Haven (on hold)

5

"Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else's shoes for a while."
-Malorie Blackman

~Aurora's Pov~The next day~

All day today, we've been burning the walkers that we killed and burying those we lost. "Burying other people is bad enough," Dad said as we walked back down to camp. We just finished burying some people. "But the thought of one of us-"

"Shh!" Mom cut him off before he could say anything else. I looked over to him as we stopped walking, I didn't even want that thought to cross my mind. I didn't want to lose any of them. Mom put her hands on Carl's head and gently pulled him into her. "Are we safe now dad?" Carl asked looking up at him. I stood next to him, looking at the rest of the group walking back to camp after the horrific day and night we had. "Now that we're together?" Carl asked as dad bent down to his level.

"I won't leave again. I promise you that. Not for anything. Now, give me a chance to discuss some things with your mom okay?" He asked and stood up. Mom put a hand on my back as well. "Go on baby." She said and kissed my head. I looked past her to dad, silently asking if he agreed. He gave a small nod, I nodded a bit too and held out my hand to Carl. I looked down to him as he took it, We walked back to the camp and I sighed slightly, licking my lips. "You okay?" I asked looking down at Carl. He nodded, not looking up at me, "Are you?" He asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, I just feel scared. But I'm okay." I said. "I'm scared too. But you heard dad, he's not leaving again. We're gonna be okay as long as we're together. He'll keep us safe." He said. I nodded as he looked up at me. "Yeah." I agreed, giving him a soft smile which he returned.  "You know I love you right?" I asked, feeling the urge to say it to him after what just happened. He nodded. "I know." He assured looking back down at the floor. "I love you too Rory." He said. I smiled again and looked forward.

"We'll be okay.." I said softly.

~The next day~

We left camp, Morales and his family went their own separate ways while the rest of us were on our way to the CDC hoping there were people there that could help Jim. He was bit during the attack but while we were on our way there he decided he wanted to be left behind so that's what we did. We left him leaning against a tree and we kept going until we reached the CDC looking for answers.

We all got out of our vehicles. I covered my mouth and nose as the rotting smell hit me. "Oh- my god." I said looking at the bodies scattered around the CDC. "Cmon." Mom said holding her other hand out towards me. I coughed as the smell got worse the further we walked. Some of these were civilians and others were people from the army and military. "Keep moving. Cmon." My dad said as he looked back at us. All of these people were killed, shot in the head. "Rory." Carl looked back at me and held his hand out towards me. I reached out and grabbed onto it, comforting us both.

"Anything?!" Dad asked as we reached the shutters. Shane tried pulling them up but it didn't work. He started pounding on the doors which woke up the dead around us. "Walkers!" Daryl called out. I looked back to see some walkers coming our way. Carl and Sophia cried out scared, Carl let go of my hand and hugged mom. I hugged myself not really knowing what to do. "You led us into a graveyard!" Daryl yelled at my dad after he killed a walker. "He made a call." Dale defended. "It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl yelled back at Dale, walking closer to my dad. "Shut up!" Shane said walking to him. He pushed him back, away from my dad. "You hear me?! Shut up. Shut up!" Shane yelled lowly at Daryl. I felt a hand on my arm and I looked over to see Glenn, He pulled me into him noticing I was scared. I hugged him and he held me back with one arm while holding the shotgun in his other hand.

"Rick this is a dead end." Shane said going back to my dad. "Where are we gonna go?!" Carol asked holding on tight to Sophia  "Do you hear me? No blame." Shane said looking at my dad. "She's right. We can't be here this close to the city after dark." Mom said trying to convince dad to leave this place. It was dangerous though, I don't want to lose any more people. Our group was becoming smaller. "Fort Benning, Rick. Still an option." Shane said, holding his gun.

"On what? No food, no fuel. That's 100 miles." Andrea spoke out. "125, I checked the map." Glenn said jumping in too. "Forget Fort Benning we need answers tonight. Now!" Mom said as Carl cried. I pulled away but Glenn kept me close, keeping his hand on my back. "We'll think of something." Dad said looking back at us. "Dad please let's go!" I pleaded as my voice cracked. Dad looked back at me and held his arm out towards me. "Let's go." Shane said putting a hand on my back then mom's back, turning us around. "Alright, everybody back to the cars!" Shane called out and we all started rushing back to our cars.

"The camera! It moved." Dad called out, we all stopped and looked back at him. "You imagined it." Dale called out. "It moved." Dad repeated and moved closer to it. "Rick, It's dead man. It's an automated device. It's gears. Okay? It's just winding down. Now c'mon!" Shane said and grabbed my dad's arm. He tried pulling him back. Dad resisted. "Look around man! This place is dead!" Shane said trying to pull him away. "Dad!" I called out again as he started banging on the doors. "Rick! There's nobody here!" Mom called out. "I know you're in there! I know you can hear me!" Dad said looking at the camera. "Please we're desperate! Please help us! We have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left!" Dad desperately begged looking up at the camera. "Daddy please we have to go!" I called out. "Stay with your sister." Mom told Carl as she pushed him towards me. Carl wrapped his arms around me in fear, I hugged him back as Mom ran towards dad.

"Rick there's nobody here-" Mom said, reaching him. "We have nowhere else to go! If you don't let us in you're killing us!" Dad yelled. "Rory!" Carl cried again. "It's okay- it's okay. It's okay." I said holding him close to me, I looked around to see a couple more walkers, they were a bit far but they were coming. Either way the rest of the guys wouldn't let them get close to us. Shane pulled mom away from dad. "Please!" Dad called out and pounded on the doors. "Cmon buddy. Let's go." Shane said and forcefully pulled dad away from the shutters. "You're killing us! You're killing us!" Dad cried as Shane pulled him around. Mom came over and hugged me and Carl quickly. We heard a loud sound from behind us and we turned around to see the shutters open.

Word Count:1255

A/N: I'm sorry if this book seems rushed, Some scenes i don't know where to place Aurora. And since she's not an adult, i can't have her in the conversions with the adults in the group yk? But i hope you're enjoying it either way 💓✨

Also, who would you like to see Aurora interact with or have a strong bond with?

I'm going to be working on Glenn&Maggie. Daryl too, but his scenes won't be coming up until later :)