Found Book One

Spring Again at the Church

"Let's go, people," Rick calls, Michonne takes Judith from him, I strap my backpack on tighter. People start trailing out of the house with bags and supplies, "We'll walk till we're tired," Rick says moving to the front of the group.

We've been drifting from place to place all winter. Four walls and a roof have never been so tiresome in my entire life.

I grab Carl's hand as we walk down the street, "I can't wait to sleep outside for once," he mutters into my ear. "Me too, I'm sick of old moldy houses," I say. Carl smiles and presses a chaste kiss to  my temple. 

I nod and squeeze his hand, Daryl walks beside me with Carol. I watch her as she glances over at us every so often, she's been caring since the prison, even before it fell she was starting to take me in as her own.

We walk for another hot mile, sweat is soaking my hair and the tanktop I have on. Carl's face is pink and I'm sure mine is too, "Do you have any water left?" I ask Carl. "Uh, lemme check," he says as he pulls his bookbag under his arm. 

He digs around for a moment to try and find a bottle. "Sorry," he says with a frown, I smile at him, "It's fine babe," I say to him. I turn his face to mine, "Kiss me," I whisper as we stop. 

Carl places his lips on mine, "Kiss you?" he asks, "Yeah," I say. "Well you're out of luck, I'm out," he says trying not to smile. "Kiss me," I mutter, "Nope," he says, I groan when he turns his face away from mine. 

"Really Carl?" I question as I stop in the middle of the road. He continues walking, I frown, "You better kiss me," I call to him. Carl shrugs, "Fine," I say before I run after him. I squeal as I grab onto his shoulders, I jump and wrap my legs around his waist. 

"Woah!" he yells, I laugh and grab his face. I place kisses over his cheeks and neck and ears, "I. Told. You. To. Kiss. Me!" I say between kisses. Carl hikes me up with a grip on my thighs. He carries me to the front of the group to his father and sister. "I caught the kissy monster," he says to the little girl in their father's arms. 

"Yep and I love giving kisses," I say as I reach out to the baby. I plant a kiss on her chubby cheek before I point toward Mika, Carl takes me there and I press a kiss to her face too before I move on to Carol. 

Carol smiles as Daryl comes over to us, "Did you forget about me?" he asks, I nudge Carl so he knows to run. 

"We gotta go!" I say with a laugh. Daryl grabs me as Carl rushes forward. Carl leaves without me and Daryl places a kiss to the top of my head before he puts me on the ground. 

"I think it's time for a break," Daryl states pointing to a deer path hidden in the woods. "Yeah I think the kids could use some shade," Carol says placing her hand on Mika's cheek.

"Maybe we can find some more water?" Maggie says kissing the back of Glenn's hand as we walk off the road.

"Guys look!" I say rushing over to a large black raspberry patch. Everyone turns to me and smiles when they spot the sweet fruit too.

"There's so much here," I say picking a hand full, I feel a light tap on my shoulder. I turn around and look up into Carl's bright blue eyes, "Open," he commands, my mouth falls open and he grabs my chin lightly.

I squeal as he holds up a worm, I struggle to get away as he grabs the back of my neck.  He keeps trying to put it into my mouth, I push him away, smooshing the blackberries on his shirt.

He stumbles backward with a dirty shirt. He can barely stand up he's laughing so hard. "What the hell was that for?" I whisper-yell at him. 

Carl grabs my arms, I smile as he kisses my lips, "I wish I had a camera because your face was hilarious." I roll my eyes and grab a bandana from my back pocket. I fill the fabric with raspberries before tying it shut and tucking it under my belt.

Carl is still chuckling about the worm he tried to feed me, I smile over at him and he smiles back. I blush under his gaze because I don't think I've ever loved anybody this much before. I reach out for him in an instinctual feeling to be close. Carl reaches his hand toward me, a noise tears the peaceful moment away.

"HELP! SOMEBODY!"

Carl turns to servey the area for people. Judith is thrusted into my arms, "Stay here," Rick says as he places Mika behind me. 

I hand Mika my gun so she can protect us, "Shoot anyone we don't know," Daryl says as he rushes in the other direction to scout.

"I'm scared," Mika says quietly. "What if they try to hurt us again?" she asks. I shake my head and reach my free hand back to grab her arm. "We'll just hurt them first," I whisper in reassurance.

I feel her nod against my back. The crack of a branch makes me turn around. "Gun down, Mika-Pika," Rosita says with her hands up in the air.

Mika does as she's told. "Come on," Rosita says holding out a hand for the girl to take. I follow closely behind the two of them until we get to a small clearing with a wall of rocks. In front of the group is Rick, he's talking to a man with dark skin and a priest's uniform on.

"You have children and a baby?" the man asks. Rick shoves him against the wall with his forearm to the man's neck. I tuck Mika between me and Rosita.

"Do you have a place, Gabriel?" Rick asks him. Gabriel nods against Rick, "It's safe, about a mile away. The dead haven't come around for about a month," he rants. "Take us there."

I get pushed to the middle of the group between Rosita and Carol, Mika is behind me and Daryl is behind her. Abraham holds up the back of the group. the path on the way to the church that Gabriel is leading us to is cleared and well-worn.

 He must've been here since the start or pretty close to it. I smile when I glance up into the trees, the sun filters through the leaves to create a stained glass look. 

A small white-washed building comes into view after only a few minutes of walking. Gabriel is the first to go in with Rick and Daryl going in quickly after. The signal tells us that the place is safe and we al shuffle into the large main room. 

We unload our limited supplies in the rows of pews. Rick and Gabriel are discussing places that might have a sufficient amount of food for the number of people that we have.

"Let's go!" Rick calls out, the small group of people loads up on their weapons and bags to carry the supplies. Rick bends down slightly in front of me, he places his hand on my shoulder, "Thank you," he whispers.

"For what?" I ask, "For being here, for taking care of Carl. For being there for him," he replies. "You brought my boy back and there is no way I can repay you for that," he says.

He hugs me, "You're the one that took me in, so thank you," he nods, "We gotta go. Daylight's slippin'," Daryl yells. The group rushes out the door and down the road, I quickly lock it after them, arms slip around my waist.

"You should get some rest," he says, I shake my head, "Nah, I'm fine. Judith needs to eat anyway." He nods, "Hey Mik, you should set up Life," I say digging through Judith's bag. I pull out a bottle and fill it with some fresh water, I throw a spoonful of formula into the bottle.

"What are ya doin' Mika-Pika?" Rosita asks walking into the room, "I'm setting up Life if you wanna play," Mika replies. 

"Sure, I'll play. Only if Tara can too, she needs something to do. I think we all need something to take our minds off of everything," Rosita says sitting on the floor. 

I place the bottle in Judith's mouth and sit on the floor next to Mika, Carl sits and we start the game.

A knock sounds on the door, Carl rushes over and unlocks it, "We hit the god damned jackpot kids!" Abraham shouts running into the church. He snatches up Rosita and kisses her, "We're gonna eat good tonight!" Daryl yells luging in a bin full of cans of food and water. Everyone else has boxes and bags of their own.

Michonne walks over and hands me a small box, I open it, Mika peeks over my shoulder. "Candy?" she beams. Carl takes the box and digs until he finds the candy bar he wants, "Hey I wanted that one!" I pout.

He smiles and tears into the plastic, he takes a bite and hands it to me, "I can't believe you thought I wouldn't share with you," he says in shock. I laugh and bite into the chocolate deliciousness.