Madison Grimes

35

"You finally join us." Glenn laughs from across the table.

"I figured Maggie would be bored if I left her with you." He holds his chest as though I've hurt him. I look at Maggie with sympathetic eyes. "How's he doing?" She looks from her food and smiles a bit.

"I thought we were going to lose him, but he's up. Glenn found him some crutches earlier today and he's been trying to get out of bed." I smile at her as I take a bite.

"That's great. Maybe he can race me tomorrow." I laugh, causing her to as well.

"That's exactly what Carl said." The rest of dinner is quiet. Once we finish, I bring Daryl, Rick, T, Maggie, Glenn, and myself out to drag and burn the bodies. Once we have them in a pile, the few that said they would just watches the fire. I put my head on T as I close my eyes. The warmth feels great since it's getting colder at night.

"You can go sleep if you're ready." T says.

"Then it'd just be you and Glenn."

"We got this."

"You sure?" They both nod so I go inside. I see Belle on the stairs, where she motions me to our room. I nod and follow her.

"I'm sorry for what I did. I promise to try to think through what I'm doing." I nod.

"Thank you, I just don't want you getting yourself in trouble." She nods. "I'm sorry for how I reacted too, I was just worried for you."

"I know, mom." She says as she pulls me in for a hug. I hug her back and once she pulls away, I look down at her.

"We good?" She nods her head real fast.

"We're good."

"You ready for bed?" She sighs.

"Yeah."

"Who are you with tonight?" She thinks for a moment before nodding her head.

"Beth." I give her a hug and she scurries off to Beths room. I go straight to my room and lay on the bed.

I find myself running as fast as I can from the walkers behind me. I look around and see nothing around, no houses or stores. Nothing. I see something coming closer from in front of me, but that doesn't stop my running. Once I'm about ten feet away from the thing, I notice it's another herd of walkers.

"Shit." I mutter as I turn left and start running again.

"Mom!" I stop and look around, not caring what's behind me. "Dad!" It's much louder and I take off, finding a single yellow house in front of me. The doors are locked, so I go in the picket fence behind the house, making sure to close the fence behind me. I see Belle laying on the ground with blood seeping out of a wound on her stomach. I'm quick to drop to my knees and apply pressure to her wound. I start crying as I look at my dying child.

"What happened?" She shakes her head with a smile.

"I'll be with them now, mommy."

"With who?" I look to my side and see Daryl next to me with tears falling down his cheeks too. She points behind me and I turn around. Standing there is our group, the ones who've died. Not a moment later Belle stands up and walks to Sophia, giving her a big hug.