Second Chance

"Lizzie. Lizzie!" A soft voice was by my ear and tiny hands were shaking my left shoulder, nearly touching the scabby wound. My eyes blinked open to reveal Sarah's bright hazel eyes that were full of life just inches from my face. She smiled when she saw my tired, brown eyes open, showing her toothy smile.

"Yes?" I asked quietly, trying not to be rude since she woke me up. I had only been asleep for maybe an hour or two, and was still not a morning person. After talking to Rick last night, I came back to my cell and thought about what he said about everyone changing until finally falling asleep.

"Someone wants to talk to you," she cooed before standing up from the floor and pointing at the cell door. My eyes followed her finger to see Rick standing there.

I ruffled Sarah's hair playfully before sitting up and stretching. I shooed her out of the cell before inviting Rick inside since he wanted to talk to me. I let out a yawn as my fists began rubbing my sleepy eyes. Rick sat next to me on the bed, but didn't say anything.

"What's up?" I finally asked him since he didn't seem to want to break the silence between us. He kept looking from his hands to the wall like there was something he wasn't sure he should ask or tell me.

"I'm not goin' to be the leader anymore" Rick told me as he took a glance over at me. I was a bit shocked and confused to why he didn't want to be the leader. He was the one who was keeping us alive and saved us. I didn't think he was doing a terrible job at it, even though he did make a few mistakes.

"What? Why?" I asked since he wasn't saying anymore. He ran his hand through his curly brown hair before looking back at the floor.

"Hershel wants a garden and thinks it's best if I got Carl to help." Rick let out a sigh. I raised an eyebrow and had to stop myself from smirking. The thought of Rick, the former sheriff, doing something like that didn't seem too believable.

"Then who is goin' to be the leader?" I asked him, curious to know who could possibly take his place. Daryl could do it, and maybe even Hershel could too. Nobody else seemed very fit for a leader. Michonne could, but that seemed highly unlikely since she just joined not that long ago.

"We are going to have a council." I nodded my head as he began naming off who was a part of it. "And you too, that is if you wanna?" Rick was giving me a hopeful look while I had one of shock.

"What? Isn't there still people who think I'll betray them?" I asked him quietly, not wanting anyone else in the cell block to hear, that is if they were listening to the conversation.

"No, you deserve it. It was Daryl's idea." Now I was even more shocked. Daryl wanted me to be part of the council? Maybe he was trying to make up for being a dick to me.

"Um, yeah, sure I guess." I shrugged since I didn't really know if it was a good idea or not. Being part of the council meant that everyone would come to me at times or the others. It also meant that I was now a bigger part of keeping everyone alive. I guess you could say it came with a great responsibility.

"There is one condition," Rick smiled and I squinted my eyes in suspicions to the condition. I had an idea what he was going to say, but went ahead and let him tell me. "You've gotta move back into your old cell."

"Lemme guess, I'm the only one with this condition and it was probably made just for me?" I smiled as he nodded. "By any chance was this made by Maggie and Glenn?" Once again he nodded his head and I rolled my eyes. "Fine, but Sarah comes with me." Rick had no problems with that.

Rick let the room and I called out for Sarah. I began grabbing some of my stuff while waiting for her to come back to the cell. My strap of my bag was being thrown over my right shoulder when she came in smiling until she saw I had my stuff, then she frowned. I quickly instructed her to grab her things before telling her that we were going to the other cell block. She happily did what she was told since she was going to stay with me.

The only people in cell block C when we entered was Carol, Beth, and Judith. They both greeted us happily since I decided to come back to my old cell. I led the way to my old cell with Sarah trailing after me. Sarah quickly placed her stuff down on the bed before running out of the cell. She had seen some of the other kids playing outside, and I knew that was where she was heading.

"Where did she run off to?" Carol asked me as soon as she saw me coming back down the stairs. I had done the same as Sarah, and just placed my bag and other items in my hands onto the floor.

"Probably to play with her friends outside. She's usually like a leech and never leaves my side." We both chuckled since Carol knew it was true. Carol was probably the next closest person to Sarah. Whenever I wasn't around, Sarah would stay by Carol if she wasn't with the other children.

"So, what made you come back to your old cell?" Carol sent me a smirk and I knew she already knew why.

"Oh, well I decided to join this council. Apparently it has some conditions with it. I could only wonder which couple had anything to do with that?!" We both laughed as Beth came back out of one of the cells with Judith again.

"We're glad you're back," Carol told me as she brought me into a hug. Beth agreed and I gave her a hug as well.

"Glad to be back, but let's keep that a secret between us for now. I'm going to bitch 'bout it to the others, especially Glenn and Maggie." They laughed before agreeing to keep it a secret.

"So, we are all getting along then?" Beth asked carefully.

I thought about it before nodding my head and smiling. "I guess we are all starting over."