[ chapter nine - walker guts ]
season six, episode seven and eight

MORE DAYS HAD PASSED IN ALEXANDRIA as the community grew more worried for their people. Abi's mind raced continuously, thinking of every event that had happened in the past few weeks. The girl had done laps around Alexandria to try and clear her mind, rudely continuing whenever somebody tried to talk to her.

A particular memory kept taunting her, she would see the silhouette from that night in her mind. It would follow the blonde when she slept continuing to curse her throughout the day. Carl still didn't know about what happened that night, neither did Maggie. She wasn't planning on telling them. Abi didn't want people to think she was crazy, like they thought Rick was at the prison.

No one really knew what was going on with Rick at the prison but they had guessed and from their deductions, it was something similar to what Abi was going through. She could only predict it was some loss, trauma thing—she didn't want to go to Denise about it either. Then somebody would know, and nobody could know.

A familiar brunette came walking over with his hat placed atop of his head, joining the girl on her walk. "Are you okay? You haven't talked to me in a while. Maggie and my dad are worried about you." He asked, worried about the girl.

The blonde shrugged, not finding the energy to talk as Carl just accepted the motion as an answer. Most of the group had gotten used to being replied with silence from the girl. She was still grieving, it had only be a few weeks since the horrible death's of Tyreese and Beth. Hershel's death had happened only a week before them as well, creating even more tragedy to rain upon Abi and the group. He had also watched the act she committed when the W men were upon them, he had killed before - he had 'killed' his own mother, the sin never bothered Carl. But he understood it followed her around.

Carl understood, he was still shaken from the loss of his mother. Luckily, he had his baby sister to get him through it. Judith had helped him just as she had helped most of the group, including Abi. Beth loved Judith so it was always a reminder of her, a good one that is.

Carl nodded as they walked in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. "Hey, so what happened with you and Enid? Y'know outside the wall," Carl questioned as Abi stopped walking slowly, turning to the boy as she thought about an answer.

If Carl was treating what Abi thought was wrong so normally - Tara too - that meant it was okay. It was okay for her to like the girl, if she even liked her that is. No one had ever really told her it was wrong, more she grew up in a world where it just was. But that world was gone, right?

A small movement in the sky stopped Abi from answering, her eyes fixating on the small green ovals in the sky. Balloons. A smile joined Abi's face as she stared at the coloured objects.This was their group, she could tell. Glenn, Abraham ro Sasha could be alive. Maybe even Enid. And Nicholas, but Abi didn't really care much for the man, he and Glenn had been having some problems.

She turned to Carl as he had noticed them too, both soon coming to the realisation it was probably one of their people. A loud crash brought their joy away as their eyes were now fixated at the watchtower as it met its demise. Carl gripped Abi's arm, moving back to let the building fall, knowing there was nothing the teenagers could do, the wall going with the tower as the dead took their chance to enter the living-filled community.

"Everyone, get back!" Rick began yelling as all of Alexandria watched in horror as there once safe place was beginning to be taken over by the undead. A scenario Abi knew all too well.

Carl and Abi ran to the others, the five now heading Rick and Deanna's way. Abi pulled her knife out of it's secured place in her jeans, she trusted the place--she truly did, but Abi also learnt that trust wasn't enough. They had to be ready for whatever, whenever

"Rick!" Michonne called out as the group conjoined, trying to kill all the walkers around them. Abi ran behind Michonne after the woman had pulled the blonde beside her for protection.

As they moved forward a group of walkers met them in front, more walking from behind. Fear flashed upon Abi's eyes as she realised they had nowhere to go. Deanna let out a cry at her pained torso when the walkers started to drop and gunshots sounded. Abi looked over the bodies, being met with Jessie. "Come on, I have Judith!" The woman shouted as the group followed her inside, shutting the red door behind them.

✵~✵

THEY ALL MADE THEIR WAY INSIDE, getting ready to help Deanna. Carl and Abi went to find Judith whilst Michonne and Rick carried the woman to a sofa. Abi walked into the bedroom where Judith laid, picking up the fussy baby as she rocked her slightly. The blonde caught notice of Jessie rushing to her sons room to check on her youngest child.

"Can you hold her?" Abi asked Carl as Judith's cries didn't fade. Carl nodded as she passed him the crying baby, her cries softened but they still continued as Judith didn't really express what she wanted. Rick appeared in the room, offering to take Judith.

"Go check everything's fine downstairs, alright?" Rick asked, softly bouncing the child as he walked towards her room.

Carl and Abi made their way downstairs, Abi noticing Ron storm into a room, gun in hand. Abi eye the gun curiously, unknowing to the time Carl and Rick tried to reach him to use one. "When did Ron get a gun?" She muttered to Carl, the boy ignoring her as he had already started to follow the Anderson into the garage.

"Hell with that," Abi whispered under her breath, going into the kitchen as she immediately noticed the faded blood stains on the floor, possibly from when the W men entered the community. The W men were bad but now it was worse, this didn't seem like something they could recover from. To Abi, this was something no prayer could fix.

Abi walked over to the island, sitting on it as she tried to think about the last time she had actually prayed. She might've said something when she thought she saw Beth, but Abi tried her best to forget about that memory.

A large crash sounded from the room Abi had left the two boys, her head shooting up as she stared at the door for a moment, frozen. The sound came again as footsteps joined the stairs, Abi also running towards the door.

"Carl?" Abi called as she was first to meet the doorknob as she struggled to open it, passing the duty to Rick as him and Jessie called for their sons, banging continuously against the door.

"What happened?" Jessie asked as Rick went to look for something to pry open the door. The sounds of thrashing and grunting still escaping the room as Abi and Jessie didn't stop their repetitive banging on the door.

"One second they were just silent in there, next crash ,boom." Abi explained with little detail as Rick came down the stairs, hatchet in hand as he yelled, "Back up!"

The man swung at the door, again, again. Loud snarls could be heard from inside the room, Abi's heart rate picking up as Rick swung harder, finally breaking off the lock as Abi peeked into the room, Ron picking himself up from the ground as Carl gave up on protecting the door. They all ran away from the door, Abi helping Rick shut it close as they pushed their body weight onto the door, Rick grabbing a sofa as the four backed away.

"We need more, and we need to be quiet." Rick ordered as he, Carl and Gabriel held the sofa against the door, moving back and forth as the walkers crashed onto it.

"I'll see what I can find." Michonne said from Abi's right as she rushed into the kitchen area where Abi was before. Abi let go of her shock, standing between Jessie and Carl as the two blondes helped with the door, Ron standing cowardly behind them.

"Hey, hey, what happened in there?" Rick asked Carl, Abi turning her head to the left so she could join the conversation. She knew Ron had the gun from before, she just didn't know if he had tried to use it or not.

"We were looking for tools and knocked over a shelf," Carl informed his father, sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Sure didn't sound like it, there was yelling" Abi said, more in a questioning tone as Carl turned to her.

"Ron saw 'em break through the gates, we had to move." Carl said, Abi could tell he was lying. She didn't know how or why he just was. Abi shook it off, paying attention to the main problem.

"Carl, there's nightstands in my mom's room. We can brace the couch with them." Ron appeared next to the boy, Abi immediately sending him a weird look as she wondered why he was asking this after what had just happened. Too many things were happening and all of them were confusing.

"Hey, it sounded like you were fighting," Jessie angled her boy to face her son and multitask with the walkers.

"We were fighting them!" Ron defended himself as he looked to Carl, the sheriff's hat boy removing himself from his place as Abi moved more into the centre, leaving Jessie some space.

"Carl, it's okay?" Rick asked his son, Abi also angling her body so she could see his reaction when answering.

"It's okay," the boy nodded before heading the way Ron had just went. Rick's eyes followed him before looking to Abi, biting his tongue whilst contemplating the question. Abi caught his stare, catching on to what he was asking her to do. The blonde didn't want to leave the adults alone, but she also didn't want to be defiant.

"You got this?" She double checked as she motioned to the furniture, Rick nodding. "Fine," she groaned before she quietly followed the boy into the room, stopping the door before it could lock, peeking through the door.

"Give me the gun, grip first." Carl ordered Ron as she saw the tip of a gun, hearing it cock as well as Ron turned to Carl in fear. What the hell happened in there?

"Look, I'm sorry." Ron apologised, still not having caught the girl watching through the door.

"Yeah, I know. Now give me the gun." Carl spoke sternly, not hearing the heavy breathing of Abi's due to the loud walker snarls down the hall. Ron's eyes guiltily looked around, catching sight of the annoyed blonde through the door, gulping flighty as Carl turned his attention to the door. Abi opened it, Carl lowering his gun slightly as he moved out of the way.

"What is going on?!" Abi whisper-shouted, not wanting to draw any attention with loud noises. Carl sighed, turning back to Ron.

"It doesn't matter." Carl said as Abi's eyes finally caught the gun in Ron's hand, widening them slightly as he fiddled with it for a second before hesitantly passing it over. Carl motioned his head towards the gun whilst facing Abi, the girl rolling her eyes before snatching it out of Ron's hand, now having the protection of both a knife and a gun. Abi hoped that the walkers would give Carl enough time to explain what had happened in that room.

"Look, man," Carl breathed as Abi placed the gun in the waistband of her jeans, slightly lifting the dirty white shirt she was wearing . "I get it. My dad killed your dad, but you need to know something. Your dad was an asshole."

Abi's eyes widened again at the boys words, her head moving to face Ron as the boy obviously held in the pure rage he was feeling.

"Let's go. Before either of your states become fatal," Abi spoke sarcastically as she dramatically threw her arms around. Her left hand met the door, opening as she walked out, making sure Carl left as well so there was no more fighting.

✵~✵

JESSIE, CARL, RON AND ABI walked into the living room, Abi keeping her distance from both of the stupid teenage boys, not wanting to deal with them at the moment. "They knocked the sculpture over," Jessie stated as Abi joined Michonne's right, looking at the curtains as she took notice of the large amount of walkers outside. She hadn't seen that many since the farm was overrun.

"All that noise, it's drawing more." Michonne spoke through her teeth. The sounds of a baby crying sounded throughout the house, obviously not being good for Judith or everyone else.

"I'll get her," Rick stated as he began to walk away, Abi following behind. "I'll come too." The girl added before following Rick up the stairs, into the room where Judith's crib sat. Abi heard the sounds of music coming from what she remembered to be Sam's room — watching as Rick headed there before his eye caught something else.

"What-" Rick held his hand up to tell Abi to be quiet, the young girl moving forward before she noticed Deanna was now longer where she laid a few moments ago, now a pile of blood sitting where both her wound and bite sat. Oh shi-

Music continued playing as Rick and Abi quietly — but quickly — made their way to where Judith was, Abi praying that Deanna hadn't died and come back to eat the baby. They had already experienced Judith dying once, they didn't need it to actually happen.

Rick peeked into the room, similar to how Abi did earlier before his hand immediately went to his axe, Abi's going to her knife just in case as he got ready to swing. Abi steeped forward in time with him, Deanna turning her head in fear, shrieking, "No, it's still me!"

Abi sighed, placing her knife away as Rick lowered the axe. "I'm sorry," Rick apologised, Abi mimicking him as she awkwardly stood in the doorway, unsure of what to do now.

"I-I wanted to see her one last time." Deanna explained, stroking Judith's hair lightly. "I thought I could make it. My legs had other plans." Rick wrapped his arms around the woman, picking her up gently before placing her on the bed. Abi walked over to the baby, picking her up softly as she rocked Judith to make sure she wouldn't cry again. Rick nodded to her, Abi making her way downstairs before the music stopped her again.

Judith babbled as she laid her sleepy head onto Abi's shoulder, allowing Abi to turn slightly to knock on Sam's door. "Come in," The boy spoke quietly, fear trembling in his voice. Abi opened the door, leaving it ajar as Sam kept his music playing.

"Hey, Sam." Abi greeted, Sam trying his best to copy her smile. "Why do you have the music on?" It wasn't a good idea to have the sound on with the dead just outside.

"It's so I can't hear the.. monsters." Sam spoke, the same scared voice as before coming back when he spoke about the walkers. Abi heard how the boy hadn't left his room since the W men, he was a timid little boy who grew up in the safety of Alexandria, she was the same back at the farm. As much as going through the walkers was a way of life now, so was getting used to them.

"Oh, ok." Abi nodded, talking in the way most people talked to a scared child when they tried to make them feel better. "Well, i'm scared too." Abi confessed as she sat beside him on the bed, grimacing at the plate of food in his room, ants crawling around it.

"You don't look scared." Sam spoke as his eyes were fixated on the baby in Abi's arms. Abi knew she was, everyone was as their safe place was being torn down, but the main reason she told the Anderson boy this was because she wanted him to feel better.

"That's because if I look scared, Judith'll be scared." Abi explained, bouncing Judith slightly as she cooed at the baby.

"So, you're pretending?" Sam clarified as he furrowed his eyes slightly, Abi nodded. "That's what my mom told me to do. Pretend to be brave."

"You should listen to your mom, we'll make it through, trust me. Rick's gotten us through many things similar before," Abi reassured the boy, though Sam still wasn't convinced.

"What's happened before?" He questioned, Abi taking a deep breath as she thought of all the things their group had been through.

"Well, I used to live on a farm, but the 'monsters' took over, as much as he wasn't with us all at the time, Rick got my dad and Carl out. That was good." Abi explained, hesitating slightly when mentioning her father. She hadn't thought of Hershel in a while, Beth had been a current memory but her father not. The day that blade went through Hershel's neck, was the day everyone's lives changed completely, not just Abi and her group, but the people around them—and the people they had yet to meet.

"Where's your dad now?" Sam asked, clearly not understanding the fact that if someone wasn't with them, they were probably never going to be with them again.

"He- um- it's a long story." Abi gulped, sucking in her feelings as she continued to bounce the babbling Judith. "We should trust Rick, together okay? We'll make it through, I promise."

Sam gave in, smiling slightly as Abi pulled him in for a hug. She didn't really know the boy, she was just planning on telling him to turn the music down but when she saw how scared he was, how tense, Abi couldn't help but take care of the boy. Patricia and Maggie did the same, even during the time Beth was most in need for the help—Lori especially. She decided she would pass it on.

When her mother was sick, when her brother was sick, the feeling of sitting beside Beth's bed when she had randomly collapsed. She was frozen when she sat beside Lori's body, both the woman's and Carl's sobs echoing the room as her family was on the other side, Maggie about to perform a deadly c-section on the woman.

Abi Greene knew what it was like to be a scared kid in this time, she had people to help her but now those people weren't there. She needed to be one of those people.

✵~✵

ABI HELD HER BODY UP AGAINST THE DOOR, squished in between Jessie and Gabriel as they tried to stop the walkers from getting in. Carl and Ron held a small table against the door, blocking the dead as Rick came rushing in. After her talk with Ron, Abi had gone downstairs to see the walkers almost getting in, everyone surrounding it as they stopped them. Rick joined beside Gabriel, everyone sweating as they used all of the muscles in their bodies.

"There's just to many of them!" Gabriel exclaimed as Abi groaned, slipping slightly before she pulled herself back up. Most sounds of crashing came as Abi heard Michonne bellow, "Everybody, gets upstairs, now!"

The group followed orders running towards the stairs as the slashing of Michonne's katana could be heard, Rick pulling her away as Abi stood behind Gabriel, him holding his machete as she held her knife. Rick and Michonne pulled the couch away, Abi's heart racing as Rick blocked the stairs, his axe in his hand as he pointed at two of the walkers.

"I got this one, you get the one behind it. We're gonna need at least two," Rick told Michonne, Abi watching curiously as he slammed his axe onto the walkers head.

Eventually, Abi caught onto Rick's plan as she felt herself almost be sick. A couple years back, T-Dog had been left in a room with the 13 year old, the man didn't really know how to make conversation with the teenager as he thought of a fun story. The story of how Rick Grimes and Glenn Rhee wore dead human guts to fit in with the undead. And that story was going to become Abi Greene's reality.

Rick pulled up the second walker, giving Carl some instructions before joining Michonne, Abi and Gabriel in the room Deanna was lying in before she got up.

"We're gonna need bed sheets, enough for everyone." Rick explained as Abi grimaced at the smell of the dead, she had still not gotten used to it. "Bed sheets for what?" Jessie questioned, Abi looking up at her with nothing but fear and disgust.

"Oh, you don't wanna know." The girl mutters to herself, talking quietly as her words were aimed at the Andersons. Ron and Jessie whipped their heads towards her, now fearful of what was to come.

"We all go to the armoury," Rick said as he kneeled beside the walker. Jessie questioned it, Abi not excited for his answer. "We're gonna gut these things."

"Oh, God." Abi spoke disgustedly, covering her mouth as Rick held his knife above the dead creature. "We're gonna freaking cover ourselves with walker leftovers!"

Rick looked at her, disappointed on how she announced it to them despite his plan on acting calm about it. "It's to mask the smell, make 'em think we're like them."

Ron and Jessie looked at the two like they were crazy, Abi's hand still on her mouth as she tried not to gag in disgust. She knew she was being over dramatic but the girl had always been hyper sensitive to smells.

"I've done it before," Rick 'reassured' them. "We stay calm, we don't draw attention." We wear walker guts. "We can move right through them."

"They're in the house, they're making noise. More are coming." Michonne whispered, her katana raising before she joined Rick in slicing the dead ones stomachs. The sounds of flesh squelching joined the room as Abi cringed:

"Anyone who stays here is gonna die." Rick told them, his hand still holding the knife that was locked into the once human's stomach.

"What about Deanna?" Gabriel questioned, bed sheets in his hands. Abi knew why Rick stayed silent, Deanna wasn't making it out of that room. But they were.

✵~✵

author notes -
long ass chapter

Lottie and Abi are gonna be best friends just wait. We will get more Enid and Abi soon!
(don't get to happy about that)

i have so many things planned for after 6x09, so sorry if these chapters seem a little rushed—that's because they are. The timeskip in season six is a little different from the show, aiming around 3-4 months. I thought about Maggie's pregnancy and i'm just gonna wing it because she announces she's pregnant in an early episode of season six, season seven and eight are only like three weeks so it all works out fine.

Because of this long time skip, i don't wanna just explain it in a paragraph so we're gonna get some filler chapters, maybe 2 or 3 (possibly more) whilst i finish off planning season 7. These chapters will explain people's friendships over the time skip (specifically lottie + abi, abi + glenn) so it's not like they randomly became friends.

Anyways,
Byee </3