𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐍ˏ twd

the barn !

On an  early morning, Aurelia stood on the porch with her cousin, Maggie, looking over to Glenn who was looking over to them, the young girl understood the position that he was in, if she was in his position, she would've told the group as well. Hearing Maggie head inside, but Aurelia stood there, keeping her gaze on them, seeing their reactions, noticing that the adults looked towards the barn but a boy her age was looking at her.

A minute later, she looked away and headed back inside, closing the door as she walked into the living room where her family was. Aurelia could see her uncles expression along with her aunts and cousins, she cleared her throat, gaining their attention.

" Glenn had a right to tell them, that group is like family, the question that needs to be asked right now is, what do we do now? "

Aurelia's question lingered in the room, knowing the conflict that is to come, her gaze kept on them for a moment until she slowly walked to the window, moving the curtain apart slightly, peeking out to see Rick's group aren't their tents, a sigh left her lips.

" Let me talk to Rick, I do not want any of y'all to get involved. That goes for you, Aurelia Mae Miller, do you understand. You're still a kid, this is meant for adults."

The young girl turned turned attention to her uncle Hersh, knowing he was right, she was still a girl, a kid, this was not for her to get involved, she gave him a nod then sat down with her aunt Patricia, leaning her head on her shoulder.

" Why don't we head upstairs and do your hair, hm Relia?" murmured her aunt, which the small girl slowly nodded, the two of them headed upstairs. As Aurelia sat on the edge of the bed as her aunt sat behind her, closing her eyes as she felt her aunts fingers comb through her hair first.

" What happened to them, sweet flower? " asked her aunt gently, with the softest tone.

Opening her eyes, Aurelia's breath caught in her throat, not ready to ever speak of  what happened, she wasn't ready to say.

"The dead had gotten to them, it happened so fast and I was the only one who made it out." she mumbled, ringing her fingers, feeling her hair being put into a braid.

" The sick got them..? "

" Those things out there..ain't the sick but the dead, the walkers." muttered Aurelia and turned to her aunt with a serious expression. "Those walkers will will kill anything in sight, anything that breathes, it will die."

Patricia remained silent, her main concern was about Aurelia, this was no longer the small happy girl who loved chasing butterflies, this was a kid she barely recognized, but this world changes people. The silence stayed quiet for a moment before Aurelia stood up, avoiding eye contact.

" Tell the others, I'm out searching for the girl." stated Aurelia who walked out without waiting for response.

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The girl walked out the house with her baseball cap on, three of her knives and an old pistol that belonged to her father. Before she could reach any further, she was stopped by none other than Shane.

"Hey, did you know about the barn?" asked Shane, who seemed more angry than he usually was, behind him was Lori who was walking this way.

"I found out yesterday, after the search with T-dog." Aurelia eyed the bald man. "Look baldness, I've got no time to pay attention to you." without giving him a chance to respond, she walked off.

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It must've have been about an hour or two, so far, still no sign of Sophia, which didn't clear Aurelia's conscious. But then she heard a branch snap, turning around swiftly to see nothing, slipping out her knife, gripping it, taking small steps until she heard chatter.

Peeking her head out slightly, to see Shane and Dale, sensing the tension, she simply stayed hidden listening in. As they spoke, Dale was the person who made sense not Shane, he sounded like an insane person. Watching as Shane took the bag of guns, she hoped that everything would be alright, she waited for Shane to walk off, only then she stepped out.

Dale turned to the sound, quite frightened, soon relaxing at the sight of the small girl, he could never wrap his head around how her family allowed her out here alone. "I'm guessing you saw all of that?"

The Miller girl nodded with pursed lips. "You were hiding the guns from him, but seeing by his expression..he did not like it."

"Shane is complicated-"

"Shane sounds like he has lost his mind." She cut him off, it seems cutting people off is a bad habit she got from her mother. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude, just struggling to find Sophia.."

Dale stepped forward, seeing the effort and risk the young girl putting to find Sophia, placing a hand on her shoulder. "My dear, we appreciate the help, seeing you holding on to the hope of finding her has given Carol the strength and hope for her child. "

A small smile formed on her lips, in the moment she hugged Dale, needing it, he is a good man, she can see who holds the group to continue have humanity and hope, but hearing his words brought her comfort, not sure why or how but it did. The moment passes and she clears her throat, blinking away a stray tear.

"You should head back, I'll be out here for abit longer then I'll come back." Aurelia mentioned, while she put her knife away.

"Are you sure, it's not safe out here.." He was hesitant, placing his hands on his hips.

"No where is safe, but I can assure that I'll be back, just get there safely. " She smiled at him, a genuine one, such people deserve a smile.

Coming to an agreement, they both went their separate ways, not forever just for afew hours, she did give Dale one of her knives, he refused to take the pistol she had.

Not even half an hour passed, she froze to the sound of multiple gunshots, a shiver went down her spine, quickly turning back and she ran to her uncle's farm, many thoughts went through her head, 'what happened?' 'were they attacked?'. Aurelia was quite far from the farm, but once she got there, seeing everyone at the porch and Shane was too close to her cousin and uncle.

Taking out the pistol, only afew small feet away from them, all of them stopped talking once hearing a 'click', her hands shook slightly, but she kept her eyes on Shane, more like a glare. Her eyes clouded with tears, memories of her last moments with her parents flashed through her mind.

The only ones who seemed to slowly approach her was Daryl and Glenn, they both could see that the girl was out of breath, not to mention on the verge of tears.

"Hey kid..lower the gun" whispered Daryl.

Maggie looked at her cousin with wide eyes, this was not her little cousin, she was viewed an innocent, pure and one who hated violence, but now she can see that something has changed in her little cousin. Everyone watched as Aurelia lowered her gun slowly, Glenn taking the pistol from her hands, everyone was quiet until Shane broke the silence with a question which made the small girl's heart drop.

"Did she know that Sophia was in there, in that barn?"

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AN: I'm so sorry for late updates, I just finished writing my exam,
it was my final.