Wanderlust

Damn

Gypsy felt a soft furry face press against her hand.

“In a minute Shiva, I’m busy” She whispered staring out the small dirty window, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

Hearing a soft growl and feeling the fur under her fingers again, Gypsy looked down to glare at the tiger, but instead smiled softly. She could never be mad at her.

“Fine” Gypsy sighed and grabbed the hunk of meat Shiva had been begging for and threw it in front of her. “There you go my greedy girl” Gypsy smiled.

Peering back out the window, watching the new guy Morgan speak to these people that had walked through their gate, she was lost in thought and didn’t hear when someone else entered the room.

“Gypsy!” boomed a voice that made her jump.

Turning around, she smiled sheepishly.

“Hey Jerry, how goes it?” she grinned

“It goes quite well M’lady” he said with a broad smile. “Is Shiva done with her lunch? King Ezekiel Is having an audience with some new people and he wants Shiva there to…um…greet them”

Gypsy raised her eyebrow at him.

“I saw them walk in….what’s going on Jerry? Are they another group like Negan?” she asked

Jerry stared at the ground then back at Gypsy.

“I’m not sure to tell you the truth….I don’t think they’re like the Saviors, I mean Jesus brought them here and you know he’s a pretty good guy” he said quietly

Gypsy absentmindedly nodded her head, deep in thought again.

“OK, well….come on Shiva, see you later Gypsy!” Jerry smiled

Gypsy watched as Jerry guided Shiva through the doorway, disappearing through the darkness. Crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the coolness of the brick wall, she glimpsed outside again. It was almost time for class, she had better get outside and set up everything for the kids. It was going to be another hot one today, she thought, as she whipped her long, dark, auburn hair up into a sloppy bun. Walking slowly through the doorway, still thinking about the new group. Her curiosity was still killing her wanting to know why they were there and what kind of trouble they were about to stir up.

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Daryl stood and stared at the tiger that lay next to the king guy that Rick was speaking to. He had never seen anything so beautiful in his life. A huge part of him wanted to walk up to it to make sure it was real. Of course that would be a stupid redneck thing to do, he knew it was real, he could hear the soft growl and see it was alive and breathing. He had never seen a tiger before except for maybe on TV when he was a kid. He had never been to a zoo or anything like that, so seeing something like this in person was blowing his mind a little. Trying to turn his attention from the tiger and listening to Rick, a dark cloud passed across his eyes. He knew they were wasting their time, this guy wasn’t going to help them and that was fine by him. As angry as he felt these days, he could probably take them all on himself. Seeing Rick’s shoulders tense up and watching the king guy walk away with the tiger and his people, Daryl spoke softly to Rick.

“What’s going on Rick?” Daryl asked

Rick sighed deeply

“He’ll give us his answer in the morning….looks like we’ll be having dinner here and staying the night” he answered.

“Man, that’s bullshit. We just need to go home and figure out another plan. This asshat isn’t going to help us, you gotta know that Rick” Daryl growled