Beauty in Death - The Walking Dead

-sixteen-

Infected

Early the next morning, Chloe found herself following Carl outside down to the fields. "So, we're tending to the pigs this morning?" Chloe asked.

Carl nodded. "You don't have to, though," he said. "It's my chore."

"Eh, I've got nothing better to do," She replied with a small shrug. "Besides, I like it when your dad praises me for something you were supposed to do." Chloe smirked.

Carl faked a laugh and then playfully shoved her. Rick was walking just in front of them, but was grinning all the same. "Does your dad always wake you up this early?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, it's torture." Carl nodded.

"Sounds like it," She replied.

"See, Dad? Told ya!" He called up to his father.

"Complaining's only gonna make me wake you up earlier," Rick said. He turned to his son and grinned a bit. "Wanna make wake up time 5:30 instead of 6?"

"Please, no," Carl begged.

"That's what I thought." Rick laughed. Chloe couldn't help but snicker a bit under her breath. Carl glared at her, and she shrugged.

As they walked towards the pigsty, they saw Michonne gearing up the horse, it seemed like she was getting ready to go back out and search for the Governor. Chloe didn't understand why she did it, for all they knew, the Governor was dead. This search of her's might have been a waste of time.

"Be careful out there," Rick told her.

"Always am." Michonne nodded. She turned to the kids. "Any special requests? Books, comics, some stale m&m's?"

"You're the one who likes stale m&m's." Carl laughed at her.

"I'll definitely be lookin' for some," she replied, and Chloe could almost hear the smile in her voice. Michonne was such an amazing person, Chloe thought. She wished that she would spend more of her time at the prison. "I'll look for some stuff you like, too," She said to Rick. "Why don't you wear your hat anymore?" She asked Carl.

Chloe turned to face Michonne and began walking backwards. "He claims it's not a 'farming hat.'" She put those words in air quotes.

"That's cause it's not!" Carl defended. "See you soon?" He said to Michonne.

"Pretty soon." She nodded.

➵

Carl was holding a bucket and Rick and Chloe were both filling with pig feed (weeds and worms and leaves from the garden). "I still don't understand why I'm not the one holding the bucket," Chloe said to Carl.

"Because you're better at this than he is," Rick teased his son. Chloe laughed triumphantly.

"They only took out one cluster yesterday," Carl suddenly changed the subject, nodding towards the herd of walkers that were pressing themselves up against the fences. "Probably gonna need more people today... maybe we could help."

"I got other plans," Rick replied. Chloe decided to keep out of this one. "Involving dirt and cucumbers."

"Well, if you don't wanna help, maybe I could," Carl suggested. Rick didn't respond. "Could I?"

Rick got to his feet, and Chloe followed his lead. "We have other plans," He said in a 'this-is-final' kind of voice. He turned and started heading toward the pigsty.

Chloe offered Carl a sympathetic look. She knew he'd been working on trying to get his dad to let him help kill walkers. She also knew he wanted his gun back.