What We've Become {the walking dead}

chapter twenty two

(A/N): no one reads these so I'll be quick. Thanks for 2k reads!! I love you all so so much! Alright, on with the chapter.

~

"But she's alive?" I ask Daryl, looking up from the shank I'm trying to make out of wood.

"She's alive," he confirms.

"And she's definitely with Beth?" I ask again, jamming my shoe knife into the wooden floor of the train car.

Daryl simply nods his head.

"Good," I mumble, returning to my shank. I feel a weight lift off my shoulders, knowing that Becca is alive and with Beth, her best friend.

"Alright," Daryl speaks up, interrupting my thoughts. "Got four of them pricks coming our way."

"Y'all know what to do," Rick's says as we get into position, ready to attack. "Go for their eyes first. Then their throats."

I hold my shank in my left hand and my shoe knife in my right. Someone from outside yells for us to do something, but we ignore them. I turn to Carl, and he nods at me to let me know everything's going to be okay.

Footsteps stomp around on the roof of the train car. Confused, I look up and the roof opens. I squint as sun beats down on my face and a can of something drops to the floor in front of my feet.

"Move!" Abraham shouts as the can explodes, causing me to fly backwards.

Burning.

That's all I can feel. Burning.

My eyes, my throat, my skin. It all burns. I inhale the smoke and begin coughing as I try to get to my feet. I can't see anything. It's all smoke.

"Carl?" I choke out, feeling around for him.

"I'm here," he says in a raspy voice, placing his hand on my shoulder.

I turn around as the smoke clears and give him a weak smile. He smiles back, but it soon fades and turns to a look of worry.

"What?" I ask nervously. I turn around and search, but no Rick, Glenn, Daryl, or Bob. "Shit," I mutter.

Gunshots echo in the distance, then something explodes, causing the ground to rumble. I almost lose my footing.

"What the hell?" Abraham shouts, frustrated.

Gunfire continues outside of the train car and I try to peek through the cracks in the wood, but I can't see anything.

"Are you okay?" Carl asks from behind me.

I turn around to face him and find myself staring into his ocean blue irises. I never noticed how pretty his eyes are.

"I'm fine," I lie.

"You don't seem fine," Carl says, and he's right.

I'm not fine. I haven't been able to get that woman or that girl out of my head. The woman from the prison nor the girl from the neighborhood.

"You've been different since you stepped into this train car. What happened?" Carl asks, worriedly knitting his eyebrows together.

"I killed two people," I blurt.

"What?" Carl asks, placing his hands on my shoulders. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"A woman attacked me at the prison. I shot her," I explain, staring at the ground embarrassed.

Carl nods his head sympathetically.

"The other one was a girl, about our age. She got bit, so I helped her end it." Hot tears roll down my face and Carl pulls me into a hug.

"It's okay, Maddie," Carl soothes, stroking my hair as I sob onto his shoulder.

"What the hell is going on?" Abraham yells, pounding his fists on the metal door, thus ending Carl and I's moment.

"Someone hit 'em," Sasha says. "Maybe our people got free."

Eugene gets busy on trying to get us out of here as Carl steps forward, "hey. My dad's gonna be back."

"They all are," I assure, nodding at Carl.

"They are," Maggie speaks up, "and we need to get ready to fight our way out with them when they do."

I focus on sharpening my shank as Sasha and some others question Eugene about his "cure". His only answer is that it's classified and he can't share any info with is. I don't really understand why. It's not like we can do anything with the information.

Eugene finally stands up and attempts to explain his plan for when we get to DC. Apparently we need to get to Washington, DC because that's where we end all this.

Eugene continues to talk about scientific stuff, but I am so confused and don't have a clue what he's saying. Something bangs on the door and Carl and I jump up, ready to fight whatever is on the other side. The door slides open, making loud noise as it collides with the metal. Rick stands on the other side holding a machine gun.

"Come on! Fight to the fence!" Rick yells, firing the gun outside of the train car.

I grab my knife and my shank and follow Carl out of the car where it seems all hell has broken loose. All the buildings are up in flames and walkers are everywhere and still flooding in.

I sprint to catch up with the group, killing walkers as I go. We run to the edge of the compound and Rosita kills a few through the fence.

"Up and over!" Rosita commands.

We do as we're told and pile over the fence. Abraham is the last one over and once we're all together, we run for the woods.

~

"A little to the left," I instruct Carl.

He moves a step to the left, and I wobble slightly on top of his shoulders. "You're heavy," Carl whines as I spot my backpack in the tree.

"Quit complaining. I see it," I tell Carl as I grab my backpack. "Got it."

Carl backs away from the tree and I hop off his shoulders. I hike my backpack up on my shoulders and Carl and I jog to catch up to the others. Rick is digging up his bag and weapons, too.

As I near the group, I notice someone approaching us. Daryl is the next to notice and he takes off running towards them. It's Carol, and she's got Daryl's crossbow. A smile grows on my face as he engulfs her in a hug, followed by Rick. I can't believe it. Carol's alive. She must've been the one to blow up Terminus. She saved us.

"You have to come with me," Carol orders and we follow her.

She leads us to a shack that's surrounded by dead walkers. As we walk up to it, Tyreese walks out. He then turns around, holding a baby. Baby Judith. Rick and Carl sprint up to meet their daughter and sister as Sasha engulfs Ty in a hug.

I fight tears as I watch people reuniting with their loved ones. I wish Becca was here. I wish I could hug her and tell her I love her. I don't know if I'll ever see her again, but I do know that wherever she is, she's okay.

~

Becca's pov

I clench my teeth and ball my hands into tight fists until my knuckles turn white. "This is not okay."