Observe (the walking dead)

Claimers & The Past

Ava and Roman trotted down to where Michonne, Rick, and Carl were staying. They entered, seeing Carl run upstairs and Michonne sitting at the dining room table.

Ava furrowed her brows, confused at why the boy was acting like this yet again. Both teens look to Michonne curiously, who just shakes her head, silently telling them to not talk about it.

Roman nods, understanding. But Ava was worried about the boy, so she was on the fence. Michonne excused herself to go talk to Rick, both could guess why. They were running low on supplies by now.

Michonne returns, nodding for Ava to follow her and Carl. From experience, she knows the girl is better on her feet than Roman is. Roman works best when stuff is organized and planned, something supply runs usually are but they quickly go off track, and they couldn't afford slip ups at this point.

Ava nods and mentally checks to make sure all of her weapons are strapped to her hips while Michonne called for Carl to come downstairs. He shortly did and the trio made their way out of the house and into the street.

-

Ava stayed a minimum of 10 feet from Michonne and Carl, up until they entered the houses to loot. She was just walking out of the house they were in prior to see Michonne trying desperately to get Carl to laugh, but he wasn't budging. Ava pitied her.

She watched Michonne embarrassed look before the woman rounded the corner to their next house. She jogged up and stood a couple feet away from the pair as Michonne peered in the door.

"What do you mean toddlers?" Carl asked Michonne, Ava figured it was part of the conversation she was missing when she was far off.

"I had a 3 year old son, and he happened to find me hilarious," Michonne smiled.

Carl started bombarding her with questions the moment they entered the house. Ava didn't bother, she knew Michonne had once had a young child. Not because she told Ava, but because Ava saw the way she acted with kids on the younger side. Ava was very observant, after all.

~~

Meanwhile, Roman was sat in the living room reading a book when he heard voices outside. His hand immediately flew to his gun before peering out the window to see a group of biker looking dudes.

He quietly booked it upstairs, and to the room Rick was napping in. He shook him awake, "Rick. There are a shit ton of men outside and they're about to enter the house. We gotta dip." He panted.

But he was too late, the men were already inside, and they were making their way around the house. Both men needed hide, immediately.

Rick rolled out of the bed and onto the floor, scooting himself under the bed while Roman panicked and darted out of the room, dunking into the bathroom.

What he didn't expect, though, was that the doorknob would start turning seconds later.

~~

Ava mildly zoned out while clearing rooms, shoving whatever was useful into her bag. Her mind was elsewhere, still considering the possibility of her brother being alive. She dreamed about it the night before, finding him. Reuniting with her best friend- Well, her first best friend.

Ava thought he was alive. Some kind of sibling intuition was telling her he was. Would he know she's alive? Would he look for her, too? Or is Ava just delusional, and her brother is wandering around aimlessly as a deadman now.

She tuned back in to the conversation at the mention of her name, "Ava, do you have any questions for me?"

She thought about it. Did she want to remind Michonne of a clearly traumatic time of her life?

"Are you okay?" Ava asks her, looking at the woman sincerely as she shoves things in her bag.

Michonne leans against a wall, folding her arms. "I have to be, right? Gotta survive," she says, semi playfully.

"No, you don't have to be. It's okay to not be okay, it's what makes us human. You can survive and grieve at the same time, something I regret not doing," she pauses, inhaling shakily, "you'll regret it if you don't, too."

~~

Roman panics and quietly dunks into the bathtub, laying down as flat as is long legs would allow him. He prayed whoever entered wouldn't check behind the shower curtain.

The door opens and closes, Roman can hear the noise of a belt and jeans rustling. His face recoils in disgust when he doesn't hear any liquid. Either way, would have been gross. But he would have preferred if the guy didn't go #2.

Roman checks his gun, tightening the silencer on it. Ava made sure Roman's gun always had a silencer, the boy was a bit trigger happy. He didn't know when the appropriate time to shoot was, nor was he good at it. He prefers medium ranged weapons, like the crowbar he used while manning the fence at the prison.

He squeezed his eyes shut before jumping out of the bathtub right as the bathroom door opened again, revealing Rick looking at the man on the toilet in shock, the man equally as shocked.

Roman knew these people were dangerous, he heard them 'claiming' dibs on the women here after finding their clothes, as well as the beatings they gave to one of their own men. And he knew what he had to do.

So he raised his gun to point at the man's head, and he fired a single shot into his head, watching as the man slumped back on the toilet.

Rick nodded at Roman and he nodded back, a silent conversation was happening as Roman nodded to the window by the sink.

They opened it quietly and stepped out onto the roof. "One of them saw me," Rick whispered.

"These are some rough guys, they're gonna be looking for you!" Roman panicked, whisper yelling at the man. He wondered why Rick didn't kill the guy who saw him.

Rick nods, "I know. And we'll take care of it."

~~

Michonne looks like she's thinking about what Ava said, considering it. The woman wonders how the girl got so wise, what kind of influences she had before this.

Ava wandered off after that, looking around the house. She stumbled upon a grey bedroom with rock band posters decorating the walls. She smiled fondly at the Fleetwood Mac poster. The age gap between her and her brother was a decent size, so she ended up listening to a lot of his favorite music instead of forming her own taste. Fleetwood Mac was his favorite.

The two of them always listened to Rhiannon, along with their parents too. Ava was almost named after the song, too. She was annoyed that she wasn't when she found out about that.

Ava sighed and made her way back to Michonne and Carl, finding that they've since gone quiet. "Everyone ready? Great, let's go." Ava says, not waiting for an answer.

~~

Rick and Roman were quiet and quick as they dropped from the roof, next to the porch. They try to make a break for it before a man comes out, sitting on the banister next to them. Rick and Roman share a look.

'Should I..?' Roman mouths to Rick, before gesturing to his gun. Rick shakes his head no, holding up a finger to tell Roman to wait. He nods.

The man began playing with a ball as he leaned against the pillars. Suddenly, Roman heard footsteps and light chuckles. He looked past the bushes in front of the house and saw Carl, Michonne, and Ava. His eyes widen.

Roman nudges Rick and points to them, the older man muttering a low 'shit' under his breath. They have no way of telling them about the people.

Like a god chose them to live in that very moment, loud noises and yelling came from the house. The man on the porch cursed and darted inside. Rick looked to the sky, as if to thank god himself, before he and Roman ran to the trio and ushered them away.