XIII

—/<3/—

"Where've you been? Niamh said you got back an hour ago," Archie raised an eyebrow as Rory walked over with Daryl. He glanced down to his sister's arms, almost flinching when what he assumed was her jacket raised it's head and meowed. "Aurora... am I right in thinking you took in a stray cat in a fucking apocalypse?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rory said ignorantly, glancing off to the side.

"Rory, it was bad enough when you'd bring them off the streets back home, but we don't have a home now, we're on the road constantly, do you seriously think you can take care of a cat?"

"Archer, all you gotta do is feed them and play with them, you're acting like I brought a literal baby into camp." Rory caught the way Lori looked down awkwardly, but thought nothing of it.

"We can't look after a cat here, sweetheart, you're only gonna be sad when it dies," Shane butted in.

"Who's we? I'm the one who took her in," Rory raised an eyebrow at him, "Everyone dies. You should know that since you watched Otis die yesterday." Rory gave him a pointed look and Shane's eyes widened a fraction. He could tell that she wasn't buying his story.

"You're taking care of her then, I don't want anything to do with it." Archer cleared his throat. "It better not be feral this time." He added before he storming in the direction of their tent.

Rory nudged Daryl's arm and nodded to where Carol was sat, gnawing on her nails nervously. They both walked over and sat down either side of her.

"Any sign of her?" Carol asked, her voice shaky.

"Not yet..." Rory said gently, choosing her words carefully so as to not upset the woman further.

Carol leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. "It's been days... do you think she's even alive?"

"She could be hidin' out somewhere, there's lots of homesteads in the woods, we found one today, maybe she's just holed up in one of 'em waiting for someone to find her." Daryl said.

Rory nodded, agreeing with Daryl. "We'll check the supplies we left on the highway tomorrow, see if she made her way back there."

Carol sniffled and then looked down at Rory's lap. "Can I hold that cat?"

"Yeah, she's friendly." Rory smiled and gently lifted Pumpkin into Carol's arms. The little black cat immediately started purring, rubbing her face against Carol's chin lovingly.

"Have you named her?" Carol hugged the kitten close.

"Collar says 'Pumpkin'," Daryl said.

"That suits her, she's got orange eyes." Carol cracked a small smile, fiddling with the collar that was conveniently patterned with pumpkins.

—/<3/—

Rory sat with Daryl and Carol for another few minutes and then wandered towards the farmhouse, leaving Pumpkin with them. They'd been at the farm for almost two days and she had yet to meet or introduce herself to the owners. It felt rude to be using their land without speaking to them, so she went. She needed to fill Rick in anyway.

She rapped her fist against the wooden door and took a step back, kind of nervous all of a sudden. A young blonde girl opened the door, staring at her expectantly.

"Hi, I'm Rory...Is Rick in there by any chance?" Rory asked awkwardly.

"Yeah, he is," the girl opened the door wider, silently inviting her in. "I'm Beth by the way, it's nice to meet you. I've seen you around the farm but you always look busy."

"Sorry for not introducing myself sooner, I've been in the woods searching for my friend's daughter with Daryl." Rory stepped over the threshold, not knowing if she should take off her shoes or not.

"It's okay, I won't hold it against you, Rick is down this way with Carl and Lori." Beth led her down a hallway and then knocked on a slightly open door.

"Come in," Rick called, his voice flat and tired.

"Hi, everything alright?" Rory asked quietly, her gaze drifting to Carl, who was unnaturally pale but thankfully alive.

"Yeah, he just needs to rest," Lori answered, sweeping her son's sweaty hair away from his forehead.

"Any luck in the woods?" Rick questioned, still looking slightly out of it with blood loss. He never ended up letting Mikey step in to help.

Rory shook her head. "We're gonna go to the highway tomorrow, see if she went back there."

"Okay, thanks for letting me know." Rick sighed, looking back to his son.

"She did find something else though," Lori started and Rory almost rolled her eyes. Lori had developed some sort of superiority complex over the last month but it only got worse when Rick arrived and became their unofficial leader. Rick looked to his wife, waiting for her to continue. "She brought back a flea infested cat and insisted on keeping it."

Rick raised an eyebrow, tiredly turning to Rory. "Okay first of all, this isn't high school Lori, you don't need to be a snake about things I was already planning on telling him, and two, she's a kitten and she doesn't have fleas. I wouldn't have brought her into camp if she did." Rory said calmly. "Glad Carl's okay, but I have to go and sleep before we go back out tomorrow." Rory gave Lori a pointed look before leaving the room almost jumping at the sight of Beth and her sister listening in on the conversation.

"Sorry, was I too loud?"

"No not at all, we're just nosy," the sister admitted. "I'm Maggie."

"Rory,"

"You have really pretty eyes, is that heterochromia? When I was a girl I always wanted to have that... is that weird?" Beth said as the three of them walked towards the door.

"No,"Rory shook her head. "I knew a lot of people who said the same thing."

"What colour eyes do you parents have?"

"My mom had green eyes and my dad had brown eyes. I don't know where the hazel came from. Both my siblings have green eyes." Rory replied, slowly warming up to the girls, despite the weird topic of conversation.

"Did I overhear you saying you found a cat? Maybe you should bring her to my dad to check her over, he's a vet y'know." Maggie changed the subject, successfully stopping her sister's rambling.

"Oh no, I don't want to cause any trouble, Pumpkin's fine, just a bit underweight but we can fix that easy." Rory shook her head. She could tell that the Greene family wasn't very happy they were there in the first place so she didn't want to put any more pressure on them by creating more work.

"I'll tell him it was my idea if you want, it's best to be sure."

"...Okay." Rory reluctantly agreed.

—/<3/—