Ada

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The next morning, we are told of Karen and David's death. Or rather, their murder. I had never met either of them, they were survivors of Woodbury and lived in another cell block so we never got the chance to meet. Rick is now tasked with finding out who did it, which is fitting given his experience as a cop. It feels eerie, having a murderer among us. I try not to let it get to me. 

The sickness has spread further throughout the prison, so the other kids, the ones the council deemed vulnerable, are stuck in quarantine in the administrative building of the prison. Carl was upset about this, as was I considering I wasn't allowed to see my brother at all until everything passed, but I decided to try and make the best out of a bad situation. I'm pretty amazing at that, in my humble opinion. Beth informed me that Glenn was sick, and one of the younger girls, Lizzie, was sick as well. Her sister Mica hasn't been quarantined with us until we're sure she doesn't get it. My brother is fine as far as I know, and for that I'm grateful.

As I was keeping watch with Carl, we noticed Hershel trying to leave the building. 

"Where are you going?" Carl asked him before he could walk away from us.

"I've been down here away from y'all, 'cause you kids are supposed to stay away from me," Hershel warns us.

"I've been walking the halls. My dad told me to look out for everyone." Carl says, walking closer to him. 

Hershel puts his hand up. "Well, you should keep your distance." He says.

"You're walking towards the exit," Carl states, questioning him.

"I need to go out there," Hershel answers.

"To the cell blocks?" I ask. "If you aren't sick yet, you will be after that. It isn't safe." I say. 

"No, to the woods." He answers.

"So, you're sneaking out," Carl states.

"And, that also isn't very safe," I state, chuckling nervously.

"I don't need anyone worrying about me and I damn sure don't want someone telling me I can't go." 

"I can't just let you go out into the woods by yourself." Carl pleads.

"Let me?" Hershel asks, amused by his words.

"I can't stop you. But I have to tell my dad." I resist the urge to scoff at this. I don't know what he expected to come out of telling on Hershel to his dad. I find it amusing.

"Go ahead then," Hershel says, not caring at all, "I'll be out there by the time you find him." He then begins to walk away from us, and Carl follows, calling out to him.

"Hershel!"

He turns around to face Carl once again, hearing him out.

"If you have to go, then I have to come with you," Carl states. Hershel begins to argue, but Carl shuts him down. "I have to." He was unwilling to let the older man wander off into the woods without any help, and I felt the same. I don't underestimate the older man's capabilities of protecting himself, but c'mon, the guy has one leg. He needs help sometimes.

"I'll come too." I chime in. "It's kinda boring in here." I laugh.

Hershel doesn't argue, he just turns around and walks through the exit. I look at Carl, and he looks back at me. I shrug, "That wasn't a no." and then follow Hershel outside.

We caught up to him easily and followed him out into the woods. Carl had his gun, and I had my bow, so we were well prepared if anything were to happen.

 We crept into the woods carefully, trying not to alert anything that may have been around, and as we ventured further, Hershel began to examine bushes and plants around us.

The insects in the trees chirped wildly, the silence of the woods making it sound louder than usual. Carl stood in place, inspecting the area around us, keeping watch. I stared up at the sky, shielding the sun from my eyes, and watched birds fly around above us. Two of the birds flew around in a circle, not the bad omen kind, but almost like they were playing around. When one caught up to the other, it would turn around and fly towards that one, almost like a game of tag. I laughed as their little game went on and on, and Carl then turned to me, confused by my amusement.

He looked up to the sky, where I was staring at the birds, grinning at them. "What are you doing?" He asks, smiling. I turn to him and see his eyebrows are raised in confusion, and judgment, almost.

"Bird-watching," I say simply. 

"Bird-watching?" He asks.

"Bird-watching," I confirm, nodding my head.

He laughs and goes back to observing the area, like such a cop. "Whatever makes you happy, Addy."

"Thank you," I say and turn back up to the spot in the sky, only to see the birds have disappeared from sight. "Aww, they're gone," I whine.

"Too bad. Maybe they flew home." Carl says, humoring my new bird friends.

"I hope they made it home safe," I say happily.

"I'm sure they did." He says, turning to me and placing a hand on his hip. "I would've jumped in if anything happened." He says proudly and I laugh at this.

"How would you have seen anything?" I ask, amused by his jokes.

"Oh, I see everything in these parts." He says, adding a country twang to his voice.

I laugh again. "Okay, sheriff." I play along. "I'm so glad I have you to protect me." 

"Anytime." He says proudly. 

I turned back to Hershel, but as I did a loud noise came from the other side of us. I turned to see the trees rustling and leaves falling from them. It was as if something was jumping around inside of it. The tree shook again, and more leaves fell from the branches.

"Uh, what is that?" I ask.

"No clue," Carl answers.

I nudge Carl forward a bit, though I hide behind him, scared to approach the tree. "Well go check it out," I tell him.

Carl stays in place. "It's probably nothing, Addy. Maybe a squirrel or something." 

The tree shakes violently again, and me and Carl jump back, frightened by it.

I nudge him forward more. "C'mon, sheriff! Protect me."

He looks back at me, glaring a bit, before he steps forward. As he approaches the tree, it shakes even more.

He stops at the base of it, looking up at the tree. 

"Do you see anything?" I ask, standing as far back as I can.

He continues to look up, "No not really. Just branches." He turns back to look at me. "I told you it was probably just a-"

Before he could finish his sentence the tree shakes again, and something emerges from the branches and goes right for Carl. I couldn't tell what it was at first, but as it reached him and began to bite and attack him, I realized it was a bird. A decently sized bird, but definitely not as threatening as I expected whatever came out of there to be. Carl shrieks and tries to shake off the bird, but its claws get caught in his hat. He yanks his hat off and throws it to the ground, along with the bird which was still attached to it. As it hit the ground, I gasped, feeling sorry for it. Fortunately, it frees itself with ease now that it isn't being thrown around by Carl, and flies off in a huff. 

"What the hell!" Carl exclaims, falling to the ground as he still shakes his head around. "Stupid, bird!" He yells in frustration.

I laugh loudly, holding my stomach, in awe of his reaction. "Aw, c'mon sheriff it was just a little baby birdy." I put my hands on my knees, gasping for air. Hershel also laughs from behind me, having witnessed the entire moment.

He glares at me and stands up from the ground quickly, brushing the dirt and leaves off of his pants. He walks over to his hat and picks it up, also dusting the leaves off of it. But, not before throwing them at me, and getting dirt in my face.

"Hey!" I yelp. "Don't be mad at me because you're jumpy."

"You would've been scared too. I know it." He points his finger at me and I smack it away.

"Didn't say I wouldn't, but how will you ever protect me if you can't even handle a bird," I say gesturing towards the tree.

He walks over to pick up his gun, which he had dropped during the incident, "Maybe, I thought you'd protect me instead." He states, trying to brush off his embarrassment. 

I put my hands on my hips and glare. "That's your job sheriff, not mine," I state.

"Oh, then what is your job?" He asks, mirroring my pose and glaring at me.

"To warn you of danger." I smile confidently.

He rolls his eyes and walks past me, but I decide to be mean. If he was gonna throw dirt in my face, it's only fair to make fun of him a little bit. 

"Warnings are important," I state, crossing my arms. "So, next time there's a bird around, you better believe I will let you know. It's good to be prepared in case of danger." 

"I don't need you to warn me about birds, Ada." He states, annoyed. 

"Not even that big-ass one behind you?"

"There's no bird behind me." He shakes his head.

"No, I'm dead serious, Carl," I say, widening my eyes. "I think it's a hawk or something."

As I say this, even Hershel turns around to look behind him and says, "Yeah, looks like a hawk." He plays along with my prank.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll look at it to distract it, and Carl, you can take your chance and run. Now!"

He finally turns around and looks to see that there was never any bird, though I don't think he believed me anyway. He looks back at me and glares. "You aren't funny."

"I am."

"Nope."

"Yessss, I am."

"Nooooo, you aren't."

"Ah!"

"What!"

"Sorry, I wanted to act how you'd act if you saw a bird right now."

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"When did your dad give it back?" Hershel asked Carl, referring to his gun.

We were still out in the woods, it had been about an hour by now, but Hershel was still searching the plants for the berries he'd need. He wanted to get a large amount of it, so he was picking every bush clean.

"Yesterday," Carl answers. "After everything happened."

"You've grown a lot these past few months," Hershel says. "There's a responsibility about you. I think it's done you good to step back."

"Yeah," Carl walks around more, observing the area, most likely for evil birds secretly watching us in the trees. "Can't be like that all the time."

"I would have been fine on my own," Hershel says. "It's peaceful out here." I nod in agreement. I like the serenity of the woods, the sounds of animals, and the wind through the trees. It was very peaceful. "These last couple of days, we might be safer outside those walls than in," Hershel says. 

Carl scoffs, "No we're not." Before I can make another joke about birds, he gestures to what's ahead of us. I look closer as we walk closer, and I see an entire camp that's been abandoned. It seems that the people who lived here were either wiped out or driven out. By what, was the real question. 

Further ahead of us, we see a walker lying up against a tree. It was covered in moss, showing it had been there for quite a long time. Its body seemed almost embedded into the tree like it had become a part of the roots, but I couldn't tell from where I stood. It held its hand out, grabbing at us, but it was unable to stand up. 

"Let's wrap this up," Hershel says, slinging his bag over his shoulder. I look away and see another walker making its way towards us. It has a leg brace on, and it rattles as it walks. It growls, stumbling towards us.

Carl walks towards it and holds his gun up to shoot it, but Hershel stops him from doing so. "Don't. You don't need to."

Carl listens and puts his gun down, though he still watches it as it continues to walk.

"It was so peaceful," I say, feeling sad by the new ambiance of the woods.

"It was," Carl states, walking away. "Can't be like that all the time." 

I feel sorrowful about his words, knowing that he's right. I loved it when it was peaceful though, I don't like to let bad things like this bring me down. 

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Hershel told us about the tea he was brewing for the sick people when we made it back, which is why he was picking the berries.

Carl went back to patrolling the building when we returned, and my brother was at the end of the hallway.

He was sitting against the wall, biting his nails, and when he saw me walking towards him he jumped up from his spot. He walked towards me but stopped about halfway down the hallway. "Hey, I've been looking for you, and Beth said you'd left so I thought I'd wait." He laughs nervously.

"I see that," I say. "What's up? We aren't supposed to be around each other." 

"I wanted to tell you something, it's important." He says, clasping his hands together, seeming very nervous.

I never have a good feeling when he's nervous. It always means he's up to something. "What?"

"Daryl's been putting a group of people together today to go on a run for antibiotics, for the sickness." He says.

"And, let me guess, you wanna go with them," I say, predicting his next answer.

He laughs, "Yeah, I am going with them. The only thing is, it's really far out, A." He says.

I swallow, feeling nervous. "How far?"

"50 miles. Give or take." He answers.

I nod, breathing in as I take in his answer. I don't speak at first, I just look at him. I don't want him to go, I really don't. But he isn't asking me for permission, I wouldn't expect him to, he's just warning me in case anything were to happen. I understand. It doesn't help me feel better, but I understand that this is something he needs to do. "Okay." I say finally. "Be safe."

He lets a breath he'd been holding in anticipation. "I will. Always." He turns to walk out of the exit on the other side of the hall. "I'd kill to hug you, right now, but I won't risk it."

"I would!" I try to yell after him but he only looks back at me to smile, and then he's left the building.

Carl peeks his head around the corner when the door closes behind Scott. I put my hands on my hips and stare at him in disbelief. "Are you spying on me, sheriff? Doesn't that violate some kind of code?" I joke. 

"I was just patrolling and overheard, didn't mean to." He pleads, putting his hands up.

I walk towards him, crossing my arms. "Don't you have other hallways to patrol?" I ask.

"This one gets the most action." He laughs.

I walk past him, but not before getting my last quip of the day. "Make sure you check dark corners," I say. "There could be birds hiding anywhere, just waiting for the right moment to attack," I whisper.

I don't look back, but his glare burns a hole through my chest as I walk away. I don't plan on ever letting him live that down.