when i look at you | TWD

chapter seventeen: home sweet home

THE WOOD BURNS SLOWLY, EVERYONE CROWDING AROUND, EATING THE SQUIRRELS THAT DARYL HAD CAUGHT FOR THEM NOT TOO LONG AGO. It was a nice night tonight, not too hot, not too cold. The wind was blowing lightly, Ellie's hair moving around her face while she stares at the burning wood in silence.

Ellie flicks her eyes up at Jax, who was standing a far distance away from her, his hand on the knife that sat in a sheath on his hip. Tonight was his night on watch and he made sure he would be the perfect person for it.

Faint footsteps are heard from the bushes, alerting the group. Ellie gets up from her spot, holding up her knives up in a threatening manner.

The figure emerges from the bushes, holding up their hands in surrender. "Woah..."

Ellie sighs in relief, putting down her weapon when she see's Rick and Daryl back from their hunt. They stare back at her, a look of excitement in their eyes. "What? Did you guys find something?"

"Yeah, we did."

Ellie's jaw drops once she see's the prison yard that Rick and Daryl led them too. Everyone else seemed to be in shock as well, eyes roaming the land. Rick, T-dog, Maggie, Daryl and Glenn ordered the rest of the group to stay behind, incase something went wrong while they went to clear out the walkers from inside the prison.

"How are we gonna get through all that?" Beth whispered to Ellie, the girl turning to give her best, reassuring smile. There was walkers roaming around the yard. A lot of them.

"I'm sure we have some sort of plan." Ellie reassures the girl. The blonde nodded slowly, unsure of her response as she tightens her grip on her knife she held.

Jax moves beside the two, making Ellie tense up, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. He blows out a breath, shooting the girl beside him a nervous glance that then moved to his brother across from him, a focused look on his face as he looks at the scattered walkers across the prison yard.

Glenn comes back panting, pointing behind him. "I've got the gate opened, Rick and the others are already inside."

"Okay, let's go." Jax says, leading the others behind Glenn, making their way through the gate. Each person makes their way through cautiously, keeping an eye out for the sharp edges of the fence.

As Ellie goes through, she inhales sharply once she feels the metal scrape against her palm, blood dripping onto the floor. Her blue eyes stay on the wound as the blood gushes out rapidly, dripping onto her converse that already have previous blood stains on them, turning a dark brown color from time.

"El." Maggie calls out, pulling out a rag from her pocket before moving towards the girl, wrapping her hand tightly. Ellie watches as she does this, furrowing her eyebrows in pain. "There. That won't help but it'll stop the bleeding for now. C'mon." The woman says, motioning to the walkers roaming around the yard which was waiting to be cleared out.

Ellie sniffs, wiping the stray tear that fell from her eye. "Okay, lets go." The two jog up towards the group, or half the group anyway as the rest were off killing the dead.

Glenn stood in front of the small gate, motioning for everyone to go through. "Okay, Maggie, you go with me. Ellie..." Glenn trails off, looking to her hand. "What happened?"

Ellie looks to Maggie momentarily, weirdly wanting her to answer for her. "Uh... it's a cut. I cut myself on the fence."

Glenn gives her a nod of acknowledgement before making his way through the gate, giving her one last look of concern before running along the side of the wall, out of sight.

"El will come with me." Jax says, moving closer to the girl, his large hand wrapping around her upper arm gently, almost as if she'd break under his touch.