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RUTH
IT WAS A QUIET MORNING. When most of the group went to the courtyard, Ruth and a few others stayed behind with Hershel. The stairs that she sat upon were cold, surprisingly. Her arms wrapped tightly around her torso, trying to ignore the strange chill that ran through the humid air.
The loud scribbling of the pencil filled the echoic room. The graphite came out in small amounts, tracing lines upon lines of letters. The hand that held it was small and frail, the fingers wrapped tightly around the wooden utensil.
Carl's right hand laid the pencil onto the floor. "Like that?" He questioned as he tapped his finger to the notebook. Ruth smiled, her eyes trailing over the words to read what he wrote. Ridiculous.
"Perfect." Her hand grabbed the pencil, tapping it absentmindedly against the ground. "Try this. 'Accelerate.'" Ruth enunciated, placing the pencil back in his grasp. Carl nodded, and slowly touched the pencil back onto the notepad.
A creak of the door signaled the arrival of one of the group members. The loud stomping of footsteps made Ruth look up. Beth smiled as she walked past, her hands down at her sides. Lori trailed behind her with a pair of crutches, a grin of sorts reaching her lips.
"Doing better?" Lori asked as she looked down at her son. Carl had written about half of the word, and his pencil slowly trailed the paper.
Ruth grinned up at her closest friend, a nod of her head following it. "Yea, a lot better."
Lori carried the crutches into the cell to Ruth's right, and both Ruth and Carl followed her inside. "All right." Hershel slowly moved himself up in the bed, a smirk on his lips. His hair was no longer the short length Ruth remembered from the farm. It was pulled back into a ponytail on the lower portion of his head, and it suited him well. "Just take your time." Lori reminded him.
"Daddy, don't push yourself." Beth rushed as the older man sat up fairly quickly.
Hershel chuckled, gripping the bar of the upper bunk. "What else am I going to do? I can't stand looking up at that bottom of that bunk anymore-" He placed his arms onto the crutches, a look of disappointment in his eyes. Ruth walked slightly in front of the two women trying to keep him steady, her hands placed in front of her as she was prepared for any chance that Hershel could fall.
"Woah." Hershel muttered as he tapped the bottom of the crutches on the floor. "You know, I think I'm pretty steady." Lori removed her hands from his shoulder and a small smile reached her lips.
Ruth was happy to see the man alive and well after such a traumatic experience. He moved forwards, and Ruth stepped backwards out of the cell. "After you." Ruth smiled.
"That's a good start. Want to take a rest?" Lori asked the man. Her hands hovered over his shoulder, not trusting his words.
"Rest?" Hershel chuckled. "Let's go for a little stroll."
