Down by the water • TWD

Deja Vu

Avery sat on the steps next to Hershel, she held Judith in her arms. She admired the baby, she was quiet, still. Avery thought about Lori, and how her life was taken for Judith to live. This baby is the future of this world. When all of them were old and wrinkly Judith would be a strong woman, ready to take on anything. Avery smiled to herself thinking of the woman Judith would grow into. She hopes she's there to see it.

Avery looked up from Judith after feeling eyes on her. Rick was smiling warmly at the girl and his daughter. Avery reluctantly smiled back, this was the first time he'd smiled in a while, and the girl didn't want to waste it. She watched the baby's eyelids flutter as she slept. She looked peaceful, unharmed. Avery would love to be at peace like that one day. 

Daryl watched Avery from the second-floor balcony of the cellblock. He smirked watching the two interacting, lil' asskicker and his-. Well, he didn't know what Avery was to him. He wanted to try and talk to her again after earlier but he knew she needed time. He was good at giving people space, so he could do that. As each hour passed, one after another his heartstrings got pulled even harder.

"We're not leaving," Rick told the group standing up from his crouched position.

"We can't stay here," Hershel argued back. Avery handed Judith back to Beth as she walked down the steps holding a bottle.

"What if there's another sniper?" Avery asked standing up from the steps with her eyebrows raised looking at the leader.

"A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds," Maggie added to the girl's question.

"We can't even go outside." Beth pointed out feeding Judith her bottle.

"Not in the daylight." Carol sided with Beth as she stood next to Daryl.

"Rick says we're not running, we're not running." Glenn defended Rick wholeheartedly nodding his head in Rick's direction.

"No, better to live like rats," Merle said blankly from inside the dining room. Avery glared at him from where she stood as he played with the bars on the door. She hated that he was there with them, but she'd deal with it for Daryl.

Even when she was mad she would make sure he was happy.

"You got a better idea?" Rick asked him annoyed. 

"Yeah, we should have slid out of here last night" Merle answered his rhetorical question.  "and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn't we?" His voice made Avery want to cut her ears off and burn them. It brought back memories she never wanted to remember. "I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now."

"We ain't scared of that prick," Daryl spoke up walking across the second-floor cement towards Merle. Avery watched the way he carried himself, fearless. The girl wished she was just like him.

"Y'all should be," Merle spoke back to them with a dead face. "That truck through the fence thing, that's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers." He continued to play with the metal covering his non-existent hand. "And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to."

"Let's put him in the other cell block." Maggie quickly suggested playing with the fabric in her hands.

"Please." Avery agreed with Maggie while gnawing on her fingernails.

"No. He's got a point." Daryl shut their idea down with no hesitation. Avery rolled her eyes as she heard him defend his brother.

"This is all you. You started this." Maggie shouted at Merle growing annoyed by how he was speaking.

"What difference whose fault it is? What do we do?" Beth asked not wanting to hear them bicker anymore.

"I said we should leave," Hershel stated again speaking with his hands. "Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here." Rick listened to the old man blinking rapidly. The group watched as their leader walked away from them, not giving them an answer. "Get back here!" Hershel yelled while crutching after him. "You're slipping, Rick. We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this isn't a democracy. Now you have to own up to that. I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do something." They all listened to what Rick was being told, Hershel was right. They've all seen the mindset he's in right now. He's not stable enough to go to war. Avery's face softened in sympathy as she watched him leave the cell, leaving the people with no answer to what was happening.