not a big deal~carl grimes

<one>

i had been walking for days. my family were staying in a cabin when we got overrun by walkers. my parents were inside so my brother, matthew, told me to run before i got hurt. i always listened to him so that's exactly what i did. i ran and now i was alone. no people, no food, no water. just me and a knife to protect myself. the only reason i was still alive was because i hadn't run into any walkers yet.

i was beginning to get tired and if i was walking for 2 days i was bound to run into a walker soon so it was the smartest idea to find a clear space to stay the night.

as i walked further into the woods, i found a house. it was grubby but looked safe. i crept up to the door, clutching my knife in my hand, ready to plunge it into a walker skull if necessary. i took a deep breath as my hand turned the door knob, slowly opening the door.

as i walked further in, to the right of the stairs was the living room where a group of people stood, ready to kill anyone trying to harm them. i stood there, with my hands up in surrender, holding my breath from fear.

they all lowered their weapons when they saw i was just a little girl who looked dirty and weak from the days without any source of nutrition. all but one, a greasy looking man with long hair and a crossbow. the man next to him whispered to him with a thick kentucky accent 'daryl, it's cool.'

the man lowered his crossbow asking 'who the hell are you?'

'taylor.' i answered, my voice shaking 'taylor white.'

'what are you doing here taylor?' the man with the kentucky accent asked me.

'i lost my family. I've been walking for days without any food, water or sleep. i was just looking for somewhere to stay. i'm sorry, i'll get out of your hair.'

i went to leave but i was stopped 'no, you're only a little girl. it'd be cruel to send you back out there. you can spend the night but for the safety of my group, that's it.'

'thank you.' i let out my held breath. he was about to set me up in a corner when we all noticed the walkers outside. he ushered me out 'come on you can come with us.'

we all ran outside, round the back, out to the cars. walkers hit their fists on the window as we drove off. close call.

we got further down the road to a place where it was safe before getting out the cars to figure out where we were heading.

we were looking at a map as rick pointed out that they needed a place to stay rather than running around. 'where are we?' i asked.

one of the girls pointed to a spot on a road from the map. 'right here. in the middle of nowhere.'

'no nowhere.' i pointed out. 'there's somewhere not far. it's probably got some walkers but if it were cleared out it could potentially be really safe for you guys.'

'how safe?' rick looked at me suspiciously.

'very. high fences, good security. it's a prison. my dad spent a few months there but i remember it's right there.' i pointed to a clearing not far on the map.

as the other went to a nearby creek to fill up on water, daryl and rick decided to go hunt for some food 'can i come with you? if i'm going to be on my own for a while i should really know how to hunt.'

'on your own?' rick asked.

i nodded, pointing out 'well, yeah. you said i could spend the night but i would have to go in the morning.'

'if this prison is real, you're proving yourself trust worthy. if we can get to this prison by night, we'll let you stay with us.

'rick,' daryl asked 'do you really think that's a good idea?'

'come on, she's giving us a place to go and not even expecting to stay there with us. besides she's around carls age, and looks like she hasn't eaten in days. we're not letting her just go on by herself.' he turned back to me 'don't worry, we'll unt. you stay here where there's more people.

i sat by the creek, talking to an older woman with grey, buzzed hair. she said her name was carol. she began to tell me about her daughter. 'her name was sophia. she was your age, but she went missing a while ago now. we ran across a farm where we met hershel, maggie and beth,' she pointed out an old man with a beard, a young woman with short, light brown hair, and an girl a few years older than me with long blonde hair. 'we found sophia in hershels barn, where he was keeping walkers.'

'i'm so sorry.' i apologised for her loosing her daughter. she seemed upset but almost like she was nearly over it. i wondered how she could seem to be over the death of her only daughter.

we continued to talk as i told her her about my mom, my dad and matthew. even about my oldest brother thomas who was off at college when the apocalypse started.

a while later, rick and daryl came back to the group. 'taylor, we found your prison. we'll leave in a while, it's not far.the're are walkers around the yard but they can be easily killed so we can get through.

we all got back in the cars, heading for the prison.