Malevolent. The Walking Dead

[ 027 ] you're better than that

027: you're better than that

Joey woke up, and Judith was still sleeping soundly next to her. When she moved, she saw that Carl was asleep as well, his gun right next to his head. There was commotion coming from outside, that somehow wasn't waking either of them. Still on edge from earlier, Joey quietly got off the bed, slipping into her shoes so quickly that she was only able to get half of it on her foot. She reached to grab her gun, quietly opening and closing the door behind her before going down the steps. No one was in the house, which alarmed her. The doors were all still locked, as though no one had come into the house since her and Carl went to sleep. Joey still was rubbing the sleep out from her eyes when she walked out the front door, down the steps, and carefully ran toward the noise that was mainly coming from the front gates. It didn't sound like people talking—it sounded like moaning, whining. Like rotters.

Rounding the corner, there was a group of people gathering at the front. They listened in awe and horror at the rotters constantly banging and murmuring behind the wall, and Joey turned on the safety of her gun and stuck it in the back of her pants. She desperately searched the crowd for Bill or Finn, but didn't see either of them, until she spotted Bill from a distance. She could tell it was him just by the way he was standing. "Bill!" she called out, and he turned around, running to meet her halfway and engulfing her in a hug.

"Where have you been kiddo?"

She nestled her head in his chest and hugged him back so tightly Bill thought there was something wrong with her. "I was uh—back at the house. Resting." she pulled from the hug and looked around. "Where's Finn?" Bill looked at her with a deadpan expression, inhaling sharply as though he was bearing bad news. "We aren't sure . . . they said if they got stuck they would send a signal."

"A signal?"

"I know. We didn't see anything."

Joey pinched the bridge of her nose, and Bill tried to calm her by grabbing her arms and bringing them to her sides. "That doesn't mean that they aren't alive. They could've just hit a rock in the road. I promise you, they're fighters. Finn's going to be okay."

Joey swallowed, nodding alongside his words before hugging him again. "How did the rotters get here?" she asked, nodding her head to the walls. Bill let out a sigh. "We lost control of the herd. This is only half of them—they heard whatever horn was blasting here and went off track." he crossed his arms firmly over his chest. Joey shook her head. Most of the dead bodies had been cleaned off the streets at this point, and she felt sick to her stomach.

"Are you okay? With that whole shit show that happened?" he asked, placing his hands on her upper arms. Joey was hesitant before she nodded. "Uh—yeah. I'm fine."

"What happened to your arm?" he pointed to the bandage that was wrapped tightly around her arm, that had a small spot of blood seeping through the material. "Just a little cut. I'm okay. I promise." Joey didn't necessarily feel in better spirits—and she wasn't quite sure how she was able to sleep. It took her weeks to finally be able to sleep soundly in Alexandria, yet she was able to nap after a massacre. Joey didn't understand herself most of the time.

"I just—I don't want to talk about it, okay? It's over with." she whispered, and Bill nodded, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and keeping her close. Joey saw Carl running from the house and stopping when he saw the large crowd, and no one getting killed. He probably had the same mindset as Joey. When he saw her, he ran up to her and Bill and sighed in relief. "I didn't know where you went, and I heard rotters outside . . ."

Joey looked to a confused Bill and then back at Carl. "I'm okay. For the most part . . ." she nodded to the wall, which had blood-thirsty rotters on the opposite side. Carl swallowed. "What happened?"