I was quite literally dragged from bed. My body hit the floor as someone sat on me before starting to tickle my sides. This woke me up as I squealed laughing, trying to get away. I opened my eyes and saw Carl. "Hell you doing, Cotton Eyed Joe?" I complained.

"Waking you up." Carl said like it was obvious. 

"Get off me." I laughed, pushing at his stomach before he gave me a hand up. I looked over to Sophia who was putting her hair into a French braid.  "Morning, Sunshine."

"They got bacon!" Jessie yelled into the room before running.

I shook my head. "It's too early for this crap."

Carl wrapped his arms around my shoulders and rested his chin at the top of my head. "You love us really."

I shrugged. "When you're silent maybe." I took my hair out of its ponytail so I could re-do it neatly, be somewhat presentable. Carl started tickling my side again. My hands were occupied so I tried jumping away and keeping him away with my left leg. "Carl freaking Grimes, I will take your other eye if you keep doing that."

"You would not think that you two are a couple of the best fighters this world has." Sophia commented.

"He started it." I muttered.

"You should've woken up." Carl defended.

"Why? Chris Evans was much more entertaining." I said, smiling.

"You are head over heals." Carl scoffed.

"Yes, sir." I finished with my hair, before walking out of the room.

Me, Sophia and Carl had quite literally stuffed our faces at breakfast. "Oh my god, if I eat anymore. I'm gonna explode." Sophia said, before putting another strawberry in her mouth. "Would totally be worth it."

"Everyone is staring at us." Carl said, his mouth full of bacon before he added a grape.

"Let them stare." I shrugged, biting into my bacon butty again. "I think I forgot what bread tastes like before today."

"I baked you children a cake." A kind looking lady said, smiling at us. "I couldn't help but notice how skinny you all are; I heard that your food situation was tough, and, well... I just couldn't help myself. I'm Nabila."

My mouth was agape at the chocolate cake in front of my eyes. I slowly reached out and took the plate. "You're a God, Nabila. A God."

"She means thank you." Sophia laughed as I took a fork and ate some of the cake, humming happily at the taste.

"I thought I made that clear. Did I not make that clear? I'm sorry." I spoke with my mouth full. "This cake is Heaven."

"Agreed." Carl said, his mouth equally as full.

"There you guys are. Your parents sent me to come get- is that cake?" Sasha said, approaching us and standing by Nabila. 

"It's not just cake. It's a God given gift." I answered, scooping some onto the fork and holding it out for Sasha. She ate it off the fork and a smile appeared on her face.

She hummed. "That is amazing."

"Oh, thank you. All of you." Nabila smiled, her smile was wide and beautiful.

"Really, thank you. But, we really better be off." Sasha nodded.

"Okay. Uhm..." I trailed off. "Oh, here." I put my fork down. I then grabbed each side of the cake with my hands and lifted it off the plate. "Carl, get the bottom." He put his hands under the chocolate cake. "Soph, the plate."

"Oh." Sophia passed the plate back to the woman. "Usually we try to clean the plates. Maybe if I..." Sophia trailed off, using her finger to try and scoop some icing from the plate. "I did my best." Sophia handed the plate back to the woman.

A confused but polite smile took over the woman's face. "Uh- yes. Thank you. I hope to see you children again soon. Come find me if you do come back. I'll bake you another."

"Nabila, I think I'm in love with you." I deadpanned.

She smiled, laughed, nodded, before walking off. "She's so sweet." Carl said as we started trying to walk together to support the cake.

Sasha and Sophia had gotten quite ahead of us, but me and Carl were slower. You try walking with someone who you need to be in sync with to support a cake. However, we finally caught up with the others. I saw Jessie holding a long stick, like Morgan's, as he talked to Morgan and another boy who looked to be about seventeen. Ezekiel was talking to Rick. "The peace we have with the Saviours is uneasy, but it is peace. I have to hold onto it. I have to try. Although, the Kingdom cannot grant you the aid you desire, the King is sympathetic to your plight. I offer our friends Daryl and Dr Ackles asylum for as long as they require it." Ezekiel spoke. This suddenly brought a damper on my morning which had previously been pretty happy. "They will be safe here. The Saviours do not set foot inside our walls."

"How long do you think that's going to last?" Dad challenged the King.

Dad started walking away, followed by Rick, Michonne, Rosita, Sasha, Sophia... Well, everyone. Me and Carl were at the back, we tried to keep up but the cake was literally more important than our people.  "I got icing running down my hands." Carl pointed out.

"Suck it up, Carl. This is cake we're talking about." I muttered.

"You're right." He nodded.

We all gathered by the gate. Richard was going on a mini rant, he disagreed with his King's orders. "Is that cake?" Tara asked me and Carl.

"They literally scooped it off a plate. I've never been so proud." Sophia smiled at us.

The gate started to open when Jessie spoke. "Uhm... I'm staying." He said to us all, he looked visibly nervous when all eyes went to him. "Morgan and Benjamin said they'd help train me. I want to be able to fight. Protect myself. Protect your people. Not just against the Saviours, but from walkers, and all the other threats out there. They talked to Ezekiel, he said it was okay."

Rick nodded. "Okay. That's good, that you want to be able to protect yourself. To survive, you have to be able too... One thing though... It's our people, now. You're a part of us." Rick clamped a hand onto the boy's shoulder, which made him smile brightly. "Daryl and Dr Ackles will stay with you."

"What?" Dad furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yea, I'm with him. What?" I pushed.

"I ain't staying here." Dad shook his head.

"Shouldn't I go to Alexandria? Your people haven't had a doctor for a long time." The doc spoke up.

"You have to stay here. It's the smartest play." Rick denied, dad looked like he was about to argue, so Rick continued. "Try to talk to Ezekiel. Or stare him into submission, whatever it takes."

I laughed at Rick's comment about my dad's silent nature. I got a side eye from my father. "Sorry, it was a little funny."

"We'll be back soon." Rick put his hand on my father's shoulder. "Babysit the doc and the kid."

Dad glanced at Jessie, then at Dr Ackles before nodding. Sophia instantly moved forward to hug dad. He hugged her back, before he kissed the top of her head. "Can I stay too? I don't want to leave you again." Sophia whispered, but loud enough for me to hear.

"They need all the able bodied fighters they can get, sweetheart. Nobody's better than you when it comes to machetes. Nevermind two of them. You have to go help them." Dad responded, not letting go of Soph.

She nodded, wiping tears from her eyes, taking a step back. "I love you."

Dad tapped her cheek. "I love you."

Sophia looked away, hugging the first person who happened to be Michonne. Michonne didn't hesitate to hug Sophia back. Dad looked to me. I licked my lips, before clearing my throat. "You'll be safe here."

He nodded. Dad moved closer and wrapped his arms around my upper body. I'm not gonna lie, I prioritied the cake, so I simply leaned into him. He kissed the top of my head. "I love you."

"What's not to love." I scoffed. Dad dipped his finger in the icing and put it on my nose. I laughed and tried to pull back. "Okay, I'm sorry. I love you."

He laughed, tapping my back. "Be careful out there. All of you." Dad said to us all. Richard tried handing me my gun, but my hands were full so dad took it and put it in my belt.

After leaving Morgan, my father and Jessie behind, we got in the cars and were off. I swapped cars with Sophia, because I needed to be with Carl so I could support the cake with him. The cars were forced to stop when there were about twelve cars blocking the road. "It's got to be the Saviours, right?" Michonne said.

"Look, I think that's the base over there." Carl nodded out the window. Over a dense forest, and some smaller buildings, I saw the apartment I had my not so great escape situation with, that's when I saw the Sanctuary.

"Yea, that's it." I agreed.

"Must be trying to make it hard to get to them." Rick pointed out. "We gotta keep going. We'll move them, then we'll move them back. They don't need to know we were here."

"Sounds like so much fun." I muttered. Me and Carl slowly settled the cake on the seat in between us. "Nobody moves this car until me and Carl have secured the cake." I announced to everyone as we all got out. Rick repeated the plan to the others.

It took us nearly twenty minutes, but we finally did it. However, when that problem was crossed off the list, we discovered another. On the other road across a barrier... There was like wire, with dynamite rolled up with it. "What do we do now?" Sophia pinched the bridge of her nose.

"W.W.C.E.D?" I stated, deadpan.

"Huh?" Sasha furrowed her eyebrows. 

"Would would Chris Evans do." Sophia shook her head, a sigh leaving her lips. "Ellie's been obsessed pretty much since she laid eyes on the man. Who was on a screen."

"Can you blame me?" I shrugged.

"No, I can not." Sasha smirked.

I gasped. "You love the Evans too." I pointed at her.

"Of course." Sasha shrugged.

"Sasha, here's the plan. We're going to get all the Chris Evans movies' DVDs we can get our hands on. Then, we're going to eat snacks and binge watch them all." I nodded.

Sasha laughed. "Deal, kid." She held out her hand for me to high five which I happily did. I saw Rosita looking between the two of us with a clenched jaw. She still wasn't too keen on Sasha... I didn't really blame her, but Rosita had told me that I didn't need to hold grudges on her behalf. Rosita even told me she wasn't mad at Sasha, but the look on her face told me otherwise.

"That's why it's a steel cable. It's not just for one walker. It's for a lot." Rosita pointed out, looking away from me and Sasha. Carl had realised it was for a herd.

We looked down the highway, just to make sure there was in fact no herd on its way. "We need these explosives." Sasha stated.

"Yea... But, we have to figure out how to disarm them first." Rick agreed.

Rosita stepped forward, lifting a panel that was on the ground. She peered inside after chucking the metal grate to the side.

"Uh..." Tara trailed off, taking a step back since she was right behind Rosita. "Okay."

"Backing up is not going to make a difference if this thing goes off." Rosita warned her. Tara pursed her lips together and nodded.

Just as Rosita started doing her Rosita badass stuff, the Saviours walkie went off. "We got ourselves a red situation. I need a search party. See if Daryl ran home like the dumb animal he is to his bitch- Ellie Belly." Negan's voice said.

"On it. Be there in time for lunch." Another Saviour responded. I believe it was Simon.

"Turn that sleepy little burg upside down!" Negan's cheerful voice called.

"That twat just called me a bitch." I muttered.

"He isn't wrong but only we get to call you a bitch." Sophia said, her jaw clenched and anger in her eyes as she stared at the walkie in Jesus' hand.

"We gotta go. We gotta get there before them, but we need these explosives." Michonne pointed out. "We need to clear a path anyway."

"Yea... Rosita?" Rick pushed, he didn't want to get in her way because blowing up wasn't ideal, but we needed to go.

Rosita pulled a small black box from the hole in the ground. "First part's done."

"What now?" Sasha pushed.

"We gotta unwrap the secondary explosives: the dynamite, the RPG's. Make sure these casings are not messed up and don't mess them up either. This thing could still blow." Rosita instructed.

"That's not very reassuring." I pointed out, as I watched Rosita unwrap one so I'd know what to do.

After watching Rosita, I gave it a go. I'm pretty sure I nearly blew us up six times, but it was nearly, so does it really count? I don't think so. Either way, I did it! We had gathered them all and were just sort of inspecting them. "You can load the explosives into the boot as long as they're in good shape. No dents, no tears." Rosita said. "They're not live. They still need to be triggered to be set off."

"Rosita." I called to her as I lifted one for her to see.

She shook her head. "I don't like the look of it." My cousin took it from my hand before running to put it a safe distance from us.

"Dad, look!" Carl pointed down the highway. It could've been a couple, it could've been the start of a few thousand... Probably the latter knowing our luck.

"Okay. There they are." Rick announced to everybody. "But, they're far. We still have time."

"You sure?" Sasha asked.

Rick nodded. "We need these... And we need to get the cars back in front of the on ramp."

"They'll know we took their explosives, so does it matter?" Jesus furrowed his eyebrows.

"We want that herd to stay on the highway. We may need it later." Rick confirmed.

"Okay, Tara, Carl, Sophia, Sasha, Ellie. Come on." Rosita said before we got into the car we'd been loading the explosives into the back of.

We went onto the other side of the road. Tara and Carl started helping Rosita move the cars into place. Rosita was inside, Carl and Tara pushed. Sasha would get in the car for us while me and Sophia pushed.

"Sasha, Jesus, can you get back to the Hilltop on foot?" Rick yelled loud enough for Sasha to hear, as well as Jesus.

"Yea." Sasha agreed, getting out of the car once it was in place.

"Go, me and Soph got this." I nodded to her. 

Sasha smiled and nodded back. "Be careful. I'll see you for that Chris Evans marathon."

I laughed. "You got it."

Then, Sasha and Jesus ran into the forest, to head back to the Hilltop. "I'll drive, you push." Sophia instructed, as we moved onto another car.

"Ellie! Sophia!" Carl yelled.

We looked up to see the herd cutting us off. Me and Soph bolted to the car. Our car. The one Tara, Rosita and Carl were now in. I slammed the door shut after stabbing a walker in the head. "Damnit." I heard Sophia let out.

"We'll figure it out." Rosita comforted her.

"No, I sat on the cake." Soph complained. Rosita had ended up in the drivers seat, Tara in passenger, Carl behind the drivers seat, Sophia in the middle, me behind the passengers.

I laughed. "That is so sad. I might cry, I really wanted that... But that really sucks for you." I said as Sophia pulled out the squished chocolate from under her before chucking it onto the floor. I looked up as all I could see out the windows was walkers. So damn many of them. The left side of the car started to clear, I noticed Rick and Michonne fighting for their lives through the walkers. I didn't hesitate. I rolled down the window, kicking back a couple walkers before climbing onto the roof. I loaded my gun before starting to shoot the walkers around them.

"Mi amor, get back in the car!" I heard Rosita yell.

"El, that isn't safe!" Soph called, but I ignored them as I kept firing. They were literally surrounded, I wasn't going to lose anyone today. I knew they were amazing, and could probably get out of it by themselves... But, that didn't stop me from shooting every walker that I could.

Finally, they got to the car. I shot the walkers by my window before climbing down into the car again. I landed on Sophia's lap who had to move into my seat, Carl was in the middle now, Rick on the other end with Michonne on his lap. I rolled up the window again. "Ellie, that was stupid!" Rick scolded me as Rosita sped away.

"I saved your life seven times." I deadpanned.

He ran a hand down his face, before nodding. "Thank you."

"Anyone who wasn't you would've died doing that." Michonne reminded me.

I laughed. "Good thing that I'm me then isn't it."

Not long later, there was a massive explosion right in the middle of the walkers. Rosita scoffed. "I knew I didn't like the look of that shit."