like real people do | c.g [#wattys2019]

C R E E P Y

WE GET INSIDE after that and I tell him I wanna see Judith. The only time I saw her, I was crying my eyes out, so I'd like to see her without bawling. Beth took the baby to her cell to feed it. The formula they're using is the one Glenn and Maggie were supposed to get and that makes me slightly sad, but I shrug it off. The baby needs food, and we have food. Besides, the rest of them are gonna get them back.

One of the prisoners, Axel, decides to stay in the cell as well, although he also asks questions that make me, and everyone else apparently, very uncomfortable. "You are good with her. Do you have little sisters?" He asks Beth, she shakes her head no. "How old are you anyway?"

"Seventeen." She answers curtly.

"Seventeen. How about you?" He turns to me, looking us both up and down. I cringe as I inwardly step closer to Carl, who's eyes are locked on the man.

"I'm thirteen years old." I say, glaring as I emphasize the word thirteen. Can he stop? I don't know where he thinks he's going with this, but for me it's nowhere. Carl takes a step closer to me as well, crossing his arms as he too glares at the creepy man.

"Seventeen and thirteen. Interesting." He mutters, making me take yet another involuntary step away from him and closer to Carl, whose hand finds my waist. Axel's creepy, I'll keep that in mind. Carol seems to think so, too, because she asks to talk to him, away from this cell. He goes with her, making me take a small sigh of relief.

"God, he's creepy." I whisper, making them chuckle as I lean into Carl's touch for a second. "Can I hold her?" Beth nods and hands her to me, as I sit down and take her in my arms, making sure to hold her neck right with the back of my arm and not make her uncomfortable. She surprisingly closes her eyes, and falls asleep within ten minutes. "What now?" I mouth to Beth, making her smile.

"My dad." She whispers back. I nod, and get up slowly, trying not to wake her. Hershel is next to the makeshift crib that they have, and smiles when he sees her. He puts his arms out for me to hand her, and then he lays her down. I don't know how she fell asleep so easily. I turn around to see Carl and Beth now sitting in the staircase.

"You finally managed to put Judith to sleep..." Hershel comments as I sit down next to them.

"How are we on formula?" Carl questions.

"We have enough to last us another month." Hershel responds, approaching us.

"I'll go with Carol to get some by the end of the week." Carl offers, making me look at him sadly, knowing where he's coming from.

Beth seems confused, or maybe in denial, though. "Your dad and the others will be back by then."

"We don't know that." I sigh as he talks. "Right now, Judith is the only family I got." Maybe his approach is better. Don't feel, or at least pretend not to... So, I take a deep breath and pretend that what he just said didn't affect me in the slightest. Just feel the numbness. Force it to come back.