Found Book One

Found

Run that's all you can do now there's nothing left but the dead, skin eaters, walkers. My legs hurt and I can't feel my feet, my breathing is ragged and my muscles are strained. My bag feels heavier than anything should.

But I keep going, if I stop, I die, my foot snags on a branch and gravity pulls me to the ground, I let out a groan and scramble to my feet.

I finger the knife nestled in my belt, I pull it out and shove it into the skull of the dead one coming after me. It falls dead again onto the ground.

More are coming, I need to run, I hear the bang of a gunshot. I fall to the ground again with a walker on top of me, I squeal as a blade comes through its head and only inches from mine.

I push the walker off to reveal a dark-skinned woman with dreads, "Come on!" she yells grabbing my arm and pulling me up. I flinch away from her, she stops. "We need to go. If you come with me now I can protect you," she says.

I nod and follow her through the trees, we come to a clearing, "My name is Michonne," she pants as we start walking down a road through a cookie-cutter neighborhood.

"I'm here with some other people from my group, you can come back with us if you answer some questions," she stops at a car.

I look up at her with wary eyes too scared to hear my voice, "E-Elaine. My name's Elaine," I rasp. She shows a set of slightly crooked white teeth, "'Chonne! Who the hell is this!" a man's voice sounds.

The woman frowns and runs her fingerless gloved hand over her face before turning around to look at the man walking toward us. I stare up at him, his crossbow, blue eyes, the way he walks.

Flashes of memory whir through my mind as I stare up at him, "Monkey?" the tall man asks. My chin trembles and my green eyes fill with tears, he pulls me into his arms and I stiffen in his grip.

"Daddy?" I question, he nods against my shoulder before lifting me up and twirling me in his arms. I let out a small laugh as he places me on the ground, "I tried so hard to get you and Johna back. Merle said that when you weren't at the house that you and you guys were a lost cause," he says.

I smile and look up at him as he says me down, "You still look the same," I say still not able to wrap my head around the fact that I got back to him. "Yeah well you look disgusting," he says laying his hand on my cheek. I lean forward and press my forehead to his chest.

"Maggie," Michonne says, "You two get in the car. I'll go find her," she mutters walking away. "How old are you now Lainey?" Daryl asks looking over at me.

I shrug my shoulders, "I think I'm gonna be fifteen maybe sixteen I'm not sure," I mumble studying my dirt covered nail beds.

He lets out a big sigh and runs his hand over his face. "I shoulda kept lookin' I missed so much," he says I shake my head.

"You didn't miss anything important," I say wiping at my grime covered cheeks. I think he understands not to ask about mom and my brother, but a part of me wants him to.

"Come on, let's get in we got a bit of a drive," he says. Daryl opens the passenger side door and I get in the car. He pulls the seat belt out and stretches it over my lap before clicking it into place. I smile as he does this. Like he used to when I was little.

The other doors open and Michonne and the woman named Maggie crawl into the backseat.

Daryl starts the car and pulls away from the small neighborhood. "When we get there, there's gonna be a lot of people who are gonna fuss over you."

I keep my eyes fixed in my lap as I pick at my fingernails."When you're ready you can mingle and meet some of the people," Maggie says.

I nod, "Are there lots of people there?" I ask. Daryl glances to me, "Yeah there's about twenty to thirty people at the prison."