Safe and sound, Carl Grimes

018. A NEW MEMBER OF THE GROUP

Chapter eighteen

"A new member of the group."

The baby's cries echoed through all of their ears, Rick had stopped crying, as Daryl was in front of him waving his hand "Rick, you with me?" he asked but didn't get a response "Rick?" he asked, as Carl walked up to Maggie taking the baby from her, Katniss was right by his side watching Rick "let me see the baby." Hershel said, as Carl began walking over to him, Katniss followed along with Daryl "what are we gonna feed it? We don't have any formula." Daryl shared, as Hershel looked at the baby "the good news is she looks healthy. But she needs formula. And soon or she won't survive." he shared.

"Nope. No way. Not her." Daryl said, putting his crossbow around him "we ain't lose nobody else. I'm going for a run." he shared "I'll back you up." Maggie told him "I'll go too." Glenn said "okay, think where we're going." Daryl told them, as he put his arm around Katniss and walked off "look, I know you just.." he was telling her "I'll look out for him." Katniss told him, and Daryl knew she was just putting up a front, because yeah she had seen people die, killed walkers, but killing a person was different.

And Katniss from a young age seemed to sadly learn his family's horrible way of coping where they didn't talk about their trauma and just shoved it down, and for a thirteen year old girl who just killed somebody, she not only was only push aside her problems to look after her best friend but she also wasn't gonna talk about it with him and the only other person he knew would get her to talk about it was currently losing his mind, and he hated it, as he looked to Oscar and Axel "you two get the fence. Too many pile up, we got ourselves a problem." he shared, looking to Glenn and Maggie "Glenn, Maggie, vamonos." he told them, walking off.

Rick grabbed the axe off the ground, they all looked to him "Rick!" Maggie voiced, but Rick didn't stop running to the stairs, he headed up them and into the cell block "come on, we're gonna lose the light." Daryl said, as Maggie and Glenn ran after them, the baby's cries filled Katniss's ears as she turned and looked at the baby, she knew she had to do something then just just stand around "I'm gonna..I'm gonna go pull the walkers out of the cell block." Katniss told them, looking to Carl "wanna help me?" she asked, as Carl nodded, turning and following her.

Where they started with the five that her dad, Glenn, Oscar and Axel had taken out, bringing them outside, the two then headed back in, dragging out the four that her and Rick had taken out, and when they did, Katniss then thought of the prisoner she had shot in the generator room, as she turned walking off, Beth looked at her with furrowed brows "Katniss?" she asked her, noticing her hands were shaking, Katniss didn't answer her, as she headed up the stairs and into the cell block, Beth looked from her and to Carl knowing she had to look out for him, she looked to Hershel.

And when she did Hershel sighed as he began walking toward's the fence to get Glenn's attention, where Glenn began walking up from the field, having been digging the graves for their fallen friends, he handed the shovel over to them and walked over to him "Rick?" he asked "still inside. Katniss just headed in their herself." Hershel shared "okay, I'll get them." Glenn shared.

Having gone down there, Katniss had her bow an arrow at the ready, as she passed by where T Dog had died, that sickening feeling began to resurface, and they didn't really know where Carol did but wherever she was, she probably died too, where the only thing that brought her comfort as she continued to walk through the hallway to the engine room was knowing that she was now with her daughter Sophia in heaven like she thought, because she may not have believed in it, but she did.

As she made it back to the generator room, she kicked open the door, stepping inside, she drew her bow, walking around to where the engine was, she came face to face with the man she had killed as a walker, as she let her arrow fly, shooting him in the head, his body fell to the floor again, right where she had shot him, to where as she stood there, that moment played over and over again in her head.

Someone then put their hand on her shoulder, as Katniss quickly drew another arrow and spun around, coming face to face with Glenn, Glenn looked at her with wide eyes as he held his hands up, he was reminded of how before he came here, he had tried to get Rick but he attacked him just like she was, except the difference was, she wasn't only dealing with the loss of their group members but also that she had just killed somebody, and he didn't know what that was like, having only ever seen it and killed walkers just like she had before today, as he slowly brought his hands up, bringing her bow down from being aimed at him.

And she let him, as her legs gave out from under her, Glenn quickly caught her "whoa, whoa, okay. Okay. We..we can stay here as long as you need, okay? Nobody's gonna force you to go back." he told her, as Katniss nodded, she noticed the braid in her hair and when she did, all she could think about was Lori and she knew she was never gonna take it out, cause she knew if she did, Lori wouldn't be there for her to ask her to braid it again for her and it hurt a lot.

Where by the time night came, the two had gone back up, where Glenn had headed outside to keep watch for when Daryl and Maggie returned while Katniss was sitting in the cafeteria with Hershel, Beth and Carl, Beth was holding the baby while Carl found himself staring at the braid in Katniss's hair, knowing his mother had done it for her, as he brought his hand up and touched it, Katniss turned and looked at him, as the door then opened and Maggie and Daryl walked in "Beth." Maggie called out.

Making Carl and Katniss separate from each other, Beth walked over to Maggie as Daryl took the baby from her "shh." he said, to try to have her stop crying, Katniss and Carl stood up watching him hold her as Glenn walked in along with Oscar and Axel, as Beth walked up to Daryl, handing him the bottle, he began feeding her which stopped the crying, he chuckled "she got a name yet?" he asked "not yet. I was thinking maybe Sophia. Then there's Carol, too. And.." Carl said, sighing "Andrea. Amy. Jacqui. Patricia. Or..Lori. I don't know." he shared.

"Yeah..you like that? Huh? Little ass kicker 2.0." Daryl said, as he looked at Katniss "you remember that nickname don't you?" he asked her "and here I thought that nickname went away when I was nine." Katniss shared, looking down at her boots, as everyone laughed.