𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

She hadnt bothered counting the days.

In this sort of world taking note of the days and the weeks that went past was so futile. She never measured in minutes but how slowly her spirit chipped away. She had been out of the school for a while, at least thats what it felt like to her.

She didnt realy have any direction, she was just following whatever path felt right to her. Although she thought it stupid to walk out in the open by herself, she kept to the roads. She had always had a terrible sense of direction and being cooped up inside since the beginning hadn't helped. So she kept to what she knew.

She kicked the toes of her broken converse on the cracking cement as she made her way up a never ending road, her eyes focused on the cracking yellow paint in the middle of the path. Her stomach grumbled monstrously as she hadn't had food for a couple of days now.

She tried not to let tears fall. So frustrated at every little thing she didnt know if she could hold on any longer. She had been walking for so long her feet were numb at this point, barely feeling the burning blisters that rubbed against the uneven soles of her shoes.

She wiped her nose with the sleeve of her jacket, the rough denim leaving red splotches on her face right next to the streaks of dirt and blood. She was sure that if she had looked in the mirror she would no longer see herself, yet something that belonged to the wild. Something that merely sought to survive and live a day longer without any understanding of why.

The subtle growls behind her pulled her from her empty thoughts. Shaking her head in despair, she slowly turned her body around, her neck so stiff she simply could not move it by itself. Her eyes met the blurr of a large moving mass behind her. It must have been at least 20 yards away but still, she could make out the detached walks of the dead making their way towards the lonesome girl. The body of dead stretching over the whole road, not being able to see past the herd.

A small whimper left her lips, a childlike fear washing over her. As if there was a monster under her bed, its claws thirsty to rip at her skin. At least when she was a kid she could turn on the night light and the monsters would dissipate, now there was no light, no one to call out to when the monsters got to close.

She turned back around, the distant growls irking her like ringing in her ears, and she ran into the trees. With every step her ankles felt like breaking and her bones felt evey vibration. Her legs were painfully thin yet every inch of her body felt unbearably heavy. Her lungs felt like they were being pulled by string, every breath in and out strained and held by breaking tread.

She wanted to scream, she needed to scream. To cry, and wail, and throw a fit. She would have given all thats left of her to throw her arms and make a scene, to let the child that she killed so long ago put down the knives and the forget memory of blood on her skin.

By the time she had stopped running, the sky was orange. The day had slipped through her fingers. Her heart never failed to drop every single time she saw the sun descend, on the precipice of almost certain death whenever the evening breeze kissed her tainted skin.

Her footing stopped at another long road, this one smaller than the last and more uneven. Never would she had thought she could run that far in a day but she had become good at forgetting distance and time. Her knees buckled underneath her and she fell on her hands, the small stones of broken cement digging into her hot skin. She gagged as she emptied whatever was left in her stomach, which almost nothing but bile.

She had been so pre-occupied with her falling and aching body, she almost missed the small driveway lined with jagged pikes of blood stained wood. Desperate for any kind of shelter, she picked up her unsteady body and walked across the road to the gravel driveway. She weaved her way through the lines of pikes and walked only a few feet to a white painted building, its edges crashing and vines strangling its body. A large sign reading 'motor inn' had fallen over and lay in a gravel parking lot. Tilly's head followed the two floors that made up the motel, its perimeters lined with the pikes she saw in the driveway.

Her feet carried her forwards to the small building, her heart picking up its pace as the threat to danger plagued her mind so potently. She pulled out her flimsy kitchen knife she had found in a diner a few days back and lead herself forwards with false confidence.

The growl of a dead one pulled her attention to her side as it walked straight into the pike, unbothered and impaled, it still reached for her hungrily. She walked towards it and fought off its arms as she stuck her knife in its head.

"HEY KID!" a low voice shouted at her, her head spun around and her eyes widened. He was a tall boy, maybe late teens but he held a gun that was almost as big as her and it was pointed right at her head. She breathed heavily as she struggled to get her knife out of the skull she had just drove it into. More panic filled her veins as the man walked closer to her, her small squeaks of fear leaking from her lips.

"Hey, hey, im not gonna hurt you kid" he spoke as he lowered his gun, Tilly remained unconvinced as his face finally came into light, a warm smile plastered across it. Tilly's brows scrunched as she finally got the knife loose, it cutting straight through her palm as she did.

A wince escaped her and she dropped her weapon, the man ran forward and held his arms up in surrender after he placed his gun on the ground. At this point, Tilly raised her head and saw many doors of the inn open and watched her closely; some with guns yet some with just a fearful look on their face.

"Teddy, get back inside" a gruff voice sounded out as a shorter man with a shaved head ran towards the boy. Tilly began to back up, blood pouring from her hand and leaving stained drops on the dusty stone beneath her.

"It's a kid Dad, she's hurt" he yelled back with a softness in his voice that his father did not carry. "I'm Teddy, we can help" he smiled as he took small and slow steps towards her, as if she were a timid animal that could run at the snap of a twig. The mans father walked next to him and eyed the girl, she could not imagine how anyone would take kindly to her in her state, her hair matted and face smeared with days of torture.

"Mandy!" the father yelled before he sighed, keeping his eyes on the bleeding girl. "Get the med kit" he finished, he looked at his son and nodded. Teddy smiled and held out a hand to the shaking girl, her head fuzzy from the blood loss and her hand throbbing terribly. Tilly's head scanned across the people standing on the balconies, one woman with stringy blonde hair walking towards her with a blanket.

Tilly let out a mournful sigh, it was either she died here or died out there of an infection. She reached out her trembling arm and took the boy's hand as the woman wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

"What's your name darlin'?" the woman spoke with a southern drawl as she rubbed her hand along her arm, warming up the shivering girl. 

"Matilda... I'm Matilda"

.......

Tilly hated waiting, she was a naturally impatient person. Whether it was waiting for summer or waiting for the school day to end, it all seemed like it was terribly insufferable. Of course she had yet to know anything about suffering back then. Even in such dire circumstances as right now, she never could stand still for more than five minutes. Waiting for the people she had placed her faith in felt worse than the memory of murderous hands, thats why she needed people, so something would feel worse than the terrible things she had done.

Sasha's smash of the wooden pews ticked rhythmically in her ears, like an old grandfather clock counting the seconds that passed. Even from the outside of the building you could feel the vibrations of the axe hitting wood. Her hands fumbled with rusted nails as she too hammered old pieces of wood like a ticking clock.

She didn't feel when the plank of wood tapped against her fingers or when the nail poked into her fingertips, yet she felt a twinge through her whole body when a small splintered piece of wood made its way into her palm, digging itself right next to the ghostly scar that ran right across it. She dropped the wood and held her hand, not wincing or crying but simply staring at it, memories of the people who had fixed it planted into the stitched skin. She could still feel the soft fingers that held it open and the calloused hands that held her head as the needle knitted through her skin.

"Tilly" she heard Rick call out. She lifted her head, her eyes blinking rapidly as she adjusted to no longer boreing them into her hand. 

"Yeah" she said softly, still holding her open palm with clamming hands. Rick tilted his head in concern, Tilly wasn't sure how, but Rick seemed to be able to look right through her. He opened his mouth to say something to her but was interrupted by Carl.

"What did you do to yourself?" he spoke from behind her, she jumped at the sudden noise as he took her wrist and inspected her hand. Tilly pulled away immediately and gave him a nasty look.

"It's just a splinter, Tilly.'' He crossed his eyebrows at her and opened her plam once again, this time she let him and simply turned her head to the wall, not really wanting to look at anyone right now.

She felt a sharp twinge as Carl pulled the splinter out, her hand twitching whilst she did. Before she could pull her hand away she felt a rough fingertip trace across her palm, following the jagged line of skin that had been there ever since she had stumbled upon a pike-lined driveway. Her head immediately shot towards the boy as she roughly pulled her arm away from him.

"How'd you get that" he tilted his head, the habits of his father etched in his movements. Tilly clutched her hand and breathed heavily through her nose.

"Nothing you need to know, Carl '' she spat as she picked up her make-shift hammer and spun around. She stomped back into the church, brushing past the new boy Noah as she did.

She hated how mad she got when talking about them. She hated that she cared enough to have such an outburst at any sort of memory. She never cared enough to hide anything about her parents because they never brought her enough love for it to hurt when they were gone, but any lingering thought of fleeting memory of the motel left a sting to her heart and her palm.

Her head jerked towards Sasha when she stopped hearing the rhythmic banging of an axe into wood. Her eyes connected with hers. The reminisce of pain lingering heavily in the eyes of both. Sasha could see what Tilly was thinking, what she was feeling, because she felt the same.

Without a word Sasha held out the axe towards the frustrated girl, both of their heaving breaths filling the sudden silence.

"It helps." she simply stated. She walked closer to the girl and placed the axe in her hands. Tilly held her gaze for a moment and walked slowly to an unbroken pew that law steadily on the floor. Tilly squeezed the grip of the axe, ignoring the sharp pain in her hand and swung.

She brought down the axe on the pew a few times, her mind feeling lighter every time she did. She swung what little strength she had and lay it all on that broken pew, crushing in more and more with each swing. The more she swung the more she let out, so much that by the time she let out her final swing, she was yelling everytime she brought the axe back.

She puffed and blew her hair from her face with her lips. Letting the axe fall from her hands, she met the faces of those who had come to see what the yelling was about. Their faced scrunched at the girl as she stood silently. She let a few beats pass before picking up a freshly cut slab of wood.

"I think I like that axe" she muttered before brushing past everyone and exiting the church once again.

.......

Judith wept when she was taken from her father. Her wails filling the echoed church as Tilly and carl brought a slab of wood to the door. Tilly's arms were weak from cutting the wood so she struggled to keep it aligned so Carl could hammer.

"Keep it still!" he snapped, his head craning towards her as he gestured to the nail. She let out a huff of air before leaning her body on the wood to keep it in place. She didn't want to be angry, and she didn't want to be angry at yet something about the atmosphere felt intolerably tense.

The sound of Carl hammering pounded in her head irritably, the noise somehow getting louder and louder with each drum. Tilly lifted her spare arm and covered her face, scratching at the skin of her scalp as she moved her hand frantically. Her head leant against the door and felt each hard drum in a blur.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Michone looking at the girl. All movements stopped as Tilly connected her gaze with the woman.

"Ill take over, go sit down" she instructed sweetly, her hand taking Tilly's as her thumb brushed over her red knuckles. Tilly bowed her head and brushed past the woman, their hands not departing until they could not reach any further.

It was not until then tilly had realised she had not had proper sleep in days, she had been coming in and out for only around two hours a night and simply could not find the courage to stay asleep. To let the subconscious knowledge of her shame and hurt destroy the walls she hopelessly relied on to keep the monsters out. But this time she could not fight the sleep, as soon as she lay down on the pew, she was out cold.

.......

A wail from judith woke her up, her body scrambling to be upright the moment she opened her eyes. The occupants of the church turned their heads to her for a moment only to return to what they were doing before. Michone hushed the baby in a small basket whilst Carl was doing something on the floor she could not see yet. She swung her legs off of the pew, taking notice of how stiff her body felt, and walked cautiously over to the boy.

Before she could approach him, her footsteps were stopped by Gabriel, who she noticed was desperately digging a dirty rag into the stained hard wood floor. She sighed, exasperated,

"Thats not going to come out" she mumbled, her voice groggy from sleep. Gabriel did not turn around nor did he acknowledge what she said in any way, he just kept scrubbing the blood away. Tilly knew better than most that spilt blood doesn't go away that easily, it stains you whether you like it or not.

"Pick one" Carls voice pulled her head away from the frantic man, he had layed out a series of weapond on the floor for Gabriel. "You need to learn how to defend yourself... we can teach you" Carl continued to be ignore by the priest. Gabriel dejectedly looked up at the boy, ache painfully visible in his every move.

"Defend myself? They said they'd go" he finally spoke, the dirty rag wringing in his hands. Tilly walked around the man.

"At the expense of good people..... They would have killed everyone and saved you for last." Tilly spoke, tired of having to explain the horrors of man in this new world.

"They were liars and murderers" Carl continued, nodding his head at Tilly as he spoke, Tilly gave him a small smile in return.

"Just like us?"

"We protect ourselves, they wanted us dead. You're lucky your church has lasted this long. You cant stay in one place anymore. Not for too long. And once you're out there, you're gonna find trouble you can't hide from. You need to know how to fight." Carl finished. Gabriel looked to the boy who knew way too much for such a young age, and reached for the machete.

"Good choice but you're not holding it right. You need to be able to drive it down, cause sometimes their skulls aren't as soft and you need to be able-" Carl interrupted by gabriels protests, he clutched his stomach before excusing himself to the rectory. Tilly let out a huff of air through her nose and craned her neck towards Carl. They made brief eye contact for a moment before Tilly pointed at the exe laying on the ground.

"Can I take that?" she asked, her voice croaking. Carl simply shrugged and gestured for her to take it. Tilly reached down and held the weapon in her hands, it wasnt like the machete that felt odd to carry or a gun that rang in her ears uncomfortably. The axe felt balanced in her hand, she felt safe with it.

"What do you need it for?" Carl asked, his brows jerking up as he held eye contact with her. Tilly fiddled with the handle a bit then gve him a small smirk.

"It just feels right"

.......

Tilly sat on the pews, her hands fiddling nervously. No one had said a word for hours, only the sounds of Carl's feet shuffling filled the room as he practices using his knife. When the sound stopped, Tilly lifted her head to see Carl moving towards her, without a word he sat down on the other end of the pew and placed his knife next to him. Tilly sighed as she looked at the dejected boy, his hat sitting askew on his head.

"Im sorry about before" she spoke barley above a whisper. His head moved towards her and his eyes softened. "Its just.... Some things are hard to talk about" she continued, tracing the line of the scar etched on her palm. Carl's eyes moved from her hand to her face.

"I get it, i'm sorry too." he smiled, she took her gaze away from her palm and returned his smile, opening her mouth slowly.

"I got it when I met Teddy" she blurted out. Carl let out a huff of air and moved closer to the girl, scootching along the empty pew. "I found where they were staying, and they helped me fix it" she opened her palm for him to see, this time he did not touch her out of fear she would back away, yet simply gazed at the jagged lines.

"I have a scar too... I got shot" he siad, making an attempt to help the girl feel better.

"You got shot?!" she quickly replied

"I got shot." he laughed, he pointed right to the side of his abdomen. Tilly's mouth hung open, she felt rather silly talking about the little cut on her hand when carl had been through so much worse.

"You got shot in the ribs and you're still walking?" she asked, baffled. Carl opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the sounds of yelling. The two whipped their heads to the doors as they hears the sounds of a man screaming for help.

"PLEASE LET ME IN" Gabriel shouted, Michone stood up from where she was sitting, all their eyes connecting, the sound of walkers growls accompanied the pleas from outside. Everyone shared a confused look before they ran to the doors. Carl pulled at the slab of wood that locked them in but could not pry it off. Michone then followed and tried her luck pulling it off but to no avail. Tilly frantically looked around the church and spotted the axe she had left on the floor of the pews, she strided towards it and let it slip into her hands.

"I GOT IT!" she shouted as Michonne and Carl looked to her, they quickly parted as Tilly swung the axe an brought it down on the wood time and time again, watching the wood splinter with every scream Gabriel let out.

Once the door had finally budged, Carl pulled Gabriel inside, unfortunately for them dozens of walkers decided to follow. Carl started shooting at them and Tilly once again swung her axe with ease into the head of a walker that was coming right at her.

"Get back" michone spoke as the unsheathed a katana and sliced perfectly through the heads of the rotting creatures.

"The rectory! Come on!" Gabriel shouted as the walkers piled up, too many for all of them to fight. They all made their way into the room, panting and panicking as they did. Once they were in, Gabriel and Michone made an effort to keep the door shut, yet the decaying fingers that craved their flesh made their way through the cracks, threatening to destroy all they had. 

"That's how I got out, crawl under to the back. Just go, take the little one and go!" Gabried shouted to everyone. Carl, Tilly and Michonne scrambled to grab their things, Carl held judith and made his way down through the hole, Tilly followed right after him but not before Michone stopped her.

"Hey, you wait for me." she instructed. Tilly nodded and made her way through, broken wood scratching at her skin as she did before shimmying her way through the cobwebs. Tilly brushed off the dirt on her flannel and moved out of the way to see Gabriel and Michone follow them.

"I can't run anymore" Gabriel spoke after he squeezed his way out from under the church.

"Were not running" Michone said before they all moved to the front of the church, Tilly ran towards the walkers impalesd oon the makeshift pike and ran her axe through their skulls alongside Carl who opted for his knife. Michone quickly made her way to the door and shut it before the walkers could notice they were there. Tilly frantically hammered slabs of wood to the door with the side of her axe as Michone tied the doorknobs.

They all backed up and let out their breaths. Tilly placed her hands on her knees as she puffed, she turned her head to Michone.

"When the hell did you get a sword?" she asked, Michone shook her head and tried to hide her cheeky smile from the girl. However before she could reply, the cracking sounds of the wood alerted everyone to turn their heads. The wood was breaking and the walkers were getting through. Everyone readied themselves with weapons and false confidence before the walkers could break their makeshift barrier.

"Where do we go?" Tilly asked, her head spinning to the two adults. Michone opened her mouth to reply but not before a large red fire truck bursted into the clearing and blocked the door. Tilly squinted her eyes in confusion before the familiar faces of Abraham, maggie, Glenn , Rosita and Tara exited the truck. Tilly couldn't help the smile that grew on her face when she saw her friends.

Tilly ran up to them and hugged them all individually squeezing as tight as she could with her frail and tired body. Tilly was just about to ask what happened before she heard Michone utter two simple words.

"Beth's alive"

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

A.N- ayo so another longer chapter cause i just thing the ending needed to be here so... a treat for y'all.

sorry it look my a bit longer to post this one, i have a bunch of assignments due for school so my brain is a bit scrambled at the moment

HOLY HELL THANKS SM FOR 1k READS!!! i love every single one of my readers and you can't imagine how great-full i am for the live on this book

i love seeing every comment on either my tik tok or on here cause i love to know what people think of my chapters❤️

also hope you like the little teddy intro😋 i'll write a bit more about him in future chapters.