𝗙𝗜𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡, 𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗹𝗲

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗢𝗙 the day at the church was successful. Most of the group had split up and went on runs. Ivy had stayed at the church with Judith, Gabriel, and Carl.

Ivy and Carl were still not talking, which hurt, a lot. Ivy tried so hard to talk to him, but he just walked away. She had no clue why he was acting like that. She had got the idea that maybe he liked her and took offense to it, but she didn't think that was the case.

Everyone had come back from their runs as the sun was starting to set. They had came back with food, water, alcohol, and all sorts of things.

Carol had served the group some canned beans. The adults had received alcohol and the kids had received water, but Ivy was sneaky, and Abraham was in her corner.

As the group sat and laughed over food, they almost felt normal again. Ivy had been standing near Glenn. Ivy looked to Maggie who was on the floor.

"Glenn, let's go with Maggie." Ivy said. Glenn nodded, grabbed his food, and followed.

"I'd like to propose a toast." Abraham announced loudly. The chatter stopped as he held his wine in his hand.

"No! I can't toast with water, it's bad luck!" Ivy spoke. The group turned to her.

"Aren't you a little to young to be drinkin'?" Maggie asked. Ivy rolled her eyes.

"C'mon. Just a little bit! It's not my first time. Besides, there's an apocalypse going on. There's a lot more to worry about." Ivy explained.

"Abraham, get her a glass." Glenn smiled. Ivy squealed like a little girl and hugged Glenn.

"Thank you!" Ivy removed herself from the hug and the group laughed at her. Abraham got Ivy a glass of wine and Ivy thanked him.

Abraham walked in front of the group and everyone sat down.

"I look around this room... and I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title. To the survivors." Abraham raised his glass.

"To the survivors!" Everyone yelled.

Ivy brought the glass to her lips and swallowed the liquid. Glenn and Maggie looked to the girl in between them. Ivy gave no reaction to the liquid.

"No reaction? No faces?" Glenn asked. The group turned to look at the girl.

"It's wine." Ivy shrugged. The group laughed with the girl before turning back to Abraham.

"Is that all you want to be? Survivors? Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forage for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse and repeat?" Abraham asked. "Cause you can do that. I mean you got the strength. You got the skill. Thing is, for you people, for what you can do, that's just surrender."

"Now, we get Eugene to Washington and he will make the dead die and the living will have this world again. And that is not a bad takeaway for a little road trip." Abraham explained. Abraham turned to Eugene.

"Eugene, what's in DC?" Abraham inquired. Eugene looked around at the group and sighed.

"Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude. That means food, fuel, refuge. Restart." Eugene stated.

The group smiled as Abraham began to speak again.

"However this plays out, however long it takes for the rest button to kick in, you can be safe there. Safer than you've been since this whole thing started." Abraham started. "Come with us. Save the world for that little one. Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there... who don't got nothing left to do except survive."

Judith cooed at the end of Abraham speech and Rick laughed a bit.

"What was that? I think she knows what I'm about to say. She's in. If she's in, I'm in." Rick smiled.

"Well, it looks like our Queen Judith has spoken. If Judith and Rick are in, we're all in." Ivy smiled up at Abraham. Ivy looked over at Rick and they smiled at each other.

The group began to laugh, clap, and celebrate. The group went back to chatting and laughing together.

Ivy's eyes drifted to Carl, who was sitting alone with a frown on his face.

"I'm gonna talk to him, but I can't take myself seriously looking like this." Ivy spoke. Maggie and Glenn nodded. Glenn patted her shoulder and pointed to Rosita.

"Rosita has some clothes, they're all shorts and shortsleeved but I'm sure Carl would let you borrow his flannel." Glenn smiled. Ivy thanked him and stood up.

"I wish you luck." Maggie said. Ivy smiled a bit and leaned down. She gave both the adults kisses on their cheeks and walked to go see Rosita. Rosita was sitting dangerously close to Carl, so Ivy had to be near him.

"Hey, Rosita?" Ivy spoke up, Rosita looked up at her.

"What's up?" Rosita said, looking over at Carl for a second.

"Do you have any extra clothes I can wear...." Ivy trailed off before bending down to be closer to her. "And, maybe a bra." Rosita nodded and handed Ivy a bag.

"There's a pair of shorts and a shirt in here. And a bra, babe. I hope your my size." Rosita laughed.

"Thanks, Mi corazón." Ivy blew Rosita a kiss and walked to Gabriel's office. When she walked inside, Gabriel was standing there pacing.

"Do you mind leaving for a second?" Gabriel quickly looked up at Ivy and nodded frantically. He walked out of the room quite nervously.

Ivy looked around his office. It was clean and not messy. It was quiet in the room. The walls were a light color, their was a couch, bibles, normal stuff.

Ivy placed the bag down and began to remove her clothes. She opened the bag and took out the green shorts. Ivy's eyes widened at the size of the very small shorts.

Ivy slipped on the shorts. They were kind of lose and short. They made Ivy feel good about herself. Ivy looked at her butt slightly.

Damn, running away from walkers pays off that much?

Ivy took off her Mario and Luigi shirt. She threw it onto the couch and looked into the bag for the shirt. She pulled out a grey crop top and a pink bra.

Ivy slipped on the bra and thankfully, it fit. Ivy put on the cropped shirt and flattened it out.

Once Ivy was dressed, she realized she would look even stupider with pink knee high socks along with her outfit.

Ivy looked through Rositas bag and found a pair of socks. In any normal situation, Ivy wouldn't dare to wear another persons socks. But life wasn't normal, and she could die tomorrow, so why not die in style.

Ivy put on the socks and her shoes. Ivy looked down at her pink knee high socks that were thrown onto the floor.

Those socks were given to Ivy for Christmas one year. That was the only gift she had gotten from her sister Aaliyah, but she adored them.

Aaliyah. Ivy thought. A small smile crept onto her face as she thought of her sister.

Aaliyah had long, beautiful brown hair. She had these dashing blue eyes, kind of like Carl and Ricks.

Aaliyah was Ivy's half sister, but they never looked at each other like that. They were siblings, and that's all that mattered. No blood was going to get in the way of that.

Ivy didn't know who Aaliyah's father was, and neither did Aaliyah. Ivy recalls only knowing his name, but she forgot.

The more Ivy thought about her sister, the more heart broken and empty she became. Tears fell from Ivy's face as she thought of all the people she has lost.

Her parents.

Her sister.

Her sister's girlfriend.

Her best friend.

Patrick.

Hershel.

Mika.

Maybe even Beth.

Ivy laid back onto the couch and cried. She couldn't control her emotions.

At the end of the day, she was just a kid. The ripe age of fourteen years old.

Ivy was never going to be able to live a normal life. She was never going to get married, have kids, live in a nice house with a pool.

Ivy was emotional to began with, but once she started losing people, it became worse.

Ivy brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. Ivy sobbed quietly, trying not to be heard.

All she could hear from outside was laughing and talking, like everything was ok. Ivy covered her ears, trying to block out the sound of the laughter and happiness.

Ivy's cries only increased.

On the outside of the door, everyone was having the time of their lives. Everyone was engaged in their own conversations.

Carl had found his way back to his dad, who was alone due to the fact that Sasha had stolen Judith from his arms.

"Why isn't she out here yet?" Carl asked, mostly asking himself. Rick shrugged as he looked at the floor.

"We all need some alone time sometimes." Rick spoke. Carl rolled his eyes and scoffed at his head.

"You made her feel like shit, and she hasn't been the same." Carl spat. Rick looked at his angst-filled son. "Maybe, if you didn't say what you said, we wouldn't have gotten into an argument."

"Woah, it ain't my fault, at all. I was looking out for the group." Rick defended himself. Carl looked at his dad in anger.

"Are you kidding me?" Carl scoffed. Rick sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I can admit— I overstepped a bit." Rick admitted.

"A bit? You know what, screw this. I should be with my friend right now." Carl stood up and walked towards the office.

Rick had been disappointed in himself. He knew Ivy was disappointed in him too. But he had hope that it would pass by like her feud with Daryl.

Carl stalked up to the door of the office. Carl hesitantly brought his hand up to the door and knocked gently. He heard a few sniffles.

"Go away." Ivy's gentle voice was heard from inside. Her voice was shaky and quiet. Carl reached for the door knob.

"It's me." Carl spoke.

"Come in."

Carl opened the door and closed it quickly behind him. As he looked to the couch, he saw the girl with her knees to her chest and her hands covering her ears. Carl rushed to the girls side.

"Ivy, what's wrong?" Carl asked. He spoke slowly and softly, trying not to startle the girl. Ivy didn't move from her position. She didn't blink much, and she didn't even look at Carl.

"I feel like I'm lost inside my own damn mind." Ivy spoke. "I shouldn't feel like that. I'm fourteen years old— or at least I think I am."

Carl grabbed Ivy's hand and held it tight.

"You know how fucked up that is? I don't even know my own age." Ivy laughed awkwardly. She finally looked over to Carl and their eyes met.

"We're just kids, Carl. You know? We should be in school making friends, dating, hanging out with your friends, not worrying if we're all gonna be dead tomorrow." Ivy explained. Ivy rested her head on Carls shoulder. Carl rubbed his thumb on her hand.

"Don't think about that. Everyone's here right. We're all safe." Carl smiled.

"Not everyone." Ivy sighed sadly. Carl shrugged Ivy off and grabbed her face.

"We'll find her." Ivy hadn't noticed the tears falling down her face. Carl wiped the tears away. "Beautiful, don't cry."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Ivy asked, completely oblivious of Carls love for her.

"Because your beautiful." Carl smiled. Ivy tried to hide her smile and blush. Carl lifted her chin with his hand. "Don't hide your face."

"You look cute when you blush." Ivy scoffed at the boys words.

"Stop flirting— you look desperate." Ivy laughed. Carl smirked before grabbing both of Ivy's hands.

"Maybe I am desperate." Carl whispered.

Ivy blushed and began to lean in. Carl mimicked the girls moves.

As their lips were just centimeters away, the two jumped apart when they heard yelling from outside the door.

Carl and Ivy awkwardly looked away from each other and got up. Ivy grabbed a switchblade from Rositas bag and inched closer to the door.

She lowered the blade when she realized the group was just arguing. Ivy groaned and opened the door. Ivy grabbed Carls hand and pulled him by her side.

Carl smirked and looked down at the girl.

"Where are our people?" Sasha asked, getting into Gabriel's face. Ivy looked at Carl with confusion. Carl bent down to her ear.

"Should I ask what's going on?" Carl whispered. Ivy nodded her head yes.

"Yeah." Ivy whispered back.

"What's going on?" Carl spoke up, gaining the attention of the adults.

"We find him, he takes us to a church, and now three of our people are missing." Sasha states. Ivy looked around and didn't see Daryl, Carol, or Bob.

"Well, if they're all together I can assure they're not dead." Ivy said. "I mean, if they're with Daryl Dixon then the rest of the world is screwed, not them." Ivy stepped forward towards Gabriel. Ivy knew that it must be overwhelming having so many people yelling at you at once. Ivy put her hand towards the group, telling them to hold.

"Do you know what happened? Be honest." Ivy asked gently. Gabriel just sat their silence. Ivy looked to the group as Rick began to speak.

"Why'd you-" Rick started, but Ivy cut him off.

"I think my way is more effective." Ivy spat with an attitude. Rick sighed in defeat and stepped back.

Ivy walked in front of Gabriel, switchblade by her side. She smiled sweetly and Gabriel smiled back. She opened the switchblade, the blade hovering over his crotch.

"So, Gabriel...." Ivy started. "Do you have anything to do with our people going missing?"

"Please I-"

"None of that. Just tell me. Tell me and I might not take away your privileges of having children." Ivy smiled. Gabriel's eyes widened and he put his hands up in surrender.

"I had nothing to do with it! I brought you all here so you could have some shelter. God would want me to do that." Gabriel explained.

"Mhm, right." Ivy laughed. Ivy looked to Carl who had a smirk on his face. Ivy rolled her eyes and smiled slightly. "What about the words on the side of the church. "You'll burn for this" what's that about?"

Gabriel just stood there, speechless.

Ivy scoffed and brought the knife up to his neck.

"Hey, woah-" Rosita stepped forward but Rick blocked her from moving forward.

"She's got this." Rick whispered to Rosita. Rosita nodded and stepped back.

"Gabriel. What the hell did you do? We're all gonna burn for something, how 'bout you tell us your story." Ivy stepped back and clapped her hands together. She looked down to see she scratched herself with the knife.

"I lock the doors at night." Ivy looked at him with pure confusion. "I always look the doors at night. I always lock the doors at night. I always—"

He began crying. Ivy looked around awkwardly. She scratched the back of her neck and put her free hand on her hip.

"Um.... why are we crying?" Ivy bit her lip awkwardly. Ivy caught glimpse of Tyreese, who was trying not to laugh.

"They started coming, my congregation." Gabriel started. Ivy nodded. "Atlanta was bombed the night before and they were scared."

"They were- They were looking for a safe place, a place where they felt safe. And it was so early. It was so early. " Gabriel's lip quivered and his hands shook. "And the doors were still locked."

"You see...." Gabriel trailed off. "it was my choice. There was so many of them, and they were trying to pry the shutters, and banging on the sidings, screaming at me."

Ivy was quite invested in Gabriel's story. He seemed extremely upset by it.

"And so the dead came for them." Gabriel cried. Ivy put her hand on his shoulder in support, even though it wouldn't do much.

"Women." Gabriel wiped his tears.

"Children." Gabriel seemed so disgusted by himself. He couldn't look anyone in the eye.

Ivy had been in his position somewhat. Sometimes you have to safe yourself.

"Entire families calling my name as they were torn apart—" Gabriel was cut off by Ivy hugging him. Ivy was quite a empathetic person, and she always tried to put herself in peoples shoes.

"Oh." Gabriel seemed taken aback. Gabriel hesitated but he hugged the girl back.

"Sometimes we have to do things. Inhumane things. We're all sinners at the end of the day." Ivy smiled weakly. Gabriel nodded and released the girl from his grip. "I know I was just holding a knife against your crotch, but everyone deserves forgiveness."

"No— No. I'm damned. I've always been damned." Gabriel slid down to the floor. Ivy pursed her lips and stepped away.

"I'm a therapist to an extent. This is out of my field." Ivy walked to Carl, who was now sitting down. Ivy stopped listening to what Gabriel had been saying and looked at Carl.

"That was...." Carl trailed off and looked away, trying to find the right word to use.

"Heartbreaking, funny?" Carl looked at Ivy like she was crazy. "C'mon, everything I said was totally hilarious. But I feel bad for him."

"Yeah, we all do." Carl rested his hand on Ivy's knee. Ivy smiled slightly at the sudden contact.

"Should we go back to Gabriel's office. Finish our conversation?" Carl smirked. Ivy laughed and shook her head yes. Ivy grabbed Carls hand and stood up.

Before the two could get any further, they heard whistling from outside. Ivy and Carl snapped their head in the direction of the door.

Glenn walked up to the window and looked out of it.

"There's something— there's someone outside lying in the grass." Glenn said. Ivy looked at Carl and Carl grabbed her hand.

"Stay here. We don't know who it is." Ivy nodded and Carl kissed her forehead before running to the door.

"Bob!" Ivy heard Sasha yelled from outside. Ivy's head perked up when she heard Bobs name. Ivy heard a lot of yells but couldn't quite make out what they were saying. She heard gunshots and knifes slashing through the air.

Carl ran through the door and ran up to Ivy. He grabbed both of her arms and looked her in the eye.

"Bob— he's, uh, missing a leg. It's kinda freaky—" Carl panicked. Ivy's jaw dropped.

"He's missing a leg? What the fuck! How does that happen?" Ivy panicked as well. Ivy peered over Carls shoulder to see everyone carrying Bob inside. Ivy pushed Carl out of the way.

Ivy kicked whatever there was on the floor away.

"Carl, go with Judith. Make sure she doesn't see this." Ivy ordered. "Tara! Sasha! Lay him on his back, make sure his eyes stay open and make sure he doesn't try to make any sudden moves!"

Carl smiled at Ivy. Ivy was bossy, but in a good way. She always knew how to take control.

A few minutes later, everyone was sitting around Bob.

Ivy had wet a cloth. She wiped the sweat off his face and gave him some water to cool down. Ivy did everything she could to make Bob feel a bit better.

"I was in the graveyard. Somebody knocked me out." Bob explained. "I woke up outside this place. It looked like a school."

"It was that guy, Gareth."

Ivy closed her eyes and threw the cloth on the floor. Carl took notice of the girls anger and moved closer to her.

"And five other ones." Bob stated.

"Why the hell are they still alive?" Ivy whispered under her breath.

"They were eating my leg right in front of me." Ivy gagged and put her hand on her mouth. She closed her eyes and mentally prayed to Jesus. "Like it was nothing."

"All proud like they had it all figured out." Bob shook his head angrily.

"Did they have Daryl and Carol?" Rick spoke.

"Gareth said they drove off." Ivy felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Bob tried to sit up and groaned in pain. Ivy grabbed onto him.

"He's in pain. Do we have anything?" Sasha asked. Rosita nodded.

"I think there are pill packets in the first aid kit." Rosita said. Sasha looked to Ivy and Ivy stood up.

Ivy looked around for the first aid kit and when she found it, quickly picked it up. She was very calm, but quick with her movements.

Ivy took two pills out and handed them to Bob.

"Save em'." Bob breathed out. Ivy pushed her eyebrows together and held the pills close to bob.

"Hell no. Bob, you're in pain." Ivy spat. Bob shook his head no. Ivy sighed and stood up.

"No, Ivy, he needs them." Sasha cried.

"No I don't!" Bob argued.

"Please." Sasha begged. Ivy picked up the first aid kit again and put the pills back.

"We can't force them down his throat, Sasha. If he doesn't want them—" Ivy was cut off by Bob.

"I don't need them!" Bob yelled. Ivy and the rest of the group looked to Bob with worried expressions.

Bob hesitantly sat up. He looked to his shoulder as he reached for the neckline of his shirt. Bob moved the shirt out of the way, revealing his bare shoulder.

But, it wasn't bare. Bobs shoulder was decorated with a walker bite. It didn't look fresh, meaning he must've gotten it earlier in the day.

The group sat in silence and shock.

Ivy dropped the first aid kit on the ground. Ivy sat down behind Bobs head and looked down at him. Tears had started to fill her eyes, but she quickly blinked them back.

Ivy tried to hide her emotions, but she couldn't, so she looked away from Bob. She moved to one of the benches farthest from the group and sat down.

Ivy must've zoned out because she didn't even realize Carl sitting down next to her.

Ivy jumped at the sudden feeling of someone's hand on her knee. Ivy looked to her left shoulder and saw Carl next to her.

Carl held eye contact, and for some reason, that made Ivy cry even more. Carl immediately brought the girl into a hug.

"We're losing everyone, Carl." Ivy cried into his shoulder. Her salty tears stained his shirt, but Carl didn't care.

He just wanted to be there for her. He just wanted to be there for Ivy.

His beautiful girl.

His miracle.