Chapter 2
After I was done with decorating, Maggie and Carol helped me bath the kids, then I had one of the best showers of my life. I changed into a blue long-sleeved V-neck and denim shorts. Sami-Jay is in the sweetest pink onesie, and Raider wears jeans and a red shirt.
Maggie is taking us to get food. I carry a giggly Sami-Jay and Raider walks, using Maggie's hand as a stabiliser. We walk out into the courtyard over to a man-made wooden shelter that looks like the kitchen area with a large service bench covered with stacks of bowls and plates, and fighting utensils. I see Carol smiling as she stirs a large pot. She is talking to the crossbow guy; Daryl I think was his name.
"Hey Carol, can we get three servings, please?" asks Maggie.
"Sure," says Carol, grabbing three bowls and ladling some stew and veggies into them. "Ace, I saw you had a bow in your cell, are you any good at hunting?"
"Bette' than good," I smile, taking a full bowl.
"What weight?" asks Daryl. Maggie and Carol look confused by the question.
"Eighty, it's not as good as my first ninety-five, was but it works fine for squirrels, birds and- infected," I say with a smile as I hear my southern redneck accent thicken, and he nods.
Maggie takes the other two bowls and leads me to one of the picnic tables. There are already two people sitting there, one I recognise as Glenn, the other is a young blonde girl. Maggie sits next to Glenn, Raider sits next to Maggie and I sit down next to him.
"Ace, this is my sister Beth," introduces Maggie. Beth looks to me and smiles happily.
"Hi… oh she is so cute, what's her name?" asks Beth looking at the little giggly girl in my left arm.
"Samantha-Jay, do you what to hold her?" she nods happily, taking the offer. Beth sways Sami-Jay softly in her arms like a real pro.
"So what do you think of this place so far?" asks Glenn after I have finished eating. Sami-Jay is sleeping in Beth's arms and Raider is sitting happily on my lap clanging two spoons together and laughing at the noise.
"It's amazing. Not to say that there are a few things that should be improved… but it's still the safest place I've seen for some time," I say.
"What do you think needs improving?" asks Maggie. She is smiling so I know it's not an offensive question, just curiosity.
"Well… the fences. The second one should be covered with tin or wood, something that will block the infected's view so they don't get as riled up, and if people were to attack with guns then it would provide protection for inside."
"Good idea, we'll have to bring that up in a council meeting. Do you have any other ideas?" ask Glenn with an intrigued glint to his eyes.
"Yeah, well… the trees need thinning. This place could get surrounded in a second without you even knowing, so if you could cut down the trees then they can be used to build up the fences." they nod approvingly. "Also, those pigs need to go, they carry diseases, some so bad they can kill people. People would get infected and come back, and this place belongs to the dead again."
"You've been thinking this through," says Beth.
"I want my children to be safe, and not just for a week or month, for a lifetime, times two. Also I think there should be fruit trees planted. They may take a while to get growing but once they have fruit it would be worth it, with how much longer they live than vegetables." They all nod. "And I was thinking if we could cage off an area of the field, we could catch some ducks. I can cut their wings so they won't fly away and they will breed like rabbits with the right food. One month you could have six, three months later you could have forty ready for the cook pot."
"Girl's got a point." I turn and see Daryl a few feet behind me. "Bring her to the council meeting tomorrow," he tells Maggie then walks off towards the cell blocks.
"Has he been standin' there the whole time?" I ask.
"Who knows," says Maggie with a smile. "Well, it's been a big day and I'm sure you are exhausted, so why don't we get the kids back to your cell?"
Maggie stands, as do I. Glenn takes the empty dishes over to the wooden shelter. Beth stands with a still sleeping Sami-Jay in her arms, and Raider is on my hip. We start walking back to cell block C.
"How old are you, Ace?" asks Beth. "Not to be rude but, you just look too young to have a… four-year-old son," she adds hesitantly.
"It's fine, I'm… twenty-one, no twenty-two. Yeah that sounds close," I smile and kiss his forehead.
"So you would have been… seventeen," says Maggie.
"Yep got kicked out of home at fifteen, found the love of my life at sixteen, got pregnant by seventeen, then the bastard left me, so I raised Raider alone, working double shifts at whatever job I could get to, then I fell in love again at nineteen. Bloke accepted Raider as his own and we were soon engaged. Then I got pregnant and the dead rose, just my luck." We have reached the cell by this point.
"You're a real survivor," says Maggie.
"Life was never meant to be easy." There are a few people in here that weren't earlier, and Maggie guides me towards a table where an elderly man sits reading a book.
"Dad," says Maggie, getting the man's attention, "this is Ace; Ace this is my dad Hershel."
"It's nice to meet you." He offers his hand and I shake it. "What beautiful children, are they yours?" he asks.
"Yeah this is Raider and Beth's holding Samantha-Jay," I say with a friendly smile.
"What a treasure in these times," he smiles. I hear a baby's cry and instinctually turn to Sami-Jay but she is still fast asleep.
"Oh that's Judith, come with me and I will introduce you to her and her dad. He was the one that found the prison," says Beth, leading me along the bottom row of cells, stopping in front of cell '22', the third from the end. The crying has stopped now.
"Hey Rick," says Beth into the cell.
"Hey Beth… just because I took Judith for the day didn't mean you had to find another kid," the man's voice sounds familiar, it couldn't be…
"This is Samantha-Jay; I just wanted to introduce you to her mum," Beth returns with a smile. Out of the cell walks a man that I thought I would never see again. He looks older, but it's him. He smiles at me but it's not an 'I recognise you' smile it's a 'nice to meet you' smile.
"Hi, I'm Rick Grimes," he says, offering his hand. I smile and take it.
"I go by Ace, but you might remember me as Athena, Mae, Grimes."
The look on his face is priceless, like he's seen a ghost.
And lord knows he has.
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