Living with the Dead.(twd)

Never-ending lie. (121)

This is my second book so if you haven't read the first one I would recommend you to read the first to understand this one if you wish to continue read this. Thank you Xx.

Madisons pov.
"Dad?" I barely got out. He had to be my imagination. I've really gone mad. I turned around to Rick and he still had his gun pointed to him.
"You see him to, right?" I whisper to them. He's dead. He's been dead since I was seven. I looked at his bow and the arrow in Luke's neck. That arrow is real. Luke is dead. Thats real. How could my dad be here.
He was dead.
"Who's that man Mads?" Carl whispers back.
He's here. He's really here. Carl can see him so he must be real.
"Maddie?" The man questions.
My breathing stops.
"Dad?" I ask.
"I thought you died." He whispers and takes a step forward but without knowing I take a step back and he haults.
I wanted to say: 'I could say the same.' But my breath has been knocked out of me and I cant regain it. I feel my lower lip quiver as I fight back the tears. My dad is alive but he made me think he was dead for years and he killed my best friend.
"You died. You died when I was seven. In a car crash, when mum made you leave." I sob. The sob comes from deep in my chest. Why is my life a neverending lie.
"Im alive..... for now. Your mother was a good person even when you thought she betrayed you. Your mother didnt make me leave. I left."
His words seem to echo through the woods and seep into my bood making it boil with anger. I grit my teeth and ball my fists to stop myself from shaking.
"You left?" I spit.
"Yes, I left. You were there that night me and your mother fought. We fought because I was more dedicated and commited to my job than her or to my whole family. All except you. I was dedicated to you. I was obsessed with you and shaping your person. I loved the fact that I didn't need to shape you, you were already strong and brave. You were ruthless, you feared nothing. You were all I wanted in a child and I gave you what I possessed most and still do to this day." He explains. He was a scientist and when he wasnt in the woods hunting with me he would drive hours to his workplace to work on something he told me was
"forbiden to know outside the lab" But I was young and accepted what he said because I trusted him most. I look down at the ring with the unique, dark, misty black rock that I was named after.
"Ah yes, the ring. You remembered, and I'm proud and relieved that you wore it still to this day." He smiles behind his beard but I keep my glare cold and deadly. So many times in my life I prayed and thought about if I just had one more chance to talk to my dad ,what would we talk about? What would he say? I never imagined it going quite like this though.
"You told me to. You wanted me to always wear it because it was important to you." I reminded him.
"It's important fullstop. I said that to you when you were only six. It seems strange that you can remember clearly back to those days." He states.
"Its not hard to forget the only things you could remember." I say through gritted teeth.
"I don't follow." He says confused.
"Did you ever come to check on us in secret when you 'died'? Did you even care?" I whisper.
"I did once or twice but you weren't in the house. It was late and the house was abandoned. I came the night the world had been infected. Nobody was home." He answered.
"And you didnt stop to question why?"
"No."
"The house was full of our belongings. Untouched for years. When you left us, it wasn't you who lost everything. It was us. You left us to pick up the pieces. Mom went insane. I had to look after Abbie. I had to hunt for hours in the woods to find food because mom didnt work. We had no money. Ben and Nick had to find jobs. You took our childhood for us. When mom finally came around she sold herself to a man for the night but she accidently killed him when he attacked her. That was the worst mistake of her life and it effected all of us. That man she killed came from a big family filled with brothers. His brothers found us and they took us. They said that she killed their family so they would kill hers. Years ticked by and we waited for death until something much worse happened. They killed him. They killed Ben and dragged his corpse into the cart for us to see and so I killed the man that killed my brother. Eight years we spent trapped in those traincarts. They abused us, they starved us, they..." I couldnt finish what I needed to say.
"I never knew." He whispers with tears glistening in his eyes.
"Save the tears you dont care." I spit.
"I have questions." He states.
"Of course you do." I sigh and sit beside Luke, putting his head on my lap while I brush his hair away from his face. I hear my father gasp and I look up to his face.
"Is...is that, Luke?" His voice shakes.
"Yes.... You killed him and if I had been standing even a fraction to the left that arrow would have gone straight through my head". I look down at Luke and put my forehead against his as the tears tumble down my face.
"And I rather that than see my brother dead. BECAUSE OF YOU!" I scream.
He steps forward and I raise my bow at him. My arrow loaded and aimed at his neck. I wouldn't miss. He freezes and steps back to where he was.
"I killed someone already who killed my brother. I will do it again." I promise him. I lower my bow and continue to stroke Lukes hair.
"You wouldn't kill me Maddie, would you?" He holds up his hands in surrender. I dont answer I just glare at him.
"They killed Ben?" He murmurs as a tear rolls down his chubby cheek and into his beard. I nod
"Do you have a camp? Is your mother there? Nick? The baby?" He asks.
It takes me a minute to realise who he meant by 'the baby'.
"You seem to forget that you left years ago. She grew up." I spit.
"What was she named?" He asks.
My anger boils over the top.
"YOU DONT DESERVE TO KNOW!"
"I'm sorry. I'll stop asking questions." He promises. I let the tears flow. Im not able to stop them now.
Silence consumes the area and Rick walks overs to me and squats down hugging me tightly to keep me calm.
"We can go now." He Whispers so low only I can hear him.
"No. I deserve answers." I say.
He walks back to the others.
"There dead. Mom, Nick, Abbie. They died." I tell him giving him two of the answers to his questions I didnt want to answer.
He stays quiet.
"Why didnt you take us with you. Why was I not enough that you had to go and fake your own death but not actually die. What have you been doing?" I croak.
"The night I left, myself and your mother had a fight as you know, but we were fighting because I wanted to take you with me and your mother refused to let you go when she knew she would never see you again. You were my favourite.That night I said I came back I was planning on taking you and bringing you with me but you were gone I feared you might have gotten bit already but I had more faith in you than to believe that. So, I've been searching for you ever since. I told you everything. And everything I told you matters.You are the key to everything Maddie. The cure lies with you but you only realised now that you hold the cure with you right now as we speek and you have had it since I gave it to you. You can change everything." He announces. My brows furrow and i'm about to say I dont understand until I look down at the ring he gave me when I was just six years old.
The sparkling black rock is the cure.