All I’ve Ever Known Part 1
"Never thought you'd miss Winter huh?" Ellie Mitchell whispered, talking to herself had become a source of comfort. She couldn't count the amount of conversations she'd had solely with herself to keep the voices out of her head. Singing worked too, not loud enough to lure walkers but just enough to fill the constant silence she'd lived in for almost two years now.
"All I've ever known is how to hold my own
All I've ever known is how to hold my own
But now I wanna hold you too
The words were like a second language to her now, she'd written that song years ago in the back booth of a greasy run down diner with her mamas old guitar. She sang when the sun was shining or the rain pouring, she sang when she didn't think she could make it another day on an empty stomach or when her bones hurt so bad she thought they would snap. She sang when the moans and groans of the walkers kept her up at night.
The snap of a branch had Ellie swinging around, knife poised and ready to throw at whatever thought it was a good idea to sneak up on her. A flash of bright blue and blonde zoomed past, far too quick to be a walker but too small to be any kind of grown man. The blur of blue fabric lunged behind a tree, a dirty sneaker sticking out from its hiding place... small foot.. faded rainbow laces and smiley face stickers on the heel.
Holy shit.. was this.. was this a kid?
"You can come on out, I already saw ya. If I wanted to hurt ya you'd be gone already." Ellie spoke firmly, if she was wrong and this was some kind of trap it was going to be awful to have to kill a kid but she would do it, she'd do just about anything to survive.
The tiniest whimper filled the air followed by long arms and big brown eyes, a messy tangled mop of sandy blonde hair and ripped capris stumbling out from behind the twisted oak tree.
"Please don't kill me.. I... I heard you singing and I just wanted to see.. I wanted to listen...I don't know where I am. I've been runnin' for days." She whispered, sloppy raindrop sized tears cascading down her dirty cheeks leaving streaks of muddy brown on her smooth skin.
She was little, no way she was older than 10 maybe 11 and she was a mess, Her knees bloody and cut up and her face far too skinny. She looked haunted and terrified and something about the way she was shaking in her sneakers had Ellie instantly bending down and brushing the back of her hand against the little ones cheeks, wiping away the never ending tears.
"Hey.. hey I won't hurt you. My names Ellie, what about you?" She stuck her hand out to shake and smiled the best she could, she was never good around other people, kids seemed to like her just fine but still...
The little girl hesitated for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip before taking Ellie's hand in her own
"S..Sophia. I'm ten." She whispered.
"Sophia..." Ellie wracked her brain for a moment before looking down at the ten year old with soft eyes and an encouraging smile "Wisdom. Your name is Greek, It stands for Wisdom and skill. It's a great name to have."
Finally the tears started to subside, sophia looked up at Ellie with wide eyes.. clearly intrigued by the new discovery of her name.
"Really?" She whispered again. At least she wasn't too loud, her quiet would come in handy out here.
"Sure does. Now what's a little thing like you doin' out here all on your own? You got a mama lookin' for you somewhere."
Sophia shook her head aggressively
"Yes! I got lost a couple of days ago. There was
walkers, a lot of them and I got separated from my mom and Rick told me to stay but I didn't and then I just got lost and now I don't know how to get back and I know my mom is looking for me but I don't know where... there were lots of cars and road.." She rambled desperately.
Ellie placed a hand on the frantic little girls shoulder and squeezed reassuringly
"I'll help you find your mama. Can't be too far if you only got lost a few days ago, we'll find her. Find your whole group and help them get their Wisdom back. Lord knows they're all probably goin' crazy without it."
Sophia whipped around, tiny hand gripping the hem of Ellie's jacket and tugging
"You'd do that? You'd help me find my mom?"
She sounded almost amazed, it made Ellie sad to see a child so young so jaded, looked an awful lot like herself.
"Course I will sugar, can't have your mama turning over the world to find ya. I like my world right side up." She tweaked Sophia's nose and nearly shivered when the little girl laced her fingers with hers and beamed up at the older woman beside her. How long had it been since she'd had anyone come close to touching her? To even being this close to her body? Human Contact.. it was a strange and foreign thing to Ellie even before the world turned to shit.
From that point on the two girls had been inseparable, Sophia stuck to Ellie's side like glue and Ellie made sure she was always just a few feet away from Sophia at all times, their was no way she was delivering this kid home to her mother in a body bag. They'd come across a herd just a few days ago and Sophia had nearly passed out when she'd witnessed Ellie take down nearly 20 walkers with nothing but her knives, this had resulted in about an hour of the 10 year old asking her all kinds of questions about what kind of life she lived before this one.
That was definitely not a story for a child.
They were about two weeks into the hunt for Sophia's group when they'd stopped at an abandoned factory to scavenge for something edible, Ellie had given the child most of her canned goods just to build her strength up but with all the walking they were doing, being as weak and tired as she was wasn't good for staying alert.
"Gotta be somethin' in here. Anythin' really. I'll eat dog food if I have too." Ellie wiggled her eyebrows at Sophia and smiled tiredly when she scrunched her nose up in disgust and giggled.
"You will not! You'll get sick if you... mmmph!" Ellie cut off the blonde little girl by smacking a hand to her mouth and tugging her behind the nearest wall she could find. Sophia mumbled something g beneath her fingers and Ellie quickly shushed her, eyes peering over the side of the wall at the back of large shadowy figure.
"We got company sugar. Stay put and stay quiet. If someone comes at you I want you to scream as loud as humanly possible and run as far as you can get... here." Ellie shoved a small hunting knife into Sophia's open palm and wrapped her tiny fingers around the handle "you do what you have to do ya understand?"
Sophia looked up at her with watery eyes and nodded slightly
"Don't die." She whispered desperately.
Ellie felt herself wince, this was part of the reason she liked to be on her own.. she didn't want to lie to anyone and she didn't want to break promises that were inevitably built to fail. So she bent down, pressed a kiss to Sophia's forehead and advanced on the man who currently digging through an empty desk drawer.
"I won't ever stab a man in the back unless he deserves it so do me a favor and turn around nice and slow."
Ellie kept her voice calm and collected as the man in front of her stiffened, his hooked hand contraption raising up in surrender as he turned to face her with a annoyingly cocky smirk, the second his eyes landed on her the smirk grew wider.
"Well well Well... if you ain't the prettiest knife wielding, light footed angel I've ever seen." He drawled, his accent thick just like hers.. he must have been born close to Senoia.
"I'm no angel, I reckon you walk out that door right now and leave and I won't send this knife flying right through that bald skull of yours." She threatened, the venom in her voice further proving just how dangerous she was.
"Ain't lookin' for trouble sweetheart, lookin' for food. Same as you, ya ain't nothin but bones." His eyes scanned her figure blatantly and she didn't stop herself from rolling her eyes this time.
"Well since you're so smart I'm sure you've already figured out that I ain't in the mood to share. So do yourself a favor and walk out of here with one good arm in tact." She took a step forward and the man stepped back, his eyes dropping and his shoulders slumping, he did look awfully hungry and she hadn't expected him to surrender to her so quickly.
"Alright girl.. fine.. this one's all yours. Ain't gonna find anythi.."
Suddenly Sophia was darting out from behind the back wall, her skinny legs sending her flying directly into the bald man's body, her arms wrapping around his waist as he stared down at her in shock.
"Sophia?! What the hell are you doing! Get over here!" Ellie whisper screamed, eyes wide and stunned at the carelessness of the little girl she had come to understand.
"Sophia?" The man stepped back, pulling away and holding the young girl by her shoulders "Well I'll be damned." He chuckled ruffling her hair and scanning her quickly for any injuries. Ellie watched as Sophia grinned up at the man and reached for his missing hand carefully.
"I'm sorry I feel like I'm missing something." She dropped the knife she was holding back into the holster on her thigh and raised a brow at Sophia expectantly
"This is Mr. Merle. He lived with us for a long time.. his brother is Daryl, the one who brings us the squirrels!" Sophia smiled excitedly before it turned to confusion as she looked back at Merle "my mom said you died. Said you were too stupid and died."
"Rude." Merle mumbled, his eyes sparkling when he looked back to Ellie. "You know who I am now girly, who the hell are you and why do you have Carols kid?"
Ellie opened her mouth to speak before Sophia cut her off
"Ellie's helping me find my way home. She's been keeping me safe and killing all the walkers and giving me all her food and making sure I get the warmest sleeping spot!" Sophia grinned moving back to take Ellie's hand and curl against her side.
"Oh yeah?" Merle questioned "and what's in it for "Ellie"" He drew out her name and she had to do everything in her power to not haul back and break his already crooked nose.
"Nothing, I'm not looking for a reward. I don't have anything better to do so I'm bringing her home. Beats walking around and trying not to become some zombies dinner." She explained, a genuine smile crossing her face when Merle laughed out loud.
"Got a point girly. Well how'd you like to add a new member to your rescue mission? I'll go with ya, need to find my brother anyway. Fresh eyes never hurt nobody." He hiked his bag over his shoulder and headed towards the door, Sophia hung back with Ellie waiting to see her next move.
Obviously she was going to let him come, his brother was out there too probably looking for him. But it wouldn't hurt to let the cocky man in front of her think she was still deciding. Merle made it to the front door and turned around, Ellie could tell he was nervous of the rejection by the way his good hand wrapped tight around the edge of the door.
"You comin or not?" He pressed grumpily.
After another few seconds Ellie finally let the megawatt smile light up her face as she grabbed Sophia's hand and tugged her past Merle practically skipping as they swung out the doors
It was quiet for a while, they all walked in silence, caught up in their own thoughts before Sophia broke the quiet.
"The three musketeers! That's what we are! The three musketeers." She glanced back and forth between them, her smile wide and proud.
Ellie sughed dramatically and flicked Sophia's nose
"Don't mention that name.. I would kill for a three musketeers right now.. or maybe a snickers bar." She sighed.
It was just a few seconds later when Merle dropped a heavy metal can in her palms, a mischievous smirk on his lips.
"It ain't chocolate but it'll get that stomach a yours filled." He grinned, walking a bit ahead as she flipped the can around to read the label
"Beef and Gravy Dog Food."
Ellies head snapped up to his shaking shoulders as he silently cracked up in front of her.
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