Darker Skies *The Walking Dead*

Chapter 2

Rick walked in front of Skylar while Daryl walked behind her with her rifle and knife. She felt like a prisoner, and she was even going to a prison, but she'd be safe. Hopefully. As they walked, she thought more on the man's name. She used to know a Rick, he was the father of her best friend. He didn't have a beard the last time she saw him, he was always clean cut. And anyway, he was in a coma when the apocalypse started and she never got a chance to know if he made it to somewhere safe or not. The name triggered memories of her old friend, Carl. They met at school and became close friends pretty quickly. She was a shy person who came to the school in the middle of the year. Carl took her in and became friends through reading comic books together.

"Skylar, while you're there, you'll have to do chores. After a day or two of rest and see how things work, we'll find a job for you." Rick explained. "Hold old are you?"

"13."

"Do you mind if I ask why you were alone?"

"I was checking on my traps," Skylar told him.

"You didn't have a camp set up?" He turned back to give her a concerned look.

"I had a house, I didn't want to go back."

"Do you have a family?"

"No." She said breathlessly. She hadn't said it out loud and it felt wrong. "I don't have a family."

Rick stopped and turned to face her. He took a step closer and knelt down to get closer to her height. He reached out to her hand, slowly, as if he was reaching out to a wild animal.

"Everyone at the prison has lost someone, I've lost my wife, Daryl lost his brother," he told her. "You can make friends who will treat you like a family at the prison. I have a son your age who needs a new friend." Skylar gave him a smile even though she didn't want to. She didn't want to make a new family; she wanted her parents or no family. And as she looked deeper into his face, the wrinkles around his eyes seemed familiar to her. His bright blue eyes were shining the way they did whenever he had come home from a hard day at work. At the police station. Her rick worked at a police station.

"Are you Rick Grimes?"

"Um, yes I am." He looked very taken back which didn't surprise her. She would be uncomfortable if a stranger knew her last name.

"Carl Grimes is your son. I went to school with him. I'd stay at your guys' house." Skylar felt like fainting. She couldn't believe she was looking at the man who was like a second father to her, who was stuck in a hospital bed last she saw.

"You went to school... Oh, Skylar," Rick stood up so quickly, Skylar didn't have enough time to realize he was coming in for a hug. She squeaked as his picked her up and held her tight. It's been too long she had been given a hug; her mom didn't move much after Skylar's dad never returned. A lump formed in her throat and she could hold back the sob that escaped. With it came the large tears, the snotty nose, the wailing. Rick held her tight and let her cry. As she screamed into his shoulder thunder rumbled.

"We need to get going." Rick didn't put her down as he started walking again, this time a little faster.

~~

Skylar was walking and her tears washed away by the rain by the time the watchtowers of the prison came into view from a hill. Then a mile more in the warm, pouring rain where they would hit the gates, as Rick told her. When the three of them emerged from the forest, she could see that the prison was much bigger than she was expecting. She couldn't see the whole building, but the land in front of the prison that was blocked off by fences and a gate was probably bigger than a football field and had a garden, a small stable for horses, and a pen for pigs.

Rick had started at a run when they hit the gravel roadway leading to the prison and Skylar followed suit. There were zombies lined against the fence, wanting to push inside so they could feed on whoever lived at the prison with Rick. As they ran to the gate, someone ran from inside the watchtower to open it for them and closed it when they were safely inside.

"Who's this?" The woman who opened the gate asked Rick, looking at Skylar with concern and curiosity. Her brunette hair was cut above her shoulders, already plastered to her head from the rain, and she was clothed in light prison armor.

"Her name's Skylar, she's an old friend of Carl's," Rick explained. The woman put her hand out for Skylar to shake.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Maggie." Maggie grinned at Skylar. "If you need anything, you can usually find me up here." She pointed to the watchtower she had come out of to open the gate for them.

"I'm going to help Skylar find a room to stay," Rick told Maggie and his friend. "Daryl, can you find Hershel for me?" Daryl nodded with a grunt and walked up to the garden. Rick nodded at Maggie and Skylar waved goodbye. They ran together to a concrete area where there was a pavilion and area for food to be laid out if it wasn't raining.

The prison was just like a plain prison she had seen on television, all concrete and metal cells with bunk beds, a sink, and toilet. There were people walking around, talking in their cells, or sitting at a few tables on the other side of the hall. The door slammed shut behind them and everyone stopped what they were doing to look at them.

"Ignore them." Rick put a hand on her back and maneuvered her to a door to a different cell block. It looked just like the one before but with fewer people. Rick stopped at the first cell and pulled back the curtain to show a room full of items such as clothes, a baby crib, towels, a gun, all the essentials.

"This is where I stay, with Carl and Judith-"

"Judith?" Skylar looked up at Rick. She realized she hasn't asked about Lori and hadn't seen her around yet. But who was Judith?

"Oh," Rick looked like he was struck by a hammer. "Oh, Judith is my daughter. Lori gave birth before she..." Skylar knew he didn't want to finish the sentence and she knew how it ended anyway.

"Rick, I'm sorry." Skylar hugged the man. He held onto her tightly and she felt at peace again for a short while before Rick remembered they were supposed to be finding her a cell.

"This seems like it's free." Rick stopped at a room that had a sheet used as a door pushed to the side. There was a bunk bed, toilet, and sink sitting on the inside. A nice new home for Skylar. "It's not much, but it's safe. You can sit in here while I go get Hershel, he's going to be doing a check up on you."

"When will I get to see Carl?" Skylar burst with the question. She didn't really want to just sit in a cell like a prisoner in prison when she could be seeing Carl.

"Well, he's out on a supply run with one of our group members. He should be back soon." Rick left her alone, pulling the sheet behind him. Skylar didn't want to wait, but she didn't have much of an option.