Protection (Rick Grimes)

Chapter Thirty Eight

I slowly stand to my feet, still staring at the couple in front of me.

"Aunt Judy?" I say in pure shock. She gives me a bright smile and a nod. She walks to me and gives me a hug, squeezing me a little too tight. My Uncle Dave smiles and rubs my arm. I seriously thought that they were dead. I haven't seen them since I moved out of the house and in with Daryl and Merle. Aunt Judy is my mom's sister. She's also someone that I didn't exactly get along with. We argued...a lot...and when me and my mom argued, Aunt Judy always took my mom's side. Which pissed me off.

Mom.

I pull away from my Aunt and look at her and my Uncle. I stare at them for a few moments before finally speaking up.

"W-What about mom?" I ask.

"She was with us. But...she got bite one day when she went outside the walls with Gavin." Uncle Dave tells me.

I clinch my teeth and nod. My mom's dead. She died while she was with Gavin. Gavin should have saved her.

"I'm going to go talk to your friends. You need to come inside as well." Aunt Judy says.

"Family." I correct.

"What?"

"Family. Those people in there. They're my family." I walk inside with Aunt Judy and Uncle Dave behind me. Everyone looks over at me and then stare at my Aunt and Uncle.

"Hi, I'm Dave and this is my wife Judy. Since y'all are staying with us now, there are a few rules." Uncle Dave says. I walk to Rick and stand beside him. Uncle Dave begins explaining the rules. Their rules basically say that we can't kill any of the other residents and people who are bit or infected are sent out and killed. They won't be killed inside the walls. There's no causing trouble and everyone's got each others back. Throughout Uncle Dave explaining the rules, Aunt Judy kept looking at me and smiling or looking at Daryl and smiling.

When Aunt Judy and Uncle Dave leave, Rick turns to me.

"You resemble that woman." He says with a slight smile. Daryl shifts uncomfortably and avoids eye contact with everyone who looks his way.

"She's my Aunt." I state, showing no emotion and sit down on the couch. Rick stares at me in shock, much like I did when I first seen Aunt Judy.

"That was you Aunt Judy?" Chelsea asks.

"Yeah." I sigh.

"I haven't seen her since Graduation."

"Haven't seen her since I moved in with Daryl and Merle." I mumble and ignore anymore comments about my Aunt and Uncle.

~●~

I stuff my hands in my jacket pockets as I walk through the neighborhood alone. I can hear laughter in the distance, but I ignore it.

A football suddenly lands at my feet making me look around. A see four boys standing not far away from me, all looking at me. I smile and wave at them before picking the football up.

I look at the ball before looking at one of the boys. Griping the football, I throw it and make it spiral perfectly. One of the boys catches it and smiles at me. I smile back and nod before continuing my walk.

Thoughts swarm my mind since that's the only thing I can do at the moment. Think. Thinking almost got me killed a couple of times, so now...thinking is something I don't want to do. But...I always do.

I wonder how my mom died. I know she was bite, but I wonder if it was unexpected. Or was it planned and Gavin knew she was going to get bite? What were they even doing outside the walls? Was she even looking for me? Or did she not even give me a second thought?