Mrs Tanner

Ben Tanner

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"Nope. I don't wanna go. I'm not going. Can't do it. Won't do it. Sounds like a terrible idea." I told everyone, walking downstairs and entering the living room after getting ready for school in the bathroom.

"Ellie, school isn't that bad." Carl told me.

"Easy for you to say. You make friends, you're smart, some people think you're cool." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"You think I'm cool?" Carl asked.

"Course not, you're a loser but I love you anyways." I shrugged. Carl laughed and shook his head.

"Mi amor, everyone has to go to school. It's only four hours anyways, instead of the normal six." Rosita comforted me.

"Why do I need school anyways? When am I ever going to need to know how to add fractions together, or know how to write a narrative story? I'm gonna spend the rest of my life gathering supplies. And, by rest of my life- I mean probably the next six to eight months, I really don't see my life span being that long." I ranted.

"Don't talk like that, Ellie. I don't wanna hear that crap again, you're going to school. That's final." Dad ordered before leaving the house.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the mat." I complained.

"You're his daughter, he doesn't want to hear about you dying. None of us do. So, take your lunch and go do math." Rosita handed me a brown paper bag.

"Y'all get real pressed over a joke." I sighed. "Wish me luck in Hell."

"Good luck." Mum called with a teasing look on her face. I rolled my eyes with a smile on my face before leaving the house. 

I walked pretty much to the other side of Alexandria and saw that Ben and Sam were already in there. "Heads up, it's the freak." Ben commented. Sam laughed but the lady glared at him.

"Ben, I raised you better than that." She tutted.

"Sorry, mom." The boy grumbled.

She shook her head before looking to me and a kind smile took over her features. "Hi, Ellie. You must be nervous about your first day. You have nothing to worry about though."

"Where's all the other kids?" I asked.

"This is it for the younger kids class." She shrugged.

"So, I'm stuck with just these two?" I questioned.

"You're stuck with us? You're the one who nearly cried over a toy car." Sam pointed out.

"Boys, do you want to spend your break time in here with me? Or running around and playing football?" She raised her eyebrows. They both slinked in their chairs, whispering to each other as she went and stood over by the white board. "I'm Mrs Tanner, I'll be-" She stopped talking when she realised I was walking away. "Oh, Ellie!" She called after me.

"I'm not feeling well, Mrs Tanner. Maybe tomorrow." I responded.

As I was walking, I saw Tara, Glenn and Noah talking to two men. "Shouldn't you be in school?" Glenn asked me.

"Nah, teacher's ill today. Sent us home. What are you guys doing?" I questioned, eyeing the weapons they had.

"Going on a run." Noah answered.

"Can I come?" I asked.

"No way." One of the men shook his head. I realised we met him by the gate, his name was Nicholas.

I scoffed. "I have more experience out there than you do."

"Come on, really? You're a kid. You can't go out there." The other man denied. 

"Aiden, I don't mean to overstep, but she's really good. If she's got nothing else to do today, we could use the help." Glenn defended me.

Aiden sighed. "Go ask your parents and grab your weapons. If you're not at the gate in ten minutes, we're leaving without you."

I nodded with a smile on my face to the man before I turned to Glenn. "Thanks." I said quickly before running off. I ran back to the house and saw dad on the porch. "Hey, daddy."

"Oi, what are you doing here?" Dad questioned.

"Cooking lessons today so I don't need my lunch. I know you probably won't eat so here, eat it." I grinned passing him the lunch. "You're right, school's awesome. Bye, daddy."

"Uh- bye." Dad got out before I ran away. I felt a little guilty as I turned around and saw the proud smile on his face, but I didn't waver my plan.

I checked out my weapons from Olivia, grabbing my belt and attaching it around my hips before running to the gates. "Oh, she actually made it." Nicholas nodded.

"Told you she would." Noah stated, proudly. 

We were outside of Alexandria, just walking for now. "We've been increasing our radius mile by mile, spreading in a semicircle around the town." Aiden told us.

"We've made it fifty three miles out so far." Nicholas added.

"We break into two groups when we step outside our vehicle." Aiden started. This was just a basic hunting run, not a proper one, but he was explaining what happens on a proper run.  "If shit hits, we fire a flare. One group gets the other."

"Good system." Noah acknowledged.

"It is." Aiden agreed. "Still, you're standing here because we lost four people last month."

"What happened?" Glenn asked.

"We were on a run. Roamers came out... They didn't follow the system." Aiden informed us.

"They were good people." Nicholas agreed.

"They were... They were just scared." Aiden spoke quietly. It sounded like there was a hint of guilt in his voice, but I didn't push that fact. "Look, I can be a hard-ass. And, I know I'm a douchebag.  Someone's got to call the ball around here and that someone is me. If you're on this crew you do exactly as I say."

Tara, Noah and Glenn exchanged looks. I wasn't on the crew. I was just tagging along. "Sorry, that you lost your people." I stated.

"Yea. We got ours." Aiden nodded as he and Nicholas exchanged smiles which made me furrow my eyebrows.

"Managed to snag one of the dead heads that took them down." Nicholas told us as we walked into a secluded part of the forest. "Strung it up there."

My eyes widened as I looked to Glenn. He nodded at me before speaking. "What? Why?"

"Now, we have a little pregame ritual. Get our heads on straight." Nicholas spoke, ignoring Glenn's questions.

"Remind us what we're up against." Aiden added. We approached the area where there was a bloody chain hanging from a tree, but no walker. "Son of a bitch!" Aiden let out. "Help me find it."

"Look at this shit." Nicholas shook his head. "Blood's still wet. It's nearby." Nicholas whistled loudly as Aiden lowered the chain.

"Shh." Tara ordered.

"The hell's wrong with you two?" I looked between Aiden and Nicholas.

Nicholas was about to whistle again so Glenn spoke. "Hey, it's gone. Leave it."

"It took down one of our friends." Aiden sounded angry. "It's nearby, we're not letting it go."

Nicholas whistled again and clapped his hands. "This is a disaster." I said to Noah.

That's when we heard the groaning. There was a walker approaching Nicholas. Noah got his gun out to shoot it. "No, don't touch it." Nicholas ordered.

"The rest of you back off!" Aiden yelled. He got behind the walker and grabbed its arms. He tried to chain them up but the walker skin was too rotted. It turned to him and tried to eat him, obviously. Aiden pushed it back and it hit Tara. She tried holding onto the skin on its back but it was just ripping from the walkers body. It turned to her and went to eat her. Tara put on hand on its neck and the other on its shoulder to keep it at bay.

"Screw this." I let out. "Tara, duck!" I yelled.

She did as I said. I threw my boomerang, slicing the head in half before my weapon came back to me. The knife end was covered in blood, but I just put it back in its pocket on my belt that my mum made. The body fell to the floor, the head sliced in half. "What the Hell!" Aiden yelled at me, taking a couple steps towards me so Glenn stood in front of me.

"Yea, what the Hell!" Tara yelled, but at Aiden.

"You almost got Tara killed." Glenn hissed at Aiden.

"I told you all to stay back!" Aiden shouted. "I told you to listen to every damn thing I say! I told you that." Aiden stopped yelling as he was just breathing loudly.

Glenn turned from him, taking my hand and we started walking back to Alexandria. Tara and Noah were quick to follow. "You alright?" I asked Tara who was walking by my side.

"Thanks to you." She nodded with a small smile on her lips.

We walked through the gates of Alexandria. "You three need knew gigs. Ellie isn't tagging along again." Aiden announced to us. We all kept walking, Aiden and Nicholas behind us. "You're not ready for runs yet."

"Yea, pretty sure you got that backwards." Glenn retorted.

"Hey, hey." Aiden came up behind us, touching Glenn on the shoulder. I was still holding Glenn's hand so he gently pushed me towards Tara and Noah who also stopped walking... Probably in case a fight broke out. "Look, we got a way of doing things around here."

"You tied up a walker." I challenged.

"It killed our friend!" Aiden yelled at me.

"Hey, don't raise your voice at her." Glenn pointed at Aiden's chest.

Aiden scoffed. "I'm not having this conversation. Look, you obey my orders out there."

"Then we're just as screwed as your last run crew." Glenn nodded. I saw dad approaching and cursed under my breath as his eyes focused on me. He then flickered his eyes to Glenn and Aiden.

Aiden got in Glenn's face. "Say that again."

"Back off, Aiden." Tara tried.

Aiden took another step towards Glenn. "Come on, man. Take a step back." Noah put his hand out slightly.

Aiden pushed Glenn's chest. "Come on, tough guy."

I walked between them, standing directly in front of Glenn and facing Aiden. I pulled out my pocket knife and gently touched it to his abdomen. "Leave him alone." I ordered.

"Nobody's impressed, man. Walk away." Glenn quietly ordered Aiden.

"What's going on over here!" Deanna yelled as she ran over.

"They have a problem with the way we do things here." Aiden took a step back from my knife and turned to Deanna. I forgot he was her son, we might be screwed. I lowered my knife, but still held it in my hand. "Why did you let these people in?"

"Because we actually know what we're doing out there." Glenn challenged.

Aiden turned around, in one motion he grabbed my hair and pushed me over to Nicholas. I saw Aiden swing at Glenn but Glenn ducked before he punched Aiden in the face. That was before Nicholas threw me into the metal wall so I hit my head and slumped to the floor at the bottom. I saw my dad tackle Nicholas to the floor. Dad punched him in the face before Rick was at dad's side, holding his fist back.

"That's enough! I said that's enough!" Deanna yelled.

"Woah, woah. Let's not do this now." Rick said in my dad's ear.

Aiden stood up, Michonne stood right in front of him when he looked ready to fight. "You wanna end up on your ass again?" She questioned.

"Daryl, let him go." Rick pulled my dad up who begrudgingly stepped back from the man. Dad kept walking to the side of Rick, to try and see Nicholas, maybe pounce on him again... But Rick walked with him, keeping his hand on my dad's chest to hold him back.

"Are you alright, Ellie?" Deanna asked me. I nodded, standing up and walking over to my dad who grabbed my arm and held it tightly by his side. He wasn't trying to hurt me, and it didn't hurt, but I could tell by the pressure that he was mad at me. "I want everyone to hear me, okay?" Deanna spoke loudly. I hadn't even realised the crowd that had surrounded us. "Rick and his people are part of this community now in all ways as equal! Understood?"

Deanna glared at her son who nodded. "Understood."

"All of you turn in your weapons!" She told everyone, before turning to Nicholas and her son. "Then you two come talk to me." Everyone else walked away so it was just me, my dad, Rick, Deanna, Michonne, Noah, Tara and Maggie who had come from somewhere. Deanna faced Rick. "I told you I have a job for you. I want you to be our constable. That's what you were. That's what you are." Deanna then turned to Michonne. "And you, too... Will you both accept?"

Rick nodded. "Okay."

"Yea, I'm in." Michonne agreed.

Dad scoffed, picking up his crossbow and we started walking away. I would've stayed if his grip on my arm wasn't so tight. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"You're going to put your weapons back and then I'm dragging your ass back to school. You still got two hours left." Dad responded.

"Please, I don't wanna go back." I tried.

"And I don't wanna have to tackle a guy just because you ran your mouth and got yourself into trouble. But, I will. Cause that's my job, I protect you. Your job is to go to school." Dad continued.

"You're hurting my arm." I complained. 

He instantly let go and put his hand on the top of my back instead. "Sorry, baby." He muttered. "You lied to me. So, for that you're grounded or something."

"Grounded or something?" I asked.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "How'd your mama used to punish you?"

I stopped in my tracks, dad slowed to a stop. It slowly dawned on him as he turned to face me. My scared expression looked like it broke him. "You-"

"No, princess, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I forgot-" He started.

"You forgot?" I asked.

He sighed and shook his head, squatting down and beckoning me forward. I didn't move. "I'm trying not to think about it... Because I can't do that to myself. The guilt, the... The thought of you in pain... I didn't think before I spoke. I would never hurt you. Not on purpose. I'm sorry, angel." I ran towards him and hugged him before it looked like tears would fall from his eyes. "I'm sorry, darling."

"It's alright." I whispered.

He picked me up as we started walking again. "Ya know, it's only two hours. How about you start school tomorrow? Your mum was about to start baking cookies with Sophia. I think you should help out."

"Will you stay?" I asked.

Dad nodded. "Okay, sure. If you want me too."

I laughed. "Of course I want you to stay."