NINE. THE FIGHT OF OUR LIVES

      Mia always had a love for books.

Madeline Jones used to read to all her children at bed time. It was part of the nighttime ritual. When Amelia was old enough to read by herself, she fell in love with literature. She asked for a book every year for her birthday and Christmas until they started collecting. The first book she was gifted was Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. It was her favorite book. Even holding the tattered copy in her hands now. It still felt and smelled brand new.

It was one of the only things she had left of her mother. When she opened the front page, she found a picture bookmarked of her with her mom and dad, Lucas, and Paris. It was Christmas Eve. Her mom looked so healthy in the picture. It made her throat tighten.

An appearance at her cell made her close the book and she glance up to see Beth standing at the entrance. She had a distance look on her face. She came in and sat on her bed. "Zack's dead."

Mia's face fell. She put the book down and sat beside her. "Are you okay?"

She just shrugged. "I have to be."

"It's okay to be sad, Beth. You lost someone you cared about."

"I'm just glad I didn't say goodbye." She spoke like it was nothing. But really, it was everything. Beth was still a teenager. Her heart was soft and gentle. She hurt. Teen girls always hurt.

Mia frowned and looped her arm through hers. She leaned her head against her shoulder. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

She felt Beth lean her head on hers.

Mia woke up to sunlight peaking into her cell. Her eyes fluttered open and she groaned. It was a calm, quiet morning. She heard the sound of chatter from the level below her. Mia lazily climbed off the bed and ran her hands through her short, knotted hair. When she turned around, she was faced with a snarling walker and she screamed.

"MIA!"

Her screams drowned out Daryl's voice. The undead creature grabbed her arm and jerked her towards it. Mia screamed again and she pushed against its shoulders in attempt to get away but its jaws snapped at her.

Blood splattered on her and the walls when Daryl shot an arrow through the walker's dead. Mia yelped in fear when it dropped to the ground. He came running into her spell. "You alright? Did it get ya" his thick accent announced.

She shook her head, unable to form words.

"We gotta lock the gates!" She heard Sasha shout.

Mia followed Daryl out of the cell and everyone ran to lock the gates to the tombs. She rushed outside in the bright sunlight where Rick, Carol, and Glenn stood. "Walkers in D!" Glenn shouted frantically.

"What about C?" Shouted Rick, running at full speed.

"Cleared. We locked the gates to the tombs. One of them almost got Mia." Answered Sasha with shaky breaths.

He looked down at the teenage who was still shaken up. "Mia, go follow Carl. Now!" He ordered.

Mia found Carl running to the gate, Michonne riding a horse towards it. "Mia, help me!" He shouted at her when he saw her coming.

The teenagers grabbed a hold of the ropes and yanked down as hard as they could to open the metal gate. Mia groaned when she felt the rope cut into her hands. The horse carrying Michonne came running through the gate but a walker managed to slip through, multiple following behind. Mia's eyes went wide. "Michonne!"

They watched her jump off the horse and she shoved the walkers back. Carl ran and grabbed two shot guns by the fence. He quickly handed one to Mia. The teenage girl looked between him and then gun frantically. She quickly stopped him when he positioned the gun between the metal. "Wait! We can't shoot. We could hit her!"

"I know!" Carl shouted back, feeling extremely worried.

The walkers backed Michonne up and she tripped over a wire, taking both her and the undead creatures down. Mia positioned the heavy artillery between the fence, anxiously searching for an open shot, but her hands were shaking too bad to try.

Michonne kicked a walker and it went backwards. Carl shot it in the head. Maggie came running out of the guard tower and helped open the gate. It was all happening so fast. Mia's shaky breaths echoed in her ears, drowning out the sound of Michonne's scream of pain. Drowning out the firing bullets. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.

Maggie helped Michonne through the gate and Mia quickly grabbed the horse, leading it inside the camp. Panic rattled her heart at the sight of all the waters sluggishly making their way to the fence. "Oh, my god." She breathed.

"We have to get her back." Maggie referred to a limping Michonne.

Carl rushed to the other side of her and threw Michonne's arm around his shoulder. Mia followed close behind all the way back to cell block C where Rick standing outside. Carl let go of Michonne and ran to his father.

"Hey, you might want to stay back—" Carl crashed into his father and his arms wrapped around his waist as tight as they could.

"Dad, I'm sorry. I didn't see you come out."

"It's okay. I'm here. I'm fine." Rick assured his crying son.

Mia had to look away.

"I had to use one of the guns by the gate. Mia and I both did. I swear I didn't want to."

"I was coming back and I fell. They came out and helped me." Explained Michonne.

"Are you all right?"

She nodded her head.

"What happened in there?" Asked Maggie.

Rick and Mia's eyes met. A woman walked by them sobbing violently. In her arms was a baby wrapped up in a sheet. Mia sucked in a breath when she felt nauseous. Her light eyes filled with water.

"Patrick got sick last night. It's some kind of flu. It moves fast. We think he died and attacked the cell block." Rick explained to them.

Carl's face dropped at the information. Mia's jaw set with a frown. Her eyes traveled to her shoes. She didn't know Patrick long. Not like Carl knew him. But he was kind. He was innocent. He was just a kid. "Carl, Mia, I'm sorry. I know he was your friend and I'm sorry. He was a good kid. We lost a lot of good people." Rick said to them, seeing their fallen expressions at the news of their friend's death. He pointed to Maggie. "Glenn and your dad are okay but they were in there."

She looked scared.

"You shouldn't get too close to anyone that might have been exposed. At least not for a little while."

Carl rushed back to Michonne and helped her balance herself. Mia stepped back and stood by Maggie. She rested her head against her arm.

Beth wrapped up Michonne's hurt ankle. Mia sat on her bed, criss crossed, watching Judith play with solo cups on the floor. It was silent in the room. The baby's gurgling the only faint sound. Beth eyed Michonne's ankle and then they switched to her. "Did you see anything?"

"They just started taking out the dead." Michonne faintly muttered.

"I don't need to know who yet. I don't want to. I'm glad you came back safe." Beth admitted.

"It was stupid. I was so stupid. When I fell on my ass they should've just left me out there." She grumbled, being hard on herself.

Mia looked away from Judith and looked at her, a frown on her lips. "We would never leave you."

"Now that's stupid. We care about you." Said Beth with a stern voice.

"You guys could've gotten hurt." Michonne's voice broke.

"When you care about people, it's gonna hurt. I wouldn't have left you." Mia stated as if it was her last words.

She stared at the young girl with sad eyes.

"Were there any kids?" Beth suddenly asked. "All these widows and orphans. What do you call someone who lost a child? You think someone would have given that a name."

Judith started to wail. Mia bit her nails. Michonne's face twisted with discomfort. Her cries echoed off the walls. Beth got up from the bed and went to pick her up.

"Does she always cry like that?"

"I think she senses peoples moods."

Mia bit one of her nails until the skin around them bled. Judith's cries were loud. Piercing. She shook nervously to the point she felt as if she could throw up. She tasted blood on her lips.

Beth left the cell with Judith in her arms. Mia dropped her nails from her mouth. She looked to Michonne. "Are you okay?" She uttered, eyes the discomfort on her face.

"Are you?" Michonne said back, not looking at her, since her eyes were still closed, but she could sense the nerves.

Neither of them answered.

Mia listened to Beth sing to Judith in the hall to calm her down. Her voice was angelic. Michonne tried to distract herself. Mia picked at her bleeding nails, the pain not fazing her anymore. "Some lullaby." Michonne observed.

Beth shrugged slightly. "I just sing her what I like. I figured it's better than ashes or candles falling out of trees."

"Or over the rainbow. That was got old fast." Said Mia with a slight chuckle.

Beth giggled and Michonne cracked a smile. Judith let out a sputter and spit up on Beth's tank top. "Uh shoot." She began to panic. "Can you hold her a second?"

Michonne immediately denied.

"Please, I'm covered in carrots—"

"No!"

Both Mia and Beth went silent. Judith's cries filled the cell. Beth frowned and looked away, feeling defeated. After a minute, Michonne gave in and the baby was passed off to her.

Mia stayed quiet as she watched Michonne struggle to hold Judith. The crying baby didn't give in. It was painful to watch. But then Michonne fixed her in her arms and she stared at her, taking in her features. It was she started to cry while holding the baby is when Mia realized her eyes were tear filled. That's when she understood.

She got off the bed and sat beside her on the floor. She laid her head against her shoulder. "It's okay, I won't tell anybody." She whispered.

Mia found Carl in the commons area, building crosses to put on all the graves. She reached her arm over and rubbed her other forearm, feeling awkward in his presence. They hadn't spoken to each other the rest of the night since being thrown into the mayhem of almost dying. They were complete strangers living under the same roof. 

But they shared a friend who just died. The least she could do was try to get along with him. "Feeling crafty?"

Her voice echoed off the quiet walls. Carl looked over his shoulder. "What do you want?" He almost grumbled and went back to the crosses.

Mia twiddled with her fingers. "Everyone has to stay away from each other. Trying to find something to do,  I guess." She replied.

He paused again but kept his back turned to her. After a minute, he looked back over his shoulder. "Grab a hammer."

She grinned and grabbed a hammer from the table.  Grabbing two boards, she bent down in front of him and started nailing them together. It was silent between them. All you could hear was nails being hammered together. "Are you okay?" She gathered the courage to ask.

He glanced up at her.

"You know. . . Patrick."

Carl didn't know how to answer. Yes, he was sad. Patrick and him were friends. He was a good person. But he didn't know how to answer the question without spilling his feelings to a girl he barely knew. "I'm fine." Was all he said. His tone was flat and emotionless.

"Because it's okay if you're not."

Carl released an irritable sigh. "You're more talkative than the other times I've seen you." He hit the hammer harder on the nail.

Did it hurt? Yes. Mia was a sensitive person. His bitterness towards her was questionable. He didn't know her. Which made it hurt even more. Mia chewed on her cheek and eyed the cross below her.

When he didn't hear her respond, Carl looked up and saw her staring at the boards. He felt a pang of guilt and it angered him. "Sorry." He muttered almost incoherently.

The corner of her mouth turned up quickly but it fell again.

Carl sighed. "No, I'm not okay. Not really, anyway." He admitted. It was hard for him up admit his feelings. Especially to a stranger. But in some bizarre way, she understood. "I guess. . . I don't know. He was my friend."

Mia nodded. "I understand." She uttered truthfully.

It went quiet again. Carl glanced at her through his eyelashes. "Are you okay?" He redirected.

Her lips rolled back in thought. She looked up, meeting his eyes. "I don't know anymore."

He slowly grinned. "It's okay to not be okay."

Mia chuckled. They went back to making crosses in a more comfortable but still slightly awkward silence.