Papá's Girl

Again

©JRF2016

Papáwalks up to me with his arm extended. "There's Papá's Girl," he says as he slips his arm around my shoulders, "God it's good to see you up and movin' around again baby girl."

"e belo essere di nuovo in movimento su e intorno." {It's good to be up and moving around again.} Shane comes rushing around the corner, "Merle!" He calls out but comes to a screeching halt and rubs his head, blushing as he places his other hand on his hip. "Oh, hey Izzy." He said smiling uncontrollably at me. Papágrowls and rolls his eyes. "Little girl, I need to talk to you in private."

"Okay Papá," I said as we walk over to my room. He peeks back out and in both directions to make sure no one was around or no one followed. "What do you need to talk to me about?"

"I've done a lot of things I ain't proud of," he starts as he sits down on the edge of the bed next to me. He hangs his head staring down at his feet. "You ain't one of 'em baby girl. I'm sorry that all I ever did was disappoint you and I wish I could change that."

"Papá, you've never disappointed me," I start but he covers my mouth. "Let me get this out please." I nod to him to proceed. He shook his head and I thought I heard a sniffle. Before he could continue a loud boom rocked the walls of the cell block. "What the hell was that?" Papájumps up and runs outside with me right behind him and Shane right behind me. What we see when we get out there is so unnerving and it shakes me to my core. "No, no, no. Not again. Not again." I mumble over and over again as Papáand Shane gather on either side of me. "Bella Rose, what are you talkin' about?" Trembling I raise my hand and point at the man atop that tank outside the gate. "This is how it all happened. This is how I lost you Papá, well how, I guess I dreamed I lost you." He pulls me closer. I look up at him and he is looking over at Shane. They both look completely lost. "Baby girl, you ain't gonna lose me, not if I can help it."

"You don't understand, this place is gonna fall. We'll have to move on. there won't be anything left." I begin to fold to the ground as my legs turn to jelly, my head is swimming, and my vision darkening but Papácatches me. The gunfire starts before I can get completely steady on my feet. "Get her the hell outta here!" I hear Papáscreaming before everything just goes silent. I feel Shane pulling me away and Papá's mouth screaming something else but I don't hear anything. I start fighting Shane desperately trying to get back to my Papá. "No, Shane, I have to stay with Papá! He can't get bit again, I can't lose him again!" I feel my feet lift off the ground now and I realize he has picked me up. "Mettimi giù tu figlio di puttana!  Lasciami andare!" {Put me down you son of a bitch! Let me go!}

"Nope, I don't think I will," Shane grunted as he adjusted me in his arms. I forgot that I had been teaching him the language and now he understood a lot more than I realized. He finally put me down in a bus seat. I look up at him and he has a scared look on his face. "The kids, Judith. I'll be right back Izzy, stay here. You're dad will be here soon okay? I promise. That's the plan and he will be here with the rest of them." I nod to him as he runs back off the bus to get the kids. I immediately jump out of my seat and run out to find Papá. I didn't care about breaking any promises to Shane, I just wanted to be with my Papá. I had to make sure that that dream I had didn't come true. I was not going to lose my Papáto one of those dead freaks and I sure as hell wasn't going to lose him to some living, breathing asshole either. I start to run toward the Governor as he walks toward the prison but I am halted as that tank rolled right over the fence and into the courtyard. He fired another shot blasting a hole in the brick wall behind me. Brick and concrete shards sprayed all around me as I duck, covering my head with my arms. I saw Uncle Daryl moving and as I straightened myself up I see him throw a grenade into the barrel of the big gun on the front of that tank. The man inside climbed out and rolled onto the ground. When he stood up Daryl had his crossbow aimed at his head and the man raised his hands in surrender. I ran passed him as he held the man in his sights and then fired a bolt into his shoulder. I kept looking around for Papáand I hadn't noticed that all the gunfire had died down. I'm standing in the middle of the field looking around for Papáas a huge herd of dead were moving in. I feel someone grab my arm, barely, I'm so numb. "Izzy, we gotta go." I turn around and see Shane holding Judith in his arms tight against his chest. "We gotta get outta here." He slides Judith over into his right arm and wraps his left arm around me as he leads us to safety, wherever that may be.

We head toward the planned rendezvous point of the bus. Shane was sure everyone that made it out would be there. Including Papá. "What makes you so sure he made it out? I didn't see him anywhere."

"Izzy, you know your Papá, better than anyone. You really think he didn't make it out? He's one tough son of a bitch, he made it out." I nod and smile up at him as he squeezes me. "Well, you do have a good point, but I just can't stop thinking about that dream while I was unconscious. I hope you're right."

Up ahead of us was the bus, full of bullet holes. I break away from Shane and run up to the bus, It's quiet inside. I fall against the bus when something slams against the window above my head. I look up and see one of the elderly ladies that we had rescued from Woodbury, bloody and snarling at me. Shane was now standing in front of me staring at her too. "You think he's in there?" I asked him as my voice quivered. He shrugs still staring at the old lady. "I have to find out," I push myself off the bus and start to walk over to the door. Shane grabs my arm. "Izzy we can't. You can't. There's too many of them and I've got Judith. You can't fight them all by yourself."

"Watch me." I growled as I open the door just a little and back away. The first of the dead pushes through the door and I run up stabbing it in the head. Before I can back up again the rest fall out the door and almost knock me down. I hear a shot and feel a whiz of air puff by my ear as the brains of the closest walker explode in a burst of red. One, two, three more shots and the bodies of the other crumble to the ground. More start to pour out of the bus and I run over to the first and stick my knife through its eye socket with a sickly squishing sound. I yank the knife back out without thinking about it and plunge it into the skull of the next lucky dead bastard I released from their hell. I start for the next when I hear another shot and see the last one fold to the ground. I wait for a minute to see if any others make their way out but nothing. I hear a growl from inside and I look back at Shane before climbing onto the bus. Once on the bus I look down to see one pinned on the floor by one of the broken seats, it's not Papá. I let out a small sigh of relief but the fear comes in quickly. "It's not him, he's not here, Shane. What if he's hurt? We've got to go back and find him. What if, what if he's." I couldn't finish that thought. Shane grabs me and pulls me into his chest, "Shh, Izzy, if he's not here, he's somewhere else but I know he made it out, alright. We'll find him. We will, eventually, but we can't go back. The prison's gone."

We've been walking for hours and Judith has started to fuss. "She's hungry," I mumble without looking up at Shane. I hear him rustling in his bag and I finally look up. "I grabbed what I could." He smiles as he pulls out a bottle and sticks it into her mouth. She quickly starts sucking away at that bottle grunting as she gulps down the formula. He puts an arm around me, kissing my forehead while still managing to hold Judith and the bottle in his other hand. "I'm gonna take care of my girls."

"It's getting dark Shane," I say as I look around us. We're in the middle of a long stretch of road with no form of shelter in sight. "We can't be out in the open like this, not at night."

"I'll find somewhere, trust me. I'll keep you safe, I promise."

Shane rigged up some cans on strings and circled us as I sat with Judith playing. She was babbling at me and swatting my face as I mimicked her. Shane stops and watches us for a minute. When I finally notice and look at him he is in his typical stance with his hands on his hips and that really sexy grin on his face. "What?" I ask smiling back up at him.

"Nothing, you two just look so cute together. Makes me wanna have a baby of our own. Maybe we can get started on that, maybe tonight?" He winks at me. He sits down beside me wrapping his big arm around my shoulders as I rest my head on his. "Try to get some sleep Izzy." I settle into him more, "I'll keep watch."

"You need rest too," I argue as I yawn. I feel myself slipping into a sort of sleep state already. "Not as much as you." He kisses me on the top of my head, lingering for a minute. 

      He was shaking me now.  I blink my eyes open as I listen to Shane's voice.  "Wake up Izzy.  We gotta get going."  I sit up rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.  Judith is sitting there laughing and playing with some sticks.  I stand to my feet before picking her up.  "Which way we headed?"  I ask Shane as Judith coos in my arms. 

"Don't really know," he says as he slips his hand over the small of my and leads me the road, "This way seems as good as any."  He walks out in front of us to lead the way, cautiously looking for anything that might jump out and eat us.  We started walking, nowhere in mind, no food, no water, just the three of us on the road together not knowing if we'd ever find our loved ones again.