𝐎𝐡, 𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚! - 𝘋𝘠𝘊𝘍𝘔 𝘌𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘴

Original Chapter 1

On a Road Bound to Nowhere
Part 11

Cut because Girl never makes it back to the Church

Girl sat alone in Gabriel's office. It'd been a few hours, Rick had come in and asked her some more questions about where Gareth and his people were staying and what they might need to do to find them.

Bob had insisted he was okay, and gone back into the main church with Sasha. He wanted to help figure out the plan.

Girl had stuck around for a while, throwing her opinion in a few times. When she began to feel sick, she excused herself back to her mat on the floor of the office. She leaned herself back against the wall, eyes closed lightly as she fought off a pounding headache.

"Girl?"

Carl stepped into the office, eyes settling on Girl sitting against the wall. Girl motioned him over and he sat down beside her, his gun set in his lap.

Girl turned to him, grabbing her notebook and pen from where she'd deposited it earlier. She'd had it on her while discussing the plan so that she could communicate easier. She was angry that Gareth had taken one of her fingers. She was angry that she could hardly use her right arm. It made it much more difficult to get her point across.

Have you seen my photos?

Carl squinted down at the words, not knowing what photos she was referring to.

"Photos?"

They were in my pocket. I think Gareth took them. But I had hope I only dropped them here.

"I haven't seen any photos in a long time. Are they of your family?" Carl asked.

Girl thought this over for a moment. That notion had never crossed her mind. The people had seemed so familiar. They had struck her as people she'd at least seen once. Could they be her family? Certainly not, if they were then she would have been in the pictures, right?

It was then that she began to ponder the thought that she didn't exactly know what she looked like right now. She didn't rememmber her own reflection from before, and she definitely hadn't sought out any mirrors recently. She didn't much care for her reflection. Every time she got into a place where she could possibly see it, she avoided it at all costs. Windows, puddles, standing water- it didn't matter. If it was reflective, it was on Girl's no-go list.

The truth was, she was ashamed. She knew that she was much dirtier than the others. She knew her long hair was matted and disgusting. She knew that she was so covered in dirt and blood that she'd be unrecognizable if she was clean.

And she hated it.

No. They're just photos. I'm not sure of who. I found them in a house with Daryl. They just felt familiar.

"Oh," Carl didn't seem to understand her attatchment, squinting as he tried to be sympathetic.

Glenn is in one.

"What?" Carl seemed much more interested now, sitting up straight, "Like from before?"

Yeah. He's making pizzas with some girl.

"Pizzas! Glenn used to deliver pizzas!" Carl shouted.

"You guys okay?"

Carl and Girl turned to the door when a new voice entered the conversation.

"Glenn!" Carl called again.

"Yeah, I heard my name. You two need something?" Glenn looked pointedly at Girl, as if to say 'should I take the child away from you?'.

"Girl had photos- from before! And one of them had you in it!" Carl said excitedly.

"Oh. Where'd you get them?" Glenn asked, directing his question to Girl.

Girl nudged Carl, nodding for him to answer for her.

"In a house, she said that you're making pizzas with some girl in it," Carl said.

"Oh. Where are the pictures? Can I see them?" Glenn asked, a hopeful look on his face.

Carl deflated at this, looking over at Girl sadly.

"That's the problem. Gareth took them. Girl's upset about it," Carl said.

"Were there more pictures?" Glenn asked.

Girl held up two fingers, telling him that she'd had two pictures.

"Was I in the other?" Glenn asked.

Girl shook her head, looking down at her hands. She scribbbled some words into her notebook, passing it to Carl.

"It was a family. With the same girl from the other one," Carl read, looking up as he posed his own question, "who was she?"

"She was a friend," Glenn sighed, "a good one. She was 16- almost seventeen when I last saw her. We were together when everything went down."

Girl signed something to Carl quickly, desperate to know more about the girl who'd consumed many sleepless nights.

"She asked if she's dead- the girl," Carl said.

"I wish I knew," Glenn said, "we split up. She didn't want to, but her brother had come to get her and I wanted to check on my roommate. I should've let them come with me before they left. Or gone with them."

"Why didn't you?" Carl asked.

"I thought that this would all blow over," Glenn said, "I hope she's okay. I hope she's out there somewhere."

"What's her name?" Carl asked.

"It's a good one to add to your name list, Girl," Glenn said, "her name's Susanna. We all called her Susie."

"We'll add it on, thanks, Glenn," Carl said.

"Yeah, no problem," Glenn nodded, "we'll get those pictures back, Girl. Don't worry about it, okay?"

Girl nodded, brain spinning a million miles an hour.

Susanna

She remembered the song that Joe had hummed everytime he was trying to get to her.

'Oh, Susanna, now don't you cry for me, for I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee'

Susanna.

No matter how far she traveled, no matter how many miles of dead-infested earth she covered, that name just kept coming back.

Girl wondered if it was a sign. If maybe that was the name she was meant to have, if that was who she was supposed to be.

Or maybe it's who she was.

Maybe she was Susanna.

But that was silly. What were the odds that she'd find her way into a house with photos of herself, and then, even without her memory, what were the odds that she'd take them?

Then again, what were the odds of her finding pictures with Glenn in them?