she pushed herself off the lookout wall, "It's easy to forget how loud the world used to be," The woman chuckled lightly, "I used to complain about it all the time. Traffic, construction, car alarms, noise pollution. Oh." She shuddered.

"What I would give for the sweet sound of a jumbo jet." Addy chuckled softly, staring out at the trees and the few walkers that roamed just outside their home.

"It'd be — it'd be even sweeter if we were all on it." Carl said. Addy looked over her shoulder and gave him an amused smile, the boy returning one back.

"Your mom was proud of you." Addy's smile faltered and she immediately felt the change of atmosphere. Carl sighed and looked down at his feet,

"Of what, being mean to her?"

"No," Carol murmured, "You can't think about that."

"That's all I think about." The brunette boy shook his head, mentally cursing the tears that welled up in his blue eyes.

Adelaide bit her lip and looked to the ground. Ever since Lori's death, the girl hadn't been able to keep what she said out of her mind. All the words of comfort she displayed to the two kids as they watched her die slowly and painfully were just a simple reminder of what that world had become. When Addy had held Judith for the first time, she was sure she was going to see Rick's big, blue staring back up at her, but instead, the girl saw those brown doe eyes she saw every time she looked at Lori. That made her heart break just a little more.

A car rumbling into their home suddenly chased Addy's sad thoughts away, and she mentally prayed it was her dad and the others.

"It's them, hurry." Carol rushed, placing her hand on the small of Addy's back as she ushered her to help Carl open the gate. Rick drove the car in between the two gates and said something to whoever was in the passenger seat.

Carl rushed over to his dad and they embraced in a tight hug. Carol and Addy went over to the side of the car, and both their hearts dropped to their stomachs when Daryl was nowhere in sight.

"Where's my dad?" Addy tried her hardest to make her voice sound strong and not shaky, but that proved to be quite a difficult task. Rick noticed her frown and the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes,

"He's alright, he's alive," Relief flooded Addy as Rick placed a hand on the side of her neck and the other on Carol's shoulder, "He ran into his brother."

Those few words made Addy's racing heart drop to her stomach once again, "M-Merle?" She managed to stutter out. But Merle's dead?

"They went off." Rick's voice was full of sympathy as he eyed the young girl before him.Tears now spilled from Addy's eyes uncontrollably.

"They left?" Carol asked before the girl could, even though they both already knew the answer; Daryl had left his own daughter for his douchebag older brother, Merle.

Just as Rick nodded and looked to his feet, Addy had brushed past them and rushed off towards the prison. Carl wanted to follow her, but he knew she would most likely want to be alone, so instead, he watched her figure disappear and sighed to himself.

"Daryl left?" Carol's voice dropped down to a whisper, "He's gone? What about Addy?"

Rick sighed and looked at the tearful woman in front of him, then glancing back at Addy's retreating figure, "I don't know."

.............................................................

Addy slumped down on her mattress, wiping another salty tear from her eye with her long - sleeve shirt. How could he just leave like that? Addy knew Merle had some sort of effect on her father, but how could her? How could he leave Carol? How could he leave all of them for an asshole like Merle Dixon?

"Hey."

Addy's head snapped up. Carl stood before her, leaning on the doorframe of her cell with a sympathetic smile.

"Oh, hi," She sniffed, wiping another tear that fell down her rosy cheek, "What are you doing?"

"Checking on you." His answer was short, but it had a lot of meaning to Addy. He Cared. She let a small smile grace her lips,

"I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me." Of course, the truth was Addy wasn't fine. She had been through things young girls shouldn't ever have to go through.

Carl sighed, and there was a moment of silence.

"You can talk to me, y'know." Addy looked up at him, offering a soft smile,

"I know." She mumbled, looking back down at her hands.

"I know what it's like, loosing someone you love."

Addy blinked, fiddling with her fingers in her lap. Despite how much she didn't want it to, the girl couldn't help the anger that bubbled up inside. Everyone had lost someone in that damned world. The brunette girl sighed and stood, wiping her cheek once again,

"We've all lost someone."

......................................................

The gate creaked as it was pushed open by Hershel who hobbled on his crutches into the common area, Rick and the others following suit. The only source of light in their home was the moonlight that illuminated the cell block, and Addy thought of it as something out of a scary movie.

Things between her and Carl seemed more tense after their conversation, and Addy felt horrible. Even though she hadn't said anything remotely bad, she couldn't help but feel awful for saying what she did. After all, Carl had just wanted to check on her, and she reacted like that? Addy's train of thoughts were disturbed when one of the men from the group stuck out his hand for Rick to shake,

"I'm Tyreese."

Rick stared at him, not taking his hand and trying to unearth what kind of man he was.

"Sasha," Hershel introduced, "Allen, Ben."

"How'd you get in?" Rick interrogated Tyreese.

"Fire damage to the administrative part of the prison. Walls down." Addy could tell the man didn't mean any harm, and he just simply wanted somewhere safe for his group to stay.

"That side's completely overrun with walkers, how'd you get this far?"

From the corner of her eye, Addy saw Carl looking at her. The girl bit her lip and looked down at her feet, she knew all Carl wanted to to was make sure she was okay.

"We didn't," Tyreese sighed, "We lost our friend, Donna."

"They were lost in the gyms." Carl spoke up, his voice quiet but still echoing in the quiet room.

"And you brought them here?" Rick raised his voice at his son, turning around to face him and making Addy flinch.

"He had no choice." Hershel defended the boy, and Rick seemed to back off as he faced the outsiders.

"I'm sorry about your friend, we know what that's like." Again, Addy felt Carl's gaze burning into the side of her skull.

"Hershel said you could use some extra hands," Tyreese said, "We're no stranger to hard work. We'll go out and get our own food, stay out of your hair. You got a problem with another group, we'll help with that, too. Anything to contribute."

Addy was hopeful that Rick would let them stay, at least Tyreese and Sasha seemed like good people, Addy wasn't sure about the other two.

"No." Rick shook his head, making Addy sigh when she noticed the defeated look on their faces.

"Please. It's like '10 Little Indians' out there," Sasha spoke, "It's just us, now."

"No." Rick shook his head again, looking down at his feet. Addy understood why Rick was being cautious, but couldn't he at least give them a chance?

"Let's talk about this," Hershel spoke, "We can't just keep—"

"We've been through this," Rick cut the older man off, "With Tomas, Andrew. Look what happened."

"Axel and Oscar weren't like that." Carol spoke timidly.

"And where's Oscar now?" Rick raised his voice again, and Addy refrained herself from flinching at his harsh tone.

"I can't be responsible." Rick sighed, lowering his voice and turning back around to face the group.

"You turn us out, you are responsible." Addy couldn't help but agree with Tyreese's words.

"Rick." Hershel called. The two went into a corner and the older man tried to convince Rick to let them stay, but something told Addy that wouldn't be happening. Once they were done talking, Rick rubbed a hand over his face and sighed, his blue eyes trailing up to the overlook above them.

"Why are you here?" Rick asked shakily. Addy frowned — he didn't seem to be talking to Tyreese and his group, "What do you want from me?"

"Dad?" Carl questioned, his face contorting into a frown as he eyed his father.

"Why are you —?" Rick trembled. Addy followed his line of vision to the overlook, but there was nothing there.

"I can't help you! Get out!" He suddenly shouted, turning back to the group of survivors as he continued shouting.

"Whoa, whoa. It's all good." Tyreese comforted.

"What are you doing?"

"Hey, easy, Rick. You're starting —" Maggie placed her hands out before being promptly cut off by the man himself,

"You don't belong here!" Maggie stepped back, panicked. She grabbed onto Carl and Addy's shoulders, pulling them back too.

"Get out! Get out!" Everyone gasped and stepped back when Rick pulled out his revolver, their hearts in their throats.

"We'll leave, we're going. Okay? Ain't nobody got to get shot here. We're going." Tyreese said as his group began to grab their things and get ready to leave.

"Why are you here? Get out!" Rick shouted again, this time managing to get them to scurry away. Glenn put his hands out, ushering them away before someone really did get hurt.

Everyone looked at their leader in shock, not suspecting such an outburst. Maggie held the two kids protectively, her breathing going a mile a minute. Carl slowly reached for Addy's hand, not taking his ocean blue eyes off of his dad. The girl beside him didn't hesitate, grasping his hand and giving it a squeeze.

A/N,

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been busy with other things. Working on another chapter as you read this :) thank you for being patient! 💗💗