Deadland

Chapter 115- Backstory

Back at Alexandria, we're constantly dealing with herds of Walkers. Nothing we haven't dealt with before but this time, it's odd. Herds don't normally just appear, not any that I've seen, that is. But, instead of me worrying about the Walkers, I have to worry about Beatrice. She's come down with some sort of flu or something, and it's bad. She's throwing up every meal I've given her and is constantly dehydrated because of it. She doesn't want to go to the infirmary because it makes her nervous but without a doctor on hand at all times, what the fuck am I supposed to do? 

I'm positioned next to her on the couch, re-wrapping the handle of my whip as she reads a picture book with only a few words next to me. 

"Adrian?" She starts, groggily. 

"What?" I ask, turning away from my book and looking at her. 

"What's this word?" She points to a word under a picture of a spider that I'm honestly surprised is in a kid's book.

"Lethal." 

"What's that mean?" She asks, pinching her eyebrows together and tilting her head. 

"Deadly." 

Her eyebrows raise and she looks at the brown spider on the page again, "It looks too small to be bad." 

I shrug, "Sometimes the smaller ones are the most deadly." 

She smiles, "So you think I could be deadly?" 

I chuckle and close my book, positioning myself on the couch so my back is on the armrest, making me face her. "Oh, I'm sure you could. They don't want me to train you because you're 'too young', though." 

She frowns, "Just because I'm young doesn't mean I'm not able to do that stuff." 

I scoff and nod, "You're right. But, having a childhood is important." 

She nods in understanding, "What was your childhood like?" 

I sigh, "It was fine, I guess. I was an only child until Alyssa was born when I was thirteen. It was just a normal life, not havin' to deal with Walkers or shit like that." 

"Do you miss how life was before?" 

I pause for a second, thinking about her question. The logical response would be yes, obviously. But honestly, I don't think I do. Yes, the apocalypse sucks ass but there's so much out here for me than there was when the world was normal. "No." I finally admit, staring off into the distance behind Beatrice. I wouldn't have met Damien. And Damien wouldn't have met Cato. 

Sometimes I wish I never met Damien or reconnected with Cato. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have to deal with the pain of losing them. 

"Alyssa told me about zoos," Beatrice says, smiling. "They had whole buildings full of bugs. With a whole farm full of ants!" 

I smirk, "An ant farm isn't a farm with ants. That's just what they call it." 

She looks at me confusedly, "Why?" 

I shrug, "They just wanted to, dunno."

"But farms are bigger than that. Right? They're like whole plots of land. My daddy and I stayed at one until..." 

I quickly begin speaking again to get the memory of watching her father die out of her head, "I think they call it that because the ants each have their own jobs-"

She smiles again and seemingly forgets about the ant-farm, farm-for-ants debate. "Did you know ants have their living room to relax in and take care of the baby ants? Also- baby ants are called Larva."