My shirt has blood on it so I have to get rid of it, I'm left in just my tank but that's fine because I don't want to draw any attention to myself as I walk around. Just as I leave in search for the train cars an explosion hits. Walkers start swarming the area and I curse as I realise I'd left my knife with Rick and my gun is running low on bullets.
I run back inside in search of something I could use. I end up in a room filled with things. Stolen things, I feel sick seeing all the belongings that they'd taken from the people they'd eaten. All the kids stuff makes my eyes tear up, how could they do this to people?
The commotion outside makes me focus, I had to move. I pull on a oversized shirt and then I grab another gun, there's a small bag on one of the tables. I take it and shove my friends things and some more weapons in there. Then I see a slim double sided hatchet, I feel it in my hand and seeing how it's pretty lightweight, I decide to take it with me.
I leave the room and wait by a door, when I have the opportunity to, I pull a walker in with me and then chop its head off. Slicing it open I rub it's guts and stuff all over the shirt I'd put on and then some on my face.
I'm making my way through the chaos pretty undetected, I try not to kill too many walkers, just because I don't wanna attract any attention to myself and I hope the walkers give these people a taste of their own medicine.
It's way too hectic to know what's going on and I can't really make anything out with all the screaming and gunfire. My plan is to just get out and find the others in the woods, they'd get out fine I'm sure. I'm crossing the courtyard when I see that kid from before he's alone, trying to fight walkers off. He's not doing very well.
I'm by his side in an instant, using my new axe to get the walkers off him. I push him back into the storage container he'd been crouched in front of. He's terrified until I pull the walker guts shirt off I hand it to him. "Put this on." He complies and I hand him a gun, "do you know how to shoot?" He shakes his head and I nod. "It's okay kid, we're gonna get out of here." He nods and hugs me, I wince because of the walker guts. "Oh sorry." I shake my head and then grab his hand.
"Don't drop my hand, don't make any sudden movements. Just follow me and we'll be okay." He nods and doesn't say anything. Once I take us out of the container I slowly manoeuvre us through the hoard until we reach the fence.
Once we're in the woods I look for tracks to see if I can find my group. "Thank you so much miss." The young boy says as we walk. He's shed the walker shirt and I'm also looking for a stream or something so I can wash the shit off my face. "It's alright," I tell him, "thank you for not killing me and then saving me, I don't know what I would've done without you." I send him a half smile and shake my head, "don't mention it, so what's your name kid?"
"Hayden." I stop for a second and look at him, "is everything okay?" I nod, "how did you end up there?" I ask, "they took me." My brows furrow. "My family, we were making our way through the woods. We came across this cabin, their people were there. They took all of us, said they offered sanctuary and we'd be safe with them. They killed my parents." I give him a hug as his face falls. "I'm so sorry, you can stay with me if you want, me and my group."
"The guys from before they're your group?" I nod with a smile, "we're a family now. We've been together for so long but we all got separated a while ago." He smiles, "but you found each other?" I nod, "is there a lot of you guys." I shrug, "there's a few of us, I don't know how many of us have made it back together though, I only got to see the guys you were with."
"They're nice, they helped me out too."
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
We manage to find a stream to clean up and tracks, Hayden tells me something about Gareth saying Rick had hid a bag of guns nearby, so we go in search for this bag. Rick would go back to collect them.
I was wrong, there's a lot of us. I see the group before they see me. They're all stood around, Rick having just picked his gun bag up. Carol is with them too!
"Selene!" Carl sees me first, he sprints full speed and he ends up tackling me to the ground. "Sorry." He mumbles as I laugh and sit up to pull him into the tightest hug known to man. "Carl!" I exclaim joyously making him laugh too. "I missed you kid. Have you grown?" Rick is right behind his son, helping me off the ground he hugs me so tight that he lifts me off the ground. "We thought we lost you then."
"Have some faith Rick." I say making him chuckle, he kisses the side of my head again and then Glenn hugs me. "I thought you were gonna slit my throat." He jokes making me laugh. "Missed opportunity." I hum in a faux disappointed tone. "Alright everyone move." Daryl grunts making me smile as he comes into view.
I thought my hug with Carl was the tightest hug known to man but I was wrong. Daryl lifts me up with ease and squishes me against him so hard I genuinely cannot breathe for a second. I don't care though, it's so worth it to be in his arms again. "How'd you find us?" He asks lowly making me smile up at him, "I guess you're not the best tracker in our group anymore." He chuckles and then I cannot help myself, I just have to kiss him. I don't care that everyone's watching or that everyone starts whistling like rowdy teenagers.
"I missed you so much." I mumble, his face is a bit pink from all the attention but he kisses his usual spot above my brow, "I was going crazy without you." He keeps an arm securely around me as I turn back to the others. "Did Aelia make it back to you guys okay?" I ask Carol who nods and gives me a hug, "she told me about your crazy plan. She stayed with the kids. Everyone is okay." I'm so glad about that.
Maggie, Michonne and Sasha are the last three that I have to reunite with. Maggie smiles her big beautiful smile as she hugs me and tells me how glad she was to see me again. "Missed you too Mags."
"Oh by the way everyone," I say as I notice Hayden still lurking a bit behind, trying to hide in the trees. "This is my friend Hayden." I say calling him over. He walks over and stands right next to me, "nice to see you again man." Glenn says first holding his hand out to him. Then I notice the others, a group of people I'd never seen before.
I'm introduced to Abraham the big ginger guy, Rosita is the beautiful girl next to him, I think they're together? Then it's Eugene he seems lucky to have found them to protect him because I'm telling you he would not make it out there on his own. Last is another pretty girl, her name is Tara, she seems really sweet but something about her seems familiar.
"What happened to you? You have a rough time out here?" Daryl asks as we all follow after Carol. I cannot wait to see Sasha and Tyreese reunite as well as the grimes. "Nah I was fine, what about you? Who hurt you?" He tells me the story quietly and I glance over at Carl, Rick and Michonne and frown. I grab Daryl's hand and kiss his cheek, "I'm sorry you went through that." He tries to shrug it off so I don't bring any more attention to it.
"I still can't believe I found you." I hum swinging our joint hands, he smiles at me softly. "I'm more impressed that you didn't get lost out here, you've been learning." I laugh and kiss him quickly. "Well I've had an okay teacher." He shakes his head and laughs, "I'm more than okay."
"How did you know we were in there?" Rick asks me as we walk. "Oh, I just had a feeling that anyone who saw the sanctuary sign would've gone, very silly of you guys by the way. Stranger danger." I'm glad my joke lands because after everything we just went through I want everyone to be able to relax a bit. "Um anyways I had some binoculars and when I used them I saw you getting in to the train car."
"My plan wouldn't have worked if Aelia came with me so she went back to tell the Carol. And I put my acting skills to work, I went all the way back to basement Selene. And I will say if the world didn't turn to shit I really think I could've made a great actress. Um I didn't really interact with them much and thank god I didn't eat any of the food they gave me because what the fuck. He took me on a tour in the morning and then he said if I wanted to be one of them he had the perfect way for me to prove it and that was when you guys saw me."
"I can't believe you came in alone like that." I shrug, "any of you guys would've done the same."
