Elle and Ryder burst through the doors of Cell Block D. Walkers, everywhere. Kids were screaming, running away from the danger. But danger was all around. There was no running away.

"Elle!" Ryder shouted, throwing a crowbar to the girl. She caught it before silencing the walker closest nearby. Someone started firing a gun, only making the walkers more active at the loud noise. Elle and Ryder were doing their best to control the amount of walkers coming their way, but the gun fire did not help.

"Elle! Ryder!" Someone shouted.

"Glenn?!" Elle yelled as she killed another walker. Help had come. She could see Glenn, Daryl, Cody, and Rick.

"Someone help!" A girl screamed. Elle turned around frantically to find the source of the screaming, and her eyes landed on Sarah. She was holding a walker back with all of her strength, which wasn't a lot. Elle ran over to help, but the walker's face was to close to Sarah's. If Elle were to stab the walker, it could hit Sarah, killing her. Without hesitating, she held the crow bar like a baseball bat and caved the walker's head in. "Thank you." She cried. Elle directed Sarah over to Karen, where she helped the children.

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The small group now stood over Patrick's dead body. He had dried blood that looked like it was coming out of his eyes, throat, and ears. It was like he drowned in his own blood. Hopefully he didn't suffer, that sounds horrible.

"He wasn't bit. He must've turned and did this." Hershel said. Elle was confused. How could he have turned?

"Wait, how?" She asked out loud. Rick looked at her.

"I told the group, a while ago." He said, just as confused.

"She wasn't there that night. It was the night after the farm fell." Daryl told his friend.

"We all turn." Rick said, making strong eye contact with the teenager. She sighed. She had seen Merle as a walker, but it never really rendered in her brain as to how he had turned. Not until now. If Elle were to die without a blunt trauma to her brain, she would turn into a live flesh craving walker. Hershel started to explain how Patrick had died and attacked the cell block. The animals in the woods were getting sick, and Daryl and Elle hunted those animals and brought them back.

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"How are we supposed to know how fast this thing kills you?" Michonne asked the rest of the council. The council at the moment was sitting at a large table found in the back of the library. Now, they were trying to figure out how to keep this thing from spreading.

"Patrick was eating barbecue yesterday and he seemed fine then." Elle told the group.

"About an hour later at story time, he excused himself because he felt sick." Carol added.

"Then he died and did all this over night." Elle sighed. "How fast are we thinking now?" She crossed her arms.

"Too fast." Rick said, rubbing his beard like he usually did when he was contemplating something. "We separate everyone."

They had discussed how exactly they would separate everyone. Children as well as the elderly will stay in the warden's building. The children and elderly who were exposed will stay in a separate room until they are sure they aren't sick. The sick will stay in Cell Block A, death row. Ironic huh? The adults who weren't exposed or near anyone who was exposed, will help distribute the supplies and food to everyone.

"So Elle, Ryder, and Cody will all be quarantined away from the other children?" Rick asked. Hershel nodded.

"Yes, but Beth and Carl will be in there to watch after Judith. If that's that you're worried about." The man smiled.

"What about Jack?" Rick asked, now directing his question at Elle.

"He's 18 now, so with you guys." She said, her facial expression sulking a bit. Jack could care for himself, and she knew that. She just wasn't the biggest fan of being away from him for so long. Last time that occurred, they reunited when Elle was kidnapped and beaten.

After a few minutes of discussion, she and Rick had gotten up to go break the news to the others. Rick opened the door, Elle following behind him. The walk was quiet, as they weren't in the mood to really talk, knowing they would be away from their loved ones for quite some time.  Elle dragged her hand along the concrete walls, lifting her hand up every once in a while to wipe the dust off her finger tips. Suddenly, she stopped walking and started to examine a small stain on the wall. Rick had noticed this and turned around to see what was happening.

Blood. The stain was blood from only months earlier. From the day TDog died, the day Hershel began to walk after losing his leg, the day Lori died and Judith Grimes entered this cruel world. Blood from when Andrew hit Elle's head against the wall only moments before trying to drive a knife into her chest. She shuddered at the unpleasant memory. Rick held his head low, remembering that day. Everyone had lost something that day, but Rick had it the worst, and there was no arguing that. "I'm sorry." Elle sighed, tucking her golden curls behind her ears.

"For what?"

"I don't know, actually. It's just, this blood, it's triggers bad memories from that day, and- I'm just sorry." Elle said, closing her eyes as if she were trying to force the memories to just go away. The two decided to leave the stain and continue making their grueling journey towards their cellblock. They were only a few more dark lefts and rights before they would reach their destination. It was a fifteen second walk, but it felt like forever.

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"What? For how long?" Carl complained.

"For however long it'll take for this thing to blow over." Elle shrugged. Nobody was happy about this, but it needed to be done to ensure everyone's safety. Everyone sulked as they made their way to go their cells to pack up their belongings.

______

Elle shoved her clothes into her backpack, trying to fit them all. She didn't have too many, as it was the end of the world. But she had to pack more than just clothes, therefore she needed to fit more than just clothes. She had her weapons, water bottles, hygienic products that typically only women would use. She sighed and sat down on her bed to begin rolling up her blanket.

She slowly matched the corners up, and folded. She repeated this once more before rolling the rest up into a cylinder shape that could be transported easily. She stood back up, and pulled her back pack onto her back and tucked the blanket and pillow under her right arm.

She came out of her cell to meet up with Jack before he had to go quarantine elsewhere. She walked down the stairs and over to the young adult. "Be safe." He told her. She simply replied with a 'you too', before embracing him in a hug. He instantly hugged back, ruffling the girl's blonde curls that were almost identical to his own. She gave him a small smile before stepping to the side so Cody could say his goodbyes. "See you guys soon." Jack said, giving the blondes a small smile before following Maggie to their designated block. They watched until he was out of sight, but even after they couldn't see him, they continued to look as if he was going to just walk back in.

"Elle, Cody. Come on." Sarah said, breaking the two's focus. They turned around and walked with the small group. The group consisted of Sarah, Carl, Ryder, Sky, and now, Elle and Cody. Rick lead them to the warden's building and unlocked the door.

They walked in. It wasn't exactly overrun, and there were no sign of walkers ever being in here, but there were papers and file cabinets littering the halls. Rick brought Elle, Ryder, and Cody to their separate room because they were exposed to the sickness when they ran in to help Cell Block D. That left the other three to go with all the other kids and elderly. The rooms were right across the hall from eachother, doors still open.

"Hershel will be here shortly, and I will bring supplies such as toothpaste and food soon here. Everyone settle down and don't be worried. I'm sure this will be over soon." Rick assured everyone. Elle gave one last smile to Carl before the doors were closed, officially separating the two groups. Elle sighed and walked over to a corner of the room. She threw her stuff down and started making a make-shift sleeping bag. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing, but it was better than sleeping on the cold, aluminum flooring.

"I'm bored already." Ryder complained. Elle shot him a look. They had just arrived, not even 5 minutes ago.

"I'm sure I can get Carl to give us some comics to read." Elle shrugged. The two other teenagers looked at her before nodding. She stood up from her small bed like corner, and walked over to the door. She peered through the window to make sure Rick was gone before she slowly reached down and turned the door knob. She opened the door and quickly closed it behind her as she made her escape. She pulled her shirt over her mouth before opening the door to the other room.

She looked around for her bestfriend and spotted him in the corner of the room. But he was with Sarah, and she was laughing. So was Carl. She made her way through the crowd of children and over to them. She tapped on his shoulder, causing him to turn around. Sarah's smile quickly faded and she rolled her eyes not thinking Elle would notice.  But she did, and she didn't care. Carl wasn't interested and Elle knew that. Even if he was interested in Sarah, why should Elle care? It's not like she likes him? And Carl doesn't like her like that either. Elle pushed the thought to the back of her mind.

"Could I borrow some comics?" She asked.

"Yeah, of course." Carl said. She grabbed his backpack and pulled out the stack of comics that Michonne picked up. He gave her the top half. She dropped her shirt as she held the comic books in her hands. She smiled as a thank you and made her way out. She crossed the hall and opened the door.

"Here." She said, placing the comics on the table in the center of the room. "I'm gonna take a nap, we were up pretty late last night."

"We?" Cody asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Me and Carl were up almost all night reading comics." She said, not even realizing that Cody and Jack never knew of the weekly occurrence. Cody didn't seem unhappy about it, so she continued her way over to her sleeping bag and layed down on top of it.

She couldn't help but think about what it was she just witnessed in the other room. Sarah and Carl laughing? Together? Wasn't Sarah in D Block? Why isn't she in here instead of with all the healthy people? She decided not to punish her mind thinking of Sarah, and fell asleep.

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Elle woke up not too long ago to see Cody now asleep and Ryder awake, reading comics. She noticed the door was open. "Needed some fresh air and the windows won't budge." Ryder said looking at the now awake girl. She nodded, the room was a little stuffy now that he mentioned it. Outside the window, was the sun beginning to set. She stood up, stretching, and made her way over to her friend's side. "Comics are getting boring." Ryder said, closing The Incredible Hulk and setting it back on the table, with the rest. Something Elle noticed from time to time,  was the dark haired boy got bored easily. "You're a funny person," he started. Elle raised an eyebrow at the dark haired boy with a smirk. "Any funny stories from before?" He asked. The blonde thought for a moment.

"I never really had too much fun before. My parents were always busy with work. My mom was an accountant and my dad was a pretty genius engineer. But there was this one time, probably a year and a half ago." She said. Ryder urged her to continue. She lifted up her shirt to reveal the scar from when she was shot.

"Damn. What did you do?" Ryder asked, intrigued.

"Well, we had been on the road for a few days. I told you about the CDC right?" Ryder nodded. "Well, on the highway, a small herd had passed through, so we all had to hide under cars. It was going pretty well until a couple walkers spooked Carol's daughter. Sophia ran into the woods and Rick didn't hesitate to go after her. The next say, we had to go looking for her because she was lost. After we thought we had almost found her, we split up. There was one group, then there was our group. Rick, Carl, me, and Shane." She explained. She had told Ryder about Shane a while ago. "Well we came across this deer. Gorgeous. Well Carl and I were so mesmerized, we went up to go touch it. Carl crouched down, hoping  it would keep the deer from running off. And a gunshot rang out. I remember feeling my skin tear, seeing Carl's body fall, then feeling my own do the same thing." She chuckled. "All because of a deer. As people, we are supposed to kill the deer. But no, it was the other way around." She chuckled. Ryder let out a small chuckle as well. Both of them revealing their perfect, white teeth.

What the two didn't see, was Carl watching from a far. He walked over to their door. "Hey, Carl. What's up?" Elle asked.

"Can I talk to Ryder?" He asked. The two teens were both confused. The two boys rarely ever talked, they just knew each other through their mutual friendship with Elle. Ryder stood up, brushing his pants off. He followed the burnette boy into the hallway, away from the door. Elle figured it was none of her business, so she grabbed a comic and started to read it.

***

"Do you like her?" Cark asked. Ryder scoffed out of confusion.

"Why would you think that?" He asked.

"You two always seem to have fun together. You guys laugh and talk a lot. Plus you call her nicknames like 'gorgeous'." Carl said, sounding a little angry. He didn't only sound angry, but jealous as well.

"That's what friends do. Plus the nickname thing is just how we joke around. If you think I'm flirting with her believe me, I'm not." He chuckled while defending himself. Now Carl scoffed. So he was upset when he thought Ryder was flirting with Elle, now he's upset that he isn't?

At the moment, the only thing running through Carl's mind was why Ryder would say that. Believe me, I'm not. Why wouldn't he? Elle was perfect in Carl's mind. He hair, her eyes, her smile, all of it was perfect. Why wouldn't Ryder want to flirt with Elle. Was there something Carl didn't know about? He decided to say the last thought out loud.

"Why? Is something wrong with her?" Carl asked, crossing his arms. Ryder nodded.

"Kinda." He smirked. What could possibly be wrong with Elle?!

"What is it?"

"Well..." Ryder looked around, making sure nobody was nearby to hear him say what it was he was about to say. "She's a girl." Carl's expression softened. He felt bad now. He had accused Ryder of flirting with Elle, when in all reality, he isn't interested in Elle. He isn't interested in girls.

Carl tried to make out an apology, but all he did was stutter, making the situation more and more awkward. Ryder just laughed.

"It's fine. I didn't exactly make it too obvious. But she cares about you too." Ryder smiled. He turned around and went back to the room he was supposed to be in. Carl stood there, speechless. Did Elle know? She was smart, and has a thing with reading people. He watched as the door closed, and he let out a breath he wasn't even aware that he was even holding. His shoulders sunk, as he peered out the window. The sun had started to set a while ago, now filling the halls with it's bright orange glow. This was Elle's favorite time of the day, and she usually spent it outside, where she would sit until dark. Sometimes Carl would sit with her but there would never be any social interaction. They would just sit there, watching the sun slowly get lower and lower, until the moon and stars took reign over the night sky.

They wouldn't be doing that for a while. While Carl stood in the hall, he heard his father calling for him. "Dad?" He called back. Rick followed the sound of his son's voice and was soon standing in front of him. He held two bags, one in each hand. Inside the bags was toothbrushes, toothpaste, dinner, and some spare bedding. Carl retrieved the bags from his father's grip before saying good night.

Rick left and Carl handed out supplies with the help of Beth. Judith was sound asleep, as were most of the kids. Beth had woken them up so they would eat their dinner.

Hershel came into the 'exposed room' with one of the bags that his blonde daughter had passed to him. "Here's dinner." He said. It was vegetables from the garden. They didn't want to risk serving meat in these circumstances. He handed them out to the three and kept some for himself. "Tomorrow, I'm gonna start helping the sick people." He announced. Elle didn't like the sound of that idea.

"They have Doctor S." Elle argued.

"Two doctors is better than one." Hershel smiled. He was an optimistic man, he never let anyone else's pessimism get in the way of that. That was something Elle admired about the man, but now was not the time for such a foolish idea.

"What if you get sick?"

"Then Doctor S will treat me." He laughed. Elle could only bring herself to raise the corner of her mouth. She didn't like the sound of this, but she knew she couldn't stop him.

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She layed there, in her 'bed', thinking. Thinking about what? Anything and everything. Life from before, life during. The only thing she liked about the end of the world; she was a part of a family that actually spent time with her, enjoyed her presence, respected her. She didn't have that before. Maybe she missed her parents a little bit, but that was just because they were her parents. She missed Katie, and Paul, and the frozen pizza they ate three times a week.

She remembered what Jack told her, the night he found her, Glenn, and Maggie in Woodbury. Paul had gone on a run, yet never came back. She refused to believe he was dead. He was a stealthy, smart man. He wouldn't get himself killed in a world like this, and if he were to, it would be an act of bravery or sacrifice.

She rolled over, her body now facing her sleeping brother. He looked so peaceful. She noticed that he didn't have the blanket completely covering him, though the room was cold. Cody was one of those people who got over heated easily. He was also one of those boys who would wear basketball shorts in January. Elle closed her eyes, and let the darkness slowly and peacefully engulf her.

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Aw 🥺

How did you guys feel about this chapter? I honestly feel like it was rushed :/ I was a little nervous about the coming out part because I myself am straight, so I don't have experience with that. So I just created a (really shitty) scene so Carl could stop worrying.

Any predictions? Comment them, yall are geniuses. If you didnt see the announcement earlier, I will no longer be updating on sundays, because when I do, it's usually around midnight when I should be sleeping lol.

So I'm gonna publish on Fridays or Saturdays (depending on the week) because it doesnt matter how late I'm up on those days.

Can someone message me, I'm bored :/