Found Book One

Rain

The road seems to get longer and the sun seems to get hotter. I pull my sweater off and tie it around my waist not caring if I get an even worse sunburn. Carl frowns when I do this but I smile at him in reassurance. 

Judith fusses as more walkers slowly gather behind us again, I keep pushing the loose strands of my sweat-soaked braid from my face.

My eyes are slowly drawn to a small cluster of clouds slowly floating toward the sun. "Carl, look up," I say pointing up at the cloud-speckled sky. He looks up and smiles lightly.

Daryl breaks off from the group with a grunt, I tap on Carol's shoulder. "Is he gonna be okay?" I ask. "He's not okay now but he will be," she says patting my shoulder.

"Here take a drink," she says handing me the last water bottle. I open it and take a sip. "Give it to Carl, it's been a while since he had any," she says walking forward to tell Rick that Daryl left. I move over to Carl with the bottle in hand, "Carol said to give it to you," I tell him. 

"I'm fine," he says, "No you're not. Take a drink," I say. He sighs and takes the bottle from my hand, "Okay," he mutters, "Thank you," I say. 

"Hold up!" Rick hollers stopping in the middle of the road. We all gather around him. There are four gallon jugs and ten water bottles. He picks up a piece of paper with three words written on it 'From a friend,' Daryl joins us once again. 

"What is it?" he asks. Rick hands him the paper. Daryl reads it and gets his crossbow ready.

"What are we gonna do?" Tara asks, Daryl looks around. "I don't know but not this. It could be poisoned or something," he says. "We don't know who left it," Rick mutters as he looks around. 

I hold Judith tightly to me. "Well if it's a trap then we're already in it," Eugene says. "But I for one would love to think that it is indeed from a friend."

"But if it's not, there could be something in it," Carol says. Eugene moves forward and grabs one of the bottles, "Dude?" Tara says. 

"The hell are you doing?" Rosita asks as he opens the bottle. "Quality assurance," he answers simply as he moves to take a drink. I jump when Abraham slaps it from his hands. "We can't," Rick says, it hurts that we have water so close but we can't have it.

Thunder rumbles and everyone jumps. Rain drips down from the sky, lightning strikes. I squeal in excitement and laugh at the feeling of the water. The wind blows lightly as the rain picks up. I open my mouth and catch some of the water on my tongue.

Judith laughs and I cover her with the blanket, Carl rushes over and kisses me. He tilts his head up and his hat falls to the ground. He picks it up and places it over Judith's head. I can't help but laugh as the cool rain soaks through my clothes. Michonne grabs Carol's arm with a laugh.

The cool rain soothes the sunburn on my skin, I smile up at the sky. I grab Carl's shirt, "We got it," he says. I smile and kiss him. I can hear everyone laughing.

I watch as Gabriel praises the lord, Tara and Rosita share a moment, and I smile. But three from the group don't even seem happy that we have an abundance of water. 

"Everybody! Get in the bags. Anything you can find," Rick says, people start digging through their bags.

We place the bottles and cups that we've collected on the ground so they can collect the cool water. Thunder sounds again but this time it's louder, I gasp at the noise. 

Judith curls against my chest. The wind whips at my body making me go frigid in my water soaked clothes.

Judith begins to cry, Carl pulls us close to him and Carol hugs Mika to her side. 

I look up at the sky, it looks almost black and somehow the rain pours down on us harder. Rosita jumps up and everyone picks up the bottles of water left on the road.

"Come on! Let's keep moving!" Rick yells over the loud noises of the storm. Everyone starts to panic, "There's a barn!" Daryl yells over the gushing wind.

"Where?" Rick asks, Daryl waves for us to follow him and we rush through the woods.

Mika yells as she trips, I grab her arm and try to pull her up but I have Judith. Daryl is there in a second. He picks up Mika and takes my arm in his hand to drag me along.

We get to a squat red building. A few people go in and check the place out. "Everyone inside," Rick calls out to us.

Thunder crashes again as we walk in, Carl pulls me over to the center of the barn where Rick is starting a fire. "You three should get some rest," Rick says pointing over to me, Carl, and Judith. Carl nods and digs through the bags and the barn to find blankets.

He sits down on the ground and I sit beside him with Judith as he covers us in a blanket. I smile as Judith falls asleep between us my eyes fall closed just matter of minutes after hers do.

A thud jerks me from sleep, I look around in the dim firelight. Thunder booms outside the barn and I look over to see Maggie sitting up as well. She's staring over at something near the door I follow her line of vision to the door where Daryl is leaning against it trying to keep something out.

Maggie and Sasha jump up and go over to him the women throw their weight against the door. "Rick!" Maggie screams as the door bangs and swings against them. The people around the fire stand and look to the others. I shake Carl awake he sits up and sees what's going on, I quickly stand up with him following, leaving a sleeping Judith by the fire.

We run over, Mika isn't too far behind, I push my hands against the wooden door, but it's no use, rain pounds against the building. My feet slide against the mud floor, I clench my teeth as Rosita and Abraham join us, I groan as I throw my weight against the door.

The snarling from the walkers gets louder and louder, tears slip down my face as everyone tries their hardest to keep the doors shut. Judith starts screaming, adding in her own sound to the chorus of thunder and walkers. I look at everyone, I'd consider everyone here my family. If we can't keep the doors shut we'll all die. I catch a glimpse of Carl's face when lighting strikes. I close my eyes.

The whole barn starts to shake as the wind and rain picks up its speed, I yell as the walkers seem to use more force to slam against the door. Sweat drips down my neck as I secure my hands on Daryl's back, I push as hard as I can against him. Judith's crying picks up to a scream as the pounding on the wood grows louder. 

My eyes shoot open and dim early morning light flows through the slats of the barn wood. I look straight ahead expecting to see Carl but my eyes meet Maggie's she rolls onto her back and sits up.

I roll over and face Carl, I plant a kiss on Judith's strawberry blonde hair. She doesn't even move but her small snores bring a smile to my face. My eyes fall closed again and I slip back into sleep.