Chapter 7: Over
We made several more trips to the hilltop, normally at the end of the week. Paul and I had built up a better friendship.
Bow and I went on walks, that mostly consisted of jogging, we went farther every other morning.
I turned the cold water on. Just having my hands under it caused the ice of the temperature to slowly snake through my veins before I splashed it onto my face several times. My hands were shaking from the coldness of the water when I grabbed the towel and dried my face off. That was when the flash of silver blue eyes with a hint of Amber caught my attention in the mirror. Since I hadn't put my hair up yet, the loose copper stands framed my face. I straightened up, fixing my jacket, making myself look presentable. That was when I kicked myself in the ass.
What the hell was happening? Who - or better yet - what have I become? I had never tried to be this civil in my life. I was a caged lion put on a chain leash, being paraded around. None of them having a clue how badly I could bite back. But the most important question was, what the hell was I letting them? I sighed, staring at the counter. Maybe it was because that fire inside of me had finally been stomped out. I knew several people who would throw parties and use up most of their rationing because of this. But maybe it was just easier to lie to myself. That this was the best, for me, and my children. My best chance to find Carl, Daryl, find Alexandria.
I took my hair tie and tried something different. Instead of putting my hair in a pony, I braided it.
"You were thinking of Alexandria. The place where dad is, weren't you?" I turned to find CJ. A weak smile formed on my lips. He looked so much like his father, with his rich brown hair reaching toward his jaw line. And those bright, determined baby blue eyes of his. I seriously had to stop telling him certain things, or I'll never be able to hide anything from him when he gets older. My little boy. Won't take crap from anyone, and still finds ways to make me proud of him.
"Yes Carl, yes I was." Kneeling down, I brushed the hair out of CJ's face.
"Mom." He said quietly.
"Yeah?" I brushed some hair behind his ear.
"I uh... I lost my hat."
"Again?" CJ nodded at my question, and I sighed. "Well it's a good thing Keira gave it to me last night." CJ's eyes brightened as I reached onto the counter and grabbed the deputy hat. "How many times do I have to tell you to quit losing this thing before it gets through that thick skull of yours?" I asked, tapping CJ's head.
"Maybe about a hundred twenty times." CJ smirked.
"I think we've already reached that number." I smiled setting the hat on his head. It stayed for a second, before the hat slid down, almost covering CJ's eyes. We chuckled about it as I took the hat off his head, turning it in my hands. "I would say we could fix it so it fits. But I suspect your father might want it one of these days."
"That's okay. I like it like this." I looked up at CJ. "Then I can tell the other kid it was my dad's, and they'll believe me. And that one of these days I can give it back to him, like you always say."
I smiled at my little boy, kissing his forehead, wrapping my arms around him, and resting my chin on his shoulder. "I love you and your sister. You know that right?"
"Yeah mom. You say it everyday," CJ told.
"I don't say it enough." I said, pulling back.
"Hawna! Let's get moving." Bow called from the living room. I kissed CJ's forehead once more, before placing the hat back on his head.
"When will you be back?"
"Maybe right before supper. Somewhere in the afternoon." I answered as I stood up. "You be good for Keira today." I messed with CJ's hat, causing it to fall over his eyes before I walked down the hallway.
"Aren't we always?" I couldn't stop the smirk that formed over my lips at CJ's attempt.
"That's not always what I hear for Keira Carl Luca Grimes." My smirk widened as CJ mumbled under his breath. "Tell tell your sister I said I lover her. And to behave!" I called right next to the door, with Bow by me.
"Okay mom, see you when you get back." CJ answered.
"See you when I get back." And with that, we went out the door and got into the car.
I shook my head. "I swear those two are double trouble." I couldn't help my smile.
"Oh, and I wonder where they get that from?" Bow looked at me from the corners of his eyes.
"Their father." I mumble before making my way to the passenger's seat. Once I shut the door, Bow looked at me.
"And I am yet to meet him. So the accusing finger at one person."
"Oh shut it." Bow laughed at my response.
The comforting dream of being back in Alexandria was slowly slipping from my fingers as I was jostled back into consciousness. Sleepily I opened my eyes to find the sun maybe an hour from setting. Then I looked around at the road, and the unending cars that lay ahead of us.
"Where the hell are we?" I asked. This wasn't the normal way we took to the Hilltop, or back even going back to EastHaven.
"We took a detour." Nate answered from the backseat. Slowly Bow brought the car to a halt at the back end of the traffic jam. We all got out. Nate climbed onto the hood, finding no way we could maneuver through.
"Why didn't we take the normal way?" I asked. Bow passed on the driver's side of the car, trying to figure out this riddle. But to me it seemed so plain and simple.
"It was blocked. Too many dead. Damn roamers." I tilted my head to the side. Catching the tail end of Nate's lie. But, with one look to Bow, this was the subject that he didn't like me treading on. So, I added this fine occasion to a list of where this came up and caused problems. The very mental list I was eventually going to lay out in front of Bow. And I just decided that was the exact thing I was going to do once we got home.
"Maybe we can go a little further. Take the next back road, find our way from there." Nate told Bow. I was currently walking along the side of the road, looking down the hill of a ditch that smoothed out the land below the road. I heard footsteps behind me. I spun around finding a walker. After taking a step back, I slid my knife into its skull. My back foot happened to be on the very edge of the hill, as the walker, and all its weight came to me.
"Oh shit!" I exclaimed, before my side slammed into the slide of the hill and I started rolling. When I was at the bottom, there was a dead walker my body hit, before the one I killed landed on top of me.
"Hawna!" I heard Nate call from the road, but that was when I smelled more walkers. A herd of them. Nate and I smelled them before we saw them. "Hawna!" Nate called again.
"Nate! Fall back, we gotta go!" Someone yelled as the walkers shuffled from behind the other cars. I didn't hear the car doors slam, or the car even start. It was too late to drive, so they had to run. They had no choice, and neither did I. I had to wait it out by the dead bodies of two walkers. Some of the walker shuffled on the side of the hill, the smell was sickening. Pulling my jacket up so it covered my nose. Closing my eyes, my hand gripped the handle of my knife, as I waited for it all, to be over.
A/N
No, I didn't mean it for her to get bit (again) and die.
So there we go with Bow hiding shit again. This time it caused Sunny to get caught up in a herd underneath two dead walkers... Well then, sounds like a lovely day...
But that conversation with CJ tho... :)
Gotta love Carl Junior.
Will Sunny make it back to EastHaven?
What will happen on her journey back?
Could she run into a familiar face?
Or even find a link to Alexandria?
Please remember to vote and comment... And until the next chapter!