My Damaged Protector

Chapter Thirty-Two ~ Together

It had been a few weeks since the fall of the prison and Merle and I were still holed up in the little blue house we found the first day. He had been going out to scavenge from the other homes scattered around, typically coming back with some supplies. Other days he'd go hunting, Judith and I spending hours outside under the shade of the trees.

Judith and I were sat in the kitchen, her babbling on to herself as I boiled a bag of noodles. Merle poked his head in through the back door to let me know he was back before sitting down out there to make a fire and cook what he managed to bring back. Once the food I was making was done, I placed a small bowl in front of Judith and sat Merle and I's on the table.

He had been trying his best to make things work around here, keeping watch every chance he got and always searching for supplies. I was incredibly thankful for everything he had done over the weeks, making sure Judith and I had what we needed.

Laughter from the front of the house made my blood run cold and my movements to freeze. My hands quickly pulled Judith from her food as Merle came through the house quietly, pushing me back as he glanced through the front window. He was shielding me from any possible sight into the house, but I was able to faintly make out a woman with very short grey hair, a taller man with a beanie, and two little blonde girls walking down the street.

"That's..." I couldn't believe what I was seeing. "That's Carol." The small group was already a few houses away from us. My feet carried me to the door with impossible speed, and against Merle's calls, I swung the door open. "Carol!" I called, already moving to chase after them. "Carol!" The woman turned around and was instantly filled with tears. We collided, gently moving Judith out of the way as we hugged onto each other. "I didn't see anyone else...how are you guys..." I trailed off, wiping at my eyes.

"How did you get out?" She asked before her eyes focused on something over my shoulder. I turned to see Merle jogging down the street after me, a gun hanging from his hands. "I answered my own question."

"What question?" Merle asked, joining my side, and tucking the gun into his jeans.

"Nothing." I waved off his comment. "Did you see if Jasper and Daryl made it out?" I begged, looking between both Carol and Ty.

"Yea, they got out." Ty said and placed his hand on my shoulder.

The first real breath of air entered my lungs as Ty nodded. "Thank god. Come on inside, I bet you guys are tired." I started walking back inside slowly, the other five following behind, Merle closest to me. "We've got food, you guys hungry?" I sat Judith back in her chair and walked to the counter that held our food supply.

"Yes, we are miss." Mika said from behind me, taking a seat at the table and folding her hands properly.

"You can call me Skye, sweetie." I smiled at her and picked up a jar of peanut butter. "You like PB and J's?" I asked the two girls, both of them nodding. "Well, I don't have bread, but I have crackers we can make sandwiches out of.

"Thank you." Mika smiled at me as Lizzie sat beside her.

Carol walked up behind me and looked down at the two girls, just like she looked at Sophia all those years ago. "You got Judith out?" Carol asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I had her and Jasper with me, Merle helping carry our stuff out. Daryl met us outside the doors and took Jasper so we could all leave faster. That damn tank blew a chunk of cement out of the prison and separated us." I touched my arm at the thought. My arm had healed pretty well over the days. "Daryl must have listened to what I yelled at Jasper, having them stick together and get out."

"They did. You don't gotta worry." She rested a hand on my shoulder. "Do you mind?" Carol pointed to the food behind me. "We haven't eaten in days."

"No, go ahead." I motioned for her to eat. She sat down with the girls and ate the cereal, giving Tyreese some as well. Merle went out the back door again to continue with his hunting find while I sat and caught up with Ty and Carol.

"We had passed quite a large herd before we got here. We need a plan B in order to stay alive for very long. We've seen signs for this place called Terminus and..."

I cut Carol off. "Terminus?"

"You heard of it?"

"Uhh, yeah, when we went to the college for meds, they were broadcasting over the radio. Didn't get much, the signal jumped between two stations and it never actually stuck. You've seen signs for this place?"

"Yeah, it's on the train tracks, the sign shows routs from everywhere in Georgia." Carol added.

"The others could be going there. If there's maps, they may all have the same idea that we'd find each other." Carol, Ty and I made quick plans to spend the new two days here in order to let the girls' rest.

I had showed the sisters to one of the rooms upstairs and left them to sleep for the night, going back to my room and laying across the bed as Judith slept. A soft knock interrupted me, making me open my eyes and call for whoever to come in. "You alright?"

I nodded, running my fingers through my hair. "Carol and Ty said they saw signs for this place called Terminus. We think everyone else will know to go there to regroup."

He nodded and dropped down beside me, both of us just staring at the ceiling. "Maybe they haven't seen the signs, thinking to stay away from the tracks." He was trying to keep my hope from getting too high.

"They also said a herd was coming this way, one that's too big for us to handle and we can't have Judith here when they pass, if she cries once, were dead." I glanced over at Merle. "We gotta go and try to find them."

"I know. We'll get ready and head out when we can."