I was down by the fence, killing walkers with a lead pipe through the metal grate. Recently, they'd been seriously piling up by the fences. I seemed the be the only one worried about something happening. After Rick brought in a bus load of people, a lot of things happened. We found quite a few new people in such a short amount of time. We'd planted crops and found pigs, so we kept them in the field, in some hut thing we'd all built together. On the yard we made somewhere for everyone to cook and eat food. We'd cleared out all the other cell blocks and secured the unsecure parts of the prison. It was a giant, happy sanctuary... A little too happy. 

"They're really piling up, aye?" A voice that I knew all too well asked.

"Go away, Adam." I rolled my eyes. Adam was the short stubby boy we brought in from Woodbury. He was two months older than me and followed me around like a lost puppy. When I glanced at him, he was licking what looked like honey off his fingers.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because it's not safe standing by the fence." I commented. "That's the only reason." I said sarcastically under my breath.

"But you're here." Adam reminded me.

"I'm also better than you." I added.

"Book club is starting soon." Adam told me. We'd freed up the library and replaced a lot of the books, I like to spend my time there, away from everyone and reading. My mum had started a book club for the kids, I hated it though because she only read children's books.

"Then go. My mum will want you there." I said, stabbing another walker in the head.

"But then you'll be lonely." Adam furrowed his eyebrows.

"Just because I'm alone doesn't mean I'm lonely. Go to book club, maybe she'll read The Hungry Caterpillar again." I said with a false smile.

I noticed Glenn approaching from behind Adam. "Mr Rhee, will you tell Ellie she needs to go to book club with me?"

"I'll bring her. You go tell Carol she'll be there soon." Glenn nodded.

"Okay, sir" Then Adam quite literally ran off.

"Thanks for saving me." I smiled before going back to killing the walkers.

"Oh no, I came to get you for book club." Glenn crossed his arms over his chest.

I scoffed. "Thanks, but I've got better things to do."

"Ellie, just because you're ten next week does not mean you've outgrown book club. You're the youngest kid and the only one who doesn't enjoy it. Apart from Carl but that's another issue." Glenn reminded me.

"Just because I'm nine does not mean I wanna hear about the time the dragon saved the damsel in distress." I retorted.

"Come on, Ellie. Sophia likes it." Glenn said to me.

"Oh, you mean Sophia and her new best friend Lizzie?" I scoffed. "I'd rather pass."

Glenn laughed. "You're jealous."

"I'm not jealous. It's not like for nearly a year it was me, Sophia and Carl. I protected them, they protected me, they protected each other. It's not like Carl's completley forgotten about us and hangs out with Patrick all the time. It's not like Sophia's completley forgotten about us and hangs out with Lizzie all the time." I ranted angrily, getting harsher and rougher with how I was stabbing the walkers through the fence.

"Yea, you're right, it's not like that. Sophia's your sister, she hasn't forgotten about you just because she has a new friend. Same with Carl. They still love you, but you gotta remember there's quite a maturity difference between a nine-year-old girl and a thirteen-year-old girl. And boys are different again. Just because you're different people, doesn't mean anything has changed between you from the way they were two months ago." Glenn explained to me. "Why don't you hang out with Mika and Adam?"

"Adam's so clingy and Mika names with the walkers with her sister. They're freaks. I'd rather be by myself." I responded.

Glenn sighed. "At least come away from the fence. You've been at this for nearly an hour. How about you help Rick with the gardening? Read a book in your room? Help serve people breakfast?" Glenn suggested.

"We're going on a run today, right?" I asked.

"Uh... Some of us are, yes." Glenn nodded.

"Good." I handed him my lead pipe. "I'm going with."

"Ellie, that's not quite what I meant." Glenn tried as he followed after me.

I walked around Bob who I heard say. "I'd like to start pulling my weight around here."

"Bob, it's only been a week." Sasha reminded him.

"A week worth of meals. Let the man help." I shrugged, Bob smiled at me and I nodded before walking over to my father. "I'm coming with."

"No." Dad shook his head.

"Glenn told me I could." I shrugged.

"That's not even close to what I said." Glenn joined the conversation.

"Daddy, I wanna help." I requested.

"I know, babe. But-" Dad started.

"No, I wanna come with you. Help in a real way. I know how to handle walkers." I told him.

Dad sighed. "You stay with me, Michonne or Glenn for the sweep. No wondering off. No thinking you know what's best cause trust me, sweetheart, you don't. You see a walker? You figure out in less than a second if it's in easy kill, if it's not you run to me, Michonne or Glenn. You understand me, princess?"

I grinned before hugging my dad tight. "Thank you."

"Army came in and put these fences up. Made it a place for the people to go. Last week, when we spotted this place, there was a bunch of walkers behind this chain link keeping people out like a bunch of guard dogs." Dad explained. Me, dad, Glenn, Bob, Sasha, Tyreese, Michonne and Beth's boyfriend Zack had come on this run.

"So, they all just left?" Bob questioned.

"Give a listen." Sasha commented.

"You drew them out." Michonne realised once she heard the music.

"Put a boom box out there three days ago." Sasha nodded.

"Hooked it up to two car batteries." Glenn added.

"All right, let's make a sweep." Dad said before going through the hole in the fence, I followed behind him. "Make sure it's safe. Grab what you can, we'll come back tomorrow with more people."

We walked through what used to be a car park, avoiding the tents that had been set up. Most the tents had hospital beds inside, each hospital bed had a dead body on. I noticed Bob staring at one of the bodies. "Hey, I stuck up for you to come with us. Don't make me regret it."

He nodded. "Sorry." Bob uttered before walking on after me.

I walked up to my dad who was banging on the glass at the front of the old store. "Just give it a second." My dad said to Zack before dad sat down on the ledge by the window. I stood behind dad and rested my arm on his shoulder before putting my head on my arm. Everyone approached the store, but the others were more spread out whereas Michonne walked over to us.

"Okay, I think I got it." Zack nodded.

"Got what?" Michonne asked.

"Oh, I've been trying to guess what Daryl did before the turn." Zack replied.

"He's been trying ever since I brought him in." Dad added.

"Yea, I was pacing myself." Zack shrugged. "One shot a day."

"All right, shoot." Dad raised his eyebrows.

"Well, the way you are at the prison, you being on the council, you're able to track, you're helping people but you're still being kind of..." Zack trailed off.

"Rude, hypocritical, bossy-" I started.

"I was going to say surly." Zack interrupted with a laugh.

"That too." I agreed.

"Hey." Dad tickled my side causing me to laugh and jump back into Michonne who put her hand on my shoulder.

"Okay, big swing here... Homicide cop." Zack tried.

Michonne suddenly started laughing, so did I, I couldn't help it. "What's so funny?" Dad asked us.

"Nothing." Michonne shook her head, before commenting sarcastically. "It makes perfect sense."

"Actually, the man's right... Undercover." Dad said. My jaw dropped.

"Come on, really?" Zack grinned.

"Yep. But, I don't like to talk about it because I missed out on a lot of Ellie's childhood for it." Dad nodded, before looking away again.

"Dude, come on, really?" Zack asked again.

Dad gave him the look and cleared his throat. "Man, I was hoping that was the answer." I crossed my arms over my chest. 

"How come your daughter doesn't know?" Zack questioned.

A few walkers hit the glass behind my father. "Come on, let's do this." Dad ignored the question.

We opened the doors and easily took care of the six walkers before heading into the store. "All right, we go in. Stay in formation for the sweep. After that, you all know what you're supposed to look for." Sasha said.

"We do?" I raised my eyebrows.

"You're on clothing." Michonne commented.

I nodded. "Oh, yea."

"Any other questions?" Sasha asked.

"Was there ever a time where you weren't the boss of me?" Tyresse questioned.

"Yea, the few years before I was born." Sasha grinned. I laughed at them before going into the store by their side.

I was in the clothing isle. I noticed Michonne nearby. "Michonne, what clothes did we need more of again?"

"Sophia needs a new pair of trousers, girls thirteen to fourteen. Adam needs three new tops he's size boys fourteen to fifteen. We need four men's medium shirts, three men's large shirt. Six women's medium shirts." Michonne informed me, before tapping my head and walking away.

"Should've written that down." I clicked my tongue before pushing my cart. I'd found everything I needed; I was starting to leave the store when I found a pair of black leather fingerless gloves. I smiled, taking the tags off before slipping them on my hands. I wriggled my hands around and they fit great. I smiled before pushing the cart again, before I heard the crash.