.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐌 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐙𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀'𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐃. She walked over the field of flowers a few yards away from the farm alongside Beth and Ellie.

Stella let her hand lightly trail over the flowers as she felt grass tickle her bare legs.

Beth was out of bed for the first time in days. She still looked pale and tired but despite that she wore a slight smile.
The trio were picking flowers for Dale's funeral that was going to be held later that day.

"Do you guys ever wonder what happened to the president?" Ellie tried to said balance over the fence surrounding the field with her arms streached out to the sides for balance.

"He's probably having the time of his life right now." Stella said.

"I wonder what the Smith's are doing." Ellie said. "Or Taylor Swift. God, I hope they're not dead.... Oh!" Ellie exclaimed as she saw a butterfly.
The blue-winged butterfly flapped away followed by Ellie running after it.

Stella and Beth smiled at the sight. The Grimes girl picked up a lily from the ground and stared at it for a while. It reminded her of her best friend. She hoped that she was alive and that she had found her family again. The two were together on the day of the outbreak but got split up running from a walker. Lily's mother, Lucille, was battling cancer and had been for a long time. Stella hoped that both of them were okay.

Stella placed the lily along with the other flowers in her bouquet.

"How are you doing?" Stella asked as soon as Ellie was out of earshot.

"I'm better." Beth said shortly, keeping her head low.

The duo slowly wandered over the field. Stella squinted her eyes and looked up at the sky feeling as the hot sun warmed her face. Suddenly she stopped and picked a daisy flower from the ground.

"It's beautiful." Beth smiled.

"It reminds me of you." Stella returned the smile and placed the flower behind Beth's ear.
"Wow! How pretty!"

Beth smiled before picking up a pink aster flower from the ground and placing it behind it behind Stella's ear.

"When I die I want to come back as a daisy." Beth said.

"A daisy? That's so boring!" Ellie panted as she rushed up to the duo. "I want to come back as a butterfly." She spun around as a ballerina. "Did you know that butterflies taste with their feet?"

Beth and Stella looked at each other before bursting into laughter. "You have a weird way of thinking."

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐑𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐄.

"What happened?" Stella said as they arrived to the barn.

"It's hard to say." T-dog answered.

"The cuffs are still hooked. He must have slipped 'em." Rick informed.

"Is that possible?" Carol asked.

"It is if you've got nothing to lose." Andrea said.

"The door was secured from the outside." Hershel said, closing the barn door.

Everybody chattered in panic.

"Rick!" A familiar voice shouted. The members of the groups heads turned to the forest as Shane stepped out. Blood poured from his nose leaving red marks on the sides of his mouth and a trail down to his shirt.

"What happened?!" Lori asked.

"He's armed! He's got my gun!" Shane shouted.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. Little bastard snuck up on me. He clocked me in the face."

"Alright, Hershel, T-dog, get everybody back into the house! Glenn, Daryl, come with us." Rick assigned a task for everyone.

"Come on." Jimmy said wrapping his arms around Beth and Ellie to get them inside.

"T, I'm gonna need that gun." Shane said.

"Just let him go. That was the plan, wasn't it, to just let him go?" Carol spoke.

"The plan was to cut him loose far away from here, not in our front step with a gun."

"Don't go out there. Y'all know what can happen." Carol shouted as the men walked toward the forest.

"Dad?" Stella spoke.

"Get everybody back in the house. Lock all doors and stay put!" He said as they disappeared behind the trees.

𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐑𝐌. It was dark outside and her father still hadn't returned. Stella was starting to get impatient and worried. She stared out the window hoping to see her father. The outside was dark and no signs of him. She impatiently tapped the window frame.

Suddenly she spotted someone walking away from the house. She immediately recognized the short figure's hat.

"Carl?! What are you doing?" She whisper-shouted as she caught up to the boy.

"I'm going to find dad." He answered without stopping.

"You can't go out there when Randall is on the loose." Stella jogged behind him.

The boy kept walking determinedly without looking back at his sister.
"Hey, I'm taking to you!" Stella said.

Carl kept walking like he didn't hear her.
"I'm talking to you, Carl! Carl, stop!"

Still no response.

"Carl! Carl! Ca-"

Suddenly, Carl stopped instantly to the sound of a gunshot and stared into the darkness before him. Stella followed his gaze to the moonlit lawn. A figure sat in the middle, leaned over a body. Her first instinct was to grab the gun she had tucked into her jeans as soon as she heard that Randall was missing. She took a step forward to stand in front of Carl, slowly approaching the creature in the middle.

As she realised who was sitting before her she was brought to a halt. "Dad?"

Her father's head jerked around instantly and stared at his children with glossy eyes. Stella's gaze trailed to his shaking and bloody hands and the body on the ground. A huff of air left her mouth as she saw Shane's face. Blood stained it and the moonlight revealed his pale skin. Baffled by the sight, she took a small step back, bringing Carl close.

Their father stood up, his whole body shaking along with his voice. "Stella, Carl." He limped toward the two. His clothes and hands were covered in blood.
"You should be back home with Mom." His lip shook as he spoke. He slowly reeled over the lawn with his shaking hands in the air as a sign of surrender. That's when Stella realized she still aimed her gun in front of her. Her father's eyes shifted from the gun to his daughter's teary eyes. Stella's pulse raced as she aimed.

Suddenly, she spotted something behind her father, something moving. Almost limping. She took a sharp step back, bringing Carl with her. Her hands shook as she held the gun aimed at the walker.
Every muscle in her body tensed and she tried to fight against the lump in her throat that prevented her from speaking.

She managed to force a weak: "dad." She closed one eye, remembering what Levi had taught her.
Relax your arms. Breath. And shoot.
Relax your arms. Breath. And shoot.
Relax your arms. Breath. And shoot.
Relax your arms. Breath. And shoot.

She took a deep breath and placed he finger to the trigger.

Bang! Her father flinched. The walker behind him jolted back and fell flat to the ground. Stella lowered her shaking hands and walked quietly behind her father as they approached the walker's body.

It was Shane, only it wasn't. His eyes were two white dots and his skin was pale and stained with blood. In the center of his forehead poured blood from the bullet wound.

Carl tried to suppress his tears but failed. Sobs escaped his mouth and he wrapped his arms around Stella, pressing his face into her side as to not look at Shane's body.

A puddle of blood grew from his body and stained a small daisy that grew a few inches from Shane's face.

_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____
𝟏𝟑𝟎𝟐 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑
𝟖:𝟏𝟐 𝐏𝐌
_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____

it's been a while but I'm backkk! I'll try and be more active but I have a lot of plans during break so I might be more active once school starts which is weird because it's usually the other way around but anyways love I all