My bad-
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"Rick we can't stay here," Shane started to say again, the tone of his voice the same tone he used when negotiating. However he was quickly becoming frustrated with Ricks stubbornness. Especially since everyone in the group was freaking out. "You saw her- You saw that- that thing. She isn't human. She isn't safe."
"Shut up Shane," Rick snapped after a moment or so before saying heatedly, his own frustrations getting the best of him. "I don't want to hear it. This place is the safest we have come across. It's distant from towns, cities and roads. We have plenty of food sources to support us- And whoever that little gal is, she obviously protects Hershel and the others and takes care of shit to keep them from getting infected. Now be quiet, I want to hear everything Lisa has to say." Rick said as the front door finally opened after almost forty five minutes.
And the person of interest stepped through the door wearing what looked like a clean mint colored sweater dress that almost reached her knees, her pale hair hanging around her face and down her back in damp strings. Closing the door behind her, she moved quietly towards the dining room where everyone was gathered and paused when everyone shifted to the side to get out of her way, and stared at her.
Hard.
Causing her already queasy stomach to become even more queasy as she thought, Okay optimism, do your thing.
"Um. Hi." She said in a slightly uncertain tone as she gave everyone a small smile and finger wiggle in greeting. No one from the new group said anything. Which wasn't terribly encouraging to her until Maggie got up out of her seat at the table and motioned for her to come further into the room where everyone from the new group could really see her as she pulled the chair next to her father out for Lisa to sit in while she talked to everyone.
Glancing down at her bare feet, Lisa slowly shuffled her way into the room. Thankfully without bumping into anyone since she doubted that she would appreciate being shoved, hit or worse at the moment and upon finally reaching her seat, sat down in it and took several nervous breaths.
Her hands were starting to sweat, causing her to fidget with her fingers.
Seeing how nervous she had become, Hershel reached out and placed a hand on top of one of hers. Stilling her fidgeting as he said, "Whenever you're ready, hon."
Lisa nodded and felt her mouth start to go dry and looked towards the fridge. God what she wouldn't do for a drink or two right now. Especially considering how long this talk was going to take.
Finally after a moment or so, she seemed to calm herself enough to speak and opened her mouth and said, "Okay. My name is Lisa, nickname, Ghost for more than obvious reasons," She pointed to herself, indicating her appearance before continuing on. "I know that all of you have questions and are scared. Frankly I don't blame you. So lets start at the beginning. What do all of you know so far about the epidemic that's wiped out basically every living person in the world?"
Rick was the one who answered, "We were told that the epidemic was viral. Air born. Some sort of weaponised pathogen that mysteriously got loose."
"Who told you all that?"
"Some guy we met a month or so back at the DCC."
She was silent for a moment or so. Mentally weighing the pros and cons of telling everyone in the room the truth here then went on to say, "Yeah well- the guy didn't know what he was talking about. Aside from the epidemic somehow being air born, everything else is basically bullshit."
Rick did this funny little head tilt that reminded Lisa of a bird spotting prey. Not to mention the looks she was getting from Hottie and Crazy at the moment. And it made her want to inwardly cringe as Crazy demanded in a challenging tone, "Oh? And just what the hell would you know about it?"
Lisa thinned her lips for a moment in an effort to bite back the scathing remark she was just dying to heap upon Crazy's head right then. "I know that this epidemic was an accident a long time in the making."
Rick, Hottie and several others gave her a curious look, waiting for her to go on before she said, "It's basically the result of a domino effect of occurrences that span back at least two hundred years. And when I say two hundred years- I literally mean two hundred years. It's a lethal combination of illnesses and fatal diseases all meshed together in one specific bloodline, and given scores of years to cultivate, blend, and mutate."
"Hold- Hold up a second. Your saying that everything that's happened so far is all because of a family? Everything we knew is gone and it's all because of a family. Seriously?" Glenn said in an outraged tone that earned him a dark look from Lisa. Causing him to fall silent again as Rick said gently,
"Please, anything you know about this- this illness or disease. Anything you can tell us that may help us survive, please do."
"Are all of you sure that you wanna hear this? Cause I'm telling you right now it may be better, at least for many of you, for right now- if you didn't."
"Is that you're way of saying we shouldn't bother asking for answers from you?" Crazy practically growled at her causing Lisa to bare her fangs at him and growl right back, not realizing at the moment that she had changed back to her pale deathly other self and was slowly rising from her chair in a menacing manner.
"No. It's my way of trying to spare some of you right now because of just how much you've been through. And FYI ass hat, you are in my home a little respect would be nice. And also if you interrupt me again- and I'm throwing you outside with the rest of the animals. Now shut the hell up."
Crazy stepped back away from the table and her, not really stopping until he had Hottie between himself and her. What a fucking prince. Lisa thought as she glanced at Hottie and the others and sighed as she slowly let herself change back to normal. Gauging from a lot of people's reactions to the immediate change in her appearance and such- many were scared shitless and none too happy with her right then.
Hanging her head slightly she muttered, "Sorry," As her eyes teared up a bit and she dug her fingernails into the wood of the dinning room table, leaving little furrows behind in her anxiousness as she went on to explain. "Sorry. I didn't mean to change like that. But the change happens when I'm mostly upset. Anger, fear, worry- any of these things if extreme enough trigger the change in me which makes it like a double edged sword. Easy to use to protect and defend myself and others, but not so great with making new friends..."
No one said anything.
Honestly what could they say. She creeped them out. That some of them were scared she would change and attack them.
These were legitimate concerns. All of which they would have to address eventually, but right now they needed to know what she knew and find out how she got the way she was. And maybe by doing so they could figure out if there were more people like her or perhaps even a cure.