❪ 𝗗𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗟'𝗦 𝗔𝗗𝗩𝗢𝗖𝗔𝗧𝗘 ❫

𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗈𝗇𝖾 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━
frankie's run-in with an angsty teen. ╱ season four, episode nine.

FRANKIE WAS AN exuberant soul, the light shined off of her in waves. Her crystal blue eyes drew everyone in, it was like drawing a moth to a flame. Frankie seemed to be such a bright person from looking at her. But deep down, her personality was far from it. Her shining nature got dimmed by her bleak sarcasm and pessimism for the world around her. Frankie often shadowed her emotions with a sardonic wit that never failed to make people send her a glare. She often didn't have a sense of good timing, but she never let that stop her.

Frankie had never seemed to fit anywhere, the people around her never quite got her. She felt like no one else, an outsider that never could seem to worm their way in. People had a habit of being put off by her snarky and unpredictable demeanor. But that's just who Frankie was. She accepted who she was, she just wished other people would too. Fitting in seemed like such an important backbone to the world around her, but she felt lost without the validation of others. But with time, that slowly wasn't the world order anymore.

Frankie saw her life change drastically in a matter of a month, the world came crashing in on her, and everything she had slipped through her fingertips. She was thrust into a dangerous world she didn't understand. Frankie tried to hold onto the strings of her old life, but with each day, the world was snapping them in half. The girl didn't know how to handle anything, her emotions got the best of her and she shut down completely. Her default snarky personality only shined more like the dreary days of the apocalypse passed by.

Frankie was a bit eccentric for the typical apocalypse survivor, while people tended to acclimate to their surroundings, Frankie did the opposite. Frankie did whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. She didn't let the apocalypse take away the person she once was. She clutched onto her personality and never let go. She hated how dull and serious everyone was. Frankie disregarded the attitudes around her and pushed her flamboyant demeanor to the world around her.

People often sent her mixed messages about how they felt about her. While some clearly hated her and the way she carried herself, some accepted and grew to love the freeing nature of the fiery redhead. In the old world, Frankie used to dwell on what people thought about her, but now, she couldn't care less, people can shove it if they don't like her attitude.

Frankie's unconventional take on her new life didn't just stop at her personality, no, it was very much plastered on the outside as well. The redhead never left without her infamous fur coat, which was in surprisingly good shape for the number of months she's been on the road. The sun could be beating down on her and she would never falter, the grey fur coat would still be dawned on her shoulders. Frankie also had a Walkman attached to her side at all times, and in her bag was a small case that was stuffed with as many CDs as she could fit.

Music meant everything to her, her other life was filled with dancing in her mom's studio with Fleetwood Mac blaring in the background. She never would forget the smile plastered on her mother's face as they twirled along to the raspy voice of Stevie Nicks. It all seemed like a far-away memory. Frankie tried to hold to it as long as she could, but like many memories she held dear, they eventually faded away. She may not have them in her grasp, but the music in a sense brings them back to life. If she closes her eyes and falls into the melodies that flow through her headphones, she can open her eyes and be back in that studio she held so dearly, and maybe the person that made it so special would be there also.

Frankie never had much that she could lean on in the apocalypse, music was something that gave her relief and made her feel grounded. She saw this world change many of the people around her, she never wanted that to happen to her. Things in this world were expendable nothing stayed the same for long. People aren't as friendly as they once were. People can turn into cold monsters that only think of themselves. And Frankie would rather die than turn into someone like that. Frankie got too up close and personal with someone who let the new world change them. And she would be damned if she let that happen to her.

Frankie used to love her father, he was someone that she admired and hoped to become one day. He was a lifeline in the never-ending darkness around her, but things change, and people change. When things fell apart, he was quick to acclimate to the world around him. He was no longer the selfless and caring father she adored. He was now selfish and threatening to anyone that was in his way. He did care deeply for Frankie and wanted to make sure she never had to dim the light that he loved about her. But his apparent brash and protective ways were blind to the young girl. They saw differently what he was doing. He thought she knew he was doing it all for her. But she couldn't bear to watch her father kill one more person.

Frankie's father had a following, and he soaked in the power that gave him. The selfless man faded into a stone-cold sociopath that didn't care about anything but his power. Frankie couldn't sit and watch it anymore, death surrounded her. Innocent lives were taken because her father needed to show dominance to anyone that questioned him. She couldn't be a part of a group that causes so much pain and heartache. Frankie left the first chance she could get, she wasn't sitting around for her father to change because he simply never would. He was changed and Frankie would never be able to fix that.

Getting a taste of freedom gave Frankie hope for a better life away from her father. She was scared of it all but it helped to have a friend by her side. Gabrielle Roxie was someone who needed to get away from her father, but not in the sense that Frankie needed to. Gabrielle's father was someone who was dark and twisted even before the apocalypse. The man broke Gabrielle, mentally and physically, and the girl couldn't bear to stay with him anymore. So when the moon was washing over their compound, Frankie and Gabrielle snuck out and ran as far as they could.

The two girls were a packaged deal, and they meant the world to each other. When taking on the apocalypse, they were glad to do it by each other's side. It was a fearful act to run away from a place that gave you shelter and safety from the world around you. But it needed to be done. They couldn't stay anymore, and they thought they had a better chance on the road. And in a way they did. They were no longer confined to a place that brought nothing but death and pain, they were free.

For a while the girls were surviving on their own, they were each other's home. But after a few months on the road, trying to get as far away from their pasts as possible, they got caught up with a woman named Sydney Brown. The woman was alone and clearly had been for a long time, and there was an instinct in her when she saw the two young girls by themselves, they needed a protector. And that's exactly what she became. Sydney was guarded, she liked to keep things inside. She seemed like someone that wouldn't fit in with a group, but weirdly enough she wormed her way into Frankie and Gabrielle's life, and a group was formed.

Frankie didn't mind Sydney, she often liked to push her buttons, but it was all for fun because Frankie did care about Sydney a lot. And she was often grateful for Sydney being someone she could look up to and lean on. In a weird way, the three became a small family and would do anything for each other. Frankie feared that Gabrielle and Sydney would become casualties to the world around them, that she would lose them like her father. The thought kept her up at night, she feared that one day everyone around her would no longer have a sense of themselves and she would be left to suffer the world alone. They were Frankie's lifelines and she would never let them fade away, she couldn't.

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FRANKIE COULDN'T stand to look at the white plain walls of this four-bedroom house anymore. She felt as if she was bouncing off them, cabin fever was no joke. Frankie sat silently on a twin-sized bed as she stared out the window, watching the tree branches next to it flutter in the wind. Faintly she could hear a wind chime that was tied to a post on the back porch. She ached to be outside, to feel the Georgia sun beating down on her. Frankie wanted to be sprawled out on the overgrown grass with her music blaring in her ear as she was sent to another time, a happier time. But she couldn't leave the house.

The three were in the midst of ditching a creepy group of men that had been following them after an incident of Frankie almost killing one of their men. In her defense, a few men were giving her weird stares, and one even had the nerve to brush a strand of hair behind her ear. It honestly wasn't her fault that she broke that guy's wrist, it was his fault he put his hand in her vicinity in the first place. She still can feel how her stomach dropped when the men surrounded them, they barely escaped if it wasn't for a small herd of biters that distracted the men.

They were hiding out, those savages had been on their tail for a long time, and Frankie was just itching to put more distance between them. But Sydney thought staying cooped up in this house for a few days would be a good idea, but she never took into account how restless Frankie would become. The woman refused to let Frankie leave the house at all, she was stuck and Sydney was watching her every move. Gabrielle could tell how agitated and fidgety Frankie was, but it was better safe than sorry. They couldn't risk going outside and making traces that showed they were ever here.

Frankie found her way into the bare in-suit bathroom. Empty medicine bottles and boxes lay ransacked on the floor. Drops of crimson were splattered along with the blue shaggy bathroom mat that was spread in front of the double pain mirror. Frankie didn't recognize the girl in front of her, her skin was pale and fragile. Her bright crystal eyes were sunken in, her cheekbones prominent from the lack of food and hydration. Shaky breaths slipped past her lips, and just reaching up to the features she didn't recognize brought a chill to her spine.

Her red hair hung clumped together with grease, a cringe washed over her face examining the unkempt hair. Frankie grasped the grungy hair tie from her wrist, and in one fluid motion pulled her hair up into a ponytail. A sudden brush of air flushed her hot skin, aiding her neck which used to be covered by her hair.

The girl sighed softly to herself, her hands fell down to the counter's edge, clutching the marble with dear life. Frankie hated who she saw in the mirror, it wasn't someone she recognized. The girl avoided looking at the mirror as she trudged out of the bathroom, refusing that the person staring at her was an image of herself.

Frankie made her way down the stairs, the slight silence deafening. Creaks from the wood under her made her cringe, she hoped no one would know she was there. Small laughs from Sydney caught the redhead's attention. Frankie paused in her steps toward the kitchen, the voices of Sydney and Gabrielle becoming more and more apparent.

"When can we get moving?"

A soft sigh from Sydney was heard, "I don't know Gabi, we'll see how today goes,"

Frankie leaned against the wall behind the living room where the two resided. She heard Gabrielle shift in her seat, "Well Franks is getting really restless, I don't know how long she can do this,"

Sydney grunted at the words, Frankie furrowed her eyebrows at the sound, "Well, if just shut her mouth we wouldn't have been in this mess,"

Frankie froze at the rough tone that escapes Sydney, but Gabrielle interrupted her thoughts, "She was just standing up for us, they were saying awful things,"

"I know Gabi, but in the end she almost got us killed,"

Frankie's stomach dropped violently, and she snapped her eyes shut, anger and frustration filling her veins. Guilt bloomed in her chest knowing that Sydney was absolutely right. Frankie just had to go off and piss off a bunch of over-masculated men that were just waiting for a reason to hurt them. It was as if Frankie rang the fucking dinner bell. The girl felt as if she couldn't breathe, her chest tightened as thought after thought exploded in her mind. She needed to get out.

Frankie crept down the hall towards the kitchen as fast as she could without making a noise. Her movements were fast as she tossed an almost empty bag over her shoulder. She tucked a gun behind her back and a knife in her sheath. Frankie decided to do some scavenging in the surrounding houses hoping that would make the blooming emotions dissipate. 

The kitchen door was shut with precision just so the two women inside wouldn't hear. She felt hesitant going against Sydney's orders, but she knew getting air would do better for her than being in there and feeling Sydney's anger towards the situation.

The Georgia sun washed over her face as it shined through the trees of the backyard. Frankie felt a rush of anticipation as she finally was outside after a painstaking three days of being locked inside. Frankie finally in a sense understood what Rapunzel felt like when she first set foot outside of the tower she had been locked away in for eighteen years. A little dramatic? Yes, but somehow weirdly fitting? Also yes.

As Frankie trekked further and further away from the house, the freer she felt. It was exactly what she needed. Frankie smiled when she dug out her prized sunglasses that had laid at the bottom of her bag along with some water and food that would last her a few hours.

The sun has always fascinated Frankie, while she thought at times it was a cruel thing, most of the time she was fascinated by how it gave things life. Without the sun everything would be in shambles. It told things it was day versus night when it set. She was always appreciative of the way the sun made her feel, it was scientifically proven that the sun made people happier and she was glad it could give her at best some peace among the chaos that was her life.

Before life was changed forever, Frankie was never an outdoor person. She preferred the happy confinements of her home. Whether she was in her mother's studio or in her own room, it was where she felt safe and tranquil. But once that was suddenly ripped away from her, she found safety in the woods. The best moments of her newfound life were when she snuck out of her compound and was sprawled out on the forest floor as she gazed up at the trees, absolutely entranced by the way the trees let shards of the sun peak through and shine on the ground around her.

It was funny how situations can change what Frankie thought was beautiful and solace. While life before was something she held dear, it was something she could never get back. The safety and comfort she felt were something she had to let go of because it was impossible to get back. But it felt nice that she was able to create new moments that gave her a familiar feeling as much as the fading memories did.

Frankie was so focused on her thoughts that she almost missed the rasps and groans of the things that she had no interest in meeting up with. While Frankie was about to duck and attempt to dodge the upcoming biters, something stopped her. A young boy was taunting the undead with vigor. Frankie dove into a small space between a back deck that would leave her unseen by the boy.

Her heart thudded harshly watching this young boy mock the biters that were eager to rip into his skin. Frankie gripped tightly onto the columns of the stairs, debating if she should help the boy or leave him to kill them himself. He seemed capable of surely doing that by himself. But that choice flew out the window as another biter suddenly rounded a side of the shed he was next to.

She saw the boy visibly panic at the sight of the new biter, instantly the boy focused on fighting off that single biter, and Frankie panicked watching the others come closer to him. Without thinking, Frankie unsheathed her knife and hastily made her way toward the scene. Before she could even think, the boy was toppled over by the three biters, ready to rip him apart.

Frankie gripped the top biter by its collar and immediately shoved her knife into its head. It went limp and she immediately pulled it off the boy. The same process was done to the second biter and the boy proceeded to shoot the last biter before Frankie got the chance to kill it. The boy instantly was up on his feet and had his gun pointed right at Frankie.

"Hey, take it easy kid," Frankie warned, her right hand thrusting out towards the boy as she tried to exude a calm manner.

The boy's eyes slit and he opened his mouth to say something, but he immediately was hunched over to throw up whatever was the contents of his stomach. Frankie cringed at the sudden sight of puke but took the opportunity to pull her gun and aim it toward the boy. She felt some hesitance to point a gun at this kid that almost was a happy meal for biters, but she was only returning the same energy the boy was giving off as he still had his gun in her vicinity.

The boy wiped his mouth and sent her a glare, "Who are you?"

"Someone that saved your ass obviously," Frankie clipped, her eyes turning into slits at his tone.

"I didn't need your help," The boy hissed.

Frankie snorted, looking at the dead biters behind him, "Clearly,"

The brunet visibly didn't like that answer, and quickly cocked his gun, "Where did you come from?"

Frankie scoffed, quickly replicating the same actions as the boy, "None of your damn business kid,"

"Did you follow me?" 

"Trust me, I have no interest in following a kid with a stupid-ass cowboy hat," The girl sent him an annoyed look, "I was going on a run and then I saw your dumb-ass get trampled by three biters, I thought it might be better to save a kid rather than letting them die,"

The boy clearly wasn't amused with her comment about his hat and his pride, "I could've handled it by myself,"

"Sure you could Sherriff,"

"Look, I don't know who you are but, I won't hesitate to shoot if you think you can hurt me,"

Frankie laughed at the warning words that slipped past his lips, "Did you not just hear me, I saved your life, why the hell would I want to hurt you?"

"I don't know, I have a hard time trusting strangers,"

Frankie shrugged, "Trust me pint-size, I don't either, just didn't want a random kid dying on my conscience,"

The boy let his gun lay by his waist, but still nonetheless sent Frankie a glare, "What's with all the dumb nicknames?"

Frankie tucked her gun back into her belt, "Well, Mr. Sherriff I don't exactly know your name, so nicknames are my strong suit,"

"Carl,"

"That's your name?" Frankie questioned, and the boy instantly nodded. Frankie felt a sudden rush to tease the boy a bit, she could tell he already wasn't a fan of teasing but she couldn't help herself, "Are you secretly an old man?"

The boy furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at her words, "What? No, why?"

Frankie snorted, giving him a teasing glare, "I don't know, Carl just seems like an old guy's name,"

The boy sent her a scowl as he crossed his arms in defense, "No, it's not,"

"Pfff, yeah it is," Frankie pestered, an amused smile tilting on her lips, "I have never met a kid named Carl, it's like a name meant for old people,"

Carl groaned in annoyance, "Fine what's your name then?"

The girl smiled with pride, seeing nothing wrong with her name, "Frankie,"

"Who the hell names a kid Frankie?"

With the girl's ego a bit crushed, she glowered at the boy in front of her, "My parents' asshole that's who, it's short for Francesca,"

"Well, that's unfortunate," The boy clipped, his tone filling with sass that amused Frankie.

The girl rolled her eyes nonetheless, "Coming from a weird kid named Carl,"

"Whatever," Carl huffed, getting antsy to get away from this girl that was already getting on his nerves, "Look, I'm leaving, and I'm expecting you not to follow,"

"Why?" Frankie questioned, a teasing smile falling on her lips, "I find it quite amusing to annoy you pint-size,"

"Well, I want you to leave me alone, I'd rather not spend the day with a stranger that calls me annoying names," Carl concluded as he stalked off, trying to put space between him and the strange girl.

"Aw come on Sheriff," Frankie exclaimed, her tone filling with amusement, running to fall in line with the boy who clearly wanted nothing to do with her, "The nicknames are the best part, and you know it,"

"I mean it, leave me alone,"

"Never,"

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𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘.

Hey guys! Welcome to
devil's advocate!!!

I hope you guys liked it!
After reading it over, I'm
not a fan of it tbh

I think the dialogues a
little off but whatever.
I hope you enjoyed it!

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and comment!