would complain, but she knew she could probably talk him in to it. Carol wouldn't like that they were wasting searching time, but it seemed only right to honour Hershel's man considering he was letting them stay with him for a while and he was helping Carl. "I'm exhausted, I'm gonna go see if Beth's okay and hopefully get some sleep. Wake me up if everyone gets here and I'm still sleeping?"

"You got it."

She smiled at him as she walked out, closing the door behind her to give him some privacy from the others in the very full house. Juliet walked up the stairs quietly and tentatively, aware that it was someone else's house and that she should not be treating it like her own. She met Maggie in the upstairs hallway.

"I told Beth what happened to Otis. She seemed okay, you should be fine to go on in."

Juliet knew it wasn't deliberate and probably came from the immediate association with her and her sister, but she didn't like the tone Maggie had when she spoke to her. She was five years older than Beth at least, probably closer to Maggie in age. She'd never liked being looked at like a child; as the oldest out of her and Sophia as well as being someone who had to grow up pretty early it was something foreign to her.

Give her time, Juliet told herself. Once she sees you with a gun she'll realise you're not some kid.

She knocked on Beth's door and waited for her to shout her in before she opened it. Beth sat on the edge of her bed looking a little shell shocked. Juliet said nothing but walked over and sat beside her, which was enough for Beth to start sobbing.

She treated Beth like she would have treated Sophia, letting her rest her head in her lap, not hugging her because that was something she did so rarely, instead stroking her hair softly. She knew nothing she could say would make it better, so she didn't try. Beth fell asleep like that after about half an hour, and she moved her gently, covering her with the blanket folded at the end of the bed before she settled down in her makeshift bed herself.

She savoured the moments she spent lying awake there, hoping to God that right that second her little sister was arriving back at the highway, and when they came to meet up with her the next day she'd emerge from the car, tired, a little battered, but there and alive.

As she expected, this hope was not realised the next morning.