VILLAINESS [TWD]

➴9

Ellie woke up crying.

She stayed silent as tears rolled down her cheeks and she rubbed her head. She wasn't sure if she was crying out of fear or pain- maybe both.

Jeanette and another man's bodies were leaned over the dashboard. Their bodies had made a nook of sorts. It reminded Ellie of those camo blankets they used to hide in the woods when the Governor attacked a few months ago.

Then, she realizes that it was the sound of gunshots that had woken her up. More gunshots.

The back door to the van opens and Ellie peers past the bodies blocking her to see all the walkers around the bus. Everyone was gone. It was a miracle that Ellie was alive.

The door shuts. Then, it opens again. And it shuts. The walkers finally get piled up against it, falling out onto the road.

Weakly, Ellie pushes at the dead bodies that had become a fence around her, but she wasn't strong enough to make them budge in the slightest.

Someone grabs the man, rolling the body onto the floor. Then, they move Jeanette's.

Ellie shields her face from the sunlight, too bright considering the dark nook she was in.

"Ellie? Oh, my God.. Ellie?"

"Maggie?" she asks.

Maggie sobs, dropping her weapons as she falls to the floor. She tugs Ellie out of the hole, onto her lap for a hug.

Hershel was dead. The people on the bus made that clear. Everyone was missing. Maggie found Ellie, though.

Despite it all, Ellie holds on tighter as she continues to cry.

--

Ellie was a smart girl. Maybe observant is a better word. Closed off, too, because sometimes she didn't want people to know just how much she knew.

"Am I adopted?" she asks Maggie.

Maggie's hands pause from where she was sharpening her knife. "What?"

Ellie also hated confrontation. That's exactly what this was. But, Glenn wasn't here. Maggie would have all the answers.

"When Glenn and I were sick.. He said that he talked to my momma. That my grandpa was a good man. Then, he talked about daddy. Like daddy was my grandpa."

Maggie could feel her heart pick up pace. She'd just told Ellie the truth about the Governor's return, though it was clear that Ellie had already figured that out. Then, Ellie told Maggie about how Glenn got off the bus to go find her.

"Ellie.." Maggie sighs.

"Is Matt my family? He's not really just a farmhand, right? He's more. Y'all just told me that so he could stay around."

Maggie glances to where Sasha was already laid down for the night and Bob was on watch. Why did this have to happen now?

"Ellie.. When I was young, I mean.. Really.. Really young. I met Matt. We started dating."

Ellie wanted to make a side comment. How could Maggie have gotten so lucky?

"We were kids. I was angry at daddy because of him marrying Annette. I was.. I was awful. I did bad things."

"Bad things?"

"I smoked. Stole things from daddy- from stores. I got into fights at school. I did.. too much."

Ellie nods. That's why she and Beth were considered the good ones- Maggie had enough trouble to make up for all three of them.

"When we were fifteen.." Maggie takes another breath, closing her eyes.