Status: active;♥

New Beginnings

4.

Cherry sat against the cold, brick wall of the jail cell as she watched her group closely. Dean had finished his spaghetti-o’s and had started on a can of ravioli, Cherry had even offered him to split her share with Beatrice. If they were headed out the next day, they needed the weak ones to gain strength overnight, hopefully the night of safety inside the sturdy walls of the prison would rejuvenate the group.

Cherry pressed her finger into the sharpness of her ice-pick, watching as a small drop of blood trickled down her finger. “I think I’m going to explore,” She spoke up suddenly, standing up, swinging her ice-pick carelessly. “Stay put, stay safe.” Cherry warned, ruffling Dean’s hair as she walked past, Dean giggling with a mouthful of food.

Looking down the hallway, Cherry saw a silhouette of someone stood at the end of the corridor, cradling a bundle in their arms. Stepping into the light, Cherry smiled as she saw a young woman, roughly around seventeen or eighteen, stood with a baby in her arms. “Is she yours?”

The girl smiled and shook her head. “No ma’am. Would you like to hold her?” The girl offered. “I’m Beth.”

Cherry nodded, placing her ice-pick down, offering her arms for the baby, smiling for the first time in a long time as she cradled the baby to her chest. “Cherry.” She said curtly, changing the subject quickly. “She’s cute.” Without looking up, Cherry picked up her ice-pick with her spare arm, sensing an entity behind her.

“Easy.” Came a gruff voice, yet it was soft; careful. Cherry dropped her ice-pick again, the clunk of the metal against the stone flooring made the baby whimper slightly, but with Cherry’s soothing motions, she soon settled back down. The man behind her stood forward, and Cherry frowned, seeing the man from the tracks who grabbed her.

“Oh, look, it’s the tough guy. Think you’re funny, grabbing women like that?” She frowned, handing the sleeping baby back to Beth; still attentive, though angry.

“I thought it was hilarious at the fuckin’ time.” He frowned back. “I wasn’t bout to let you get away with your bullshit.”

“Bullshit?” Cherry scoffed. “You think you’re such a big lad, huh?” Cherry smirked, grabbing his face, her thumb and forefinger pressed against each cheek; squeezing lightly. “You’re nothing but a scared little boy.” And with that, Cherry let go, before Daryl even had a chance to react, hearing Beth mumble for ‘Daryl’ to leave Cherry alone.

Cherry shoved past Daryl, looking over her shoulder with her ice-pick firmly in her hand. “Next time you grab me, Daryl, this’ll go through your fucking eye socket.”

Daryl smirked as Cherry turned away. “Sure thing, sugar.”
“Evelyn!” Cherry called, catching up to her friend. Evelyn turned and smiled weakly back at Cherry. “Eve, I’ve been thinking bout something real hard, and we really can’t leave this place. It’s too good. Beatrice can rest and get the medical support she needs, Dean can eat and get his strength back up… It’s too good to leave.” Cherry sighed. “Maybe Todd can do a few odd jobs to fix up the place?”

Cherry stood by the gate with Eve, hand on hip, her other hand swinging her ice-pick back and forth, a habit that Cherry had developed since she used it as her primary weapon - she found it more efficient than a gun, it didn’t need ammo and it was reusable.

Eve didn’t answer back, and Cherry could tell that her best friend was deep in thought; focused on something past the fence. Cherry followed her gaze to a walker who was fumbling around on the outside, guttural growls coming from it’s half-exposed wind pipe every so often as it preyed on a carcass of a rabbit. “It’s safe here. Just think about it, Eve, please.”

And with that, Cherry turned on her heel and walked back up to the prison, nodding at Carl on the way through the yard.
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Happy reading! My chapters will get longer, I promise. Effy xxx