57: First Time Again

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It had been a long two months since the 'incident' that shall not be named, and Jack was actually doing a lot better. He's been good with not bottling everything up, and everyone else has learned that they don't need to praise him every second of every minute to make him feel better.

Elle was doing better because he was doing better. "Come on, get up. We're going to be late." She spoke, trying to shake her best friend awake.

"Why do we even have to go? We both know they're not going to let us do anything." Carl groaned. Rick had devised a plan to deal with a problem to prevent it from becoming a bigger problem, so he was holding a 'town meeting' to explain what was going on and to hopefully get people to help.

The problem? A nearby quarry had been filled with walkers. There was a small camp in the beginning, but the people turned, and more walkers fell in. Soon enough, the noise of walkers drew more walkers in, and now there were a couple hundred walkers at least at the bottom of the quarry being trapped in there by two massive trucks. Though, with the numbers increasing at a rapid pace, the trucks won't hold much longer, which is what Rick is trying to fix.

"It's good to know what's going on." She argued. The boy sighed, sitting up in his bed, knowing she had a point.

"Alright, I'll be down in a few minutes."



The night of the meeting, and the death of two members of the community, took a toll on a lot of people, a few more than others. Deanna had been keeping to herself, as well as her son Spencer. Spencer's been getting out more often though, realizing that he had to move on because Reggie wasn't coming back. Deanna knew that, but she needed time to grieve, and everyone respected that.

Ron was pissed at Rick, and for some reason, that led him to be pissed at Carl. Sam went into sort of a depressive state, being seven years old and hearing your father was killed isn't the easiest thing, but he knew that his father hurting him and his mom was bad and that they were better off without Pete. Jessie was mad at Rick, but not because he was the one to pull the trigger, but because he caused a huge scene. Though she would probably never say it out loud, she was grateful.

Enid didn't know how to comfort her boyfriend even though she too had lost her father. The night it all happened, she went to sit up on the wooden platform by the pond and played with a lighter. Elle went out, looking for Carl but saw him and Enid sitting next to each other. She watched as Carl set his hand on top of hers, Ron saw this too, and it led to more resentment towards the Grimes family.

Though, neither Carl or Enid know that they were seen by the two other teenagers, one filled with anger, the other filled with some sort of sadness.



"My team, we saw it early on." Heath started. The room was quiet and listened intently as he explained how he saw the quarry's population of the undead grow. "Back when we were on one of those first scouts, finding out what was around here. There was a camp at the bottom. The people," he paused, "They must have blocked the exits with one of those trucks back when everything started to go bad. They didn't make it, they were all roamers. Maybe a dozen of them?" He explained.

"No one's been back since?" Maggie asked him. He shook his head,

"DC, every town worth scavenging are all in the other direction. And I never really felt like having a picnic next to the camp that ate itself." He crossed his arms.

"So all while the walkers have been drawn by the sound, and they're making more sound and they're drawing more in." Michonne added. Rick nodded.

"And here we are." He said, making the story lead up to the current point. "Now what I'm proposing, I know it sounds risky," he quickly said, the room still silent. "But walkers are already slipping through the exits. One of the trucks keeping the walkers in, could go off the edge any day now." He looked around the room, confirming he had everyone's attention. "Maybe after one more hard rain. That exit sends them east, all of them. Right at us." Nobody made eye contact with anyone, grasping the situation. They deal with this problem now, or they all die.

"This isn't about if it gives, it's when. It's gonna happen. That's why we have to do this soon." He finished.

"This is- I don't even have another word for it," Carol spoke, using that 'innocent old woman' tone she's been using since they arrived at the gates of Alexandria. "This is terrifying. All of it." Sure, it was terrifying. Not to Carol. "But it doesn't sound like there's any other way."

"Maybe there is," A man named Carter spoke up, he southern accent lingering as he spoke. "I mean, couldn't we just build up the weak spots?" He suggested. "I could draw up plans, I worked in the wall with Reg. Construction crew- we can try and make it safe."

"Even if we could, the sound of those walkers is drawing more and more every dayโ€” building up the exits won't change that." Elle argued. Rick shot her a look, warning her to stay out of it, knowing that Carter likes to start arguments and Elle likes to continue them. She gave a small 'sorry' before sitting quietly again.

"We're going to do what Rick says, the plan he's laid out." Deanna spoke, not even moving as she stared out the window of her living room, which she's been doing since the meeting had even started. Rick nodded before continuing.

"I told you all, we're gonna have Daryl leading them away." He started running down the plan.

"Me too." Sasha volunteered, looking up at the leader. "I'll take a car, ride up next to him. Can't just be him. I'll keep 'em coming, Daryl keeps 'em from getting sloppy." She said, determined to do this. Abraham, who sat across from her, volunteered to go with Sasha, claiming it was quite the trip to do alone. Rick nodded, accepting what they said.

"We'll have two teams- one on each side of the forest helping manage those thing. We're gonna have a few people on watch from now on." He pointed towards the group of people near the doorway. "Rosita, Spencer, and Holly. So they're out," he spoke, explaining them from volunteering to help outside. He took a deep breath while quickly scanning the room. "So who's in?"

"Me." Michonne spoke, though Rick already knew she'd speak up.

Glenn and Maggie started whispering to each other on the couch. "You should keep an eye on her," Glenn told her, referring to Deanna, not wanting his wife to risk going outside the walls. "Keep going with the plans you talked about."

"I know, but this is important." Maggie wanted to help.

"She's important. People are scared, they need to see her come back." Glenn convinced her.

"That's not the only reason." Maggie gave him a soft smile.

"Yeah, it isn't." He agreed. Maggie agreed to stay, and Glenn volunteered to go with Rick. The room was quiet for a short moment before Gabriel tried to volunteer.

"I'd like to help as well."

"No. Who else?" Rick shut him down immediately, causing Carl and Elle to hold back a laugh. "We need more."

"There's gotta be another play. We can't just control that many." Carter argued again. Elle mentally face palmed her self.

"I said it before, walkers herd up. They'll follow a path of something's drawing them. That's how we can get 'em all at once." Rick and his group had seen first hand on multiple occasions that this was true.

"So, what? We're supposed to just take your word for it? We're all supposed to fall in line behind you after-"Carter paused, silence taking over for a few short seconds.

"After what?" Rick dared him to finish his thought.

"After you have a gun around, screaming, pointing it at people." He paused. It's like he's asking to punched in the face by anyone in the room. Elle thought to herself. "After you shoot a man in the face. After you-"

"Enough!" Deanna yelled. The room went even quieter than before, if that was even possible. Everyone either stared at their own two feet, or at someone else.

"I'll do it." Heath volunteered, getting everyone back on track.

"Me too." Francine also raised her hand.

"Whatever you need, I'm in." Tobin said from Rick's side.

"Now who else?" Deanna asked. Nicholas started anxiously looking around the room as if he were fighting the urge to volunteer as well, and he was. Glenn stared him down, shaking his head slowly.

"I'll go." Nicholas said anyways, despite Glenn's disagreement. "We have to do this. I need to help." He spoke directly to Glenn. Glenn only looked at Rick, almost begging him to not let him do this. Rick knows Glenn's worry, but he does need the help.

"You sure you can handle it?" Rick asked.

"You need people." He replied. Rick nodded before speaking again.

"We'll make this work. We'll keep this place safe- keep our families safe. We will."

"The plan, go through it again." Carter responded.

"Man, he just said it." Daryl retorted from his spot on the window seat, speaking for the first time since the meeting began.

"Every partโ€” again. The exact plan."


Elle sat on the couch, just staring blankly at the wall. She had nothing better to do. Her eyes shifted to a clock, she watched the second hand moved around the circle. If she listened carefully, she could hear each little tick.

Every sixty seconds, the minute hand moved, with a slightly louder tick.

"You alright?" Ryder asked, entering the room to see Elle caught in a trance.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just bored out of my mind." She groaned, sitting back onto the couch as if she wanted it to swallow her. He walked over and sat himself right next to her.

"Where is everyone?" He asked, realizing the last time he had seen most of the adults together was yesterday, at the meeting.

"Rick took them out to prepare for the whole walker thing." She replied, sitting back up to rest her elbows on her knees. "It's so hot in here." She groaned, grabbing the collar of her grey tee shirt and moving it back and forth to let the air in as well as fan her face.

"I have a question," Ryder spoke, adjusting the position he was sitting in to match Elle's.

"Shoot."

"What's been going on with you and 'you know who?'" Elle shot him a short glare, she did know who he was hinting atโ€” Carl. Ryder, and some others, were convinced something was going on between the two teenagers. "I mean, you guys spend a lot of time together." He tried to defend himself.

"Yeah, because we're friends. Friends hang out."

"You guys are both oblivious." He shrugged, the statement earning him a punch to the arm.

"I am not." She argued in a matter-of-fact tone. "There's nothing going on." She leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Oblivious." He shot up off the couch and ran off before Elle had a chance to hit him again. There wasn't anything going on between her and Carl, they were just friends. Right?

Elle had never really thought of the possibility of something happening to make them more than just friends, the thought just never occurred to her. Now that someone had pointed it out, of course she would think about it. Did Carl think of anything happening? She would have no way of knowing what goes through a teenage boy's head, but now she wanted to know if he thought anything about whatever it was.



Elle woke up, rubbing her eyes. She was convinced there was an eyelash in there. Whenever she pulled her hand away, she'd look at it to see if anything came out, nothing. She gave up and sat herself up so she could stretch.

Today, Rick was taking everyone who had volunteered down to the quarry so they could see what they were dealing with up close.

Elle got dressed, simply putting on a pair of jeans, a tee shirt and a black and grey flannel over it. She pulled on her shoes, not wanting to untie them, but she felt like her thumbs were about to be dislocated. The shoe finally slipped on, but she stumbled a little. She groaned, having a feeling that today wasn't going to be the best day.

She slept like shit the night before, she almost fell putting shoes on, and she simply didn't want to leave the comfort of her bed. "Breakfast is ready." Jack's voice sounded from the other side of the door. Elle pushed herself off of the bed and walked over, opening the door.

They walked downstairs together, making light conversation. "How'd you sleep?" Jack asked her.

"Well I slept, so that's something." She spoke, tucking her hair behind her ears. "What about you?"

"Pretty good, actually." He answered as they walked into the kitchen, getting greetings from everyone. Carol made eggs and toast for everyone. She grabbed two plates for them and served them. Elle grabbed forks, handing one to her brother. He gave her a small 'thank you' before sitting down to eat. There were no more stools available, so Elle simply stood and leaned over the kitchen island as she shoveled scrambled eggs into her mouth.

As people finished eating, they began rinsing off their dishes and sticking them in the dishwasher, it was mostly those that were going outside the walls with Rick. "Good luck, today." Elle waved to some of them as they left.


"Kids are so boring sometimes." Elle groaned as she and Carl sat, watching Judith. They had some toys out on the living room carpet as they played with her. Judith really just sat there quietly, stacking blocks on top of each other, laughing when they would fall because she can't understand that they weren't balanced.

"She's just having fun." Carl said, wearing a small smile.

"I wish I was her age again."

"What were you like at her age?" Carl asked, realizing they never really talked about when they were much younger.

"I was a little shit. I pulled hair, tried to fit anything in my mouth, cried simply because I felt like it." She laughed, laying on her stomach and propping herself up onto her elbows.

"I was an only child, I got all the attention in the world." Carl teased. Elle stuck her tongue out at him, causing the small girl to laugh. "She likes that."

"You like that?" She stuck her tongue out again, earning claps and giggles from Judith. Suddenly, she let out a yawn. "Me too." Elle agreed, also tired.

"Alright, I'll put her down for her nap." Carl scooped the young girl up and sat her on his hip while he made his way upstairs to Rick's room, where her crib was kept.

Elle sighed and started picking up the toys and putting them in a woven basket. There were building blocks, dolls, a few hot wheels cars, and some other generic toys that young kids would play with. Once everything was picked up, she took a hold of the handles on either side of the basket and brought it over to a corner of the living room where they would be out of the way, yet easily accessible if Judith was bored.

"That was fast." Elle observed as Carl came back down the stairs and threw himself on the couch. She walked over and moved his legs so she could sit on the couch as well. Carl picked his legs up and simply lied them across her lap. "Why?" She asked, wearing a small smile.

"I was here first." He shrugged. She rolled her eyes and lied her head back on the couch, enjoying the peace and quiet.

She liked how quiet it was, she grew more and more fond of it each and every day. She could wake up to a silent house, and relax whenever she wanted to. Of course, she still ventured outside of the walls just to take a break from the break.

The quiet was almost too quiet.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash and the sound of a horn going off.

"What was that?"

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not proofread so shut up about the mistakes <3

this is short and shitty but i wanted to get it out so you didn't have to wait lol.

im going to try my best to get back on a schedule, but now that we're in school 5 days a week and not virtual, all my free time is spent elsewhere. it won't be weekly like it used to be, but at the least, every other week.

anyways, blah blah blah, comment, feedback, you know the drill. plus i miss your funny comments and i expect more now that there are more Carl and Elle scenes :)


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