007.
I'M A REALIST,
COWBOY.

Chaos wasn't the word to describe what had ensued— it had extravasated into pure pandemonium. There had to of been an explosion. That, or a fire that had spread rapidly and was burning down every building that came in its' path.

"Do not leave his side!" Abraham announced to Rosita, although that wasn't something she could exactly guarantee. It was up to Eugene to keep up with her, especially if he wasn't putting any work in.

Talia took no hesitation in stepping into action. Instead of using the wood piece as a spear, she had found along the way that it was more efficient to just knock them over the head. Quicker, and she didn't need to focus on being as precise.

Realistically, the fourteen year old wasn't fixated on what the others were doing; she was in the zone. Kill everyone in her path, and get over that fence with ease, like Rick had instructed.

"Pow!"  she whisper-shouted to no one but herself, kicking one of the walkers' bodies with her foot, and knocking another one senseless at the same time. "Double whammy! Ho, ho!"

Noticing an AK-47 from one of the dead Terminus soldiers lying untouched on the cement, she picked it up and slung it over her back with the strap.

"Nat!" her older sister called out, somehow much ahead of her younger counterpart. Perhaps it was because Rosita made a beeline to that fence, or because Natalia was taking out every single one in sight. A nasty habit of hers; the adrenaline always taking over and making her go rogue.

"Come on kiddo," Abraham hoisted the girl over top, before allowing himself to hop over and out of the territory of Terminus.

Small pants left the teenager's mouth, gasping for air that she didn't realize she so desperately needed. "What a rush," she pointed out— the others didn't seem too fond over what had just happened, and the fact that a literal child was turning it into a big joke wasn't the best help. They weren't upset by it, but they weren't rolling around in the dirt, laughing, either.

"They're a buncha' cannibals," Glenn abruptly stated in response, making all of those who were in the train car the entire time to stop dead in their tracks. "Not sure that's the type of rush you should be getting excited about, Talia."

There were other ways to get food. Maybe they couldn't have a luxurious meal consisting of quality meat every night, but that didn't mean those Terminus citizens had to resort to eating people. To advertise a safe sanctuary for all, only for it to be a luring tool for their next dinner, was insanely fucked up in the young girl's mind. What kind of person could live with something like that?

Feeling the soil under her feet again, along with the rays of sun blazing down and causing some beads sweat to form on her forehead, felt great. It was fantastic; sure as hell beat being in some rusty train car.

"Meant to give this to you," the Rhee man placed an object into Natalia's palms, and her face instantly upturned at the coldness of her metal bat. She oddly felt more grounded, having the weapon that meant so much to her back in her possession.

"Thanks," her eyes ran from one end of the item to the other as if she unwrapped a Christmas present, and eventually to the initials on the bottom.

"Speakin' of weapons," Daryl intervened from a few feet ahead, "Right here," he pointed, having found the location of their hidden stash. Admittedly, it was smart; there was no denying that. Having a competent tracker was also a big bonus, not to mention. Rick began to dig for the bag.

"The hell we still around here for?" the redhead inquired, hopping over a fallen tree as he spoke.

"Guns. Some supplies. Go along the fences. Use the rifles. Take out the rest of them," their leader explained in determination.

"What?"

"They don't get to live."

"They won't. They're weak— it's better we leave 'em," Natalia impeded, even though she was quite certain her input held no importance. At least with the expanded group as a whole; with just the four of them heading to Washington, that was different.

"Rick, we got out. It's over," Glenn added on.

He pulled out one of the weapons from their duffle bag, switching his gaze between the gun and his group members. "It's not over until they're all dead."

"The hell it isn't. That place is on fire. Full of walkers," Rosita defended, siding with her sister and Glenn.

Abraham shook his head in denial. "I'm not dicking around with this crap. We just made it out."

"The fences are down. They'll run, or die," Maggie talked some sense into Rick. Her words seemed to have made him go silent and get his thoughts all back in order. Most of them couldn't attest to what actually happened in there to those who were taken, but it was obviously not worth the waste of ammo, and time.

Crunching of leaves caught a majority of the group's attention, and Talia instinctively raised her unconventional weapon, prepared for absolutely anything. If it was someone who escaped from that hellhole, than they needed to be ready to kill. No hesitation.

A petite woman with short hair revealed herself, appearing to be nothing but innocent. But when Daryl ran over to scoop the woman in his arms joyously, the suspicions were confirmed. That lady was on their side.

For someone like that stubborn-seeming archer with no emotions, he definitely proved the young Espinosa wrong. Because he was showing quite a plethora of emotions— it had to of been a while since they saw one another. Rick then hugged her, after some inaudible words were exchanged between the two.

"You all have to come with me," she motioned to everyone, in a tone that was hard to decipher.

»——⍟——«

Making their way towards a main road, Talia found herself alongside the kid her age in the sheriff's hat. It wasn't intentional, and they weren't talking to one another at the moment. "Your head okay?" Carl suddenly asked, staring in front of him and not meeting eyes with the girl.

"This?" she questioned incredulously, pointing to the wound that the blood had hardened and dried from. It wasn't deep enough to have needed stitches, so there wasn't really much to do with it. Correction— that she wanted to do with that. Natalia had never been one for using up their medical supplies, despite getting the repeated scolding that 'that's what it was all there for.' "It's just a scratch," she flicked her wrist in nonchalance, acting as if it was some tiny paper cut.

"I saw you back there. Seemed like you were having the time of your life," he simply noted, not seeming excited nor upset about that. Just perplexed by the thought of someone his own age killing those corpses as if it was some random extracurricular.

"What else is gonna' bring me a thrill nowadays, cowboy? It's not like I can hit up a theme park and ride the roller coasters," she mused, the idea actually sounding rather intriguing. "I always did wanna go to Disney World."

He tilted his head, contemplating what to bring up next. Having small talk was difficult, especially when everything that seemed to happen was so gloomy and boring. They weren't kids talking about the latest drama at school or something; instead, they would be talking about the stubborn walker that took three hits to finish off as opposed to two. Stuff like that.

Carl and Natalia were both forced to move on from those childish antics before they even reached that stage of life. The girl didn't see a big deal in it; she was mature to begin with, due to growing up around older people. Some of their other group members initially encouraged her to indulge in activities and hobbies that someone her age should, but soon deemed the efforts as useless and gave up. Abraham enjoyed having her wit around— she was a cool kid. Nothing like he ever had, especially with his children and wife that grew to be afraid of him.

Turns out, simply just being kids in the outbreak presented more similarities than you would think.

"Where'd you live before?" the Grimes boy inquired in a monotone voice, intending to spark up some sort of conversation.

Natalia fought back a grin but ultimately failed, reminiscing on her old home; it was where she lived for her entire life, so up until the apocalypse, she knew nothing different. To put it simply, she loved everything about her state. Originally leaving was arguably the hardest thing she ever had to do, but it was the best choice for her family, and that was enough to sway her. "Just outside of Dallas Texas."

"You like it there?" Carl queried, although the answer was blatantly obvious by the glimmer in her eye. That shine wasn't from the sun.

"Mhm," Natalia hummed, her mood elevating at just the thought of everything she used to do there; the town was so small, to the point where everyone knew everyone.

But, like most other things did, they went to shit. As her family and her all fled away from there, Talia remembered watching as all the businesses she loved dearly were torn apart, and people on the streets were killed without any inkling as to what was happening. Those memories flooding back into her brain made the smile fade away fast. "What about you?"

"King County," Carl replied. The Espinosa nodded, although she wasn't that familiar with geography, especially with small towns in a state she didn't know a shit-ton about. "It's just outside of Atlanta, if you didn't know," he elaborated, apparently noticing a small twinge of confusion in her expression. "Feels like I'm so far from home, you know? But I guess there's not really home anymore— at least not like I remember it."

"It's like a— hiraeth," she placed the word that was resting at the tip of her tongue. "My brother taught me that word. Nostalgia— wanting to go back to something that's not there anymore."

The Grimes boy just stared at her in silence as they kept walking. "You're really an optimist, Tal."

"I'm a realist, cowboy. Besides—" Natalia thought of an un-corny way to say what she wanted to, but couldn't figure it out, "These are your people— that's your home, you know? You remember all that cliché shit our teachers used to drill into our skulls?"

As if on cue, the final destination that Carol was leading the group to was revealed. A small cabin-like place, and a tall man holding a baby in his arms came out from the front door. And before Nat knew it, Rick, Carl, and Sasha all darted for them. Rick swooped the infant from the other guy's arms, letting out tears of joy.

It took a moment to set in, but Talia soon realized the affiliation. The boy in the sheriff's hat ran his palm along the baby's head; it was his younger sister. That was it, Natalia mustered up— or, it was Carl's kid. But, she resorted back to the first idea in her brain, assuming that Carl didn't get the most action in the middle of a zombie outbreak.

A few more minutes passed. Natalia watched from the outskirts with Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene, feeling as though it was a special moment for them, and it wasn't her place to get in the way of it.

"I don't know if the fire's still burnin'," Rick rubbed his hands together eventually as he gazed up at the dark-gray cloud of smoke.

The younger Espinosa stood up from the log she was sitting on, looking in the same direction as the group's leader. "It is. Gray smoke means the flame still a'blazin," she explained for those who were unaware, and the sergeant glared at his daughter-figure proudly.

"Yeah. We need to go," Rick decided, being the end-all-be-all to get everyone back on track, for some reason.

"Yeah, but where?"

"Somewhere far away from there."

Swinging her bat back and forth at her side, Talia waited for the signal from one of those she took instructions from. Rick and his group were people they were lucky to have ended up with for their situation, but none of them were positive of whether or not the relationship would evolve from there.

Rosita sent the Ford man a glare, awaiting a response. "We'll talk to them. Not just yet," he decided, not seeming too excited over the idea, considering how he wanted to get a move on.

The four hung towards the back of the pack, but not for any particular reason. None of them were close enough with those people yet, meaning they couldn't just spark up conversation like it was just normal. Well, they could, but the group silently settled on the fact that they wouldn't.

"You should talk to sheriff up there," Abraham nudged the smallest girl's shoulder in a teasing way, making her scoff. Just because they were in the same age range didn't mean they had to talk 24/7— at least in Natalia's mind. Aside from that, Carl seemed too infatuated with his baby sister, Judith, instead.

"I already did," she insisted in honesty, enjoying the general atmosphere that the group had going for them at the moment. "So I'll have to pass on that one."

Unhappy with the reply he got, the red-haired man shook his head in scorn. "Talkin' to someone your own age isn't a crime, kiddo."

"I know."

"Well clearly, 'ya don't."

A huff passed by Talia's lips, attempting to sound annoyed, when in reality she was just messing around. "Your jokes are funnier."

"Are you trying to inflate his ego?" Rosita spat in distaste, knowing that was the last thing Abraham needed to hear.

"No."

"You know what I think?" she continued on, despite her sibling trying to shut her down. "I think— kicking walker ass has made you lose your charm."

Natalia had absolutely zero issues when it came to talking to people. All she seemingly wanted to do was talk, talk, and talk. There were times on their travels that she talked all her comrades to sleep, and she was still going at it when they awoke again. She constantly talked to herself, narrating their journey, even though not a soul was listening.

The truth was— she just lost her touch when it came to speaking with those who were her own age. When she was a student, she was invariably telling jokes that passed way over her classmates' heads. Even before the outbreak, she struggled to connect with other children— it was all just an effect of growing up around an older crowd. "I never really did have that kind of charm to begin with, anyway. It's like I'm talking to a cinderblock with cowboy, over there."

"You've known him for six hours, if that," Rosita retorted sharply, tired of Talia's bullshit. "You can't hang around adults all the time, Nat. You're missing out on a normal childhood as it is."

"That shit's for the birds," her arms held still as she carefully balanced on the thin rail of the train track and walked along it. "Hanging around one kid isn't going to straighten out the mess that is me. I've gotta be doin' somethin' right if I'm still alive in this hell-storm."

Talia was set on her ways. From her basic moral principles, to going about a horde of walkers, to something as little as talking to the only person she's seen that's her age in nearly two years. It didn't matter— it took a lot to fully convince her of things.

So, being told to try and maintain a normal childhood sounded preposterous. Because what they were living in was the farthest thing from normal, and Natalia was never one for pretending. Embracing it was one thing (that she partook in), but pretending that it was normal was another.

Talking to Carl wasn't something she was against; not in the slightest. Natalia just knew it wouldn't be a life-changer.

Or, at least that's what she thought.