36: Something New

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It's been a great few months. Winter had passed, people were happy, they had built something. There wasn't a single leader anymore, there was a council. The council included Rick Grimes, Hershel Greene, Michonne Hawthorne, Carol Peletier, Glenn Rhee, Daryl Dixon, Sasha Williams, and Elle Clarke.

They made decisions like scheduling supply runs, where newcomers would sleep, who goes on runs, who works where, and all the decisions that would be considered important.

"Okay, everyone listen up! We have your jobs for the week!" Elle shouted so she could grab everyone's attention. The jobs were shifted every week so the jobs wouldn't feel monotonous. Only a few people never switched and that was Carol, Rick, Hershel, and Daryl. Elle herself never really worked, but she was always busy with something. She climbed on top of a table and waited until everyone was looking at her. They were standing outside, the spring/summer sun beating down on them.

"Can you hurry up and tell us already?" A man from the back shouted.

"I know that was you, Adam! And I suggest you shut up and be patient, or I'll put you on horse shit duty... again." Some chuckles were heard in the crowd of people. "Okay! Karen, Tyreese, Amanda, Joe, David, you're on fence duty! Pretty easy, just use the weapons given to you and kill the walkers!" She paused as she went to the next job written on her paper. "Jack, you will be assisting the Grimes boys with the pigs! Lucy, Samantha, Flynn, you're on laundry!" She cleared her throat. She started telling everyone their jobs, giving a brief direction on how to do it for the new comers. When she was done, she looked up. "Disperse!" She shouted. People started going to where they needed to be.

"Great job, as always." Rick patted her on the back.

"What can I say? I like yelling at people." She chuckled, setting the clip board down on the nearest bench. She grabbed an apple from the stand and started making her way inside. She was greeted by Ryder.

"Hey there, gorgeous." He joked.

"Wow," she scoffed. Ryder and Elle have become best friends over the last few months, and it shows. They don't like each other in that kind of way, it's just how they joke around. Elle and Carl are on good terms, Carl just doesn't like hanging out with multiple people, so when Elle is with Ryder, Carl hangs back. "You need something?" She asked.

"Nah, I'm just bored." He shrugged.

"Go to story time or something." She suggested. Now it was Ryder's turn to scoff.

"Elle, I'm 14. I don't go to story time."

"Patrick does." She shrugged.

"Well he's interested in reading. I'm not. Give me a job." He said as they continued walking through the halls and Elle ate her apple.

"There's an extra spot open with the animals." She said.

"No way," Ryder argued. This caused Elle to raise an eyebrow. "I can't handle Carl's eyes staring at the back of my head any longer."

"Relax. My brother will be there. Just ignore Carl and talk to Jack. He likes you." Ryder just playfully rolled his eyes and walked back outside, leaving the girl alone. She let out a sigh and took another bite out of her apple. She walked through the halls, people greeting her along the way. She was well respected, as she helped bring a lot of the people here, plus if they gave her a bad attitude, she would just put them with the horses. Nobody wants to clean up after the horses.

As she turned the corner she almost bumped into someone. "Oh dear God!" Elle said, startled. "Sarah, I didn't see you there." The brown haired girl just laughed. She had long, smooth hair that reached halfway down her back, brown eyes, and the perfect laugh. Elle had curly blonde hair, blue eyes, and laughed like a donkey on drugs. "You in a hurry?" Elle asked the girl.

"Not really. Have you seen Carl?" She asked.

"I'll only tell you if you can tell me where Sky is." Elle shrugged.

"Library." Sarah answered.

"He's in the feild with his Dad. Might wanna wait maybe thirty minutes if you don't wanna ruin your manicure." Elle said as she walked off. Sarah had always been trying to be around Carl. It doesn't take a genius to find out she likes him. Carl doesn't really like it though. He isn't annoyed by her, he just doesn't feel the same way and Sarah is kind of clingy. Elle started making her way to the library. She walked down the hall until she saw the door with the sign that read 'library'.

She opened the door and saw Carol reading to the kids. "Hey Carol." Elle smiled.

"Hi Elle. You looking for someone?" She smiled back.

"Sky." Elle said, looking around until her eyes landed on the girl. Sky walked over to Elle's side. "Bye guys!" Elle waved before she rushed Sky out of the room. She lead her further down the hall, away from the door.

"What's going on?" Sky asked, worried.

"The fence build up. It's only growing, and we need more people down there." Elle briefly explained. Sky nodded, and hurried down the halls. Elle looked at her list. Everything was done. She let out a deep breath, knowing she was free for the next hour or so, until someone came to her with a simple problem that they could've solved themselves. She threw away the apple core and made her way outside.

"Haven't seen you in a while." Glenn said walking up to her.

"I've been keeping busy."

"You work too hard. You're a teenager." He sighed.

"I'm fine." Glenn just smiled at her, nodding. He had to accept the fact that Elle was done looking for his approval. For anyone's approval. She made her own decisions now, if someone didn't like it, they could 'shove it up their ass' as she says. "Why do you have that look on your face?" Glenn had a saddened, yet happy look on his face. He had a smile on, but his eyes told a different story.

"You've grown up." He said. Elle nodded. She had grown up. A lot. She couldn't help but hug the man she called a brother. She wrapped her arms around his torso, and he hugged her back. "I love you." She said.

"I love you too." He said back. They had no problem saying that to eachother. "Okay, I bet you have some work to do." Glenn said, pulling away. Elle nodded. Sheย  watched as Glenn walked away and towards the guard tower that he and Maggie occupy during the long days. She turned her body to face the field, shielding her eyes from the bright sun. As she started making her way down the hill, she heard the familiar sound of a horse. Michonne was back. She ran to the gate, as did Carl and Rick. Rick held the cable on one side, Carl and Elle on the other. Michonne rode in the gates gracefully. She hopped off and the three closed the gates behind her.

She opened the saddle bag that layed across the horse's back. She pulled out a stack of comic books for the teenagers, and a razor for Rick. "Your face is losing the war." She joked. Rick smiled at her as a thank you.

"Woah!"

"Awesome!" The kids awed at the comic books. They knew they would be staying up late that night to read them. Michonne told them that she gets to read the comics when the two teenagers finish.

Michonne and Rick started having a conversation about the Governor. Carl and Elle were instructed to take the horse back to the pen. The Governor was still missing, and Daryl and Michonne were determined to find the body, as they were the most affected by him. It's been months, but neither of them have found anything. No trails, no signs, nothing. It was like he disappeared off the face of the planet.

Jack and Ryder took ahold of the horse's rein and brought him into the pen to brush him. Elle and Carl made their way to the field to finish up the field work.

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"Goodnight, Elle." Jack waved before walking to his shared cell with Cody. Elle had her own cell, not only because she was a growing female, but also because she had the cell since they found the prison. She wasn't too fond about the idea of sharing personal space, so she kept toย  herself. She waved back before walking into her own cell and pulling back the curtain. She changed into a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie before crawling under the covers.

She turned off the lamp and waited until everyone was asleep. She layed in the silence, listening to her surroundings. People coughing, snoring, stirring in their sleep, walking to the bathrooms. She wanted to make sure everyone was asleep. Why is she waiting for everyone else to go to sleep? So she could sneak out of her cell and into Carls' to read comics. She slowly and quietly crawled out of bed and slowly opened the cell door. She stepped out and closed the door behind her to create the illusion that she was still in her cell, asleep. The soft pitter patter of her socks hitting the ground as she quickly made her way to friends' cell, hoping to not get caught.

When Elle reached her destination, she opened the door slightly before slipping through.ย  "Took you long enough. I started to think you fell asleep." Carl whispered.

"I just wanted to be sure everyone else was asleep so we didn't get caught." She smirked. "Pass me Spiderman." She said, sitting on Carl's bed. He searched through the pile, until he found the one titled 'The Amazing Spiderman.' It had always been Elle's favorite.

"Why do you like that one so much?" Carl questioned.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I know it's kinda dumb, but- but I remember at Hershel's farm. That day, under the tree. You read that comic and seemed really into it." He said quietly, not wanting to wake anyone up. She smiled at the memory. The warm sun, perfect breeze, they were younger and didn't worry about people killing them.

"Well, he reminds me of us actually," she started. Carl gave her a look that urged her to keep talking. "Think about it. Just normal students, had friends, homework, afterschool activities. Then, something happened that turned us into complete badasses. Except we weren't bit by radioactive spiders, the world just ended." She explained, chuckling at the last part. Carl nodded, understanding what she meant. He smiled at the girl's way of thinking, and at her.

Carl let out a sigh before laying back on the bed. Elle layed perpendicularly with her head on his stomache. They read the pages, their only source of light being a small, dim lantern in the corner. They were up for hours. When they finished a comic, they just threw it back in the pile, and grabbed a new one.

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"Carl, wake up. We gotta deal with the crops." Rick said from outside the cell. When there was no response from the boy, Rick spoke again. "Carl-" he said, this time opening the door. He sighed when he saw the teenagers asleep, with open comic books on their laps. He walked over and shook the two awake. Elle groggily woke up and rubbed her eyes. "Hey, you're awake. In Carl's cell, again." Rick joked. This happened at least once a week, staying up reading all night and falling asleep.

"Yup." Elle sat up. She turned around and flicked Carl on the forehead. "Wake up." Carl groaned.

"I'm gonna drop Jude off with Beth, can you go and start waking up D Block while Carol prepares breakfast?" Rick asked the blonde. Elle nodded before leaving the cell and walking to her own. She shuffled in her socks, still mostly asleep. She lushed the door open and walked in. She let out a sigh before closing the door and pulling the curtain closed for privacy so she could change her clothes.

She walked to the dresser that sat against the wall and opened the drawer. She pulled out a pair of ripped jeans and a blue flannel. "Dammit" she muttered. She was out of clean shirts. She opened the door to her cell once more and she shuffled down the stairs and over to Ryder's cell. She knocked on the metal bar. "You decent?" She asked.

"Yeah." Ryder responded, yawning. She walked in and opened his drawer. "Out of clean shirts?" He asked. She nodded. She grabbed a grey tshirt before waving goodbye to her friend and going back up to her cell. She closed the curtain and threw the shirt on her bed.

Elle took off her sweatpants and pulled her jeans on, buttoning them. She pulled off her hoodie, so she was standing in a sports bra. She looked down at her side where almost two years ago, she was shot. The scar wasn't completely gone, but it wasn't too noticeable. She pulled the shirt over her messy hair and put on her iconic flannel. She slipped her shoes on and started making her way down the stairs when a dressed and awake Ryder came out of his own cell.

"Looks good on you." Ryder chuckled. Elle smirked.

"It's a tshirt."

"Where are you off to?" Ryder asked, catching up to her.

"Waking up D Block." Elle said, waving at Cark and Rick as they made their way out to the fields to handle the crops. "You tagging along?" Ryder nodded. They made their way into the halls, that were lit by the morning sunlight peering through the windows. It was beautiful, this time of morning. The sun still giving off it's orange-yellow rays. It made Ryder's eyes glow their honey brown color against his sun kissed skin. Elle's eyes glowed their beautiful dark blue, her freckles showing off against her skin. The birds chirped, they sang their morning songs that annoyed the hell out of people before the turn. Now, it was a blessing.

The two turned the corner and heard a ruckus. Shouting, kids screaming, growling. "Did you hear that?" Elle asked. Ryder nodded. They booked it to D Block. When they ran in, they saw something they haven't seen in a while. Walkers.

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Yeah, this sucks lol.
Seasons 4 and 5 are my favorite, so expect some really good story lines with the OC's and Elle :)

I hope you all had a happy and safe Thanksgiving! Please give feedback and thoughts on the chapter! Any predictions? Comment them! I read all the comments!!

I'm always here to talk! So if you just want someone to chat with, message me! You can message me here or on my Instagram @rheesmulti !
(Its a fan acc lol)

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