++++++ I do not own the Walking Dead or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Kirkman and the AMC ++++++

Sixty-Five

I let Sophia and the dogs sleep most of the night, being only able to grab a few minutes myself, I found that I was unable to sleep so I stayed up and kept an eye out for walkers. The idea that most of them would be too busy eating the flesh of our fallen friends made me sick to my stomach.

The four of us had found shitty little house a couple miles away from the prison where we decided to hold up for the night. The house had clearly been walker infested at some point but there was an attic with a way out from the roof so that's where we stayed. Carrying both dogs up there was a hoot for me but I couldn't deal with two dead dogs if the walker's got them.

The next morning when Sophia woke up, I was giving myself a bucket bath with some water that had collected in the rain water tank on the roof. I didn't notice her until I realised she was staring at me-more specifically the section of skin that had badly scarred when the cannibals were going to eat me.

"I never thought about it," Sophia whispered, pulling me out of my own thoughts. "Does it hurt, PJ?"

I glanced up. "Oh-sorry Sophia, did I wake you?"

Sophia shook her head. "No, habit. Does the scar hurt?"

I shrugged. "No, most of the time I forget it's there…it freaks…" I stopped. "It freaked Rick out but he said it added to my allure."

"Freaks," Sophia corrected. "Freaks, they're not dead, PJ. We're gonna find them. Mum, Uncle Matt, Carl, Rick, Jade, Ebony, Daryl, Beth, Lucas, Glenn, Maggie, Tyrese, Sasha, Josh, Hayley, Judith, Hope. We're gonna find them."

I smiled a little. "Yeah, we will. I'm sure we will."

Sophia stood up and stretched. "Any water left?" she asked me.

"I'll grab you a clean bucket," I replied.

"Can I go downstairs and see if there are any clothes?" Sophia asked.

I chuckled. "You don't have to ask, just tell me where you're going. You're fifteen, Sophia, I ain't gonna treat you like a child. You're my partner and I gotta rely on you."

Sophia nodded with a grin and headed over to the hatch. I busied myself with finishing cleaning myself up-I was never one for modesty being a soldier but we'd lived with two showers-one for men, one for women and modesty wasn't a thing anymore. It was hard to shower alone so you had to adjust.

After I was clean, I wrapped a thin sheet around my body and tipped the water out before climbing out to the tank to get some more for Sophia. When I came back in, she had managed to find a bag of clothes that she brought up. "What did you find?" I questioned.

Sophia pulled the hatch back up and tipped the bag out. There were jeans, shirts, couple of dresses and some underwear. Another aspect that was a thing of the past-wearing other people's clothes-as long as it fit, it didn't matter who's it was. Although most of the guys at the prison knew that any clothes with Doctor Who on them were mine. A grin appeared on my face as I sorted through the clothes.

I pulled out a faded red and black stripped t-shirt that obviously belonged to a young teenage boy and a pair of jeans that I put out for Sophia. For myself I found a black tank-top with Tennessee Whisky splashed across the front and a pair of faded black jeans. The top was perfect but the jeans were a little loose, but hey, nothing a belt can't fix right?

We'd finished cleaning up when downstairs we'd heard a thud followed by a crunching sound.

I grabbed my gun and lifted the hatch a little to take a look at what was happening. My field of sight was limited but seconds later I heard footsteps coming our way. A lithe figure walked underneath the hatch, not noticing it was open a crack. I grinned when I realised who it was.

It was Carol.

Thank the gods someone was alive.

"I think I found you're mum," I told Sophia.

Sophia grinned and pulled the hatch completely open. "Mum!" she grinned, sticking her head over the edge.

Carol gasped and looked up, a small laugh escaping her when she saw four faces staring down at her. "Sophia?" she gasped.

I sat back to lower the ladder for Carol to climb up. As soon as her feet touched the board underneath us, Carol pulled her daughter in for a lengthy hug. "Were you at the prison?" I asked her.

Carol shook her head. "No…I wasn't…I'll explain everything later but I did see it…I saw you kill the Governor," she told me over her daughter's head. "I haven't seen anyone else, the prison is full of walkers. There's nobody left. I don't know who escaped."

I sighed and slumped down. Spirit whined and came over, he pushed his wet nose underneath my hand and then licked me.

Carol gasped a little. "I'm sure Rick's still alive, PJ."

I got to my feet and set about gathering our supplies. "We can't stay here, we have to find the others. Ebony, if she's still alive, can't go far."

"Sophia, go make sure there aren't any other walkers," Carol told her daughter.

Silence from Sophia but I did hear her climb back into the house.

Carol got up and came over to help me. "I'm sure they're still alive."

I laughed. "I hope so-because I can't keep doing this. If Ebony isn't dead than she's worrying about having her baby on the road-it would be easier if I got rid of it and we continued on our way."

Suddenly Carol slapped me. "Don't you dare say that!" she snapped.

I rubbed my face where she'd slapped me. "Carol!"

"You deserved it, PJ," Carol growled. "Don't you say that about your baby. Don't you dare! We'll find the others and we'll find a safe place for you to have your little one-well before they're even due. We had the prison, we can have something like it again."

I wrapped Carol up in a hug, squeezing her tightly. "Thank you."

Carol shrugged and smiled. "We're all allowed a moment like that, PJ." She pulled away and we finished cleaning up, putting everything in the two packs we had before she helped me lower the dogs back down into the house where Sophia was patiently waiting. I strapped my quiver on and strung my bow over my shoulder before tossing the packs to the two women than I climbed down.

It was mid-morning by the time we chose to leave.

And almost lunch time before we found signs of life.

Spirit and Ollie had been quiet right until we hear the sounds of groaning walkers. The two of them shot off into the bushes giving us no choice to follow.

Instinct took over and as soon as we had the walkers in our sights, we immediately dispatched them.

I stopped when I heard the muffled cry of a baby and spun around looking for whoever made the sound, eventually setting my eyes on Lizzie and Myka and Judith.

I burst into tears and ran over to the three girls, grabbing Judith off Lizzie to plant kisses on her soft little head.

Carol looked at me and grinned before she started questioning the girls about who they were with.

Right now, I didn't care. I had Judith and that meant I was one step closer to finding Rick.