Hounded

                                    

                                          

Allie sat next to Carl at the table, everyone eating their food. She was mainly just playing with it
"Baby, eat your food," Maggie told her
She grimaced, poking it with her spoon once again. "I don't like it."
"You don't know that til you try it." 
Carl and allie hated when adults said this. Because it wasn't true. Most people have never tried shit, but they know they don't like it. 
"No, momma, I know. I don't like it." 
"We can't afford to be picky, Al," daryl told her 
"I'm not that hungry anyway," she sighed, putting her spoon down. She pushed the bowl away from her and put her head down Solemnly 
Rick walked in, looking cleaner than usual. He must have cleaned himself up after taking out the bodies. "Everybody okay?" He asked 
"Yeah, we are. What about you?"
"I cleared out the boiler block."
Allie frowned and held Rick's hand. "You didn't answer the question." 
He tried to send her a smile but couldn't bring himself to do it. So instead, Rick ruffled her hair and said, "I'm doing okay."
"How many were there?" Daryl asked, referring back to the boiler bloxk
Rick shrugged, "I don't know. A dozen, two dozen. I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl and Allie. You gonna eat that miss Walsh?" 
Allie giggled. She hadn't heard that in a while. Its what Rick would always say to her when she was misbehaving. But not real misbehaving. Not enough to get into trouble. But when she'd sit quietly to avoid bed time, or when her and Carl would sneak some biscuits to bed. He'd always call her miss Walsh, raising an eyebrow as he did so, a smile usually on his face. She was glad he could call her that again. And it gave her the chance to correct him
"It's rhee now, ain't it?" She looked at Glenn who had a smile on his face 
"Yeah." 
Rick managed to send her a small smile finally. "I'm glad to hear it." 
Glenn stood up as rick was about to leave. "Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies. You don't have to."
"No, I do." Allie wasn't sure why anyone would want to take out bodies. She hated seeing the dead, walking or still. It didn't matter. They were all terrifying. But she was determined to get braver. She was no longer the baby of the group, and even though she was scared, she knew she couldn't be a little kid anymore
"Everyone have a gun and a knife?"
"Yeah. Except Allie. We're running low on ammo, though." Allie had a knife but wasn't trusted with a gun, not that she wanted one anyway.
"Maggie and me were planning on making a run this afternoon.  Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bulllete and formula," Glenn informed them
Allie looked at them with pleading eyes. "No," Glenn said sternly 
"Please, daddy. I'll be good, I promise. I want to get brave. You said yourself that I need to learn how to handle the walkers, just in case. I'll stay out of the way anyway. Please!"