Casually Cruel - TWD

12. New girl.

Finally, Eliza opened her eyes. It was light in wherever she was, white walls, she was lay on something soft. A bed? No, it couldn't be. They were in a barn. They were travelling. Her body was covered with something, maybe Abraham's jacket. She looked across the room, seeing a tall blonde man stood there. She tried to press up on her hand, but fell down to her side.

"Oh, hey. You're finally awake," the man stated. "I'm Pete. Doctor at Alexandria," that just made Eliza panic. What the fuck was Alexandria?

"Where...am I?" She breathed. The pain was throbbing horribly. "Where's- where's Abraham? Or- or Rosita?" She looked around the room, trying to see out of the windows.

Pete smiled, but he seemed a bit annoyed, and clasped his hands together. "I'll go fetch them for you now," he left the infirmary, leaving Eliza with just her staggered breathing filling the silence. The room was empty for a couple of minutes before Abraham and Rosita came rushing through the door, just at the sight of them, Eliza burst into tears.

"Hey...hey, what's wrong? Is it hurting? Why are you crying?" Abraham cupped her face in his hands, trying to dry off her tears with his thumb but they just kept on coming. Rosita sat down by her on her bed, grabbing her right hand.

"I'm scared," she sobbed through tears. It was supposed to be embarrassing for a fourteen year old to admit she was scared. But Eliza didn't feel embarrassed, she felt kind of comfortable, actually.

"There's nothing to be scared of. You're safe, we're here," Rosita assured her, shaking her hand slightly.

Eliza shook her head, looking up at the ceiling and still crying. "What happened to me? Why- why am I here? Why does it hurt so much?"

Abraham sighed and sat down in the chair next to Eliza's bed, stroking her hair softly. "You got bit, angel. Rick had to.." he sighed, not wanting to tell Eliza that Rick cut her arm off. She must've gotten what he meant, because her eyes went wide and more tears started to flow down her face. "It ain't gonna hurt for long, I promise. They have medicine here, you're gonna be fine."

Rosita nodded in agreement. "You'll like it here, it seems like your kind of place. A lot of people have been wanting to meet you."

Eliza looked down at her bandaged up arm. Her face burned hot and she took a deep breathe. "I don't want to meet anyone right now."

Rosita and Abraham both looked at each other. They knew there was a party tonight, and that Deanna, the leader of Alexandria, wanted all the newcomers there. But here Eliza was, refusing to meet people.

"Tell you what," Abraham began. "There's a woman, the leader here. She'll want to get to know you, explain this all better than we did, how about that?" He tilted his head slightly and ran his fingers through the girl's hair once more.

It took Eliza a second, but she nodded. It couldn't hurt just to meet one person. If she didn't like it here, she could start working on getting the hell out.

🦋

"I'm Deanna. Can you tell me your name?" The woman spoke to Eliza as if she was a child. A small, crybaby kid. To be honest, she felt like one.

Eliza adjusted the blanket to cover up the end of her arm- elbow? What was she supposed to call it now? It wasn't even there. "Don't act like you don't know my name."

"I do. But first impressions are important," Deanna smiled and nodded.

"Your first impression of me was probably thinking I was dead," Eliza snapped. She was defensive right now for some reason. Maybe it was just Pete that had given her a bad first impression.