𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎
𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐂𝐇 𝐌𝐄

︶꒦꒷★꒷꒦︶

"Put the gun and the knife on the floor, and step away from the fence."

A male voice came from behind her. The girl's breath shook, and with a deep breath, she quickly turned around, jabbing the man's wrist and grabbing the gun, disarming him and twisting it towards him. All those times that her father would teach her how to disarm someone, she always thought he was crazy; why would she need to disarm someone? Guess paranoia pays off. The man was bigger, dark skin that glistened with sweat, not too tall, but obviously strong. She couldn't take him in a fight if it came down to it. The man's arms went up, and he put his hand out quickly, "Put the gun down."

Claire placed her finger on the trigger just as more people approached. "I'm just looking for my brother."

The man nodded, "Okay. Okay. What's his name?" Claire stepped away from the fence, keeping the gun aimed at the man. "Eli Smith. He's 13, blonde hair, about 5 feet tall."

The man shook his head, "We haven't seen him."

The girl's paranoid eyes drifted to the group of people behind him. 5 people, one woman, 4 men, aside from the man in front of her, as far as she could tell.

The man in front of her slowly walked towards her, "Just give me my gun back and we can talk this o-"

"Get the fuck away from me." Claire threatened, tears brimming her eyes. Who knows what the intentions of these people were? They could want to kill her, use her as bait, do...other unspeakable things, she couldn't trust them. The man nodded, stopping his advances.

"We don't want to hurt you," The voice came from behind her, and she was quick to grab her knife from her belt, turning half her body and pointing it at the boy, "Back the hell up," She warned. Now pointing a gun at one man and a knife at another, Claire was shocked at who she so quickly became in the midst of this interaction. The boy wasn't much taller than her, probably around her age, dark hair, dirty clothes, looked Hispanic.

"I don't want to hurt anyone either, I just want to find my brother. Since you haven't seen him, I'll just be on my way, okay?"

The man nodded, and she nodded back, removing her finger from the trigger. She could see the boy in the corner of her eye approaching her slowly, causing Claire to tense up.

A gun cocking in the distance caught Claires attention, and in a swift motion grabbed the boy's arm and swung around him, placing the gun against his head, her other arm that was holding her knife was wrapped around his neck. She doesn't know why she felt so threatened. Maybe it was the abundance of men, maybe it was the initial introduction, whatever it was that had her on edge, she was nevertheless disappointed in her actions. These people hadn't done anything to her, why did she feel the need to do these things? It almost felt like she was blacked out for half of the interaction.

Either way, there was no way she was going to die before she finds her brother.

"Put it down!" She shouted sternly, "You're at a standstill here, alright?" She stuttered, tears now falling freely down her cheeks. She could feel the boy's breath hitch in his throat, his heartbeat in his neck pounding against her wrist. "Don't do anything stupid!" She shouted again but was quick to close her mouth.

In the group, behind the Asian man with a cocked shotgun pointing at her, was a face she never thought she'd see again.

"Rick?"

The tall man pushed the shotgun down, so it was facing the ground and stepped forward.

She never thought she would see his face again. The man who watched her grow up, entrusted her to watch his son, one of her father's best friends. It felt, in that moment, like everything was normal. Like she was just visiting an old friend.

A smile embraced his face as the blonde girl, "Oh, my god. Claire?" He spoke, removing the hat from his head.

The girl sobbed through a smile, so happy to see a familiar face. The boy gasped as she released him, rubbing his throat as he watched her walk away from him. She placed her knife back in her belt and gave the man his gun back, before taking off towards Rick, who was fully decked out in his old Deputy uniform. Once she reached him, she wrapped her arms around his waist. Rick smiled, holding the girl, "How are you alive?" His southern drawl spoke into her ear, and she shook her head. "I have no idea to be honest with you."

The girl pulled away, "We all thought you were dead. How did you get out of the hospital? How did you get out of the coma? Is it just you that's here? Is Carl okay? And Lori?" Tears brimmed her eyes, and he nodded, "Yeah, they're okay. They're inside." Claire smiled in relief.

Rick looked around for a sign of anyone else but looked down at her with brows raised. "Where's your mom and dad? And Eli?"

Claires breath stuck in her throat, and she turned her head away, "Mom got bit, I can only assume my dad did too. Eli is alive, I hope. He ran off when our camp got attacked and I've been looking for him since."

Rick sighed, pulling the girl in for another hug, "Well I sure am glad you're okay."

Rick placed a hand on her shoulder, "Let's try not to point a gun at anyone else, alright?" Claire smiled and nodded.

Rick always was a smartass.

"Claire Bear? Is that you?" Claire's head turned at the voice, and she smiled, "Shane, holy shit dude." She smiled, walking up to the older man and embracing him in a hug, "I'm so glad you're okay."

Shane watched her grow up as well, Claire, always being at the Grimes' house with her family, and Shane always being over, they bonded, obviously. He was like an older brother to her, and she was so relieved to know so many people she loved were still alive.

"Aren't you happy Rick, your dad and I were always so adamant on you knowing how to protect yourself? You've survived how many days on your own? I'm proud." He smiled, ruffling her hair. Claire chuckled, smoothing down her hair. "You shaved your head."

Shane chuckled, nodding.

Rick placed his hat back on his head, clearing his throat, "Let's go inside and meet everyone, yeah? I'm sure you're tired, and hungry." Claire nodded, her stomach rumbling at the thought of food.

"I so glad you're alive kid." Shane smiled, throwing an arm over her shoulders as they walked towards the house.

"Claire Smith? I thought that was you." Lori Grimes spoke from the deck, and Claire smiled at the brunette woman, Lori embracing the girl just as she stepped up onto the porch.

"You sure are a sight for sore eyes, I'll tell you that." Lori smiled, pulling away from the hug, "Carl is gonna be so excited to see y-"

"Claire!"

Claire looked behind Lori as Carl emerged from the house.

A large grin formed on her face, and she fell to the floor and embraced the young boy, gentle to not squeeze him as she noticed the bandage on his side when he lifted his arms up. Claire's hand placed itself on the back of his head.

"Claire!" Carl smiled, his small hands were wrapped around her neck, and she sniffed, standing up with the boy wrapped around her waist.

With a tearful giggle, she looked back at Rick, who's expression showed it all. Relief.

★

Claire took a large bite of the sandwich in front of her, glancing up at the Asian boy sitting across the table from her. The silence was awkward, considering it was just her, him, and Carl. Everyone else was talking in the living room. She hadn't even been introduced to them yet, Lori was more focused on getting her something to eat.

Glenn continued to watch her out of the corner of his eyes, and Claire smiled through her bite of sandwich, giving Carl a look. The young boy giggled, looking between the two.

"I'm Claire." She spoke, and the boy nodded, "Glenn."

Claire smiled again, "How long have you been with Rick?"

Glenn sighed, "I think it's more how long has Rick been with us. I found him in Atlanta hiding in a tank, walkers as far as you could see. After we got him out, brought him back to camp, low and behold, his wife and kids he was looking for were at our camp the whole time."

Claire smiled at the thought of the reunion, but it faltered when she remembered her brother. Wiping her hands on her pants, she swallowed her bite of the sandwich. "I should really get back out there and look for my brother. I spray painted messages telling him to head to Fort Benning, he could be halfway there by now for all I know."

Glenn nodded, and Carl frowned, looking down at his lap. For him, he got his babysitter back, the girl that was like his sister, and now she wants to leave? How fair was that.

"We can help you look for him."

Claire turned around in her seat towards the voice, where the boy from earlier leaned against the door frame. Behind him was an Asian girl with short hair, arms crossed in front of her chest.

Claire glanced back at the boy, locking eyes with him as she shook her head, "I couldn't ask you do that. He's my responsibility."

The boy shrugged, "We wouldn't mind. He's just a kid, probably scared out of his mind, and you'd be able to cover more ground."

Glenn cleared his throat, "And who is we?"

The girl stepped forwards, "I wanna come."

"Absolutely not." Glenn stood from his chair, and the girl rolled her eyes, "Glenn, I'm not a baby."

Claire watched the two argue, and just from the attitude alone, she could tell they were siblings. Eli was just like her in that way, always wanting to be older than he was.

Claires eyes drifted over to the boy, who was, now that she got a good look at him, very cute. He had a small cut through his eyebrow and below his eye, it looked relatively fresh, probably a few weeks old. Not too tall, but definitely taller than her, deep brown eyes, cute.

"Kira, you are not going out there alone."

The girl nodded her head towards the boy. "I'll be with Marcus, and this chick will be there." A small smile reached Claires face, "It's Claire." She lifted a hand in a small wave, which caught the boys attention. He hadn't seen anyone his age other than Kira, Glenn, Jimmy and Beth (and Roman, if you want to count him) since the whole thing started. She looked tough, which explained how she managed to survive days out there on her own with nothing but two knives and a gun.

The girl, Kira, pointed at her, "Claire. She'll be there too."

Glenn shook his head, "Rick wouldn't allow it."

"Rick wouldn't allow what?" The southern drawl appeared in the kitchen, and Claire turned her head towards Rick.

Glenn sighed, pointing at Kira, "Kira and Marcus are volunteering to help Claire find her brother, and I think it's stupid."

Rick smiled, looking between the four, "Then go with them. I know Eli, and I know Claire will leave to find them whether you guys go with her or not. Claire?"

Claire looked from Glenn to Rick, "Hm?"

"When you find Eli, you come back here and you two will be safe with us, I promise. I owe your mother and father that much."

Claire smiled at the thought. Eli would be thrilled to see Carl. And Rick and Lori. And Claire would love to have the support of a big group, especially with how much she actually lacks survival skills. But she wasn't going to let these people risk their lives for her. They were safe here, but out there? Everything is unpredictable.

"I'd love to return to your group, Rick-" The girl stood from her seat, "But I refuse to risk the lives of these people. They don't know me, nor do they owe me anything. I survived this far on my own, I'm sure I can find Eli myself."

Rick shook his head, "No, Claire. That's not how we do things around here. Now," Rick stepped in front of Claire, placing on hand on the side of her head, "I've known the both of you your whole lives, and there's no way in hell I'm gonna let you go out there alone. Glenn, Marcus, Kira and Roman will go with you." Claire looked over, glancing between Kira and Marcus, before turning her head back to Rick.

"If they're all willing to help me, okay. But they have to all agree to it."

Rick nodded, looking over at Glenn. The boy groaned, rolling his eyes. "Fine, fine." He spoke, pushing his chair in and pushing past his sister, "Always Glenn." He mumbled under his breath, and Marcus chuckled, catching Claires attention.

"I'm assuming you two want to do this?"

Marcus and Kira nodded, "Why not? It's not like we have anything else to do." Kira spoke, and Claire smiled as Marcus nudged her with his elbow. Kira looked at him with wide eyes as they turned to what away, "What? It's true."

Claire smiled at Rick, "Thank you Rick, I'm extremely grateful."

Rick nodded, patting her shoulder, "Let's go talk to Roman."