Papá's Girl

Hard Times

©JRF2016

I was walking around in these woods trying to get my bearings, trying to figure out the direction in which we came from. The direction of that small church where my family was, where Shane was. I was getting frustrated because it just seemed like I was getting nowhere. I was headed straight, I knew I wasn't going in circles, but I was obviously going the wrong way. I don't think that Gareth and his goons would have carried Bob and I both too far from the church, that was just too much. I stood still turning myself in circles trying to figure out where I was and which way I needed to go when I heard leaves rustling. I spun around quickly in the direction the noise came from and readied my Papá's blade. Just as I was about to pounce Andrea showed herself. I let out a gasp of air. "Gesù Cristo , Andrea! Buona modo per farti ammazzare idiota!" {Jesus Christ, Andrea! Good way to get yourself killed dumbass!} I screamed at Andrea forgetting where we were for a minute and trying to get my heart rhythm back to a normal pace. She shushed me. I quickly looked around to see if I had brought down a mob on our heads. I hadn't, thankfully. "Cagna! Da dove vieni comunque?" {Bitch! Where'd you come from anyway?} I shouted at her in a whisper. "Shane was right, your Italian comes out pretty thick when your angry or scared." She giggled at me and I flipped her off. "Where did you come from? We all thought you were dead."

"Wouldn't be the first time." She replied as she looked around, " Where is everybody, are they all okay? Daryl, your dad, Shane...Rick?"

"They're all fine," I told her as my heart broke, "Daryl, Rick, Michonne, Shane, Glenn, Maggie, Carol, Judy, Carl, and three new people. We ran into this priest in the woods, we were staying in his little church until," I stopped staring at the ground. I didn't want to get into the whole Gareth, Terminus thing right now. "I, uh, got separated from them. I'm trying to find my way back to the church now." Andrea wrapped her arms around me, "I'm so glad I found somebody, now we can all be together again."

"I've already been that way. I've been going this way for too long it's time to turn it around and head another way. It can't be this far out."

When we finally found that church it was just Michonne with Carl and Judith. Apparently, Glenn and Maggie had left for Washington, D.C. with Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene. "What about Rick?" Andrea asked her. "And Shane?" I added. "Daryl found where Beth is and Carol is with her now. They went to get them back." Judith started crying forcing us to go back inside the church before she drew more walkers. Andrea took her from Michonne and tried to calm her down with no luck. "Here let me try," I told her as I took the baby girl from her. I started bouncing her and talking to her and she immediately quieted down. "Guess you have the magic touch, Isabella." I smiled at her but she didn't return it. She looked a little jealous that I had a more calming effect on the baby than she did. "I've never been any good with babies," she admitted, "I'm better with grown-ups."

"Yeah, especially male grown-ups." I said remembering that she was with Shane that one time before Rick. Uncle Daryl had alluded to something happening between her and him too but he never said what exactly happened. I think it's just the fact that she has slept with Shane and I still haven't. That just hasn't worked out for us yet. We all jumped when someone started pounding on the door. We looked around at each other when Father Gabriel started yelling for us to let him in. We got the doors open but now there were walkers leaning in on it. "It won't hold for long." I said, "What are we going to do now?" While we were trying to figure it out we heard a big crash outside and the walker growls died down. We stepped outside to see a fire truck sitting on top of them. A big red haired man jumped out of the driver's seat. Michonne told them that Rick and the gang went into the city to get Carol and Beth back. Maggie's face lit up at the mention of her sister. "Beth's alive?" She asked Michonne who smiled and shook her head. "Well, then let's go meet them." We piled into that fire truck and headed toward Grady Memorial.