Malevolent. The Walking Dead

[ 023 ] running, running

023: running, running

Joey stared at herself in the mirror. Her reflection was rigged. She had splashed her face with water and felt rejuvenated—to a certain degree. The past few days had been surprisingly non incidental. She had been hanging out with Carl each day, but only for an hour or so before Joey felt herself beginning to feel nervous around him and sent him away, saying she had stuff to do. He never seemed to question her, which Joey liked. He wasn't like Bill or Finn. He didn't pry anymore—he seemed to catch onto that quicker than either of the other men in her life. Joey hated the fact that she had referred to Carl under the umbrella of men in her life, but that was neither here nor there. Joey was looking at herself—she was thinking of herself. It was something rare yet treasured. She stared at herself for a bit longer and picked away at the image of herself—her bruised skin, the peeling beneath her eyes that tried to mask the bags. She looked ill.

They had a run that morning—Joey was still tired from the lack of sleep she had been getting the past few days. She was wearing the same clothes, but it didn't matter. There was an apple that she took small bites out of. Joey never really had much of an appetite in the mornings, but especially not these past few days. For some reason she enjoyed being able to dictate how much she ate now, because she wasn't worried about when or how she was going to eat in the first place.

She took a few more bites and some gulps of water before tying back her hair in a braid, and stepping outside. It was early morning, meaning it wasn't too hot or too warm. She had presumed that Bill and Finn had left already to do their work on the wall with Abraham, and the people from Alexandria who had already been scouted as workers. Joey began to question why her and Finn got jobs but Carl, Enid, Ron, and none of the other teenagers did. Joey knew Noah was only seventeen and he had a job, as well. Maybe Deanna thought they were disposable.

Joey arrived at the same place they had come to when doing their first run. Maggie was helping them load the van and Eugene was trying to convince Aiden and Noah that he didn't need to come—that what they were looking for was in plain sight and it "most likely" was correct if they picked it up. Noah kept pushing a gun, in its holster, into his chest. Joey knew Eugene was weak. She wondered if he would let them all die if it meant he would survive—although she already seemed to know the answer. Joey came to realize how little she knew about all of them—Noah, Tara, Glenn. The others in Alexandria didn't mean much to her. She didn't know much about Rick, either, who they claimed to be their almighty leader. Joey knew more about Carl every day. But it felt like she was living among a party of strangers. She was living among strangers.

They were packing up the van when Joey saw Bill running from a distance. He seemed to be sweating and out of breath, like he had run all the way here. Joey pinched the bridge of her nose as if she was annoyed, but she wasn't. "You were really going to leave without saying goodbye?"

"I figured you would be out the door already."

"I would never let you leave without seeing you first. You know, if you want me or Finn to come, I'm sure none of them would object—"

Joey scrunched up her nose and shook her head. She hated when he treated her like a baby. "Dude. Chill. I'm fine." She looked around at the others as though she would be embarrassed if they heard him talking to her like that. No one was even paying any mind to them. Bill pulled Joey in for a hug that she tried to reject, but failed. He kissed the top of her head and she didn't move her arms around him. It felt awkward to be this close. She wanted to push him away.

"Alright, alright," she pleaded, pushing him away from her. "I'm not a little kid. I can handle myself."

"But you don't have to."