" IT'S NOW OR NEVER
A REVERIE ENDEAVER. "
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Ellie and AJ were a hell of a team. Having to adapt and travel the post apocalyptic world alone was one hell of a way to grow up. After loosing the...
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ELLIE WAKES WITH a start early in the morning. Her mind is reeling with the visual of blood and deafening screams.
"I'm sorry, Momma. I'm so sorry." The Dixon girl sits on the edge of her cot with her head in her hands. She bit her lip to avoid making any sound.
It wasn't until the mattress dipped did Ellie realize someone was there. When she opened her eyes, the brunette was met with the sweet face of AJ.
"Are you okay?" He asked in a soft voice, the echo still incredibly loud in the cell block. "You were crying again."
Ellie sniffled, wiping her eyes and smiling softly. "Yeah, Jay. I'm all right." She pulled him into an embrace.
Then, a knock sounded from the solid walls around them. The kids looked over to find Daryl leaning against the wall.
"Hey, y'all okay?" He asked softly, glancing at the both of them suspiciously.
"We're good, Dad." Ellie assured.
Daryl nodded and cleared his throat. "A'right, well we're 'bout to check out the rest of the prison. Carl's watchin' one set of the keys, I need you on backup."
"Okay, we're right behind you." The Dixon girl pulls her boots towards the bed and slips them on, watching as AJ does the same.
Walking out of the cell block, Ellie leaned against a table littered with weapons.
"Not bad." Daryl clicked on a flashlight to see if it worked.
"Flashbangs, CS Triple-Chasers." Rick held one up to the light. "Not sure how they'd work on the walkers, but we'll take 'em."
Just then, Daryl picked up a helmet looted from a monster. A glob of slime fell to the ground.
"That's disgusting." Ellie leaned away from the slimey riot gear.
"I ain't wearing this shit." Daryl agreed with a scoff.
T-Dog held up a glove that was absolutely soaked. "We could boil 'em." He suggested.
"Ain't enough firewood in the whole forest. No." The Dixon man snorted, picking up a long baton. "Besides, we made it this far without 'em, right?"
Carol walked up silently behind them. "Hershel?" She motioned the man to follow her without any explanation.
"Everything alright?" Rick asked genuinely, the fear of his wife becoming sick laid in the back of his mind.
Carol cut her eyes to him. "Yeah. Nothing to worry about."
Ellie watched Rick's face as Hershel followed the Peletier woman back into the block. She could tell there was some hostility between Rick and his wife, but she didn't think it was anything worse than an argument of some kind.
Ellie glanced at her father, the curiosity littered across her face. Daryl simple shook his head, dismissing her wish to ask questions.
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AS THE RUN group suited up in the freshly cleaned riot gear, Ellie stood with Carl watching him messing around with a helmet.
AJ, who stood near Ellie, glanced up when he heard footsteps from the top level. There, he saw Lori looking down at the group.
"Mrs. Grimes, are you feeling okay?" The young Whiting boy asked over the rustling of the gear.
Lori looked down with a soft smile. "Yeah, honey, I'm alright." She sniffled softly.
Rick then walked over to his son, taking the helmet from his hands. "You won't be needing that. I need you to stay put."
Carl scoffed. "You're kidding!"
"We don't know what's in there." Rick started, trying his best to keep his child in place. "Something could go wrong, you could be the last man standing. I need you, and Ellie, to handle things here."
Carl nodded with a heavy sigh. "Sure."
Rick handled the set of keys to his boy. "Great. Let's go."
The run group—consisting of Rick, Daryl, Maggie, T-Dog, Glenn, and Hershel—strolled from the cell block. Carl was quick to lock the gate behind them.
Carol patted Beth on the shoulder as the blonde watches solemnly her father and sister left the safety of the cell block.
"They'll be okay." The Peletier woman assured. "Come on, we have some stuff to do ourselves."
"So," Ellie tried to start small talk with Carl, who was sitting next to her on the metal stairs. "Have you been thinking about what you think the babies name is gonna be?"
Carl looked up at her and shrugged lazily. "We've lost a lot of people, so I've had some ideas."
"You willing to share?" Ellie tilted her head curiously.
"Well, there's Jacque, Amy...Sophia, and Andrea for a girl. And for a boy I was thinking Jim or Dale. But I'm not too sure." Carl glanced from the floor to the girl as he finished. She nodded as she thought the names over.
"I like Sophia. That's a very pretty name." Ellie smiled softly, but Carl seemed to hesitate a bit. "She's someone you were close to?"
"She died recently. A few months back." Carl nodded, his voice dropping to a whisper. "She was Carol's daughter. We thought she went missing but..."
