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The last thing Keeley Salazar could remember was her parents arguing in the car before they crashed. Now three years have passed and a lot has changed. She's no longer seventeen, but now on the verge of turning twenty years old. Oh, and...
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Today's the day. Today was the day Keeley was finally off bed rest. Nothing much happened except for the fact that Andrea grazed Daryl in the head after he found the only clue they had on Sophia.
It was like Daryl switched places with Keeley, she was healed while he was injured. The only thing Keeley didn't like was getting woken up early by Carl and Lori asking her if she wanted to feed the chickens with them.
Being tired of staring at the same wall for the last three days, of course, Keeley said yes.
"Don't look so worried," Carl told Lori. "It's my job." She said as she threw seeds on the ground. The others were getting ready to look for Sophia again, but Shane wanted to give everyone shooting lessons.
"No, it's not. You're a housewife."
"Carl!" Keeley choked out laughing while Lori just stared at him before throwing a handful of seeds at him. "Yeah, punk? You see my house around here? Housewife, " she muttered.
"They don't have a mother," Carl said while throwing seeds. "She might be somewhere else."
"Maybe she got eaten." Keeley looked up at him, seeing the sadness in his eyes. "Everything is food for something else." He said seriously.
"Keeley?" Carl asked trying to change the subject. "Yeah?" He finished feeding the chickens and sat down next to me. "Until we find the rest of your, can we be your pretend family until then? Like I can be your pretend brother, and Mom and Dad can be your pretend Mom and Dad."
Keeley looked at him and then at Lori, and all she did was smile at her. Keeley didn't give it much thought, you know. Her brother was still out there, but she didn't want to leave Carl and the others.
The more time they spent together, the more she felt like they were a family. "Sure, Carl. You can be my pretend brother."
He hugged Keeley as he whispered, "I love you."
Her heart melted as the little boy tighten his grip around her.
"I love you too."
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Rick, Shane, and Beth's boyfriend Jimmy were circled around Carol's Cherokee, looking at the map.
"I want to help, " Keeley said walking upon them. "No, you just got off of bed rest, little lady. You are in no condition to be walking." Shane told her.
"I'm not going to sit here and act like a damsel in distress, Shane. I want to help look for Sophia."
Shane scoffed, "Do you even know how to use a gun?" Keeley looked him straight in the eyes. "My dad used to teach me and my brother, but it's been a few years." Rick gave Shane a look. "You can help search for her when we see how you do on the gun training."
"Ok." She said, glaring at Shane one more time before walking away from them, getting irritated with Shane and his patronizing comments.
Not even 2 minutes after, Carl got in trouble because he got caught with a gun in his pants. But after a little debate between Rick and Lori, they were going to let him come to gun training with them.
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After nailing the gun training the rest of them headed back to camp, while Shane and Andrea scouted a housing complex not too far.
The guys hung out while Keeley took advantage of the hot water, and took a nice shower. It felt good to get out the dirt from her hair and body. After she got dressed, Beth insisted that she wanted to teach Keeley how to braid hair.
Beth told Keeley that her mother used to do all these kinds of braids in her hair before she passed awaybut she never picked it up. As Keeley was leaving Beth's room she spotted the calendar, it was November 27th. That meant her birthday was tomorrow.
She wasn't planning to tell anyone because she didn't like making a big deal out of her birthday, the older as she got, the more her birthdays became depressing especially since it was going to be her first birthday that she will spend without her brother and mother.
Keeley joined the rest of the others for the cookout while they waited for Andrea and Shane to come back. And Keeley noticed that Lori has been feeling ill recently, but she didn't want to bother her.
"Hey, Carl," Keeley said as she approached him. "Do you want to pick peaches with me?" Keeley was bored and the food wasn't ready yet. "No, thanks. I'm gonna hang with Dad for a while. He told me he was going to give me tips on how to improve my aim. Wanna come?"
"No, it's okay, I'll guess I'll take this opportunity for some me-time but if you need anything, you'll know where I'll be." She turned around and started walking away.
As Keeley was walking around, picking peaches off the trees and ground, she thought about a lot of stuff. What happened to her mother, how did she die if she wasn't bitten or scratched. She couldn't stop thinking about it, it's been burning inside of her mind ever since the CDC. Then she thought about her father if they found him? Would he force her to go with him, or would Rick let him join them?
Keeley was too busy thinking about that when she didn't notice Daryl standing in front her me, leaning against the railing smoking a cigarette.
"I hope you know those are bad for you," Keeley said as she offered him a peach but he shook his head declining. "It's better if this killed me than the dead ones. What are you doing out here by yourself? Shouldn't you be with the others enjoying their little dinner?"
"Why are you out here by yourself Daryl?"
"I asked you first little girl."
"I asked you second old man."
Daryl took one last drag before throwing his cigarette down on the ground. "I ain't old. How old do you think I am?" He asked.
Keeley shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, 38?" he gave her a look, "You consider that old?"
"I guess, yeah."
"How old are you?" He asked
"According to the calendar in the kitchen, tomorrow will be my 20th birthday. Please don't tell anyone though, I don't like making a deal out of it. I hate attention and surprises. It freaks me out." Keeley said shivering at the thought.
"Well kid, with what's going on in the world, you're gonna have to get used to surprises to survive, " he said with a strong accent. "Now, come on. Your father probably wondering where you at."
Keeley completely forgot Daryl wasn't there the day when she first arrived at camp, and she was going to correct him when she remembered what Carl asked her in the morning.
