Jodie was scared up from her cot. That day had changed her life. The Apocalypse itself had already turned her life completely upside down, but she was still with her family at the time, with her mom. And with that one word, with this one night, this changed too. It's been the three days since she came to this prison.

It was weird sleeping in a cell, but also kind of comforting, a little more privacy. She stood up and washed her face at the little sink in her cell, and then she combed her hair and looked in the stained mirror. Her face was still the same, long reddish-brown hair, green eyes, pale skin. She had to be fourteen by now. She still remembered the time just before the apocalypse, when she had last looked in the mirror. At that time, she really seemed like a little girl who was slowly becoming an adult woman. Now she seemed so much older, so much harder and more serious. But compared to the current situation, her problems seemed almost to be a joke.

There was a knock on her cell door. Cole came in reluctantly, smiling shyly, "Hey, you all right? ", he asked.

She nodded in silence.

"You're up early," Cole and Jodie looked at him.

So are you. Jodie didn't talk with her mouth, only with her eyes and her thoughts.

"How did you sleep? Okay? "

She nodded, silent again.

"I found the library, so you might find something interesting to read." She smiled. Cole. He always wanted to cheer her up, and he often managed to do so in his own positive and tireless way.

„Or you can play with the other kids "Jodie nodded, but didn't look at him, playing with other children wasn't her thing. It wasn't then, and it wasn't now, she had lost the childish ease a long time ago that would have made it easier for her to befriend others.

"And Carol asked if you could help her in the kitchen or with the baby they have," Cole continued.

Jodie nodded. Actually, she would have preferred to help with the guns or go out into the woods, but she only came here a few days ago, and she wanted to get to know all the work around here, get to know the people and not made a bad impression at the beginning. So, she nodded again almost involuntarily.

"Come on, I'll take you to her."

She followed Cole down to the prison kitchen, where Carol, a woman with short mouse-grey hair, wiped and dried pots with a few other women and cooked a soup at the same time. When she saw Cole and Jodie, she came up to them with a questioning look on her face.

„This is Jodie, who wanted to give you a hand if still you needed help," Cole introduced her. Carol nodded with an understanding look and smiled friendly to Jodie, who was reluctant to smile back.

„Jodie, you can help the others wash the pots, and after that you can help hand out the soup outside," she immediately included her in a very warm, friendly way and Jodie nodded. When she walked past her, she saw Cole whispering something to Carol, probably letting her know that Jodie wouldn't talk. Just like he did with everyone who got to know Jodie for the first time and when he thought she wasn't listening. Instead, she looked at the mountain of pots and pans piled up in front of her and the sink. Sighing, she rolled up her sleeves and started working.

It was about noon when the soup was ready and Jodie was outside with Carol and some other woman named Sarah handing out the soup to the other residents. Jodie stopped even paying attention to who she was handing it out to. Which is why she looked up a little surprised when a shadow shove itself in front of the sun that was shining in her face all the time. She blinked and recognized Daryl, who had found her in the woods, Daryl, the hunter. Daryl, who didn't say much and seemed pretty grumpy and dangerous.

Daryl, who it all started with.

"Smells good," he hummed when he gave her his bowl. That's all she could expect from him in terms of friendly greeting.

Jodie put on a smile and filled his bowl.

„Still not Talking, huh? "He didn't exactly come on friendly. Jodie lowered her eyes; he was so intimidating and snarly. But not like Melvin. Melvin always seemed to want to hurt anyone who disobeyed him. Daryl, on the other hand, just seemed to want to be left alone.

She shrugged her shoulders.

"It's up to you, but it only causes you more trouble," he said.

Another shrug was the answer. Jodie didn't care what the others thought of her. She'd survived two months on her own, she'd already lost everything, so what would she have to lose now.

"You gonna get yourself in trouble, kid," he growled and left, and Jodie looked after him and bit her lips. Even if she didn't want to admit it, somewhere, the doubt was eating away at her.

The silent question to herself, whether she really didn't care what Daryl thought of her.

**********************************************

A few days later, Jodie helped Beth to fold the laundry when Carl came by holding Judith in his arms. The little girl cried all the time and seemed inconsolable.

"Please, Beth, help me, I don't know what to do," he said in agony. Smiling, Beth turned to Jodie.

"Can you manage alone for a moment?" she asked and Jodie nodded while she stealthily watched the baby. If Kelly were still alive, her baby would have been born by now, she'd thought.

"Oh, Jodie, this is Judith, our youngest member," said Beth smiling when she noticed Jodie's curious look to the baby. Jodie made herself smile a little.

"Hi, I'm Carl, her brother. We've met before" said Carl smiling at Jodie. She nodded at him with a smile and then turned back to the laundry. A little confused, Carl saw Beth and she whispered something in his ear, and then he nodded.

„Jodie, you wanna hold her? "Beth asked and held the crying Judith out to her. Insecure Jodie took a step back. She didn't know if she could, and the baby reminded her too much of Kelly, the time when everything was okay, where she could still speak. Where she still had a family.

"Don't worry, I'll show you how to hold it," Beth said, and more or less, gave the baby over in Jodie arms before she led Jodie's hands to the right places.

"Here, this hand on her hip and with the other hand you have to support her head."

Jodie gently squeezed the crying baby a little closer and looked down on her. The baby looked at Jodie from her big, wet eyes and suddenly stopped crying. Surprised and interested, Judith looked at the new person in front of her and Jodie looked her very calmly in the eyes, with a small smile on her lips. Beth and Carl were also surprised that Judith had suddenly stopped being fussy. Jodie rocked her up and down a few times, and Judith started squeaking happily.

"Well, look at that, she obviously likes you a lot. She usually never does that," said Beth smiling. Jodie also smiled and looked at Judith again, but the baby stopped laughing, but still looked at her with great interest. And all of a sudden, Jodie saw it again, Kelly, dying on the ground, her hands pressed on her belly.

Jodie shook it off and looked at Judith again.

„Jodie, is everything okay? "Beth asked, who had noticed the horrified look on her face. Jodie nodded hastily and quickly returned Judith to Beth and returned to the laundry again.

Beth and Carl looked at her for a moment with a furrowed brow and confused eyes, but decided not to worry about it anymore.

"I'm gonna take her for a diaper change, and put her to bed after that," said Beth and looked at Carl.

„Are you coming along? "

Carl nodded.

"You're gonna be okay, on your own, Jodie? "

Jodie nodded, completely lost her mind, Beth gave her a worried look, "Jodie, for real, are you okay? "

She nodded with an encouraging smile as to say, „Don't worry, it's okay. "Not entirely convinced, Beth nodded at her and left the cell block with Carl and Judith in her arm. Jodie took a few deep breaths.

It's over, it wasn't your fault. You weren't prepared for that, she told herself over and over again. But it didn't help. The images appeared again and again in front of her mind's eye and made countless loops inside her head. Jodie got up and looked out of her cell door through one of the windows. She and Cole had gone to the prison because there was no other way for them, and it was better to live in a society with other people who supported each other. But now Jodie started to doubt her decision.

Perhaps it would be better to die outside than to expose herself to this?

But Jodie couldn't go back, not alone, and she promised Cole that she would stay with him, and she couldn't do that to him. She'd get used to it.

She heard the bell ring and knew there would be lunch now. She pulled herself together, got up and went to the courtyard like the others to pick up her food. After picking up her plate of soup, she looked for a place to sit and discovered Daryl, who sat on a staircase in the shadow of a cell block and shoveled his lunch into him.

She took a few steps in his direction when suddenly three boys got up in front of her. They were ruffians, about Jodie's age, maybe a year older than her, but they stared at her, almost viciously.

"Look, the little girl from the kitchen! "smiled one of them who faced Jodie directly. He seemed to be the leader of the small group.

"They say, it's impossible for her to speak, is that true? "he continued grinning evil. Jodie looked at him calmly, she wasn't looking for trouble.

"Huh, you're not gonna say anything? "Someone else asked and bumped her arm lightly. Jodie just calmly blinked at him a few times.

"It seems to be true; she doesn't say a word! The question is just... why? "The leader was grinning spiteful. Jodie noticed his two followers walking around her, finally encircling Jodie. She didn't like the development of the situation at all. She felt her hair in her neck and on her arms slowly standing up and her pulse accelerated.

"Either she doesn't want to or... she is too stupid to understand us," the leader grinned, as did the other two. Jodie grabbed the soup bowl in her hand and looked for a possible escape route. She started to panic, she felt like an animal being cornered.

"But you know what? If you don't talk, you don't have to eat," the leader smiled and gave Jodie's soup bowl a push from below, so that the hot soup spilled over and poured on Jodie's top.

"She didn't even say anything about it? Like I said, she's too stupid," the leader of the punks grinned.

"Shit, here comes Rick, let's get out of here, Roderick," said one of his followers to the leader, and all three made a quick getaway. Jodie looked down at herself, her top was soaked in soup, the heat of soup burned on her skin, and she now had less of her lunch. She said she would try and get used to it, but apparently some people tried deliberately to make it hard for her. This was not a good start, and sighing carried her soup into the shadow of the cell block, squatting in a corner and eating.

Daryl had been watching the girl, and she had only been here for a few days, but helped wherever she could and seemed that no job was beneath her standards. But she didn't talk, and some tried to change her mind, while others had already come to terms with it. Yet she had managed to make enemies within a week Daryl knew the boy, Roderick.

Glenn and Michonne picked him up and his dad at a tour. At first, the boy was still a little restrained, but as soon as he had met the other children of his age, he quickly took command and rose to be their leader. Although he hadn't taken a closer look at anyone else, it had made him presumptuous and he set the rules and ensured with his fellow runners that it would stay this way. Daryl didn't like the boy, sometimes Roderick reminded him of Shane. But Jodie was the first person he threatened, and he also saw the soup action. Now the girl had crawled into a corner not far from him and ate the leftovers of her lunch.

Daryl hesitated, but then he got up and went over there. She looked up when he stood in front of her and held out the remains of his roasted squirrel to her.

"Here", he growled. Hesitantly she took the skewer and biting the fried meat. She chewed, swallowed and seemed a little confused about the taste.

" It's Squirrel," Daryl hummed, and the girl looked at the skewer, then to Daryl, nodded at him and smiled. It seemed as if she wanted to say "Thank you," and Daryl nodded at her and then moved away. He wasn't hungry anyway But without really wanting to, he decided to keep an eye on this Roderick and also Jodie.

So, I hope you liked the story so far. I am looking forward to your comments. Tell me, if you like it or not, or what can I do better, since this the first Story, I ever translated to English.

See you next week.

Best wishes, Liz;)