Chapter Twenty Seven

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26. Swarm
'it did not kill me, and it did not make me stronger
it simply was, and always will be
scorched upon my heart.'
-storydj

'-storydj

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  When the tower came tumbling down, crashing into the walls they'd come to rely on so heavily, Zeppelin was watching from her front porch. In the last twelves hours since they had known the herd was coming, they started to prepare for it. But how much preparation can people really do when it comes to hundreds of hungry flesh eaters barreling into their homes?

While Rick and the others helped around town, she'd been assigned to kid duty, the only place she'd wanted to be anyway.

'Only the strong survive.' Her stepfather's words echoed in her ears, ringing over and over as she surveyed the faces she'd come to know scrambling around.

So when the tower finally fell, she had a plan.

She scooped Judith off the porch and blew a sharp whistle to Carl who, as he was told, snatched their go bag by the front door and hurled himself down the steps after her.

They would go to the Monroe house. The largest, strongest, and arguably the most protected building in town. She sprinted next to Carl, the baby bouncing and giggling on her hip, completely unaware of the shit storm that was about to unleash it's wrath on them.

Carl made it first, flying through the open gate in the yard and flinging open the back door. He held his pistol in front of him, his grip never fumbling for a second as he checked their surroundings.

"Deanna!?" Zepp called out, shutting the door closed behind her. "Spencer?"

She was answered with silence.

"Carl, take her," she whispered, passing the baby on to her big brother. He held her close and shh'd her soft, confused cries.

She slid down the hallway, pressing herself against the wall. The floorboards creaked with every step, the only sound apart from Judith's faint babbles. With her pistol gripped in one hand and her knife in the other, she turned around each doorway, listening for any signs of the living or the dead.

The first floor was empty with no indication that Deanna had even been there at all this morning. She relaxed only slightly, the tension building again when she heard the groans of walkers getting closer.

"Quick, cover the windows!" She ordered Carl, who set Judith on the floor and quickly went about his task. They covered every window on the floor, before the creak of the back door made them both jump out of their skin.

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