LOYAL [TWD] (third book to TROUBLE)

wild animals

"This place is pretty sick," Nanami admits.

"Totally sick," Carl agrees.

The Kingdom was beautiful.

The gardens were strong. The people ran and spoke among each other with carefree smiles.  It was like something straight out of a fairytale book.

"Nanami?"

Nanami panics, dropping Carl's hand.

"Sophia.." he gapes.

"Hey.." she laughs, looking at the group, "What.. What are you guys doing here?"

"We came to talk to.." Rick hesitates, shaking his head at the mere thought, "To the King."

"Oh.." she nods.

"What are you doing here?" Daryl asks her.

"When we went to look for my mom.." she pauses, "Morgan is here, too."

"Morgan's here?" Rick repeats.

"Yeah. He should actually be with the King right now. I'll show you the way."

The group change pace to follow Sophia.

Nanami looks over at Carl who had a saddened look on his face.

"What?" Nanami whispers.

Carl shakes his head to say 'nothing', then walks a bit further ahead.

"Where's your mom? Did you find her?" Daryl asks Sophia.

"Yeah. But, she.. We kind of got into a disagreement. She left. She wanted to be on her own."

"You two fought?" Daryl suspects, not believing her words.

"It wasn't bad or anything. I wanted to stay here. She didn't. So, she left."

The voices fade as Nanami walks into the theater, still following Sophia.

"Dude," Sasha knocks her elbow in his side, "Don't be a shit boyfriend just cause a ghost from the past showed up."

"Huh?" he asks.

"You dropped his hand," Sasha scolds.

"Was that bad?"

Sasha sighs, thumping him in the forehead.

"What did I do?" he asks as she walks away, "What did I do?"

He chases after her only to stop in the doorway.

"Holy shit," Rosita mumbles.

"Big.. Big.." Nanami tries to get the words out.

"If you start meowing, I'm shoving you down the stairs," Michonne warns.

The tiger beside the King Ezekiel guy only growls, pacing around on the stage.

--

Sakiko crumbles to her knees.

"Kiko, is everything okay?" Maggie calls from outside the bathroom.

She tries to open the door, but Sakiko locks it.

Negative.

The little sign on the test felt like God was personally bullying her.

"Kiko?" Maggie worries, "Honey, open the door."

Sakiko drops the test, burying her face in her hands as she cries.

"Sakiko, please open the door."

She has enough energy to unlock it.