"If something does go wrong, here is my advice... KEEP CALM and CARRY ON."

– Maira Kalman, The Principles of Uncertainty

"You were right," Rick said to me the next morning as he came walking down the stairs. "That bed wasn't bad at all."

"Told ya," I said with a grin.

"Everything alright?" he asked me.

"Yeah, some walkers passed by around one in the morning and then another group passed around three, I'm not sure how many but there weren't more than five, I could just hear them and I could tell it wasn't a big group."

"Well, good they didn't notice us," Rick said as he sat next to me on the couch. "Where's Michonne?"

"In the bathroom," I told him and then smiled at him. "I told her I would kick her out if she didn't shower."

"I should take one as well," Rick admitted. "I only washed my face and cleaned my wounds the other day."

A few minutes later Carl joined us, he looked really sleepy and his long brown hair was all over the place, I suppose mine was like that too. He mumbled an almost unintelligible 'morning' before he sat in between us with his eyes still half closed.

"You stayed up all night?" Carl muttered.

"Almost," I told him. "I fell asleep around four and then I woke up around five and then fell asleep for like another hour or so, I still want to sleep a bit more."

After Carl woke up properly, he went to the kitchen, grabbed his bowl and spoon and took those to the dining room along with the cereal, he sat and served himself some of it. I sat down next to him after I grabbed my bowl and spoon.

"This is good," I commented, Carl only nodded at me, he was still sleepy.

About two minutes later we were joined by Michonne, who already had a bowl in her hands but that wasn't what caught our attention. She was wearing a fancy, white, long-sleeve shirt that probably belonged to the mother of the house. Carl and I chuckled at the sight. Michonne sighed as she set three bottles of water on the table, one for each one of us.

"Do you have something to say about my extremely comfortable and attractive shirt?"

"No, no, no," Carl muttered in between laughs. "It looks great."

"You should change styles, Mich," I told her as I chuckled. "It suits you."

"At least I don't wear kids' clothes," she shot back.

Michonne ignored our jokes and laughs as she made a knot on the back of the shirt, making it tighter on her and then she sat in front of me.
"I wish we had some soy milk," she commented before serving herself the last bit of the cereal.
"Seriously?" Carl asked surprised.

"Yes, seriously. Have you ever tried it?" Michonne asked, looking from Carl to me.

"It's not that bad but I prefer normal milk," I told her. "Actually, I don't even remember what milk tastes like."

"My best friend in third grade, he was allergic to dairy," he told us. "And every day he would bring this soy stuff to lunch. I tried it."
"And?" Michonne exclaimed.

"I threw up," Carl said and then chuckled.
"Oh, yeah, right," Michonne said, not believing him.
"All right, all right. I almost threw up, But I was like, wuah," Carl exclaimed as he pretended to puke. Michonne and I laughed at him. "It was so gross. I mean, literally, I would rather have powdered milk than to have to drink that stuff again. I would rather have Judith's formul..."

An awkward silence fell upon us as we realized what Carl had said, after he realized what he had said. I looked down at my cereal and bit my lip not knowing what to say to make it all okay.

"I'm gonna go finish my book," Carl exclaimed as he quickly stood up once he recovered. "I have a couple chapters left."
Michonne and I just looked at each other after Carl left and we heard him going upstairs. I took a deep breath and looked down at my food again, not feeling hungry anymore.

"I'm gonna... uh, I better save this," I grabbed the bag of the cereal and returned the cereal there, I knew that if I had done that years ago my mother would have killed me but now we needed to save everything, even the crumbs.

"Ceci..."

"It's okay," I said quickly. "I'm not that hungry."

I undid my ponytail as I walked to the kitchen where I found Rick. I smiled at him as I attempted to make a nice ponytail but my hair was so messy and tangled I couldn't get my fingers through it, so I gave up and put my hair in a high bun.

"Why don't you eat something?"

"I will," he told me.

"Rick, I..."

"Here," he said quickly, interrupting me. He was handing me a big knife he found in a cabinet. "You don't have one, do you?"

"No, I lost it," I told him as I took it in my hands. "Thanks."

"How are you doing on ammo?" he asked me.

"I still have every bullet," I told him. "And I only hope that I don't break any arrow, why? Are you out?"

"No, not yet but I'm close to."

Michonne joined us then, apparently she did eat her breakfast. She looked hesitantly as she walked in and I wondered why was that.

"Thank you," Rick said when he saw her. "I heard him laughing in there, almost forgot what that sounded like."

"Yeah," I said sadly. "Me too."
"I can't be his father and his best friend," Rick told us. "You're like his big annoying but caring sister," he said to me and then turned to look at Michonne. "He needs you too."

Michonne looked up at him in surprise. She was leant against one of the white counters of the kitchen, while Rick and I were on the other side of the kitchen in front of her.
"I know that's a lot to throw at you. So, if you're ever feeling like you need a break..."

"I'm done taking breaks," Michonne exclaimed quickly, interrupting Rick, who only nodded at her, being a bit stunned. "So what's the plan? This place, is it home or just a stop along the way?"

I turned to look at Rick, being interested in the answer as well. This place seemed alright, I admit that, but I needed to look for Daryl. I couldn't stay here forever... I couldn't even stay one more night.

"Well, let's..." he started, glancing at me before he turned to look at Michonne again. "Let's just stay here while we figure it out.

"I need to look for Daryl, Rick," I exclaimed firmly.

"I know, we just need to not rush things and make stupid and reckless decisions."
"Well, we'll need more supplies," Michonne said. "I'll go with Carl and get some."
"I'll come, too," Rick said almost instantly.

I think that for the first time ever I wasn't really looking forward to go on a run for supplies, I actually was going to volunteer to stay. If I couldn't go on my own to find Daryl then there was not much I wanted to do.
"You were unconscious not long ago," Michonne exclaimed.
"I'm awake today," Rick argued.
"We need you strong. Just rest," Michonne told him. "Just one more day."

Rick just looked at her with a look on his face that I had never seen before, it was like Michonne made him feel safe and he knew Carl would be okay with her. Rick didn't agree or say anything else but I knew this discussion was over. Rick was staying to rest.

"Don't worry," I said, breaking the silence and breaking the stares they were giving to each other. "You'll stay with me."

"You are not going?" Rick exclaimed in surprise.

"Nah, not this time," I muttered as Michonne walked out, probably to go tell Carl about the run. "Maybe you could let me go around, I won't go far, I promise."

"If you go, I'll go with you," Rick told me. "I will be nervous all the time. I'll already be nervous for Carl, don't give me more to worry about, alright? Let's just go one step at a time."

I crossed my arms and sighed in defeat, feeling like a young girl being denied to go out to play. If I hadn't made that promise to Carl I would be out of this house looking for Daryl already. The only thing that calmed me down a bit was the fact that I knew that Daryl knows how to survive.

"I'm not a child, Rick," I told him.

"I feel like you are my daughter and after losing almost everyone, I feel like I have to protect you. I don't want to lose you too."

"You and Carl won't lose me, I just feel like I should look around, feel content that at least I tried," I said. "Get some closure, you know? At least that. If I don't go today, I won't be okay with myself, I need to look for him."

"Tell you what," Rick said as he rested a hand on my shoulder. "Once they are back, you and I will go around and look until around five, so we still have light by the time we come back."

"But you need to rest, Rick."

"I can handle it," he told me. "I want to find him too."

"Alright, but don't tire yourself out, deal?"

"Deal."

As we talked Michonne went to get Carl, the two of them had already bags in their hands. They were quite quick.

"How long you think you'll be?" Rick asked as he followed them out of the door.

"Fill a couple bags, shouldn't be too long," Michonne told him.
"It's 8:15 now," Rick commented as he looked at a very familiar watch. I was leaning on the door but couldn't be sure from this distance.

"Is that... is that my mum's?" I asked as I approached them.

"Yeah," Rick replied in a hoarse voice just before he coughed nervously. "She gave it to me when... uh, yeah."

"We'll be back by noon," Michonne spoke when he realized things were getting a bit awkward.
"All right, you follow her lead," Rick said as he turned to Carl. "You understand?"

Rick took his gun and gave it to Carl, he had used all his bullets the other day when he went to get us more food.

"Hey," Rick exclaimed. "Everything okay?"

To be honest, ever since he mentioned his little sister that spark that was back in his eyes since Rick woke up again and he forgave him, was gone again. He looked sad and unmotivated but I couldn't blame him, I lost my own sister and I took it much worse than him.

"Yeah, I'm just hungry," Carl muttered.
"All right," Rick said, "I'll see you in a couple hours."

I walked back inside but Rick waited until Carl and Michonne were out from his sight. Rick told me he was going to take the shower he said he needed earlier, while I just changed my clothes. This time I worn some jeans from the mother, so they would reach below my ankle but they were too lose, so I had to use a belt from the boy. I also used clean panties and a brand new black bra I found in the drawer and put on a yellow tank top from the mother and on top of it I used a dark blue long sleeve shirt from the father, buttoning only half of the buttons. The shirt was huge but it was comfortable.

I was actually happy with my outfit, it was cooler than the boy's clothes I had been wearing for the last two days or so. The only thing I missed from my belongings was my sport bras, I really wish I could find more soon, normal bras were so uncomfortable.

Once I finished, I sat down on the bed with a book in one hand and a brush in the other. I really needed to brush this hair. Because of all the knots it hurt like a bitch but it was worth it. I even French braided it so it wouldn't get so tangled again.

Then I lied down on my stomach and started reading the book I had picked. 'One Thousand and One Night'. I had heard it was a good book but I never bought it or remembered to buy it.

Minutes later after I started reading it, Rick walked into the bedroom and smiled at me when he saw me. He looked clean, better and he was wearing clean clothes, he had chosen a pure white T-shirt that made him look so much better than the ripped brown shirt he had been wearing.

"Mind if I join you?"

"No, not at all," I said with a smile.

Rick smiled again and sat down next to me, he set the watch on the night table and then rested his back on the wall. Opening the book he had brought to read.

"Oh, Rick, your feet smell," I joked as I pushed his feet away from me, which were almost next to my face.

"Yeah, well, yours smell too," he said as he pushed my own feet, which one was over the other. "So, we are even."

I stopped pushing his feet and went back to my book, which was very interesting, actually. I never was the reading type, I read a book here and there and only thin ones, the only thick books I read were the Harry Potter books and the last ones took me like a month or even more to finish each. It took me around a year to finish them all.

Once, I tried reading The Lord of the Rings but I didn't get far with them to be honest. Narnia was different, the books are way thinner and I managed to read them all, but it took me a while, as always.

"Are you upset because your mother gave me the watch?" Rick suddenly asked.

"No, of course not. I'm actually happy she finally got rid of it," I told him as I turned my head to look back at him. "I kept telling her for months to get over my father and just throw the watch away or something. She claimed she needed it but I knew it was only a lame excuse to keep it."

"Are you upset because of what I did to Carol?"

I sat up and turned to look at Rick right in the eye, making sure I remembered the page I was reading in case the book closed.

"No," I said sincerely. "She killed them, I understand you had to do it. And I understand that she had to face the consequences of what she did. You said she wasn't sorry, can't blame you."

"Okay," Rick said with relief. "I always believed you were mad at me because of it."

"No, I was mad at my mother, not at you," I told him. "But looking at the bright side, she might be alive. She wasn't at the prison and she knows how to survive now. I like to think now that everything happens for a reason. Maybe she was supposed to be away from there, so she could live and besides she told you about..." My voice broke as I tried to say his name, even after a couple of months I still had problems speaking about him.

"Sean?"

"Yeah," I muttered, looking down for a bit. "Maybe if you hadn't found us in the woods, I wouldn't have made it. I remember you and Daryl carried me to the prison, Sean wouldn't have done that. Of course, that doesn't make me less sad about not having her here, not having her when I needed her the most."

"I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry," I said with a smile to reassure him. "Things worked out and Axel is with her, so, at lease she's not alone. It must be maddening to be on your own for so long."

"You're right."

After that I went back to my book, which now was closed. I opened it again and started reading. I couldn't believe how good this book was.

I was so immersed in the book, I didn't realize how much time had passed. I sat up and stretched, making my back crack. I looked behind me and saw Rick sleeping with the book lying on his chest. I smiled at him, he was finally getting some deserved rest.

I stood up and went to the bathroom, as I finished I heard the sofa downstairs being pushed and the door being opened. I was about to ask Carl how everything went when I heard different male voices. I ran back to the master bedroom to wake Rick up. I shook him and when he was going to ask me what was wrong, I shook my head and brought my index finger to my lips, signalling him to keep quiet and then he knew why, he heard the voices too.

"Get under the bed," he whispered to me. "Now," he said more urgently as we heard a loud screaming downstairs.

A man got upstairs and was checking the room closest to the stairs and Rick still hadn't gotten under the bed with me. I wanted to tell him to hide but then we would be heard. Then Rick ran to the other side of the bed and got under it with his book and his watch. I cursed in my head because I had left the book on the bed.

When the man walked to the other room, Rick quickly grabbed his bottle of water and I grabbed my book and left it on the floor. Seconds later we saw the feet of the man, he was inside the room, I could only pray to not be seen. I had a pillow in front of me that hid almost all of me from view but the man kicked it to the side, I thought he knew about us but he just moved to the closet, checking inside of it.

I turned to look at Rick and saw his hands shaking badly, as the man started walking and making some noise with every step he took, I dared to grab Rick's left hand, he turned to look at me and just nodded as he gripped my hand.

The man lied down on the bed, making the mattress sink with his weight and hitting Rick on his back, making him slightly jump.

"This will be our abode for the evening," I heard a man downstairs saying and I just cursed in my head. We needed to leave and find Michonne and Carl before they return.

I rested my head on the wooden floor as we waited, every minute seemed like an hour and I feared it would only be a matter of time before we are found and maybe killed.

Based on Rick's watch, about fifteen minutes had passed since we hid under the bed. We could hear the man snoring, so, I was going to tell Rick with signs that we should leave when we heard someone else going up the stairs. Since this room was in front of the stairs we could perfectly see the man and he could have seen us too but luckily he didn't.

"Yo! Comfy?" The man asked as he stood by the door.

"You waking me up to see if I'm comfortable?" the other man muttered in an annoyed tone.

"I want to lie down."
"Two other bedrooms up here to choose."
"Them's kids' beds, I want this one," the man exclaimed as he walked into the room.
"It's claimed."
"I didn't hear it. You gonna have to lay claim somewhere else."

Not long after that I heard them struggling as the man on the bed was pulled to his feet. If they fought for a bed and they were group mates, I didn't want to imagine what they could do to us, strangers.

My thoughts were interrupted when the man that was sleeping before, was thrown to the ground in front of us. My eyes went wide in horror as I saw him struggling against the other man, who punched the one on the floor, making his face turn in our direction. He opened his eyes as he coughed and his green eyes got twice as big when he saw us.
"Len! Len, stop!" the man exclaimed, trying to warm the other about us but he kept suffocating him. "Stop, Len! Stop!"
"My bed now, jackoff!" the Len guy exclaimed as the other man fell unconscious, much to our luck.

Len moved to the side of the bed where Rick was and jumped on it, making the mattress sink with his weight and once again it hit Rick on his back.

Now we needed more than ever to get out of here, this man could wake up at any time and if he did when we were still here then we could consider ourselves dead.

About another twenty minutes passed when we started hearing Len snoring, Rick tapped my shoulder and with his hands he ordered me to get out. I slowly moved to my left and dragged my body out of the bed, I slowly pulled myself up and waited for Rick to get out too. When he was about to do it, he bumped into Len's foot, that was hanging from that side of the bed. I looked at the man and saw him move slightly but luckily he didn't wake up. Rick continued to move but making sure to not touch his foot again. I offered him my hand and helped him getting up to his feet.

"Tony, Len, get your asses down here," a third voice called from downstairs.

Rick and I silently rushed out of the room and we saw a man with greyish hair going up the stairs, bouncing a tennis ball against the walls on his way. Rick and I walked into the boy's room, where Carl usually spends his time.

"Yo, you hear me?"

This room was kind weird, it had a small room inside of it, it didn't have a door, just a space to walk through, the bed was there. Rick hid behind the left side of that wall and I hid behind the right one. We heard the older man walking into the room as he kept bouncing that wall, making my heart jump every time he did that.

After he looked at some stuff, he stood by the little space in between the walls and bounced the ball against the wall in front of him, I could literally see his hand as he threw the ball. Rick and I stood still like statues as the man kept bouncing the ball.

Luckily, my crossbow was here and not in the master bedroom or downstairs, I had left it here two days ago after Carl called me to show me something he had found. I was glad I hadn't had the need to use it lately. After the man walked away I grabbed and loaded it, in case I needed to use it.

Rick and I tried to open the windows but we couldn't get them up, so Rick and I walked into the bigger part of the room, where Rick grabbed a trophy. We were about to walk out of the room when we saw two men walking out of the master bedroom.

"There's a woman shacking up in here!" I froze when I heard that.
"She hot?" I think Len asked.
"She ain't here," a man from downstairs exclaimed, I felt myself releasing the breath I was holding. They hadn't seen me.
"What the hell you hollering about?" Len yelled.

"Found her shirt, must have washed it this morning, smells good."

Unfortunately they now know there's someone in here, they found Michonne's shirt but they didn't know how many more were with her so that was good in a way.
"Oh, you found a shirt? She could be miles away by now."

"Why'd she go to all the trouble of washing a shirt when she's just gonna ditch it? She'll be back. I call first when she gets here."
"Who knows who else she got with her, we need to be ready for anything."

Rick and I were running to the master bedroom, where they had left a big gun. Tony, the man on the floor, was still there passed out.

"Hold on, I left the gun upstairs," we heard Len saying. "Hey, why don't you go for it?"

"Whatever," we heard another voice saying as that other man started going up the stairs.

Rick and I stopped dead in our tracks and went somewhere as silently as we could. Unlucky for me I wasn't fast enough and this man saw me. He stood on the top of the stairs just looking at me and I was also petrified on my spot. This man had blonde hair and striking green eyes, very similar to the eyes of Teresa. Luckily, he didn't alert anyone about me, he only smirked at me as he took a step towards me.

He probably believed I was the girl of the shirt they found and he was coming for me. Before I could even think about it, my instincts of survival kicked in, I pointed my crossbow at him and before he could react or yell out, I shot an arrow at him, it went right through his forehead. I guess it had become a habit to aim at the head. I retrieved the arrow quickly and walked into the bathroom, where Rick was trying to suffocate another man.

I quickly closed the door so the men downstairs wouldn't hear. The man kept trying to grab some scissors but I got to them before him. I kicked him down there, giving Rick more advantage. The two of them fell down to the floor and finally the man was dead.

Rick grabbed the man's gun as I opened the window, which luckily could be opened. I was going out when I saw Rick going in the opposite direction.

"What are you doing?" I whispered, Rick was opening the door.

"He'll turn." That was all he said before he climbed out of the window as well.

We walked on the ceiling carefully and crouched, so we wouldn't be seen through the windows in case someone else was around.

"I'll go first," he whispered to me. "I'll jump, once I'm down, you just have to hang on here and I'll get you."

Before I could nod, Rick pushed himself to the edge, he held on with only his hands before he let go. He made sure no one saw him or heard before he nodded at me. I gulped as I did the same as him, I let the rest of my body fall and I almost let go, falling on top of Rick but I gripped the edge tightly as my body swang a bit . Rick quickly grabbed me by my thighs and I let go. He set me on the floor quite fast and we both ran down the stairs of the porch.

Carefully and silently, we walked all the way to the front of the house, where we hid in a corner for a bit longer. We heard a door being opened, followed by the bounces of the ball, meaning it was the same man we saw earlier. He sat on the railing of the porch as he ate something, he was literally next to us and if he looked down he would see us.

To our bad luck, we saw Michonne and Carl coming back to the house, it must be noon or close to it. I cursed once again in my head. We couldn't let them be seen or this would get ugly. We already killed two of his men and... shit, that man saw our faces, we should have killed him before leaving.

Getting impatient, Rick started to get up and get ready to shoot the man, it was the only way. I stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder and shaking my head at him. I pointed twice to my chest, meaning that I would do it with my crossbow so the others wouldn't hear the shot.

I was about to stand up and do it when I heard a man screaming from inside, apparently the man Rick killed had turned and attacked someone inside already. I couldn't be more thankful for Rick's clever idea as the man here started to walk back inside the house.

We heard some gunshots and a second later, Rick slightly pushed me forward and the two of us ran as fast as we could to where Carl and Michonne were, who had also heard the gunshots.

"Come on!" Rick whispered urgently to them.

The two of them started running as well, Rick looked back to make sure we weren't being followed, before he quickened his pace. I was surprised that I got out of breath quickly but I kept going. We left the neighbourhood and ran even half a mile more before stopping.

I panted and crouched, resting my hands over my knees to catch my breath. Being in a house for almost a week doing nothing but eat and rest hadn't done me any good.

"What happened?" Carl asked in between deep breaths.

"A group of men," Rick told him. "Apparently they weren't friendly."

"Aww, I left my shirt," Michonne exclaimed sadly.

"I told you, you needed to change styles," I exclaimed with a smirk. "That new shirt suits you."

"Speaking of styles, good to see you are wearing something better," she told me. "Anyway, what are we going to do?"

"Get as far as we can," Rick exclaimed. "Apparently that was only a stop along the way," he said looking at Michonne, answering the question she made earlier.

I was sad we had lost our house and it wasn't safe to stay in another close to them, so we had to be out in the open again but I was satisfied that in a way, I was looking for Daryl now. I only wished I could have learnt to track.

Hello everyone! I don't really have much to say today. But as always, hoped you liked it and thanks for keep reading and all the comments I've gotten. I really appreciate all that. 3