Ellie Dixon

Something Always Goes Wrong

I was down by the fence, by myself, putting my lead pipe through the walker's heads as they were ganging up on it. I was worried about the fence giving. As I moved back and forth along the fence, I suddenly noticed something on the floor. Half chewed rats, six of them. I furrowed my eyebrows as I stared at them... Was somebody feeding the walkers? No, surely not, right? Who would be that insane?

Suddenly, I heard gun shots coming from inside the prison. I stared at the building for a couple seconds before bolting. I ran straight towards the prison before I caught up with Rick who was also running. He and Carl had been down working on the crops like they did every morning. "Stay there!" Rick yelled at me.

"Rick, I-" I started.

"Don't argue. Stay with Carl!" Rick responded before he ran off into the prison.

"Damnit, Rick." I muttered. I in fact did not run back to Carl, I waited in the yard with my gun in hand just in case. 

After about five minutes, I heard noise behind me. I turned and saw Maggie and Carl helping Michonne walk. "Hey, Ellie. Do you know what's going on?" Maggie asked me.

"Wish I did. The Mother Goose told me to stay here." I responded.

"And you listened?" Michonne smirked.

"Decided to change things up." I nodded.

"Dad!" Carl suddenly yelled, looking past me. I turned and saw Rick coming out of the prison. 

"Hey, you might wanna stay back-" Rick started but Carl had already pulled him in for a very tight hug. Carl said something I couldn't hear, but I heard Rick respond. "It's okay, I'm fine, but back away." Rick ordered; Carl walked back until he was standing next to me.

"I had to use one of the guns by the gate. I swear I didn't want too." Carl apologised. I realised I must have been so deep in focus about the prison, I didn't even hear the trigger Carl pulled.

"I was coming back. I fell." Michonne stated. "They came out and helped me."

"Are you alright?" Rick asked. Michonne nodded.

"What happened in there?" Maggie questioned. We noticed a lady walk out to where we do our laundry, holding bloody sheets.

Rick hesitated. "Patrick got sick last night. It's some kind of flu. It moves fast. We think he died and attacked the cell block." Rick told us all before focusing his eyes on Carl. "Look, I know he was your friend and I'm sorry. He was a good kid. We lost a lot of good people." Then Rick looked back to Maggie. "Glenn and your dad are okay, but they were in there." Rick said before looking to me. "So was Daryl and Carol. None of you should get too close to anyone that might've been exposed at least for a little while."

"Is Adam and the other kids alright?" I questioned.

"All of the children are okay. But... Lizzie and Mika's dad." Rick shook his head. "You guys should head back into C."

I nodded. "Thanks, Mama Rick."

With that, I started helping Michonne walk along with Maggie as Carl trailed behind us. We walked in and Sophia was already there pacing. "Do you know what happened?" She asked.

"Patrick's dead. They think there was some kind of flu he died with. Attacked the cell block. Few causalities." I nodded.

"Lizzie?" Sophia questioned.

"Fine for now." I responded. "Her dad's dead though... She was also exposed to the thing that killed Patrick."

"Oh my god." Sophia muttered.

"Mum and dad were in there, but they're okay. But, we can't go near them for a little while. Can't go near anyone who was exposed." I responded. A tear slipped down Sophia's cheek as she took a step forward to hug me tightly. I hesitantly hugged her back and shut my eyes. "It'll be okay, Soph." I whispered.

I was down by the fence again, it's where I spend most of my time considering more and more walkers are leaving the forest and coming towards our prison. It's like we've sent out some kind of alert to all walkers and they just come to bang on our fences now. "What are you doing?" Lizzie's voice screeched from behind me.

I turned around to face her. "What does it look like?" I asked.

"You've killed Nick!" She yelled, tears in her eyes and streaming down her face.

"Listen, I know you've lost your father. And I'm sorry for your loss. I really am. But, these walkers are already dead. The person they were before is dead. I ain't killing nothing that ain't already dead." I explained.

"You're wrong! They're alive! They're just different is all!" Lizzie shouted at me.

"Go back inside, Lizzie." I shook my head.

"I hate you! I hate you!" She screamed before running back towards the prison.

I watched her fun with furrowed eyebrows. "She's an odd one." I muttered.

An hour later, still doing the same job, I noticed Lizzie and Mika outside talking to my mum. I rolled my eyes when I saw Lizzie running away again. I'm not sure what was wrong with her, but she just didn't understand what the walkers really were. I turned my back to them before going back to my job. "Hey, Ellie." My mum's voice said from the other side of the fence a minute after I turned my back.

"Hi, mum." I turned to smile at her before going back to killing the walkers.

"Why don't you come inside? Play with Sophia and Carl?" She offered.

"I got more important things to do. I'm sure they'll be fine without me." I responded.

"Ellie, can I be honest with you?" She asked.

"I'd be offended if you weren't." I answered, turning around to face her, panting slightly because what I was doing was hard work.

"You were upset about Sophia and Carl having new friends, you thought they were pushing you away? But, maybe you were the one doing the pushing. Maybe it's because you think something always goes wrong, you know you love them, and it would hurt to lose them." Mum raised her eyebrows.

"Maybe that's not crazy. But, I'm right. You see these walkers piling up? Some mysterious illness that killed Patrick and therefore like ten other people? Something always goes wrong." I responded.

"Isn't it worth the risk though? Being happy might not be such a bad idea." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Tell that to T-dog and Lori." I shook my head.

"We've lost a lot of people, Ellie, you're right... They died so we could be happy. So, we could have this. Don't let their sacrifice go to waste." My mum said sadly before walking back to the prison.

To nobody's surprise, I was still alone by the fence. Suddenly, I noticed one part of the fence leaning over too much... It looked like it was going to give and soon. My eyes widened, I looked into the field to see my dad and Rick digging graves. I bolted around the gravel as fast as I could and about halfway into the field so they could hear me. "Daddy! Rick! The fence is gonna give!" I yelled.

They both looked over and immediately started running. "Ellie, go inside! You can't come close to us!" My dad yelled over. Begrudgingly I started walking back to the prison, I walked backwards as I watched. Sasha, Tyreese, Bob and Maggie also noticed so they went over to help as well. Maggie wasn't supposed to be close to them but of course the rules didn't apply to her because she's an adult... Note the bitterness.