Ellie Dixon

The Aftermath

I was searching for Carol in the prison. I hadn't seen a body and I knew that she could take care of herself. Eventually, it was like I was following a trail of walker bodies. I turned a corner and saw Rick. He was covered from head to toe in blood as he was holding an axe. "Rick." I said quietly as I approached him. "Everybody's worried about you. Probably. I don't know, I'm looking for Carol. You seen her by chance?" I asked as I got closer. When he looked at me, it was like he didn't recognise me. "Mama Rick?" I furrowed my eyebrows. He was just breathing deeply and staring at me. "You shouldn't be in here by yourself anyways. Why don't you come out, your son needs you. You don't have to do this by yourself. Our cell block's cleared, we can just shut the doors again and make this another day's problem... Rick, why don't you just come on out with me?" I offered, reaching up to gently grab his hand. That was my mistake. Rick roughly grabbed my shirt and slammed me into the wall. I screamed as he stared down at me, that crazed look in his eye as he pinned me to the wall. "Rick, it's me. Rick!" I yelled as I started to get scared. "You're scaring me, stop, please." I begged him. Still holding onto my shirt, he pulled me off the wall and pushed me back the way I came. With the force of the push, I fell down, but I quickly stood back up. I then watched as he continued to walk down the hall, dragging the bloody axe with him as he went.

I turned around and started to run back to way I came. I bumped into someone and looked up to see my dad. He picked me up and looked at the scared look on my face. "What's wrong, babe?" Dad asked with furrowed eyebrows, brushing some hair out of my face.

"Daddy, it's Rick. He's gone mad." I cried, holding onto him tightly. "Help him. Please."

Dad was helping me search the prison. He knew Carol was alive too. We were walking in one of the halls when dad spoke up. "Ellie... Darling, are you prepared for if we don't find her?"

"But, we will find her. It's Carol. She can and will survive anything." I nodded.

"I know that, baby. But, we knew that about T-dog too. I just want you to be prepared in case things don't go to plan." Dad stated.

"Sophia can't lose her mother as well. First Jacob, now..." I trailed off. "She deserves better."

"Yes, she does. But so do you. I know you got attached to T-dog. I know you're attached to Carol. But-" I cut him off.

"But nothing. I'm finding Carol. I can't lose her as well. We can't lose her as well." I said firmly. I noticed that there was a door, it looked like it was trying to be pushed open from the inside, but a dead walker was blocking it. I grabbed the walker and started trying to drag it out of the way.

"Just leave it, babe. The walkers trapped in there." Dad reminded me.

"No, what if it breaks out and comes into the cell block while we're all sleeping?" I responded. Dad sighed, nodding before grabbing the dead walker and easily pulling it out of the way for me. I raised my gun and opened the door, when I didn't see a walker standing, I looked down, but I didn't expect what I saw. I saw Carol, she was sitting on the floor and gently trying to push the door open. She looked tired and weak. "Carol, you're okay!" I yelled happily, falling to my knees beside her. Happy tears pricked my eyes as I stared at her. She smiled back at me.

"Come on, let's get her back." Dad said with a smile on his face.

Dad picked her up bridal style and we started running back to our cell block. We saw everyone in the table room. Everyone except Rick, Lori and T-dog. Lori and T-dog we wouldn't see again and after what I saw with Rick, I was wondering if he would come back.

"Sophia!" I yelled, entering the table room

She was leaning into Maggie who was holding her tightly. Sophia's eyes were puffy, bloodshot as her face was red and tear streaked. She was also holding Dolly close to her chest. Sophia weakly looked up to me but then dad entered the room behind me. "Mum!" Sophia yelled, getting up and running over. An overjoyed sob left Sophia's mouth when she saw that Carol was alive.

Dad carried Carol to what I'd dubbed at the medic cell. Dad put her down on the lower bunk, Hershel came in and sat down next to her. I stood on the end of the bed, dad behind me as Sophia had crawled next to the wall to lay with her mother. "How are you feeling, Carol?" Hershel asked.

"Tired." She responded in a quiet and hoarse voice.

"Glenn, get some food and water." Hershel ordered, Glenn nodded and instantly ran off. "She'll need medicine."

"What medicine, daddy?" Maggie asked.

"We haven't got it here; I've already gone through the supplies Ellie and Carl found." Hershel sighed.

"Me and Glenn will do a run." Maggie stated.

"Can I come too?" I asked.

"If it's okay with your dad." Maggie nodded.

I looked up to my father. "Daddy?"

Dad looked conflicted, with one glance at Maggie he looked back to me and nodded. "You do anything and everything Maggie and Glenn tell you. Understand, princess?"

I nodded and smiled before turning back to Hershel. "What do you need?"

"I'll write it down. You'll never remember the name."

Me, Maggie and Glenn headed out in one of the cars. Staring at the field, it broke my heart seeing Oscar and Axel digging two graves. Lori and T-dog. Me and Lori weren't particularly close, she held a grudge since I made Carl's nose bleed, but it still hurt I was never going to see her again. Over the past nine months I'd been excited to meet her and Shane's, sorry I mean Rick's baby, so it was painful finding out that the baby didn't make it either. Me and T-dog had become very close over the Winter, he was like the big protective brother I always wanted. Finding out he died hurt like hell, realising we'd never joke together again broke my heart. If I realised he was such a sore loser I would've told him sooner he was going to be my plus one to Hawaii, he didn't need to die to avoid losing then!

Maggie stopped the car outside the pharmacy we'd located. It was pretty much just in a small store, on the side of the road in between a few other stores. The small car park had a few cars in it as well that had been abandoned. The real town was about a mile down the road. We'd found the medicine and had pretty much loaded up. "I'm going to take the medicine out to the car. You two grab some of this food. We'll be eating good tonight." Maggie smiled at us.

"I'm so hungry." I said happily, going over to the canned goods.

"And I'm so ready to go home. It's been a long day. I need sleep!" Maggie called from outside causing me and Glenn to laugh.

"Are you going to sleep up in the tower again tonight?" I questioned.

Glenn tried to hide a smirk and he blushed slightly. "Hopefully."

"Why? Isn't it cold up there?" I asked.

"We find ways to keep warm." Glenn responded, picking up a ball. "Sophia mentioned you wanted a ball. I can teach you how to play basketball."

"You can play?" I smiled brightly.

"Of course." Glenn confirmed.

"Lower your gun!" Maggie yelled from outside.

Me and Glenn both looked towards the door, she was pointing her gun at someone, but we couldn't see who. Glenn grabbed me and put me in the back room. "Stay here. If someone comes in here before knocking three times, shoot at them. Understand?"

"I can help." I insisted.

"No, you're not. And I'm not arguing. Shut your eyes and cover your ears, okay? Promise me. Show me now." Glenn said while helping me sit down opposite the door. I pulled my knees up to my chest, shut my eyes and covered my ears. "Good girl... I'll be back. I promise." Glenn said, kissing my head before running out of the room and closing the door behind him.