Me and Rick were in the storage room. It was very small though, however I did find some food on the shelves. "Eat." I ordered Rick, handing him a jar of peanut butter.

"Thank you." He nodded at me, scooping it out with his hand and feeding it to himself. I grabbed a flash light from a shelf and flickered it on. After scanning the place with the small light, I spotted a vent in the corner of the room. 

"Reckon you could fit through that?" I asked Rick, focusing the light on the vent.

"If it means saving our family." Rick nodded.

I smiled at him, before I climbed the shelf and sat on the top one. I grabbed a tool box and opened it, sifting through it until I found the right screwdriver. I smiled triumphantly, putting the torch in my mouth so I could keep the light on the screws. I put my left hand on the vent while my right worked the screwdriver to get all the bolts out. It only took a few minutes to complete. When I looked back down to Rick, he'd eaten the jar of peanut butter, two apples and drank two bottles of water. "You refuelled?" 

He wiped his mouth using the back of his hand. "Let's kill these sons of bitches."

I climbed into the vent, waiting for Rick to climb up the shelves before he too got into the vent. I had to hold my dress up with my mouth because trust me when I say: it is physically impossible to climb with a below the knees dress. Rick was okay. Dressed in a white vest and light grey jogging bottoms. We got to another vent cover, I peered down and it just seemed to be a hallway. An empty one. "It's a big jump."

"I'll go first and catch you." Rick said.

"Don't take this the wrong way, mama Rick. But, you ain't exactly what you used to be." I told him, starting to kick in the vent. It wasn't really working with my heal though.

"Let me try." Rick said. I crawled over the vent and sat on the other side. Rick brought his legs in front of him, and brought his right one down harshly onto the vent. It instantly gave in and fell to the ground. It made a bang sound which echoed around the hallway.  "You were saying?"

I clicked my tongue. "Okay, so... Yea. Okay."

Rick laughed, before jumping down through the vent. He looked left, behind him and then right. "Come on, I'll catch you."

I scoffed. "Please, don't drop me."

Rick just grinned which gave me no sense of security. At all. However, we had more pressing matters. I shut my eyes before I pushed myself off the edge feet first. I held back a scream as I fell a few feet before I felt arms wrap around my middle. I opened my eyes to be faced with Rick. He kissed my forehead, before putting me on the ground. "I would never drop ya." Rick grinned. 

I was about to respond, when I heard soldiers running down the hallway behind him. I pushed the man outta the way and raised my machine gun, I shot all seven soldiers. Their reaction time was very slow, only the last one managed to shoot a few bullets. However, they all missed.

181.

"Alright, let's go get our people back." I responded, starting to walk down a hallway.

"Who's dead, Ellie?" Rick asked.

"Sorry?" I pushed.

He let out a breath. "It's been six years. I still remember what it's like out there. Who's dead?"

I felt a pain in my chest. "Let's just get outta here before we have that talk. Like I said, you missed a lot." I said, shooting a soldier that was running our way.

182.

"I see that." He glanced at me.

"I had a growth spirt." I nodded.

"Still short though." He smirked. We heard two soldiers running at us from behind. We both turned in sync. I shot the one on the right, he shot the one on the left.

"I'm 5'4. That's average." I huffed

Rick chuckled as we continued down the hallway we were walking. I recognised one of the hallways that we were at. This was where me and Carl got separated. I looked right, before going left. "Carl!" Rick called.

"Shh, are you trying to get us killed?" I asked.

"Dad!" I heard Carl call back. I took the keys from Rick who was stunned into not moving. I ran to the source and tried all the keys to unlock Carl's cell. Finally, the sixth key unlocked it. Carl quickly exited his cell and saw his dad. "Dad?" Carl's voice broke. Rick looked at him with a shocked but overjoyed expression. "Dad! Dad!" Carl screamed, running towards his father. Rick was quick to wrap  Carl up in a hug as soon as they got to each other.

I smiled at the interaction before walking further down the hallway to find mama. I shot three soldiers on the way.

185.

I counted them out in my head, picturing the blue prints. Finally, I got there. As soon as I was there, she made me jump as I saw her standing by the bars, trying to see the commotion Carl had made. Her eyes snapped to mine. "Mama?" I smiled.

"Ellie!" She yelled, putting her arms through the bars to grab ahold of me. I began trying to unlock her cell, it being the thirteenth key that I tried. As soon as the gate was open, she threw herself at me. Her arms wrapped around me tightly, I reciprocated. "How long have you been awake?"

"Literally just over a month." I laughed a little, pulling back to see her face.

She cupped my cheeks with her hands. "Oh, my sweet girl. I never thought I'd see you again." Tears welled in her eyes.

My voice came out as nothing other than a squeak. "I'm right here, mama. I'm right here." I said as she hugged me again. "I'm not going anywhere... Actually, we do have to go." I responded, pulling back with a smile again. I grabbed her hand and we ran down the hallway to Carl and Rick.

Mama froze in her spot when she saw the pair. "Michonne!" Rick yelled, running down the hall.

"Rick!" Mama shouted back, running to meet him half way.

I wanted to stay to watch the reunion, but I heard a yell. "You best let me go!" It was my dad. I ran past the three to see my father being dragged to a cell. I shot the two guards who were dragging him.

187.

He jumped in surprise, looking at the two dead, before looking up to me. "I got them." I told him.

Dad looked shocked for a few moments, before he ran towards me. He hugged me quickly, before I grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the reunion. "Rick?" Dad's voice asked, shaking slightly.

Rick slowly turned around, a smile growing on his face. "Hey, brother."

Dad moved over to hug Rick, Rick hugging him back quickly. Tears quickly met my eyes. "I missed you, man." Dad muttered.

"What about me?" Mama asked, smiling as she walked over.

"Come here." Dad chuckled hugging her.

"Ellie!" I heard my name being called from down the hall. I turned and saw Chris running towards us.

"What the fuck?" Rick furrowed his eyebrows, recognising the man instantly.

"I know." I nodded with a grin.

"Rosita wanted me to give you this." Chris said, handing over a black remote with a red button on it.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The detonator." Chris responded. "The dynamite is set all over this place, she said it's your call whether you wanna blow it or not. All the old folk are on the busses on the other side of town. It took longer than we thought it would, but it's finally done."

"Alright, this place is crawling with variants so we have to go." Carl stated, just as a couple of them came running down the hallway from our right. Rick shot them both without question. I handed dad my handgun. 

We began running. "You alright?" I asked Carl.

"I'm sorry, Ellie." Carl started.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "For what?"

"Ever blaming you at all. It's never been your fault, but I was to blinded by rage to see that. You're my sister, and I love you, and I forgive you. I should've said those words a long time ago." Carl told me.

I smiled at him. "You got nothing to apologise for, Carl. I love you too, brother."

Me and Carl were at the front of the group, just as we were about to pass a turning to another hallway. We were being fired at. I put my hand on Carl's chest to make sure we both backed up a bit so we'd be protected behind the wall. "How many?" Dad asked.

"I'm not sure." I responded.

"We don't have time to waist." Mama pointed out.

"I know, I know." I muttered, I took Rick's machine gun off of him and handed it to dad, while I gave Rick the handgun I'd previously given to my father. "Alright, stay behind me. I'll run with you and shoot. Dad, you stay this side of the wall and shoot as well."

"Nu uh, other way round." Dad shook his head.

"No time." I denied, handing Carl the detonator. "Come on." I said, going out into the opening so I began firing at the men. This let mama, Rick, Carl and Chris travel behind the safety of my gun. There were quite a lot of soldiers. 

"Ellie, damnit!" Dad yelled.

I managed to kill eight before I got to the safety of the wall. 

195.

"That was stupid!" Carl shouted at me.

"Just start running to the busses. I'll cover dad and then we'll catch up." I responded.

"We're not leaving you-" Mama started.

"We don't have time for that crap! Just go!" I yelled. Carl put the detonator on the ground for me.

"Damnit, you be safe!" Rick instructed as him and the others started to run off. I put my hand over my stomach as I looked back to my father who nodded at me. We both went round the corner and shot the rest of the men. He killed four. I killed five.

200.

I let out a pained breath, putting my hand back over my stomach. Dad walked over to me. "Come on, we best be going."

I nodded, as we began running through the building. I could hear the growls of the variants somewhere in the distance. They were mixed with the bloodcurdling screams of soldiers.

Finally, me and dad got out the one door that was free to leave through. Dad grabbed the chain and padlock that had been left there earlier and quickly locked it. We started running away from the door, before I had to stop. Dad turned to me. "What? What is it? We have to go."

I shook my head, wobbling slightly. "I'm not going anywhere."

"What? Why not?" Dad grunted. I dropped the gun to the ground, and slowly moved my hand. This revealed the crimson red blood that now stained my palm. Dad quickly paled, as he shook his head and took a step back. "No." He denied, his voice coming out a few octaves higher as tears pooled his eyes. "No, not you. Of all people, not you! You can't do this to me! You don't get to do this! It's not fair!" Dad yelled, his voice a mess as it cracked and squeaked, this attracted the attention of about twelve variants that had been outside. Dad emptied the gun onto them, screaming at the top of his lungs as he did so. Sobs left his mouth as he turned to me. "We can still fix it!"

I shook my head. "We won't get back in time, and there's nothing in the RV or the busses." Tears welled my eyes. "I'm sorry, daddy."

Dad shook his hand again, running his fingers through his hair. "Not my baby. No, no, not my little girl. Please no." He cried.

"You have to go." I told him.

"No!" He yelled.

My legs started to give out, he came to me quickly and helped me down. He sat down letting my lay across his lap, my head resting on his right arm, as my legs were to his left. His left hand was on my right cheek, his thumb caressing my skin softly. Tears were in his eyes as a sob escaped his throat. "Please, don't cry. I don't wanna see you cry, daddy."

He nodded, his voice came out as barely a whisper. "I'm sorry, princess. I'm so sorry." 

I let a small sob rip past my lips. "I wanted to live. For the first time in a long time... I wanted to live."

Dad looked away from me briefly, before looking back to me. "How do I fix this? I want to fix this."

I shook my head. "You can't. Believe it or not, there are some things that you can't do... Ya know, I should've seen it coming. Meeting Chris Evans was too much good luck in the world for me."

Dad bit his bottom lip to stop it from trembling. "You deserve the world. You're my little girl, why is this... It's not fair."

I could feel my time slipping away. "Can you smile for me? I just want to see you smile."

It took him a few seconds, but he managed to force one onto his face. This made me smile. "You have such a beautiful smile, angel."

I inhaled sharply which made me wince. "This may not have been the ending I wanted... But, I'm happy. I'm with you, daddy. You don't have to be sad. This is my happy ending."

Dad smiled sadly. "I love you so, so much, princess."

I nodded. "I love you, daddy... You gotta take care of Maggie and Hershel, okay? I promised Glenn... And for god sake tell Connie that you like her. Just let yourself be happy. Please. I want nothing more than for you to be happy."

Dad could tell I was close too. "I promise, I'll do all of that, my love." He kissed my forehead. "Goodnight, angel. Sweet dreams." He whispered against the skin of my forehead. My eyes flickered closed, but I didn't take my last breath. Not just yet. I felt him pull back to look at my face as I heard a sob rip from his lips. He pulled me into his chest as he screamed. "My baby! Oh god, why my little girl!" He yelled out, rocking me back and forth. "I'm sorry, darling. Oh god, I'm so, so sorry."

Everyone is a story. Stories have endings. This is mine. Thank you for being there with me.