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chapter seventeen | the climb
"WHERE IS SHE?" Cassie asked Lori.
Lori was doing the dishes when Cassie came back to their camp after hanging out in Carl's room all morning. She tried looking for her sister around the farm but Laurel was nowhere to be found. Cassie wasn't really worried, but she didn't understand why her sister always left without saying goodbye or at least say where she was going and when she would get back.
"I think she went looking for Sophia with Daryl," She answered, drying a large pot that they used for dinner last night. "Carl pass out again?"
Cassie giggled, "yeah. I didn't know you could be so tired even if you slept so much."
"Rick was in a coma for a few months, you'd be surprised how much time and rest the body needs after getting shot," She smiled.
Cassie sat on a blue fold-up chair nearby and offered to help Lori clean up camp while she waits for her sister.
"Oh, don't worry about it, sweetie. You've been moving and helping so much with that arm, you need rest like Carl," Lori stated but Cassie didn't agree.
"Everyone does something around here, except for me. Even Ethan helps out Dale with lookout," she mumbled.
"Well, how about you go ask Maggie if she needs help and come back and we can take a walk or something with Carl," Lori offered.
Cassie thought for a moment, slumped in the fold-up chair before she stood up, and started to walk to Maggie's house. As Cassie began to walk away, she remembered that Dale let her read one of his books a few days ago and she went back to her tent to go retrieve it since she was done with it already, or maybe she could force Carl to read it.
Cassie went back inside her tent and tried looking for the book as Lori was grabbing more water in a bucket for the dishes when Glenn walked up to her right outside the door of the tent. Cassie wasn't paying much attention to their conversation until she heard what Glenn said to Lori. Cassie froze, her mouth falling wide open when she heard Glenn tell Lori she was pregnant.
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Laurel opened her eyes slowly, squinting from the bright light. Not realizing where she was for a few moments before a shadowy figure blocked the sunlight above her.
As she tried to focus on it, she saw the bright green in the corners of her eyes and heard the waterfall behind her. It felt surreal.
"Laurel," the figure whispered, sounding relieved.
Laurel's hands felt around her, feeling the wet sand between her fingers before she brought them up to her face. When she felt the cloth around her forehead the pain hit her suddenly and she whimpered.
