I was in bed, happily enjoying my sleep. I didn't get much time to rest these days, with the flu taking more people, the walkers still banging on the fence. Luckily, it hadn't fallen over a couple days ago when it looked like it was going too. Rick lured them away with the piglets while the others set up beams for extra support. I was still sharing a room with Sophia; we'd done our cell up more though. We had a mint green sheet over our door to add colour. I had a pink duvet set; Sophia had a purple one. We had a plant in the corner of the room and my photo frame was up on the wall. We even had a small light pink and light purple tie dye rug on the floor.

Suddenly I felt a weight on my body. "Happy birthday!" Sophia yelled into my ear.

"What the..." I groaned, trailing off because it was way too early for me to be waking up.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart." Carol's voice said to me.

My face was still buried in my pillow. "Oh yea." I said, tiredly.

"You're officially in double digits." Dad said, shaking my leg a little.

"That's great. I'd rather be asleep though." I responded, lifting my head from the pillow.

Sophia jumped down, my dad picked me up and walked me out and downstairs before carrying me into the table room. "Happy birthday!" Rick, Carl, Glenn, Maggie, Michonne, Hershel and Beth yelled.

I flinched at the loud noise. "Oh, sweet Jesus that was way too loud for this time in the morning." I said, rubbing my ear a little, causing everyone to laugh. "Thanks though."

Dad put me down on one of the chairs which I stood on. I was in my pyjamas and since the prison didn't have central heating, I was very cold. I saw a couple gift bags on the table. "This is from me and Carl." Sophia handed me a small bag.

"Thanks." I smiled, moving to sit down on the table. When I opened it, I saw more polaroids for my camera. "No way." I laughed, looking at them. "Thanks, guys." I smiled at Sophia and Carl. They hadn't left the prison, so I knew those two hadn't gotten them, but I appreciated them anyways.

"This is from me, Maggie and our dad." Beth handed over another gift bag.

"Thanks." I grinned when she passed it over. I opened it up and it was a book with two butterflies on the cover, when I opened it... It was a scrap book. Only about fifty pages, but it would take me a very long time to fill it. "Oh my god, I love it. Thanks, guys."

"You deserve it. Ten is a very big number." Hershel smiled at me. I smiled back.

"This is from me and Michonne." Rick passed over another gift bag.

"Thank you." I laughed, opening up the bag and laughing again when I saw chocolate. Three bars and two small bags. "Chocolate!" I said excitedly. Everyone laughed at how excited my face was. "I love chocolate. We can all enjoy some of this tonight." I told everyone, eyeing the chocolate.

"You'll share with us?" Maggie questioned.

"No, I'm gonna eat all this chocolate myself." I said, sarcastically. "Of course, I'll share."

"This is from me but it's kinda a continuation of Maggie, Beth and Hershel's present." Glenn handed over a small gift bag.

"Thank you." I smiled when I took it from him. Opening it up, I saw glue, pens, arts and crafts rhinestones and different small tubes of glitter. "I can bedazzle my book." I smiled, everyone laughed at me again. I felt incredibly awkward with everyone looking at me, but they were my family, so I didn't mind so much.

"This is off me and your father." Mum handed me a small bag.

"But, we got another surprise for you later on." Dad patted my back.

"This is already plenty." I laughed. "Thank you." I thanked her when I took the bag, I opened up the bag and pulled out a novel called Fallen by Lauren Kate. "Oh my god, something good to read."

"I have noticed you skipping my reading sessions." Mum raised her eyebrows.

"I- well... Yea." I nodded, not being able to deny it so everyone laughed at me. "Thanks, mum."

"There's something else in there as well." Sophia pointed out.

I reached in and pulled out a necklace. It was a silver necklace and my mouth opened slightly as I saw it. "It's so pretty." I smiled.

"Let's put it on you, shall we." Dad smiled, taking it from my hands and attaching it around my neck.

"I love it, thank you." I said, hugging my dad tightly.

"Happy birthday, princess." Dad smiled.

"Hey, get your camera and take a photo of this. You can put in in your scrap book then." Beth suggested.

"Okay." I agreed, pulling back from my dad and going to get my camera.

After we'd taken a photo together with my presents in it as well, dad told me to get dressed. Since my dad, Carol, Glenn and Rick were all out of isolation now, it was okay for us to socialise together. We all had a bad feeling about this sickness, so we enjoyed time together while none of us were sick.

Me, my dad, Sophia and mum were out in the forest. "Why are we out here, dad?" Sophia asked.

"Because, sweetheart. I got one more present for your sister. But, we needed to be out here to do it... Then, I wanna teach you all a little about tracking. Make sure you can always find food if you need too." Dad responded.

"I thought the prison was safe." I spoke up.

"It's always good to have a plan B." Mum answered.

"Okay." Dad stopped us when we were about twenty feet from a walker who was just kinda standing there. "Princess, do you remember that boomerang you used to have?"

"Yea." I laughed. "I wish we grabbed it when we went back home." I said before turning to Sophia. "I was amazing at the boomerang. Got it to come back to me, every time."

Carol took off her backpack and gave it to my father. "You need a weapon where you can attack walkers without going close to them. If last week taught me anything, it's that. You've only got your gun, which makes noise, and you can run out of bullets. Other than that, you got your pocketknife. Sophia, fortunately, you have your machete which I'll admit you're talented with." Dad explained.

"Thanks." Sophia said, proudly.

"So, Ellie, you needed something." Dad then pulled out of the backpack a boomerang... Except one half of the wood wasn't wood... It was a rounded knife.

"Woah." My eyes widened.

"When you catch it, you know how to only catch one side, right?" Dad asked.

"Whatever end I throw comes back to my hand." I confirmed.

"Good." Dad smiled before turning to the walker. "Hey, freak!" Dad yelled at it. The walker suddenly noticed us and started walking towards us. "You wanna try it out, babe?" Dad grinned.

"Uh- is that even a question? Of course, I do." I nodded, taking it from my dad. I felt the weapon in my hands, I liked the weight of it, it was evenly balanced. I stood straight, raised my arm and threw the boomerang at the walker, the knife end sliced right through the middle of its head before rounding back and coming back to my hand. "Like riding a bike." I commented.

Mum clapped. "That was awesome."

I turned to them. "Is it bad I wanna find walkers just to use this thing?"

"Yes." Sophia nodded with a laugh.

"This is the coolest invention ever!" I jumped up excitedly. 

"You like?" Dad asked.

"I love." I responded, hugging him tightly, causing him to laugh.

"One more thing." Mum pulled out a black leather belt with attachments. She kneeled in front of me before fixing it around my hips. "Me and your dad spent a lot of time working on this to make sure it could hold everything. I sewed together a space for your boomerang, there's a place for your knife, your gun and spare magazines just in case." Mum explained.

"I got one as well, but instead of a space for a boomerang it's for my machete. But, I hid it so it's more of a surprise for you." Sophia smiled, leaning into my dad who put his arms around her shoulders.

I put my gun into its holder, my knife into its holder and my boomerang into its holder. I didn't have any spare magazines on me but I had room for three. "This is the best birthday ever." I said, hugging mum tightly. I'm glad the belt was black leather because it matched my black leather fingerless gloves that I just kept wearing at this point.

"I'm glad you're happy, sweetheart." Mum said in my ear before standing up. I leaned into her as she put an arm around my shoulders, like my dad did with Sophia.

A polaroid picture later and we were learning how to track animals with my dad. We had some hard times ahead of us, there was no denying that. People were going to die. Good people. I didn't want to lose anyone, but the way the world is... It would be inevitable. We knew we had each other. We knew we loved each other. I had my doubts about us becoming a family, I was still scared to lose one of them... I knew my tenth birthday would be one of the best days of my life. It gave me a new courage, a new hope... Hope that we'd beat this illness spreading through our home. Hope that we'd kill the walkers surrounding us everywhere that we went... Hope that the Governor would never show his face again. Would hope be enough?