HEART FOR BRAINS • the walking dead

020: judith

Rio, Carl and Beth sat in the girl's cell later that night. Nobody had gotten back by the time the sky had fallen dark so they were all hoping for the group to arrive by morning, at the earliest.

Rio had just washed the blood and guts off of him and was now sat in the chair watching Beth rock the baby back and forth in her arms. Carl stood between them, leaning against the bed frame.

"I've thought of a name for her." He announced, fidgeting with his hands.

"Really?" Rio asked, looking up at him.

"Yeah." He answered, nodding his head.

"What is it?" Beth pried, waggling her finger at the baby who followed it intently with her eyes.

"Judith."

"That's nice."

"I tried to thing if a name with no bad... no bad—." Carls face scrunched, trying to think of the right word.

"Connotations?" Beth suggested, finishing his sentence for him.

"Yeah, connotations." Carl nodded. "It was my old teachers name, but it was one of the only ones I could think of that had a sort of happy meaning."

"I never thought I'd miss school." Rio laughed, thinking about before the outbreak. "Was she your favourite teacher?"

"Yeah. She was one of the only teachers I could stand." Carl laughed along, then looked to Beth. "What about you?" He asked, trying to bring her into the conversation.

"Huh?" She asked quietly, not paying attention. "Sorry."

"Did you like school?"

"Yeah. I liked music, and english." She said, "I liked when we'd all read."

"Maths is better." Rio teased, rocking on his chair.

"No its not." Carl protested, shaking his head.

"It so is!"

"Science was my favourite, anyway." Carl said. "I loved doing experiments."

"Did you ever make that giant foamy stuff?" The other boy asked eagerly, remembering how it was always the experiment he'd wanted to do.

"Yeah." He smiled.

"You're so lucky." Rio sunk into his chair and sighed in disappointment.

Axel knocked on the wall of the cell, making himself known. "Mind if I join you?" He asked, standing in the doorway.

Rio looked between Carl and Beth and when they said nothing he just shook his head. He sat down on the bunk bed besides Beth, looking over at Judith.

They talked for a few minutes about nothing much. He talked about the prison as they kept talking about school.

"You are good with her." Axel admired, glancing at Beth. "You ever have little sisters?"

"No," Beth shook her head. Carol walked over, standing besides the door, Rio gave her a small wave. He was glad she was back. He was glad that they were going to have Glenn and Maggie back soon.

"How old are you, anyway?" He asked the girl.

"Seventeen." Beth replied. It only then struck Rio that he hadn't known how old Beth was until now. Sure, he could've made a guess but he didn't actually know.

"Seventeen. Interesting." The man bummed in response.

"May I speak with you?" Carol interjected, asking Axel before pulling him aside.

"Me?" He asked, pointing a finger at himself.

She nodded and walked off.

"I'll be right back." He said before following after her.