I woke up before Rick or Carl. Carl had his head on my shoulder and I gently move him so I can get up. He stirs but doesn't wake. He looks so peaceful when he sleeps, all his features blend together and he smiles a little. I guess he didn't have any nightmares last night, otherwise he'd wake me up.

I silently go to the kitchen and grab the bag of cereal from yesterday. I grab a blue bowl and a spoon.

As I eat my cereal I study my reflection in the spoon. My once blonde hair now looks brown due to oil from not washing it in a couple of months. My eyes are again bright green, which is different from a couple of days ago because I actually laughed again and felt happy.

I hear footsteps and look up. "Sleep well Carl? "

"Better than I've slept in days." He smiles at me. I smile back and then direct my attention back to my bowl of cereal.

Some one bups into the wall an I immediately grab for my axe. Rick appears in the doorway and I sitbback down.

"Mornin' Rick." I smile at him. He looks a little better except for his face and shirt.

"Morning kids. How long was I out?"

"Two days. " Carl hands him a bowl of cereal.

"What'd you two do in those two days?" He gives us a warning look, my cheeks burn red and I look down at my bowl.

"Not that dad!" Carl protests. "We aren't even dating! We're just friends!"

"Besides, we went on a run." I look up at Rick. His face shows surprise and worry.

"You could've died!" He yells and Carl gives me the death stare.

"We didn't though!" Carl argues. "We went to a house, killed a few walkers and sat on a roof."

"Eating pudding mind you." I add and Carl nods and smiles.

"112 ounce can of chocolate pudding. " he laughs, causing me to erupt in a fit of giggles. Rick laughs along and we forget about the danger of our run.

A knock at the door makes us all jump and grab our weapons. We cautiously make our way to the living room and Rick looks through the peep hole while Carl and I stand in the doorway, weapons ready.

Rick plops down on the couch and starts laughing. Carl and I exchange he's gone crazy looks and then look back at Rick. He smiles at Carl. "It's for you."

Carl quickly walks to the door and looks out the peep hole. He then starts untying the wire holding it.

They're both crazy! I think to myself as I keep my gaurd up. They both move the couch away and Carl opens the door. Outside stands a tall, dark skinned woman with a Samurai sword on her back.

"Michonne!" Carl smiles and Rick hugs her as she steps inside.

"I thought you two were dead!" The lady named Michonne exclaims.

She looks over at me who still has my axe raised. I quickly lower it and stand there awkwardly.

"Michonne, this is Lauren. Lauren, Michonne." Carl introduces us.

Michonne smiles and holds out her hand. I take it and shake. "Nice to meet you." She says. I nod and look at Carl for help.

"She's from our prison group that I was telling you about. "

I smile at her again. "They saved me at a gas station that got overrun. " I explain.

"I see." She said and turned to Rick. "You look like a train hit you."

"I'm fine."

"You're not fine," Carl protests. "You were out for two days. We thought you turned!"

"Well, I'm good enough to go on a run. " Rick states.

Rick looks at Michonne for help. "Nu uh brother. You heard your son. You are not going anywhere. Go get cleaned up."

Rick rolled his eyes and stomped up the stairs.

"I hope we find stale candy bars in these houses!" Michonne says excitedly, like a child. Carl and I laugh. The three of us go back into the kitchen and I finish my bowl of cereal. I sit on the counter and wait for them to get done.

They finish a couple minutes later and we grab our weapons and bags, Rick comes back down with a new shirt and pants, his bandages are changed and clean. He tells us to be careful and locks the door behind us.

We walk down the street and stop at the house next to the one Carl and I cleared yesterday. The Walker was still at the window growling at us.

Michonne picks the lock and we enter into the big house. Everything looks untouched. Dust settled on everything, but other than that it looked pretty normal.

I picked up a photo of the family that used to live here. There was a man and a woman and three kids, two girls, one looked to be about ten and the other to be about seven, and a boy no older than three.

They all resembled the dark brown hair and light brown eyes. Except for one of the girls who had more grey eyes than brown.

They looked happy. Happy to be alive, happy to have each other, happy to be carefree. I miss that world before. Now you force yourself to want to live, you are grateful for other people but know that it's not forever, and the pressure and stress of surviving crushes you.

I set the picture back on the coffee table and let out a sigh. I finger the chain around my neck, my mom's dog tags. I read them for what felt like the hundredth time. Her name, her blood type, her position, her numbers. I've read it so many times that they are implanted in my head.

I let the weighted metal hit my chest and walk towards the kitchen. Carl looks through the cabinets while Michonne digs through drawers.

"Did you have any kids?" Carl asks Michonne who sniffles.

"One question per room." She smiled at him. I could see the sadness in her face, the smile didn't travel to her eyes.

"Well, I cleared out the cuboard and the cabinets so this kitchen is cleared out. "

Michonne chuckled and went back to searching the drawers. "I had one kid. A boy."

"How old was he? What was his name?" Carl asks excitedly. I clear my throat and step further into the kitchen.

"What room do I search?" I ask.

Michonne turns to me. "Try the bathroom for medicine, we can use anything. " she smiled and turned to Carl. "And I said one question per a room. "

"Well this is actually two rooms. See the doorway separating them?" He points to the white trimmed doorway from the kitchen to the dinning room.

I chuckle and walk towards the bathroom. I open one door and reveal blue walls and toys scattered around the room. I guess this is what Michonne was sad about.

I close it and try the next door, but it's locked from the inside. I go back to the little boys room and open up a door to a conjoined bathroom. I look through the cabinets and stuff children's tylenol into my bag. I open the other door and am hit by an awful smell of decaying bodies.

I immediately grab for my axe and slam open the door. But nothing growls or comes at me. Instead decayed dead bodies lay on the bed and sit in chairs. Like they let themselves die here. I put my axe away and fall to my knees.

They must've been desperate. Desperate enough to not want to die seperatly, but together as a family.

I sit there for a couple of minutes and then get up and slam the door shut. I go back into the hall and try another door we which leads into a master bedroom and I loot that bathroom and put personal hygiene items in my bag too.

I try the last door only to have to move a picture in front of it. I thought I might as well have a look at it for Michonne was clearing the bedrooms and Carl was in the living room looking around.

I pull the white garbage bag off of it and flip it around. I almost drop it at the sight.

It was a family portrait, the canvas ripped where their eyes would be, almost like it was slashed by a knife. I set it down.

"Michonne?" I call to her.

"Yea?" She calls back, walking out of the master bedroom.

I point to the picture and look at her. She is taken aback, surprised even. "What the hell?" She whispers.

"It was in front of the bathroom door." I explain.

Carl comes walking in. "I finished the living room, that should be- what the heck is that?" He points to the picture in horror. I shrug. It can't be that smiling family that I saw in the front.

"Well, if we're done here, we should get back." Michonne breaks the silence.

"Can we stop by that lake across the street? I want to wash these shirts before we head back." I hold up Carl's and my flannels that we're folded up in my bag. Michonne nods and we make our way to the front door.

We walk into the late summer breeze. It's getting cooler each day which is a change from a couple days ago when I was baking. It must be late July, early August.

We walk across the trashed street and to the little lake. Michonne sits down at a bench by it and skips stones into it. Carl follows me down the rocks to the water.

I take off my shoes and socks and roll up my pants legs, only going ankle deep into the water. He does the same and throws his bag back on shore after pulling out a bar of soap.

"I figured you might want me to help, considering one of them's mine. " he gives me a small smile and reaches for his flannel. I give it to him.

"Thanks. " I reply. He nods his head. His sheriff's hat casting shadows across his face which makes him look more mysterious.

I scrub my bar soap in the water with my flannel. "What's with the hat?" I ask him. He glances up at me and then back down to the water with a smirk on his face.

"It's my dad's. He was a Sheriff's deputy before all this. He gave me his hat when I got shot."

"You got shot? " I ask. I knew he told me about Hershal and him getting shot,  but I wanted him to elaborate and tell me the story. I was always curious which can be bad at times.

"Yea, in the stomach a couple years ago when this all started. We went on a hunting trip, I saw a deer and it just stood there. It was so beautiful. I went to pet it and a guy named Otis shot me on accident." He explains. "What's with the dog tags?"

I look down at them hanging off my neck. I sigh. "They were my moms. She was in the army. Its all I could take from my old camp. "

We finish our shirts and set them on the rocks to dry. Carl sits under a tree and puts his hat over his eyes and falls asleep. I sit on the ground and pluck grass and play with it for no apperent reason, something I always did to waste time. Michonne reorginizes her bag.

We wait for about half an hour before our shirts are somewhat dry and I wake up Carl. He looks startled at first but then smiles.

We make our way back to the house. We hear gunshots inside and pick up our pace before Rick comes running at us and telling at us to turn around.

A/N: Hi!! I figured this would be a good place to end the chapter.

What do you guys think of it? Comment to tell me! And vote please!

Stay in the salt circle Niall, so the Walkers don't get ya!

~zombiefighter01