Don't Close Your Eyes [TWD]

°•nineteen•°

"Are you going to ignore my existence?" Paul whispers as to not wake Kate up as she had her head in my lap.

I stay silent, delicately running my fingers through Kate's hair. Since the hospital, she hasn't said a word to anyone. She stayed asleep or just purely silent. The least I could do was this.

"I don't know if I'm happy or upset about that," Paul says, "I thought you'd have a gun to my head the second you saw me."

"Don't bet against it," I hoarsely reply.

He sighs, scotting closer to me, "Jade-"

"Hey!" Glenn snaps quietly, pointing his finger at Paul then motioning for him to stand.

No one knew who Paul was outside of me, Kate, Maggie, Glenn, Sasha, and Tyreese. No one else knew where he came from, where he had been.

Paul bites the inside of his lip, giving a nod and moving to his feet. He stands in front of Glenn, arms crossed in front of him.

Glenn's voice is hardly above a whisper, but his tone is stern and final, "I told you to keep your distance. Understand?"

"Yes, sir. I just feel-"

"Quiet," Glenn demands, "You don't talk to them, you don't look at them. You stay your ass to the side unless you want me to tell everyone who you really are."

"That's not me. Not anymore," Paul shakes his head.

"I can't trust that. One wrong move from you and you're done," Glenn says.

Paul is silent, causing Glenn to soeak again.

"Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir."

With that, Paul walks back to where Noah sat on his own. Glenn sighs, kneeling beside me.

"You okay?" He asks.

"Yeah," I nod, inhaling a deep breath.

"You say the word, I'll tell the others and we'll take care of it," he reminds.

"How?" I ask, looking over to him.

"Rick will figure something out," he says.

I look down to Kate who was now awake. Her eyes were swollen as she looks deeply into the fire. After a few seconds, tears begin to emerge from the corner of her eyes, slipping down her face and onto my jeans.

"I don't know," I finally say, though it made no sense to say.

Ever since the hospital, it felt like nothing made sense in general. Beth was gone. Kate and Maggie were both shells of themselves. We were on the road to Noah's home, something that was Beth's wish. Paul was alive and I didn't know how or why he'd come back with the group. Each time he'd try to speak to me, Glenn would barge in and shut it down immediately.

But, that wouldn't last long.

--

We'd eventually made it to Noah's home community. From there, he, Rick, Glenn, Michonne, and Tyreese separated. They would be the ones to check the community itself.

The rest of us would stay back, waiting for their call for better or worse.

And once Glenn was preoccupied with something and was out of range, Paul freely walked up to me to strike another conversation up. Kate and I were sitting in the back of the van with the back doors open when he approached.

"Do I have a chance now?" He asks, leaning against the van.

Kate looks over to him, then back to where she stared at the road under her feet.