murky waters | carl grimes¹

21. talia

"so why wasn't she here"

All of us looked like an army as we followed Carol up the road. There were so many of us now, we were rebuilding and connecting. It took us long enough to find each other again. It seemed to be all who were left from the prison and then some. 

The new additions were going to take some time to get used to. Sometimes I forgot we weren't the only living people out there. Well, the only good living people. It seemed that everyone we have encountered since the prison have wanted to kill us. 

Abraham got on my nerves whenever it came to Eugene, the guy annoyed me. He couldn't fend for himself, I don't think I saw him even once try to kill any of the walkers that came at him. He relied only on his group of protectors. Eugene reminded me all too much of the Woodbury people. 

The thought of the prison nearly had me crying again. I fought so hard for that place only for it to be taken down by living people. It burned me knowing that all that work we put into it was for nothing. We could have had a life there. 

As we made it up the hill, a small building came into view. This is where Carol must have stayed and planned her attack on Terminus. I was still in awe that she did all of that. She saved us all and did it all by herself. It was insane to believe she was so capable of so much damage. 

Daryl walked along beside me, his eyes would fall to me every once in a while to make sure I was still with him. He wasn't very keen of my behavior. 

As we got closer to the wooden building the door opened which revealed Tyreese, in his arms he held Judith. I couldn't help but smile, she was alive. I watched as Carl and Rick ran past everyone to reach their baby girl. 

Tears filled my eyes as I watched them grab Judith, holding her and hugging her. I allowed a few of them to escape my eyes as I took it in. Judith was alive. 

Wherever Judith was Talia had to be. Talia was suppose to stay with Judith at the prison. 

So why wasn't she here? 

My happiness turned to pain, I had to turn around from the sight. I was so happy for them but I wanted to scream, what did she do to deserve this? She's the perfect little girl and all this world has done is shit on her. 

Happy tears turned to sad tears quickly as I started to walk away, "kid," Daryl said, trying to grab my shoulder, "I'm sorry," his voice was low, I could tell he was upset too. He and Talia were close as well, she called him Uncle Daryl and he would give her short ride on his motorcycle. Despite what everyone said at the prison, Daryl wasn't always a hardass. He always cared for Talia like she was his own. 

I halted to stop as Daryl grabbed ahold of my shoulder. I didn't want him to see me break down, I didn't want any of them to see me breakdown. I went from believe she was dead to alive, why did I ever give myself hope that she was still out there? 

Daryl eyes read as pity and it made my stomach hurt even more. I have talked about finding Talia for so long, so many people told me that we would find her and now everything was crashing down. "We'll keep lookin," he promised me. I shoved his hand off of my shoulder and coldly walked away from him. I didn't need his pity. I didn't need anyone's pity. 

My eyes avoided those who stood behind us, Maggie and Glenn started to head my way but I looked away. I couldn't deal with their pity either. 

And then Maggie let out a breath of air which ended in a short laugh. Confused I looked up at her to see her smiling-

"Lennie?" a small echo of a voice filled my ears. I stopped breathing for a second, I swear my heart stopped too, "Lennie?" the voice spoke again but louder. I wiped and ran towards the building. I didn't even need to see her to know whose voice that was. 

Talia hopped off the porch right as I reached her. Without warning, I pulled her small frame into me and fell to the ground. I felt the gravel dig into my knees but I ignored the pain, I couldn't hold it together anymore, tears ran down my face as I cradled her. She was real, she was alive, I had her in my arms. 

My fingers flew to her face, I lifted her chin up so I could see her, "Tally," I choked out between sobs. She hadn't changed much since the last time I've seen her. Her big brown eyes were glossy from her tears and her pale skin looked freshly washed. Most importantly, she wasn't dead. 

She wasn't dead. 

Talia wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly, "you found me," she let out a long sigh of relief. A small sob came out from her lips, "Lennie," she repeated my name as she squeezed me.

"I did, I told you I would," I whispered back to her, my right hand ran through the back of her hair, my fingers got stuck in her tangled curls but I didn't even bother bringing up that she needed to take better care of her hair like I used to. I was just relieved to finally have her back with me. 

She kept her patience with me as I finally calmed down enough for her to let go of out hug. I finally felt an emotion other than hatred for the first time in days and my heart nearly couldn't handle it. When she pulled away from me, I just sat there, watching as her face lit up again as she spotted Daryl, "Uncle Daryl!" she grinned, the sound of her little footsteps down the gravel road filled the air. 

I watched as Daryl picked her up and she wrapped her arms around him. I let out another deep breath and chuckled as she asked him where his motorcycle was. It was a perfect moment, she didn't see how much struggle we've been through to get here. All she knew was happiness and in this moment, so did I. 

Sasha reached down for my hand, she pulled me up onto my feet and smiled, "I'm happy you found your little girl," she spoke, she looked from me to her brother with a hunt of a smile on her lips. I got her hint, it was all him. Tyreese was the reason why I got to reunite with Talia. 

I walked over to him and wiped my eyes, "thank you, thank you so much," my voice cracked as I spoke, I was trying not to breakdown again. 

Tyreese offered me a smile, "she saved me, she's a brilliant young girl," he told me, "we can talk about it all later, go enjoy her," he nodded towards Daryl and Talia, he still had her in his arms as they spoke. 

I nodded but before I walked away I pulled him into a short hug, "I'm serious, thank you, I owe you everything," I said. I didn't give him time to respond as I turned and headed down to make sure I wasn't day dreaming. 

"Lennie, Daryl said he'd let me drive his motorcycle if I find it for him," Talia grinned, she drummed her hands against Daryl's shoulders in excitement. 

I let out a laugh, "only if you give me a ride." 

Daryl let her down and she threw her arms around my torso, "I missed you," she said, her voice muffled by my body. 

"I missed you too."