South Tree * TWD

46. The Church Pew

Night soon came and Lillian was excited to get some sleep. Considering how exhausted she was, she basically went right to sleep. She was cuddled up close near Colton and Athena as Daryl went to go keep watch with Carol somewhere. Colton and Lillian didn't talk about what happened at the prison before everything but they were glad that each other were okay.

The next morning, Lillian woke up to Maggie lightly nudging her awake before she moved to Colton to wake him up too. They were all quick on their feet as they got ready to leave again. Lillian took off her jacket, leaving on the flannel as she started to feel warm. She shoved her jacket into her backpack and swung it on. She noticed that putting weight on her foot didn't hurt as much as it had. The getting piggy back rides after it had happened really helped her heal. It still hurt, making her limp but she could walk on her own.

Lillian walked beside Tara as they continued forward.Tara had spiked her interest, while also probably knowing about Caden.

Lillian cleared her throat, adjusting the gun she held in one of her hands. "Hey Tara."

"Yeah?" Tara turned slightly to glance at her.

"Did you know a Caden when you were with the Governor?" Lillian asked quietly.

"Uhh— Yeah. He was with the Governor when they showed up. Don't know much about him though, why?"

"Is he dead?" Lillian looked over at Tara, who furrowed her eyebrows slightly at her.

"I was the only one left, as far as I know of." Tara told her. Lillian let out a sigh, she didn't really know if it was of relief or disappointment. She didn't want to be around Caden anymore, ever but he was blood. "You know him?"

"Knew him." Lillian corrected. "He doesn't matter anymore." She shrugged as she looked over at Tara.

"Hey." Daryl suddenly spoke up beside her. Lillian looked over, slightly spooked as she didn't hear him walk up. "Gonna break off for a bit." Lillian gave him a nod, which he responded by ruffling her hair before breaking off.

"He your dad?" Tara asked.

Lillian hesitated. "He's family."

"Oh... did you know him before the apocalypse?"

"No but he's taken care of me since the start. He's— he's special." Lillian explained, she almost wanted to say he's like my dad but she didn't. That would be an insult towards Daryl due to the nature of her real dad. She didn't want to compare Daryl to that. Tara nodded. Lillian tucked her hair behind her ears as she continued to walk silently.

"Hair tie?" Tara suddenly offered, holding out a black hair tie towards Lillian.

"Thank you." Lillian smiled as she took it from Tara. She quickly put her hair up into a pony tail and looked back over at Tara.

"Awesome." She commented, holding out her fist for a fist bump. Lillian smile went from ear to ear as she bumped her fist against Tara's.

Lillian used to get fist bumps from her teacher's sometimes. Sometimes Caden would give her fist bumps after doing something he was really proud of her for. Tara immediately went onto Lillian's good list. She didn't know much about Eugene, Abraham, Tara, or Rosita but Abraham and Rosita seemed determined and didn't make efforts to take to or be near the kid. Lillian didn't mind it but it made her uneasy about them. Tara was nice though.

There was a lot more walking in silence, up until some rustling in the woods caused everyone to hold up their guns only to reveal that it was Daryl.

"We surrender." Daryl joked as he held up his string of squirrels. Lillian let out an amused breath before the group continued along their trip. As the group continued to walk, Rick whistled and told them to keep close. He began to walk with the back of the group when Tara and Lillian walked past him, mumbling for them to tighten it up. There was a bit more of walking and mumbling between the group before a loud scream sounded.