They're Like Us

As they approached the high walls of Alexandria, fifteen year old Carl Grimes could sense that someone was watching them or to be more specific him. He'd always had extremely good vision which was why he was one of the group's best shooters along with Sasha, Abraham and Daryl. Out of the corner of his deep blue right eye he saw movement in one of the burnt out house and then he saw her.

It was a girl who looked to about his age. She wasn't tall but she wasn't short either. Her skin was pale and she had brown hair which was currently in two pigtails.

He took note of the knife she carried on her waste. She was wearing a red tank top covered by a beige vest. One thing that he found odd was that she was wearing shorts. Given the threat of getting bit and dying, it didn't make sense to him.

At first he figured it was because she had been in this 'Safe Zone' since the beginning and therefore didn't realize the threat of walkers, but there was something about her that made him throw away that theory like an old pair of socks.

He had a feeling that she knew what it was like to be out here, fighting for survival. It was something about the way she looked over the group, almost as if she were searching for threats. She also kept one hand close to her knife.

Yeah she definitely must have known what it was like.

He blinked and when he looked back she was gone. It was like she had disappeared into thin air, like one of the ghost he saw when he would watch Scooby Doo on Saturday mornings. He missed Saturday morning Cartoons, even though by now he probably would have outgrown them.

He was pulled from his thoughts by a noise and at once the group raise their weapons and Daryl fires an arrow. It turns out to be a possum.

"We brought dinner," Daryl said as the gates opened.

Carl figured that to the people on the other side he and his 'Family' must look like a bunch of misfits. Maybe that was true, but he had a feeling his father was right. It was a good thing they were here.

/

"So did you see them?" Everett Taylor asked his younger sister Enid when she returned to their house in the community.

"Yep," she said, throwing her backpack on the floor, much to her older brother's annoyance.

"And?"

She shrugged, "They're like us," she pulled a bottle of water from the fridge.

"That's good. Maybe they'll have better luck with Deanna then I did," Everett said and he didn't hide the distaste in his voice when he said the name of the community's leader.

Enid rolled her eyes, "Let it go, she didn't like you're idea for a farm. That doesn't make her a bad leader," she chastised, playfully wagging her finger at him.

"It makes her an incompetent one," he grumbled, "If Dad was here he would have pushed for it, he would have challenged the leadership."

"Dad was a councilman," Enid said, "he knew politics," she pointed at him, "you don't."

"You know I still wish mom and dad brought home a puppy instead of you when I was nine," Everett said and Enid glared at him.

"Not funny."

"So were there any cute boys in that group?" He asked his sister.

"Well there was a boy about my age and he's…I think I might finally have a friend," Enid said with an excited tone on her voice. The tone was refreshing for her older brother.

When shit hit the fan around three years ago, Everett had been away at school. By chance he'd come home for a weekend to do laundry when it happened. The family of four had left Minnesota within days and for two years had survived on their own.

Then one day while he was out looking for supplies, walkers killed their parents. Tore them apart in front of his fourteen year old sister, who was locked in the car by their parents, Tucker and Erin Taylor in a last attempt to protect their daughter.

For the next eight months, Enid and Everett survived by eating whatever they could, whether it be possum, rat or tortoise. It was during this time that he noticed how angry and closed off his sister was. Watching their parents killed right in front of her and hardened the once bubbly girl.

When they got to Alexandria, Enid has refused to associate with the half dozen children either saying they were too young or in the case of Ron Anderson, "A complete creep or won't stop trying to hold my hand."

While she had softened up a bit in the past few weeks, Everett knew that his sister longed for a friend, someone who understood what it was like to be out there, to fight for survival, to loose people. A big part of him hoped that this boy would be that friend for her, even though he hadn't met him yet.

"Can we go say high?" Enid asked as she bit into an apple.

"Sure, we should probably go rescue them before the welcoming committee shows up," he said as he rose from his chair.

"I bet you a weeks worth of pantry cards that Shelly Neudermeyer asks them if they've seen a pasta maker nearby," Enid said as they walked down the steps to the street.

"Deal," Everett said.

/

"I should have brought a bigger cart," the plum lady named Olivia said as she dragged away the massive pile of guns Rick Grimes and his group had been forced to put in her cart.

"You are more than welcome to take you guns any time you go outside the walls, but while you are in here they will be kept in the armory for safety reasons," Deanna Monroe said in a very diplomatic tone as she looked around at Rick Grimes as his group.

"What she means is, she doesn't want anyone to have a gun so that they can overthrow her," a voice said and Carl and the rest of the group turned their heads.

The voice belonged to a man in his twenties who had dark brown hair and was wearing cargo pants and a polo shirt. Beside him was the girl who Carl had seen earlier.

He gave her a smile as he bounced Judith on his hip and she smiled back, nodding in his direction.

"Everett, Enid I would like you to meet Rick Grimes and his group," Deanna said gesturing to the large group of fourteen.

"Nice to meet you," Everett said as he reached out his hand towards the leader of the group, a man in his early forties who had a gray beard and a cautious look in his eyes. "I'm Everett Taylor and this is Enid," he gestured to his sister.

"Rick Grimes," the man said and both Everett and Enid noticed the southern accent. He shook Everett's hand. "This is my group."

Enid and Everett became familiar with the rest of Rick's group very quickly.

There was a gruff looking man with a leather vest named Daryl. A gray haired woman named Carol. Ricks sons Carl and one year old daughter Judith. An African American named Michonne. An Asian man in his twenties named Glenn and his wife Maggie.

Another African America woman named Sasha Williams. A large man with red hair named Abraham Ford. His girlfriend, a young Hispanic girl named Rosita. A young woman named Tara. There was also Eugene, a man with a mullet, Noah a young man of African American decent with a limp and a priest named Father Gabriel.

"Deanna how about I show them to the houses," Everett offered.

Deanne furrowed her brow, "I'm not sure that's such a good idea."

"Why? You told me I need to start getting involved," Everett argued and Deanna sighed and relented.

"Fine, it's the two houses at the end of the street," she said and Everett nodded.

"Alright if you'll all follow me, I'll show you guyd around," he said and led the group towards their houses.

/

Carl was amazed. The houses in Alexandria were like those in a rich neighborhood. Ones that he never pictured he would live in.

"Kinda crazy isn't it? Living in houses meant for the rich," Enid said as she stood beside him.

He nodded, "Yeah," he turned towards her, "I'm Carl."

"Enid," she said and smiled.

"How long were you out there?" Carl asked.

"From the beginning till about four months ago. You?"

"I mean we had a home at a prison for about eight months but that's about it."

Enid was silent for a few seconds before a thought appeared in her head.

"Do you like comics?"

His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, "Yeah I do, I had a whole bunch at the prison but the place got overrun."

Enid nodded in understanding, "It sucks losing a place you call home, but I have lots of comics at my house if you want to come and read them."

"I'll have to ask my dad, but I'd like that. Are there other kids here?"

She nodded, "A few but they don't…they aren't like us."

He nodded, "Well then I guess it's good you're here then, because I really could use a new friend."

She smiled, "Me too."