In a world taken over by walkers, ten-year-old Elodie fights to survive each day. But she's not just any survivor-she's a girl who happens to be hard of hearing. Her older brother Jamie isn't exactly supportive. In fact, he's downright cold, leaving...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
〰
The grass tickled her bare legs as Elodie sat on the ground next to Carol, who was stirring an egg in an iron pan resting over the crackling flames. She was intently watching as Carol tapped the egg gently on the side of the pan, just enough to create a small crack, and then pried it open, letting the yolk and whites slide smoothly into a container. Then, she whisked the egg until it turned a perfect light yellow.
Elodie observed as the egg began to cook, Carol skillfully scrambling it in the pan.
She wanted to ask a bunch of questions, like; how come the egg cooks so fast? Why don't they get hard, but stay soft? How doesn't the yolk inside the egg mix with the whites? But it was hard to even talk in general, because she could barely hear herself speak. Because of that, she'd scramble words together or stutter, and it annoyed her.
She had to sleep in the farmhouse the previous night, because Hershel and Maggie insisted to keep an eye on her for one more night. Elodie didn't really understand why; she was walking around and evidently fine. But Hershel was the one who knew the most about medical stuff, so Elodie did whatever he told her to.
A light tap on her leg drew her attention to Carol, who was holding an egg in her hand, showing it to Elodie. She was asking if Elodie wanted an egg, too.
She shook her head, scrunching her nose. No eggs for breakfast. Yuck.
Carol smiled and nodded. She continued to stir the scrambled eggs until they were cooked to a fluffy, light yellow consistency. Once they were ready, she carefully scooped the eggs onto a plate. The aroma made Elodie feel a little sick, but she still took the plate Carol handed to her, knitting her brows together. Had she accidentally nodded her head instead of shaking it?
Puzzled, she looked down at the eggs, a grimace forming on her face. She didn't want to eat eggs. Hadn't she told Carol that? Maybe she'd take one or two bites, so to not make her sad. She had made them after all.
Carol let out a light chuckle at the girl's expression, tapping her leg to get her attention. Once she had it, she pointed at Daryl, who was looking at his feet, sitting on a fold-up chair on the other side of the fire.
Ah, that made more sense.
She stood up, eyes fixed on her plate so she wouldn't accidentally tip it and spill all the eggs. Carefully, she made her way around the fire.
As she came closer to Daryl, she was so focused on balancing the plate that she didn't notice his foot stretched out in front of him. Her toe caught on his shoe, and she stumbled forward with a yelp, barely managing to keep the plate from toppling over.
Daryl's hand shot out, steadying her. Elodie's face flushed with embarrassment as she regained her balance, holding out the plate of eggs for Daryl. He slightly raised his eyebrows at her, as if asking if she were alright. To that she nodded, and Daryl took the plate from her.
