Civilian

I stepped away from the landmark and moved forward, guarded. I searched for more signs, signs that her people were still alive.

I collected minor items as I passed through the graveyard. Shirts and slacks that looked to be mine and Kuo's size, an additional sleeping bag in case Sophia stayed with us longer than planned, and a small roll out mattress to make the cold concrete floor of the cellar a little more bareable.

I stapped the mattress onto my back. It was small enough to be manageable, and big enough for all three of us to sleep on, plus, it was lightweight. I slung the strap of the sleeping bag over my shoulder, and gripped my hunting bag in my left hand while I continued searching.

High noon came around, and I'd looted half the area clean. I decided that if we needed additional supplies, I could come back later and finish searching. I followed the railing back to where the creek was, just below, and followed the stream halfway through the woods before I went my seperate way and navigated the woods based on the sun's position and the familiar trees, back to the concrete moonshine shack.

I knocked three times in a rythymatic pattern on the door, and a few moments later, Kuo opened the door, watching me warily, no jokes or smart ass cracks today. I shrugged past her into the house, and dropped what I'd collected onto the floor.

"Did the 'Welcoming Party' give you that?" Kuo muttered, looking pointedly at the pile of supplies I'd brought back, not a bit of happiness in her expression.

"No." I replied, giving her the same cold shoulder reponses she was giving me. "I found it in the pile up, a note from her people, as well..." I say as I grab my hunting bag from the pile. "Said 'Stay here, Sophia. We'll come back every day, we love you!'" I recited, carrying the packed leather shoulder bag into the kitchen to empty it's contents.

"This stuff they left for the girl." I told Kuo before she could even begin to start eyeballing any of the neccessities. "They're going to the girl, as well. I'm going to check back tomorrow afternoon, see if anyone camped out after the supplies left, or maybe catch someone checking in. Hopefully, we can get this resolved quickly, and it can be right back to good 'ol me and you." I muttered. Kuo wanted Sophia gone. She didn't care how, and it both annoyed and hurt me that she could be so careless.

She looked at the buckled wood floor panels, her arms crossed, a blank expression on her face She didn't respond, or even acknowledge my words. She watched me silently as I sorted out what items had been left for Sophia versus the ones I'd collected, and took them to the cellar, where she waited, sitting cross legged on the sleeping bag I'd given her the night before.

I sighed as I approached her, crouching before her and laying out the items on the floor. "I couldn't find them... But they left these things behind for you with a note that they'd check every day. I'll look again tomorrow. These things are for you."

I pushed forward a thermal blanket, flashlight, two bottles of water an the six cans of food. "I figured you should have it regardless. How are you feeling?"

"Good." She replied, calmly examining a can of soup in her hands. Slowly turning it over
.
"Have you felt sick? Dizzy?"

She shook her head. "I did, a little bit this morning. After I took a nap, I felt much better. There's nowhere comfortable out there in the woods." She says softly, her expression unreadable, her brow furrowed.

"Okay... Well if you need anything, let me know."

I got up and turned away, then she spoke up.

"What's your name?" She wondered quietly, "I know the other girl's name is Kuo... I don't think she likes me." She frowned. My motherly instincts kicked in and I instantly felt the need to resolve all qualms between my roommates.

"Helena." I replied softly, "Helena Richardson. Kuo is my sister. We've been on the road from Montana, heading for Fort Bennet. We lost a lot of people on the way down... A lot of family. It's make Kuo pretty uh... Surly towards other people." I sighed, "She really doesn't mean any harm, she's just scared."

Sophia nodded slowly, not replying. I was never good with kids, I never knew how to approach them. They always seemed to be on a whole different level than you. Actually, back in the day, Kuo was the one who babysat the neighbors' kids and would willingly hang around them, while I on the otherhand, tended to avoid them on purpose. Now our roles had been reversed.

I paced the basement for a bit before Kuo came down the cellar steps, ignoring me, she went to her bed in the corner. Already past our argument, I made an attempt at conversation.

"I found a rollout camping mattress on the highway," I told Kuo, looking directly at her while I spoke, but she childishly refused to look at me, and proceeded to carelessly flip through an old magazine. "It should be big enough for us all to rest comfortably."

Still - no response. I rolled my eyes and climbed back up the stairs to sort through the items I'd brought back. I loaded all the additional food items back into my hunting bag and took them to the cellar to add to our small collection. I slung the rolled up mattress and sleeping bag over my shoulder.

I carried them back down into the cellar, and closed the doors behind me with a heavy clatter. I dropped everything on the floor and put the items away. I added the food items our 'pantry' area, and rolled out the mattress. It was a lot bigger than I expected. I laid out the extra sleeping bag and told Sophia to move hers.

"Kuo, you can put yours here."

I looked at her, and she continued to ignore me.

"Kuo..."

I sighed, and she shifted. Her nose turned up in stuck up annoyance. This was so typical of her. Even before the turn, if she didn't get her way, she'd be all bitter and ignorant until you admitted she was right.

"Kuo, dammit!" I shouted a little louder than I intended, but at least it got her attention. Her eyes locked onto my face.

"What?" She snapped.

"Quit acting like such a Godamned child! Sophia is more damn mature than you, for fucksake..."

Her eyes flared, and her mind churned in search of a cruel reply.

Her words surprised me. They were neither cruel nor hurtful, but caring, protective and harsh as they come. "I'm trying to save your damn life!" She shouted at me.

"What? From her?" I pointed back at Sophia, who looked between us with uncomfortable anxiety.

"From the world!" She cried out in exasperation, "If we let no one else into our lives, no other groups will come along, and we won't be at risk."

I stopped, for once I had no words... I thought Kuo was being selfish, not letting anyone in because of jealously.

"What?" I whipered, still taken aback.

"I'm trying to save you - protect you." She told me again. "Do not make this mistake."

Her eyes were pleading, and were welling up with fat, shiny tears. I knew what she wanted me to do. What she expected me to do. And I knew... No matter how much she would plead with me, beg me, even, I wouldn't do that... I couldn't. She expected me to cast out Sophia to protect us. And even though that was the logical answer, it wasn't the one I'd be taking. She was still a kid, and she still required protection, and that was the part I was having trouble getting Kuo on board with.

"I have to." I tell her firmly. "You know we have to."

She sighed and got up, snatching an empty duffle bag off the floor.

"Where are you going?" I called after her as she headed for the stairs. She paused, one foot on the steps, halfway turned towards me.

"Out to scavenge. Clear my head." She murmured in reply.

"Be careful..." I whispered back. After she was gone, and the cellar doors clattered shut again, I turned and looked at Sophia.

"I'm sorry about that..." I murmured, crossing the room and sitting beside her on the mat. "Sisterly love, y'know."

She smiled a little, "I'm an only child."

"...Where are your parents?"

She shrugged a little, and pulled at the worn threads on the edge of her blue t-shirt. "My mom's in that group, and my dad... He wa killed by a walker when we were back in Atlanta."

"I'm sorry..." I murmured softly.

"It's okay," She reassured me with a shrug, "He wasn't a good man."

I looked at her face in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"He did bad things." She says, twining the stray blue threads around her fingers aimlessly. "He hurt my mom sometimes... And sometimes he stole things. I don't really miss him, I guess... I mean, I should, I jut don't know how..."

"Did he ever hurt you?" I wondered in fear. Looking at this sweet girl beside me, I found it impossible that anyone would want to harm her. She was like a fragile ray of sunshine in a sea of black clouds. And even though I and Kuo passed around lighthearted jokes all the time, and kept the smiles on our face, it wasn't legitimate sunlight in my life. Just having Sophia around gave me a lighter feeling, and a feeling of protectiveness that I was not familiar with.

Her shoulders rose and fell in an uncertain shrug. "Sometimes..." She replied.

I had no chance to respond, when upstairs, in the kitchen, I heard a cupboard clatter.

"Is that Kuo?" Sophia whispered while I held my breath. I shook my head slowly and listened carefully. "I thought she already left..."

I got up and pulled out my handgun and aimed it up at the cellar doors, and crept towards them. I ground my teeth together anxiously while the splitting silence drug out. Then the front door of the cabin slammed, and I sighed a little.

"I'm not sure." I finally replied. "I'll climb out and scout the area. Stay here and stay hidden." I warned her as I climbed out the window, squirming out from under the veil of vines and vegetation outside the cellar opening.

I proceeded to hold my breath as I rounded the shack, searching the surrounding woods, and the stretch of field, looking for a presence. It was only when I finally spotted one did I almost leap out of my skin.

By the small lake a couple yards from the house, was a tall, slender willow, covered in small green blooms and matted green moss.

There was a tall, thin figure standing there as well, looking out at the lake, twisting something around in his hand.

I noticed a few key features about him first. He wore a button down brown shirt with the sleeves torn off, and a pair of heavily worn brown slacks. He had a lanky, yet muscular build, and the crossbow that was strapped across his back hinted that he was not to be messed with.

I crept up further, silent, as I leaned against the side of the cabin for a better look. He was one of those high alert, always aware kind of people. He could spin around in an instant and see me, and I had to be ready for that, be ready to retreat.

He seemed slightly at ease, yet his back was ridged. I looked at his hands again, and noticed that it wasn't really an item, but a small, simple white bloom. The things were crawling all over the cabin, and framed the lake nicely. They were Cherokee Roses.

He held the flower in his left hand and pulled at the petals absently. I couldn't see his face, couldn't tell who he was, or where he might've came from. All I know is the son'bitch slinked in here like a nine o'clock shadow and looked like he had no intentions of leaving soon.

I kept a careful eye on him until he shifted his weight five minutes later, and turned away, walking away, retreating back into the woods across from the cabin. When he'd dissappeared into the foliage, I gripped my gun and debated quickly before sprinting after him, silent as a breeze, I leapt up a tree and balenced on a branch, and searched the forest floor for him.

There was no sign that the mysterious man had ever even been there. No tracks, no plants left swaying in his absence, his disappearence was abrupt.

I fel uneasy and exposed, and instantly had a gut feeling that I was being watched, no- hunted. I imagined the mysterious man had known I was there all along, and was camped out in one of the bushes with the crosshairs of his crossbow aimed on me.

I dropped out of the tree with a thud and ran the opposite direction into the trees, incase I was being followed, I could give him a false trail, and return to Sophia before he caught up to me. I sprinted until I felt like I was flying. I leapt over fallen trees and piles of rock, crookedly diving around bushes and thorned plants, I wove around trees at a speed that made my lungs ache for air, but it was exhilarating all the same. It was only the andrenaline in my veins from the thought of being caught that kept me moving at such a high speed.

I ran a half a mile out before I turned and climbed another tree to catch my breath. I waited another minute before reaching out from my branch, and carefully manuveuring it onto the next tree to lose my trail entirely. I followed this pattern until the trees got too far apart, then I dropped back onto the pine needle carpeted forest floor and ran back to the cabin, crawling back through the small window and dropping back into the cellar just before sundown. I figured I might have been gone forty-five minutes to an hour, and I felt abruptly bad for leaving the kid alone for that long. She must've been worried sick.

But when I landed on the cellar floor, I heard laughter and talking that was not directed at me, or at my expense.

I turned and looked up from the floor, and Kuo was back, Sophia was there, talking animatedly with someone else, someone I'd never seen before...

She had dark skin, an exotic look about her and the way she carried herself. She wore a canvas material cape with a hood, than partially shadowed the head full of brown dreadlocks she had. Her attitude was reserved, wary, but friendly towards the two as they spoke.

"Uh..."

Kuo noticed me first, "Oh, Helena, you're back. I hope you don't mind, I figured, y'know, since you had people staying with us, that I could..."

She trailed off, and my lip twitched with annoyance and irratation. Kuo's knowing smile was directed up and me, and I knew exactly what she was up to. I quickly sized up the woman she'd brought back, and noticed the long, sleek sword on her back...

"Kuo." I addressed her cheerfully without looking away from the woman, "A word upstairs, please?"

She got up from her bed and climbed out of the cellar with me, following me into the front room where we'd be out of hearing range.

"Are you crazy?" I hissed angrilly, "She looks like she could kill us all in our sleep!" I snapped.

Kuo's eyes flared, "You brought back the kid! You act like you're the only one allowed to bend rules!"

"First off!" I snapped, "Your Royal Bitchness, I found her in the cabin, I didn't hunt her down in the woods. Second, she wasn't armed, and fully capable of killing us both with a swish of her sword!"

My eyes burned into her angrily. "Did you even think this through?!"

"Nothing is ever fair with you!" She retaliated with a low, angered hiss. "It's always fuckin' one sided."

"Must I remind you what it out there!?" I demanded, pointing at the front door. "People have changed! We have changed! Anyone is willing to do anything to anyone, because they're desperate."

"This isn't even the same..." She muttered in annoyance, looking at the floor with her arms crossed.

"Fine." I growled, "But when she kills one of us, or all of us, hell, that's on you. I hope you have a good judge of character." I muttered, turning away and stalking back towards the cellar.

The exotic woman watched me with sharp wary eyes as I approached her, I held my hand out, my gaze firm. "Hi, I'm Helena." I introduced myself, noticing Kuo walk back down the steps out of my perepheral vision.

"Michonne..." The woman said, carefully lifting her hand to shake mine.

She had dark brown eyes, long dreadlocks that were slightly blonde on the ends, and beneath the cape that draped over her shoulders and around her face, I noticed she wore a leather vest, a pair of grey, striped skinny jeans, and a pair of beaten up black studded boots. I got the gist that she wasn't made for this life, in the beginning... But she had to be now... She had to change.

"Nice to meet you." I tell her, reading everything on her face in a flash. "Make yourself at home."

I watched Kuo carefully, and the woman equally, and silently prayed that Kuo knew what she was doing with this. She was way in over her head. I sighed and turned away, looking at Sophia, I crouched before her.

"It was a man outside the cabin. I followed him for a bit, then mislead my trail incase he was looking for us."

She nodded, and lied down on the mattress. "Were you hurt?"

I shake my head, "No. I'll go look for your people again at first light. Get some rest, okay?"

She nodded and nestled down into her sleeping bag. I lied down on top of my own and looked over at Michonne. She wa poised and silent, taking in her surroundings in a wary, non-intimidating way. I was tired, I needed to rest, but I knew Kuo would have already swept our safety under the rug and would go to sleep, too, instead of keeping an eye out, and I really didn't trust this woman just yet. Nothing about her really screamed friendly or approachable.

I stayed up all night, and when first light of dawn broke out over the east horizon, I crawled out the small window before anyone woke up. The woman, Michonne had finally passed out, but she still looked restless.

I sprinted at first, across the empty grass field that surrounded the nearby lake. I ran into the cover of trees and took a moment to catch my breath again before reconnecting with the stream and following it back to the highway.

The forest was quieter today, and had a dampness to the air. The sky was slightly overcast, and I hoped that it would burn off by noon.

As I slowed to a walk, I pulled off my army jacket and tied it around my waist, and pulled out my water bottle to take a quick drink. I had just put my bottle back in my pack when I heard a sharp cry, and I looked up at the sky, and a flock of birds flew from the nearby stand of trees.

I held my breath and became still as stone, waiting for something to happen.

Carefully, and silently, I pulled out my gun and lifted it towards the direction of the sound in the trees. After a few more quiet, still moments, I took a small, hesitant step forward, followed by another, and another, until I was pushing aside branches, and standing above a rushing waterfall, a fork in the stream led here.

I looked down, where the water fell, into a small, shallow pool of murky brown water. To the right, was a long rocky slope, and halfway down, was a choppy smear of fresh blood.

A gasp escaped my lips, and I knew I was not alone. The woods were clearly full of infected, but that blood was too red to be a walkers'. Theirs had blackend with age and didn't contain the bright red pigment like fresh, human blood did.

I searched the vegetation below the waterfall in search of another presence. When I saw nothing, I followed a slender, steep trail to the bottom, and hid within the foliage by the water's edge while I looked out across the murky brown pool, spotting another mess of blood droplets on the stone bank a few yards across from the bloody slope.

"Ugh..."

My eyes snapped up, to focus on the far side of the pool, where a man was. He stood on his knees in the sand dune within the trees on the otherside, inspecting an injury on his right side, just below his ribs.

It didn't take me long to realize it was the same man I'd seen outside my cabin the day before, the one with the Cherokee Rose. Also, that his injury was one of his crossbow bolts, jutting out of the right side of his torso.

Blood continued to drip from the wound, running down his shirt, and his right jean leg, and staining the worn leather of his boots.

He pulled out a buck knife from the seath on his hip and began to jaggedly cut off the sleeves of his button down plaid shirt.

After he'd torn off both, he tied them together and put them around his middle, tightening another few knots around the arrow itself to keep it from moving around while he hiked out of the valley.

I was careful to ramain hidden... One absolute thing I had learned from the night the group of hunters came and killed my family, was that... Just because they need help, does not make them good people. I'd hide out a little longer, bide my time and make my decision first.

I watched him in absolute silence as he pulled his crossbow from the water, and fashioned a walking stick from a long, slender branch. I hoped that I would not have to approach him anytime soon as I watched him head to one of the walls of the surrounding, steep valley, and begin to climb up.

After a few minutes of watching him struggle to pull himself any higher, gripping the roots of the loose trees on the steep slope, the dirt beneath his feet gave away, and he tumbled backwards.

I gasped and lunged unconsciously from the foliage, watching helplessly as he crashed in a heap at the bottom of the cliff, resting on his back, eyes closed, and seemingly, no signs of life.

I approached the man warily, unsure if he was actually unconscious, or if he'd seen me on the way down and pretended to be that way. So just in case, I pulled out my gun and aimed it at him as I approached. He was undoubtably the same Georgia backwoods hick I'd seen yesterday. His drab dressings and worn hunting fatigues.

"Hey..." I muttered, nudging his boot with the toe of mine. His face scrunched up a little, and I could tell he was alive, at least. His eyelids fluttered aimlessly, and he began to mumble to himself.

"Mmmrrr." He grunted, I looked at him in confusion.

"Hey," I murmured, moving to his side and crouching, blocking the sun in his eyes, "What's your name, stranger?"

"Merle..." He uttered, eyes opening for a moment, bright blue eyes looked just past me at something. I looked behind myself in paranoia, but no one was there.

"Okay, Merle..." I sighed, "Are you feeling lightheaded?" I asked as I brushed my hand on his forehead to check for signs of heat stroke.

"Shut up..." He whispered, and his head swayed to the left in a daze.

"Huh? Okay, asshole, then you tell me what's wrong." I replied in annoyance, leaning back to cross my arms impatiently.

"Fuck you." He groaned, seeming totally out of it. I couldn't tell if his words were actually directed at me, or some heat sickness induced illness that he was going through now.

"Girl...

"What?" I looked at him in surprise, his eyes were open, but not alert, they continued to gaze just past me.

"They lost a little girl..." His face contorts in pain for a moment before he is at wary ease again.

"You..." I murmured to myself, looking away, "You know Sophia?" I asked him, but he continued to murmur aimlessly to himself.

"No... You let out. All you had to do was wait. And when Rick 'an I went back for ya, we did right by ya..." He nodded in slow satisfaction He was obviously a bit brain dead... Either from the heat, or years of drinking too much bad moonshine.

"I ain't nobody's bitch..." He grumbled, anger flashed faintly in his facial features, and I understood now that he was just merely having a conversation with himself.

"I never said ya were..." I replied with a shake of my head, looking him over for bites or scratches.

Another few minutes of unheard conversation passed between 'Merle' and the unseen entity before he lurched up from the sand in a state of sudden, crazed awareness. His eyes were sharp and keen, and instantly angry when he looked to his right and saw me sitting there beside him.

"Ugh, who the fuck are you?!" He demanded angrily, lurching up from the ground and gripping his right side in pain when he was reminded of his injury.

"You're hurt..." I ignored his question, "Let me help you back to your camp at least..."

"Leave me be!" He shouted in irratation, grabbing his crossbow off the ground and slinging it over his shoulder. "I don' need no damn dumb bitch tellin' me what to do." He grumbled.

"Fine!" I shouted at him, throwing my arms into the air in exasperation. "I have other things I'm supposed to be doing, but took a break from to come check on your sorry ass!" I snatched my pistol out of the sand and checked the clip before holstering it and turning to face him. "However, you seem to have information that I want, and you have information I want, Merle."

"Merle?" He looked at me in confusion, like I was crazy. "I ain't Merle, how the fuck do you know about him?" He demanded impatiently, and my patience was growing thin with the man.

"For starters, back the fuck up, you told me that was your name. Second, I don't know about him, you were talking about him in your hallucination stupor." I glared at him, waiting for an apology that wa never going to come.

"Anyways, you're looking for a girl out here?"

He fumed and remained silent, but I could see the surprise and curiosity in his eyes.

"I found one, but how the hell do I know she's yours?" I wondered, as I began to pace in slow, daunting circles around where he stood. "You could be some creep, combing the woods for little girls, and since I don't know you, I can't simply just let you take her."

He glared at me, "Where is she? How the hell do I know you've even got 'er? Let alone, the right girl."

"Face it," I took a deep breath, "How many little girls could survive out here in the woods in these times?"

We exchanged a wary look.

"What does she look like?" He finally demanded when I refused to tack on any obvious details.

"Her name is Sophia." I clarified, ignoring his description question, while narrowing my eyes at him. "She yours?"

I noticed the flash of recognition in his eyes, and knew, that without him speaking a word, she was the one he was looking for. Still... He was not her father, nor her mother, and I couldn't just let the kid go with him, unsure if she was actually safe... I mean, the guy was hardly capable of keeping his own well being in line.

"Where is she?"

"She's safe." I assured him. "If she's yours, then great, tell me where your camp is, and I'll bring her to you."

"Where?" He growled.

"I don't know you." I told him with a glare, my hand hovering just above my pistol, "And I'm sure as shit not going to take you back to my camp. It's either that, or you take me to your camp now, prove who you are, and she's all yours. Anything else, and I will shoot you. Are we clear?"

His eyes brightened in anger, "You fuckin' bitch!" He bellowed, his voice echoing off the stone around us, "You have no business involving yourself in this!"

I raised my eyebrows, "Sweet pea," I addressed him, "I gave that little girl food, water and comfort while she's been with me. As far as I'm concerned, she is my concern."

He opened his mouth to throw another empty, angry threat at me when I interupted him. "Look, you're in no condition to get her right now, anyways... Let me help you back to your camp, I'll exchange words with your people, and I'll bring her straight to you, no questions asked."

"Why the fuck do you think this is a negotiation?!" He demanded in irratation.

"It isn't!" I shouted back, my voice slightly hysteric. "It's either you take me to your people now, or you will not see the little girl." I ground my teeth together. We were both incredibly stubborn. Except, I was doing to to protect the little girl, he was doing it to be a stubborn ass.

He growled and turned away from me, pacing up the shore of the pool a ways before stopping and turning halfway towards me. "Fine." He grunted reluctantly, "Let's go now, so we'll at least be done with this by sundown."

"Okay." I agreed, taking a deep breath, I set off after him, and we began to make our way out of the valley, the man continued to grip his side in pain with every step, moving towards the steep trail I'd used earlier.

He stumbled a bit, and had a hard time climbing with his handicap, so I looped my arm under his and dragged him up with me, as I fought hard against the crumbling dirt and stone, until we reached the top, and prepared ourselves for the long day ahead.