𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 • 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝

17. Ladybugs.

017

Ella felt relieved to finally have some new clothes. She only had 3 shirts and one pair of pants but they were clean at least. She wished she went to her mother's instead, she could've gotten better stuff but she understood why. Ella had the usual, oatmeal. They'd finally been eating sort of real food, on the road they had to hunt down animals.

After breakfast, Carl, Ev, and Ella went outside with Carol and Maggie. They were helping each other out with laundry. Glenn was out there too, fixing some stuff up after the governor messed things up. The kids were drawing with chalk. Carl trying to draw a dinosaur, "Hey look, a ladybug!" Ella beamed, pointing to one on the ground crawling around. The two other kids quickly looked where she pointed. Evelynn, raised an eyebrow as she watched Ella carefully pick up the bug. "What if it's poisonous?" she asked. The two were crouched down, staring at the little red ladybug.

"Ladybugs aren't poisonous. They look like it sometimes... but they really aren't! My favorite one is the yellow one with fourteen spots because it looks like a little smiley face." Ella kept her eyes on the bug which was crawling around on her hand. Carl looked at the two. His hair was getting longer, it was past his ear now. Ella thought his short hair made him look younger, now that it was long he looked a bit more his age.

Evelynn shrieked, quickly getting up and causing the three adults to run their way. Ella stared at the ground in horror. "Evelynn! Why the hell did ya do that?!" she yelled, her southern accent came out. It normally only came out when she was angry. The ladybug was smushed on the ground by Evelynn's shoe. Carol started chuckling a bit, it was a fuss over nothing. "Ella, honey. It's just a Ladybug." Maggie assured, trying to hold back her laughter.

"It didn't do anything! It was just trying to fly. That one was nice!" Ella gave Evelynn a dirty look, Ev couldn't help but giggle at the look Ella gave her. Evelynn's laugh made Carl, Glenn, Maggie, and Carol laugh as well. Ella stared at them, her face was scrunched up. "It's alright, There's more ladybug's out there." Glenn chuckled, placing his hand behind Ella's head. Ella stormed off at a fast pace. The yelling caused a few walkers to come toward the fence. Maggie and Glenn speared their heads.

The young girl was sitting down on her bed, her back facing the door. She had crayons scattered across the mattress and a few pieces of paper. She turned her head, it was Glenn. He had a bit of blood on him from stabbing walkers outside. Ella raised an eyebrow, "What are you up to?" he questioned.

Shrugging, Ella responded, "Nothin'. Why? Are we training?" she asked. Glenn had been helping her every day to practice her fighting skills, sometimes Carl or Evelynn would help out.

Glenn replied, "No,". Ella's eyebrows drew together. As he was about to walk away, "When could I get my own weapon? You guys all have guns. Michonne has a sword and Daryl has a crossbow. How come I don't have one?" her blue eyes wide with curiosity.

Glenn stared down at the floor for a second before replying, "You have your knife." he uttered.

"Everybody does. I want an actual weapon, something better. It's not fair."

"When you're old enough. You have the knife in case of anything. Right now, we protect you, alright? You're still a kid, ladybug." Glenn walked a bit toward her.

"A nickname?" Ella thought to herself. She completely ignored the rest, the girl looked up at him. Glenn couldn't read her expression, She just looked at him. She sealed her lips, trying to cover the smile on her face. Glenn being a bit oblivious, he couldn't tell what she was doing. It was silent for a moment as Glenn pondered about what was going through her little mind. Truthfully, a million things went through her mind.

"Okay." she finally responded, breaking the silence. Glenn conjured up a fake, awkward smile. He left the bedroom, not saying another word. Although, he was thinking many things. He thought she didn't like the nickname. It just slipped out of his mouth, he didn't mean to. The whole drama about the squished ladybug, he thought it was funny and wanted to call her that.

Ella did want another weapon but she stopped thinking about it. She felt a bit angry, it was like he was teasing her about the whole ladybug thing. She also felt a bit relieved. She felt happy to have some kind of father in her life. But of course, she still didn't want to say that out loud. Glenn and Maggie had been raising her for almost a year now, a little part of her just couldn't allow herself to call them mom and dad. It's not like they are or ever will be, and she for sure didn't want to get her hopes up.

Evelynn came in a bit later, "Sorry El, I got scared." she said awkwardly, trying to avoid eye contact. Carl was behind her, his lips were pressed together. A bit of awkward silence passed by, "It's okay, I guess." Ella responded. Evelynn felt a bit of relief, "It was funny though."

"I guess it was." Ella grinned, Evelynn felt better to know she thought the same and that she wasn't mad anymore. Carl finally unsealed his lips, laughing a bit. He'd been holding it in. The two girls laughed as well, Ella realizing it wasn't a big deal but she did feel bad for the poor little bug. "Now can we go back outside? I still wanna use the chalk." Evelynn questioned. Agreeing, the two kids follow her outside. Carol and Beth, we're out there now. Beth held Judith. It was always one of them taking care of the baby, they were both pretty amazing with her. "You promise you won't step on another bug?" Ella looked at Evelynn, raising an eyebrow. "Promise." she grinned.

Ella tried to draw a nice flower pattern, she went from blue to purple, then back to blue to purple and the whole thing repeats. The smushed ladybug was still on the floor, Ella picked it up. "Can we bury it?" she asked the two as the dead bug sat in her hands. "You know what, sure." Evelynn smiled.

"That's stupid," Carl added, Evelynn smirked at Ella. "Just lead the way," she said to the younger girl. Ella began to skip toward the grass, Evelynn tugged in Carl's shirt dragging him to follow Ella. "Evy! What are you doing?" he complained. "Oh come on, just come with us."

"Let me go first." Carl rolled his eyes. Evelynn let go of him and the kids set off to make a proper burial for the bug. The two girls both put tiny pebbles surrounding it. Carl just stood by with an annoyed look on his face. "Are you guys done yet?" he complained. "Shut up," Evelynn replied, giving him a stink eye.

"Finally." Carl put his crossed arms down. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just go back." Evelynn said. The two kids agreed, walking back inside the prison. Carl headed over to find Judith, Evelynn following him. It was just Daryl in the room. Ella just sat there, swinging her legs. "Daryl, where is everyone?" she questioned out of bordem. He didn't answer. She knew he was awake, but she didn't know why he wouldn't answer. "Daryl?" she asked one more time.

"He's gone, kid," he uttered. Ella felt a slight pain in her heart, she thought he meant Glenn. She furrowed her eyebrows, looking up at him. "Merle. Merle's gone, I want you to tell everyone else that." Ella then felt relief, relief because Glenn wasn't dead. He was okay, but she did feel bad for Daryl. Merle wasn't the best, he had an attitude and could be a bit rude but he was family to Daryl. He also helped them in a way. Ella didn't know what to say. "I- I'm sorry," she mumbled. Daryl grunted and just walked away. She felt bad, maybe he noticed a small upturn in her lips but it wasn't because she was glad he was dead. She just sat there, feeling bad.

A/N

I'm sorry this is kinda random but idrk what else to do😭 school already started so idk if I could write a lot but I'll try to update as much as I can. And thank you so much for 200 votes and 100 followers!!! I'm also so close to 1k on my tiktok. Hopefully i'll get the next chapter in soon.