Daughter of the Fallen

Knots Unite

That night, I was walking down the street with my dad when Denise suddenly came out.

"Guys!" she called. "It's the prisoner. He's in in Rick and Carl's house!"

My eyes widened. Rick and Daryl had brought a prisoner home from the run they went on. Apparently he calls himself Jesus. I doubt it.

Together, me, my dad, Glenn, Maggie, and Daryl (the three of them overheard and came with us) ran to the Grimes house.

When we got in, we saw Jesus sitting on the steps with Carl behind him, holding a gun to his head. We immediately put our guns up.

Rick and Michonne came out.

"It's okay," Michonne assured.

I looked at them awkwardly. Rick's shirt was off and Michonne had a tank top on. All of us immediately knew what had happened before this and frankly, it was about time. My parents and I had been betting on them getting together for a while.

As Rick put his shirt on, he addressed Jesus. "You said we should talk. So let's talk."

•••

"So how'd you get out?" Rick asked Jesus.

We were all in Rick and Carl's kitchen, sitting at the table. I was sitting at the end of the table. Carl was sitting next to me and I could see him giving Michonne a look that said "I know what you were just doing" making me have to suppress a laugh.

"One guard can't cover two exits," Jesus explained. "Or cover third floor windows. Knots untie and locks get picked. Entropy comes from order, right?"

"Right," Daryl confirmed.

"I checked out your arsenal. I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well-equipped but your provisions are low. Very low for the amount of people you have. 54?"

"More than that," I corrected him dully.

He looked at me for a second. "Well, I appreciate the cookie. Compliments to the chef." Carol.

"Yeah, she ain't here," Daryl grumbled.

Jesus turned to face him. "Look we got off to a bad start. But we're on the same side: the living side."

As him and Daryl talked, Carl and I exchanged a glance. I knew we were both unsure whether to trust him. I turned back to Jesus as he addressed us again.

"I'm from a place that's a lot like this one," he explained. "Part of my job is looking for other settlements to trade with. I took your truck because my community needs things, and both of you looked like trouble. I was wrong. You're good people. And this is a good place. I think our communities may be in a position to help each other."

"Do you have food?" Glenn asked.

"We've started to raise livestock. We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to sorghum."

"Tell us why we should believe you," Rick challenged.

"I'll show you. If we take a car, we can take you back home in a day, and you can all see for yourselves who we are and what we have to offer."

"Wait," Maggie interjected. "You say you're looking for more settlements. You mean you're already trading with other groups?"

Jesus smiled and sat back in his chair. "Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger."

•••

My dad and I were packing up to leave when my mom came over.

"Are you sure you wanna go, Bree?" she asked. "I'm afraid you're overworking yourself."

I sighed in exasperation. "Did you and Carl have a meeting or something? I'm fine. I wanna go. I'll take it easy."

She looked like she wanted to say something else but she decided against it. She pulled me into a hug.

"Be careful, baby," she whispered.

"I will," I promised.

I put my stuff in the RV before walking over to see Carl.

I sighed. "I can't believe Rick's letting you stay."

"I can't believe Sasha and Abraham are letting you go," he shot back.

Chucking, I put my hands up. "Okay, truce."

"So you'll be back by either tonight or tomorrow morning?"

I nodded. "Should be."

"Okay," he breathed. He pulled me into a quick hug. "See you later."

"See you later," I repeated. "Don't destroy this place while we're gone."

He chuckled and nodded. I threw him a peace sign before walking over to the RV.

"Let's chew up some asphalt!" my dad called and we all got in.

•••

I sat next to my dad as Rick drove. Across from us were Glenn and Maggie. Maggie was asleep with her head on his shoulder and he had his hand on her stomach. The sight made my mood lighten a ton.

I closed my eyes for a bit. My dad must have thought I was asleep, because he asked Glenn, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," I heard Glenn reply.

I heard them shift their positions.

"When you were, uh, pouring the Bisquik," he started quietly. "You trying to make pancakes?"

Huh?

"Ummm," Glenn replied. "Yes?"

I thought about it for a second before realizing. Oh my god. He didn't actually mean...

Glenn seemed to realize it at the same time as me, because I heard him laugh slightly, sounding uncomfortable.

"Well, it's something that we talked about," Glenn answered. "Why?"

"Well...given the precarious state of affairs on any given Sunday, I am d*mn near floored that your or anyone else would have the cojones to make that call."

"I mean, we're trying to build something, me and her. All of us."

There was a moment of silence before my dad spoke again. "For the record, I see rain coming, I'm wearing goulashes. I double up."

After that uncomfortable conversation, I didn't know whether to suppress a laugh or a smile. I found myself fighting the urge to do both.

Suddenly, I felt the brakes take hold on the RV and I opened my eyes.

"Rick," Daryl called. "What's going on?"

"We got a crash ahead," he informed us. "Looks like it just happened."

He pulled over and I ran over to see what it was. A car was on it's side on the side of the road.

"It's one of ours," I heard Jesus say, panicked, before getting out of the RV. Rick immediately followed him.

I stood at the door, taking a deep breath.

My dad walked up to me.

"What is it?" he asked.

Letting go of the breath, I answered, "Looks like kicking butt isn't a 9 to 5 job." I followed Rick and Jesus off the RV.