Living With the Dead (A Walking Dead and Supernatural Story)

Chapter 15

   "I'm going with my dad and Michonne on a run. You should come with us," Carl says.

   "No, I'm good. Also, it's probably good for you to spend some time with your dad."

   "But Michonne is going, it's not like it'll be just the two of us. I don't know why she's going. She could still be a danger."

   "She won't turn on us."

   "How do you know that. She could change her mind at any moment."

   "She won't. She doesn't have a reason to. We helped her, have the same fight as her. She's an ally now."

   "Why do you know so much about who to trust?" He asks.

   "It's complicated. Simple answer is I just do."

   "What was your life like before all of this?"

   I stared at him for a second, "Normalish. Like I said I lived with a guy named Bobby who was a family friend. I went to school, got good grades, had a friend named Audrey. Saw my dad and brothers occasionally. They were busy with the business most of the time."

   "What was the business?"

   "What's with all the questions?"

   "I just want to know more about you," he says.

   "I've told you pretty much everything. Unless you want to know about when I got my first training bra."

   His face turned red, "No, I'm good! I don't have anymore questions."

   Rick walked over to us, "Carl, we're leaving now."

   "Okay, dad," Carl looked back at me, "Bye Hadley."

   "Stay safe," I tell him.

   He follows his dad outside and I watch as the three leave. I make my way back into the cafeteria and sit with Scarlett.

   "I've been thinking," she says.

   "Oh no, that can't be good," I joke.

   "Hadley, this is serious!" She whines.

   "Okay, go on."

   "Hershel is Beth and Maggie's dad and he is always takes care of them. And Rick is Carl's dad and he does the same for Carl."

   "Right," I agree, not sure where she was going with this.

   "Well Sammy always takes care of me....so does that make him my dad?"

   I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't that. I didn't know how to answer at first.

   "Uh, I guess it could, but Dean and Cas also take care of you," I finally respond.

   She tilts her head back and forth and makes a thinking face, "They do, but I don't think it's the same."

   "I get what you mean," I say, "If you feel like Sam's your dad, then he kind of is in a way.

   "I'm going to tell Sammy that he's my dad," she says as she gets up and runs off.

   My eyes go wide, "Scarlett wait a minute!" I get up and run after her but she's already made it to Sam.

   "Hey, Sammy, guess what," she says.

   "What?" He asks bending down to her level.

   "You're my dad!" She exclaims hugging him.

   "W-what?" He asks confused.

   "Well you take care of me like dads are supposed to and I always feel safe around you. Also Hadley said you were."

   He glances up at me and I shrug my shoulders and give him my best smile. He looks back down at Scarlett.

   His mouth turns up into a small smile, "Yeah, I guess I am your dad."

   "I told you!" She replies and hugs him again.

   Dean and Cas walk back in from watch. Cas looks between the three of us.

   "I feel like something happened while we were gone," he says looking to Dean.

   I laugh and Scarlett explains to them what they missed.

   I find Maggie in her cell. She seemed to be lost in thought. I knocked on the wall she looked over at me.

   She gave me a smile, "What can I do for you?"

   "I'm sorry, this is stupid, but everyone else is busy and with everything going on I figured it would be best to cut my hair some. My friend's mom would do it before all this happened so it hasn't been cut since."

   "It's not stupid. It'll help keep you safe. Let's go to the cafeteria and I'll grab a pair of scissors."

   I sit down and Maggie is in there soon after. She starts to cut off some of my hair. Glenn sits down across from me.

   "How'd you shoot the Governor?" He asks.

   Maggie stops what she's doing and looks over to him, "Don't ask her that Glenn."

   "We need to know, it could help us."

   "It's fine Maggie," I say, "I was in the woods when he and Merle found me. He tried to convince me to come to Woodbury with him. When I refused he tried to take me so I ran. I hid behind a tree until he was close enough for me to shoot. I doubted that he would expect that. I knew I needed to slow him down and I did. I was able to run back to the car and get away."

   "What you're saying is we need catch him off guard?" Glenn questions.

   "Isn't that how you kill anything?" I respond.

   I can feel Maggie look at me, "you're all done."

   "Thanks. If it would make any difference I would give you a tip," I say.

   She laughs, "It does make me feel better."

   Carl, Rick, and Michonne return safely from their run. I meet with Carl in his cell. He's looking at a picture.

   "What's that?" I ask.

   "A picture of me, my mom and dad. I thought Judith deserved to know what her mom looked like." I sit beside him to look at the picture.

   "It's perfect," I tell him.

   "You should have gotten this. You deserve it," he says.

   "I think that we have the families we need. You needed a normal family with a mom and dad. I needed a family that was a little bit different. It's probably for the best. It would have hurt worse to lose my parents if I had them."

   "You could still lose your brothers. I don't want you to but you could."

   "They were already prepared for a world like this."

   "Hadley, what do you mean by that? You keep saying these things but then don't tell me anything. Please, just tell me."

   I shake my head no, "I'm sorry Carl, it's better that I don't. I know you don't understand why but there's enough going on right now. You don't need to be thinking about me or about what secrets I'm keeping. I promise you though that it isn't anything that will hurt our group."

   "Are you sure?" He asks.

   "Positive."

   "Okay, I trust you."