Lone Survivors

Michonne and I had been ordered to check the perimeter. Her large blade was concealed and she had an automatic gun strapped to her back, the perfect definition of a threat. I just wore a knife and a pistol secured to my hips in the hope that we wouldn’t find any trouble. In silence we canvassed the fence, not attracting attention from the nearby Walkers and not spotting any breaches in the wire. Near the end of our circuit, a Walker smashed itself into the fence, snarling as it squashed its face against the metal.

“Should we put it out of its misery?” Michonne suggested quietly as we both stared at the Walker. It was so decomposed and deformed I couldn’t even tell if it was a man or woman.

“I’ll do it,” I agreed. My dagger was easier to manoeuvre, and it didn’t take long to kill the unfortunate Walker. I grimaced at the smell, backing away as soon as possible.

“Can I ask you something?” Michonne said while I bent down to wipe the blade on the grass.

“Sure.”

“You were friends with Andrea, weren’t you?” she asked as I stood back up.

“Yeah. She’s a good person,” I replied. I knew that Michonne had found Andrea after the incident at the farm, and that she had chosen to stay at Woodbury, but other than that Michonne hadn’t told us much about her time with Andrea. We began our walk back to the section of the prison we owned.

“Do you know how to convince her to come here?” Michonne said. Her voice gave away her frustration with Andrea’s stubbornness.

“Other than us being here, I don’t know,” I admitted with a wince. Michonne kept her usual stone cold glare focused on the path. “Why didn’t she leave with you?”

“She feels safe there. It’s all a lie, though. She can’t see what that place really is…”

“You’re worried,” I noted.

“You are too,” she replied.

“I’m always worried. It’s an apocalypse,” I remarked before glancing across at her. I saw her creased brow and slight frown, confirming that she was truly troubled about Andrea. “You want to know what I think that eases my concern?”

“Will it help?”

“Maybe… I just know that she’s a strong woman. I thought she was already dead, but it turns out she’s still out there surviving. She can handle anything that comes her way. I’m sure she’ll be fine,” I said, voicing my thoughts about Andrea for the first time. I didn’t even talk to Daryl about her. Michonne gave me a tiny smile of gratitude and I did my best to grin back. My mind had focused on the forest behind her and I was wondering where the hell Daryl was.

“He will be fine too,” Michonne said in the softest voice I had ever heard from her. We both gave each other weak but reassuring smiles before falling back into silence.