Broken Bars

Farewell

The cell block was silent when we returned. It did not stay that way, once Lori and Carol spotted us walking through the doors.

"Oh thank god!" Carol cried, rushing to embrace me. I grunted as the skinny woman crushed me with her arms.

"How's Hershel?" T-Dog asked.

"He'll be just fine," Lori reassured him. She looked at Rick, and then to me. "can I have a word with you? Please?"

"Me?" I asked. She nodded. "Yeah, of course." I followed her into an empty cell. Lori paced the floor, hands-on-hips. Her face was pale and her hair was knotted and messy. Underneath her eyes was red and patchy like she had been crying.

"Josie and Carl brought the medicine for Hershel." She finally said.

I shrugged, "So? Ain't that a good thing?"

"They found it in another part of the prison," she explained. My relief turned to horror, then anger. "Carl said they killed some walkers to get it."

"They went on their own?" I hissed. "Did they tell anyone they were going?"

"Nope, I only found out when Carl brought me the bandages and meds." She replied. "I've talked to them, but I think Josie needs to hear it from you."

"Yeah, yeah of course." I squeezed her shoulder, backing out of the cell. My blood was boiling as I searched the cell block for my sister. I knew I wasn't angry, just scared. She could have died while I was gone and I would have been able to do nothing about it. The thought was chilling, it seeped into my bones and froze them.

I finally found her with Sophia. Josie looked up at me, and I saw fear flash through her eyes as she glanced at my squared jaw and fiery gaze. She followed me silently to another cell, where I exploded.

"Lori just told me you and Carl decided to have a little adventure of your own earlier," I snarled. She didn't flinch. "what the hell were you both thinking?"

"You don't need to yell at me about it, Lori's already done that." She snapped back. There was a steely edge to her voice that I hadn't heard since we left the farm. It did nothing to calm me down.

"Good!" I replied. Josie frowned like she had expected me to be mad at Lori. "It sounds like you needed it. How could you? After everything I've taught you about being smart."

"Hershel was dying," she said. Her face turned red, camouflaging her freckles. Her cheeks were a similar color to her hair. "we needed that stuff, and Carl knew where to get it. I don't see your problem, you would have done the same thing."

"I'm not a ten-year-old kid!" I spat back. I could feel my own face heating up.

"You've never had a problem with me helping before," Josie pointed out. "before we met the group, the department store, the farm- weren't some ten-year-old kid then. Why change your mind now?"

"This is different," I answered, leaning against the bars of the cell door. I pressed my cheek against the cool iron to soothe the fire building inside me. "we're safe here, safer than we've ever been. We ain't in a life or death situation, so I don't need to risk us both."

Her face began to lose its color as the anger subsided. Josie's shoulders visibly dropped, her hands no longer forming fists. I reached out, pulling the small girl into a tight hug. Her little arms wrapped around my waist as she buried herself into my stomach. I released my left hand to stroke her hair.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice muffled against my stomach. "I just wanted to help."

"I know, kid," I replied.