As if it was a grocery list, another person from her group was checked off the list. Another person died.

This time, it was Noah.

Glenn, Eugene, and Nicholas came back to Alexandria with an unconscious Tara but no Aiden or Noah. Eugene went with Tara to the infirmary while Glenn explained what had happened. How there was an explosion at the warehouse, leaving Aiden pinned on the wall for walkers and how while trying to escape the herd of walkers from inside, Glenn, Nicholas and Noah got stuck in a revolving door, Glenn and Noah on opposite sides of the door than Nicholas.

Eloise felt anger flow through her as Glenn finished the story, Nicholas cowardly saving his own life by pushing his way out of the door and letting the walkers get to Noah.

For the next two days, Eloise kept herself in her room, only going out to check on Tara in the mornings, wanting to know how she was doing, knowing that if she had the chance, if she saw him in the streets of town, she'd kill Nicholas in an instant.

Eloise sat on her bed, staring off at her wall when she saw someone walk passed her backyard out of the corner of her eye. It was Enid again, leaving. She was doing the same tactic she was doing the first time Eloise saw her.

Eloise felt as if she had to follow the girl out in the woods. She didn't wanna lose someone else and even though she wasn't that close to Enid yet, she wanted to and she wouldn't be able to if Enid was dead.

Eloise ran out of the house, not being caught by anyone and running to the backyard of her house where Enid left the pegs in the gate. She quickly climbed the wall just as Enid had and made sure she didn't hop off the other side until she knew it was safe and Enid wouldn't catch her.

...

"Shit." Eloise mumbled when she lost sight of the girl. She looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of the brunette when a twig snapped. Eloise shot her head in the direction of the noise. "Eloise."

She sighed, knowing it was Enid and started to walk closer until she spoke again. "I know you've been following me all day. I mean, you made it pretty obvious." Lou followed the voice of the girl, watching her step. "Oh, now you try to be careful of how loud you are." She heard Enid mutter, making Eloise bite back a laugh.

"Can you go back?" Eloise shook her head, knowing Enid could see her. "Nuh uh. Two people just died. I don't want to lose more." She could hear Enid groan and step put of her hiding place, Enid was just a few trees ahead of her. "You don't even know me. Plus, people always die."

Eloise shrugged, twisting her feet so she stuck her ground. "Well, too bad. I'm staying."

Eloise saw a small smile take over Enid's face. "Well then... catch me." With that, Enid started running away from Eloise. She watched as the girl ran as if they were little kids playing tag. She felt a slight pang of nostalgia hit her as if the world never turned bad as if she was a kid just playing with her friends.

Eloise smiled and ran after the girl.

...

The two ran side by side, huge smiles etched on their faces as they let the wind fly through their hair.

But suddenly, all the fun stopped and they were back in the real world.

Enid stretched her arm out, stopping Eloise from running further. Lou furrowed her brows, going to asked Enid what was the matter when a walker groaned from ahead of them.

Enid took slow strides to the walker, taking a kitchen timer out of her pocket, quickly turning the knob and throwing it in the opposite direction of the two, leading the walker away and as soon as the walker was distracted, Enid grabbed Lou's hand and ran away.

...

The two stopped running once they reached a fallen tree to lean on.

"We're supposed to be out here. We're supposed to feel like this. I don't want to forget." Enid said as Eloise tried to catch her breath. "And running makes me feel better." Eloise shook her head, a breathy laugh escaping her lips at Enid's words. "Now that, I can't relate to. I hate running." Enid let out a small laugh as Eloise continued. "But the rest I get. I don't forget. I dream about it. Being in the forest with those... things."

"I do, too."

It was quite for a second before Enid turned her body to face Eloise. "Why did you follow me out here?" Eloise looked at Enid before looking back ahead as she fiddled with her thumbs. "This is gonna sound so stupid but I- I only really had one friend... before all of this and he was a dude. And then I met Carl who is also... a dude. And don't get me wrong, I don't know what I'd do without Carl. I saved his life before I even knew his name or he knew mine. And then we come here and meet Ron and Mikey and you. And you... you're different from them." Eloise stopped her words, realizing how weird it sounded. "That probably made no sense."

"No, it did." Enid said, making Eloise turn to face her. "You just want another friend. One that's a girl. A girl your age that you can relate to." Eloise laughed at Enid's words and nodded her head. "I could've just said that." "But you didn't." Enid slyly shot back, making Eloise laugh.

"So... Ron's a good guy." Eloise said, a small smirk growing as she watched Enid's lips tug upwards, holding back her smile. "He is."

"Does he know you come out here?" Enid immediately shook her head no. "No. He wouldn't understand." Enid muttered.

"Does Carl know you followed me out here?" Enid asked and Eloise immediately started shaking her head. "Carl and I... we aren't-" Eloise started to stumble over her words so Enid cut her off. "I never said you were."

Eloise looked down, feeling her cheeks burn in embarrassment as Enid searched her bag, pulling out a hunting knife. "Sweet knife." Eloise breathed out.

"It was my mom's." Eloise watched the girl for a second before digging into her pocket, pulling out Jasper's knife. "This was my brothers." Enid looked down at the knife and nodded her head.

"What happened to you out there?" Eloise asked. She knew that it wasn't her place to ask, that they weren't close enough but she felt as if she had to get Enid to open up as a person. "It doesn't matter."

"It does. Bad things have happened to me, too." Eloise mumbled, catching Enid's attention. Enid was about to open her mouth to start talking when walker snarls echoed through the forest from behind them.

"We need to go. That sounds like a lot." Eloise muttered to Enid and she nodded her head, pointing at a tree a few feet away from them with a hollow center, a perfect hiding spot for the two.

Eloise shut her eyes as all the walkers stumbled passed them. "It's their world now. We're just living in it." Eloise opened her eyes at Enid's words, turning her head to the outside and watching as the rest of the walkers passed.

...

When Eloise and Enid got back to Alexandria, they immediately started running to the center of town when they heard loud screams break out.

Eloise saw Rick on top of someone, throwing punch after punch at the person, only making her run faster.

As she got closer, she realized the man was Pete, the doctor. Eloise ran up to Carl who was watching the fight, frozen in his spot. "Carl, what the hell happened?" Eloise asked, looking back and forth between him and the two men fighting.

When Carl didn't answer, Eloise grabbed both sides of his face, turning his head to face her. "Carl!"

He seemed to finally snap out of it, shaking his head as he tried to look back at the fight but Eloise kept him facing her. "I don't know. I... I was on the porch with Judith and suddenly, dad and him get thrown out the window and they start tackling each other."

Carl went to turn his head again but Eloise turned him back to her, shaking her head. "No, you shouldn't watch this, Carl." Eloise persisted but Carl shook his head no, gently pushing her hands away and watching the fight.

Pete somehow got himself on top of Rick and started strangling him. Jessie was quick to run up to her husband, grabbing his arm to pull him off of Rick but he pushed her away, sending her to the ground.

In a quick instant, Rick was back on top of Pete and Carl ran up to his dad. Eloise went to grab his arm but just barely missed him. Carl latched onto Rick's arm, trying to tug him off the man but Rick pushed Carl away, not as harsh as Pete hit Jessie but enough to trouble Carl's balance.

Eloise quickly ran up to Carl, catching him at his armpits like a trust fall, stopping him from hitting the ground and quick spinning Carl to face her, putting his head in her neck. She felt Carl wrap his arms around her waist, digging his face into the crook of her neck as Eloise watched the fight over his shoulder.

Deanna ran up, looking the angriest Eloise had ever seen her. "Stop it. Stop it right now." The woman demanded.

"You touch them again and I'll kill you." Rick threatened in the mans ear as he held him in a choke hold. "Dammit Rick! I said stop!" Deanna screamed but Rick stayed still.

Tubin and Nicholas started to walk up to Rick but he was quick, pulling his gun out and pointing it at the two. Eloise let out a little gasp as Carl turned around to watch the scene, gripping her hand as tight as he could.

"Put that gun down, Rick." Deanna slowly spoke but Rick shook his head. "You still don't get it. None of you do!" Rick screamed, spinning around to face the whole crowd.

"We know what needs to be done and we do it. We're the ones who live." Rick said, pointing at Carl, Glenn and Eloise since they were the only ones in the group that were at the scene before Rick pointed at Deanna and her people.

"You, you just sit and plan and hesitate. You pretend like you know but you don't. You wish things weren't what they are. Well, you want to live? You want this place to stay standing? Your way of doing things is done. Things don't get better because you want them to. Starting right now, we have to live in the real world. We have to control who lives here."

"That's never been more clear to me then it is right now." Deanna snarled, making Eloise freeze as Carl gripped her hand tighter, backing up into her side and Eloise quickly put her other hand on Carl's arm.

Rick looked at the woman dumbfounded. "Me? Me? You mean- You mean me? You're way is gonna destroy this place. It's gonna get people killed. It's already gotten people killed. And I'm not just gonna stand by and let it happen. If you don't fight, you die. I'm not just gonna stand by and-"

Michonne came out of no where, running up to Rick, hitting the back of her gun against his head, knocking him out. Carl and Eloise jumped back at the sudden movement, trying to process what the hell just happened.

—Happy Holidays! I hope you all have a great time with the ones you love even though some people are still in lockdown areas (me lmao).

This chapter didn't have a lot of Carl and Eloise moments, I apologize. I just wanted to show off a new little friendship we're getting.