Survive Together (The Walking Dead/ Carl Grimes Love Story)

Chapter 38 Truth

Ashley's POV:

Nightmares, they were all I had that night. Replaying the same thing over and over and over again. Ellie, all I could see was her body with that bite mark in her neck. I wish it was only a nightmare, but sadly it was reality. I woke up at 4 and decided not to get back to sleep again. If I did, I would see it again. I just had to get out of bed and do something to get this off of my mind. I walked out of my cell and into the bathroom and splashed the cold water on my face. My eyes had bags under them, indicating I got almost no sleep that night. I pulled my hair up into a pony tail and walked outside. I hear the walker moans right away and walk towards them. I pulled the knife out from my back pocket and became face to face with them. Without hesitation I stabbed them all, one by one in no longer then 15 minutes. I dusted my hands off of my jeans and walked away without looking back. Someone will burn them later.

It is now 4:56AM December 17th. In the real world I would be counting down the days until Christmas, but now I just count down the days, hoping that one of them will be better with a cure. Highly unlikely I know, but I can still have hope on one thing, so I'm sticking to this one. The adults will be waking up soon, most of them get up at a little after 5. While me and Carl usually slept until 8 or 9, well just Carl today. I sat at the table, hoping someone would wake up soon. I sat in silence for 10 minutes until I heard footsteps walking towards me. I looked up and saw it was Daryl.

"How's your leg?" I asked. He got shot only a couple of days ago.

"It's fine, I'll survive." He was still limping a bit, but was getting though it. Well he is a touch son of a gun so I'm not very surprised.

"I think the question is, why are you awake? He asked. Looks like I have some explaining to do.

"Well remember Ellie? Carl and I went to the cabin and we were held hostage by these three men, they were in the group that shot you. I got out of my rope and killed the 2 and then the 'leader' he said I'm the reason my best friend might die. I made Carl help me look for her and we found her but she was bit and I had to shoot her. It's all my fault, I should've stayed with her."

"Don't be to hard on yourself, it's not your fault at all. Just blame them, not you or anyone else."

"But Daryl he said that he had 50 other men that would come and kill us!"

"Well I guess we better be prepared to beat their asses." I don't know how much longer I can deal with all these assholes. You'd think we would all team together and try to help save the world, but I guess that only works in movies. I took a deep breath and put my head down on the table. I wish this world wasn't so fucked up. I heard more footsteps coming down the stairs and decided to look up. It was my mom, Rick, and Glenn. I guess they all woke up at the same time. They sat at the table and started to chat.

"You're up early Hun." My mom said.

"Just couldn't sleep, you know." She nodded and went back to her conversation with Daryl.

"Do you wanna go on watch with me?" Glenn asked. I nodded and followed him up into the guard tower.

"So what did the men really do to you? I know they didn't just tie you up and ask questions." I guess Glenn was to smart not to know.

"Okay fine. When Carl was blacked out he gave me a cut on my leg, and then he ripped the duct tape from our mouths, and then he slapped Carl. That's it, I swear." I told everyone else that they only tied us up and didn't harm us, I made Carl agree to stick to that plan.

"Ashley why didn't you tell us that?"

"I didn't want anyone to worry! I'm sorry!" I said getting ready to walk out.

"No stop! I'm sorry, it's just your like a little sister to me and I don't want anything bad to happen to you or Carl." I signed and walked back towards him.

"I know I'm sorry." I said and hugged him. I guess I should've told Glenn, he was like the big brother I never had.

"Don't worry about it. Now come on let's head down, I'm sure everyone will be waking up shortly." I nodded and walked back down with him. He was right once again. Everyone was awake except for Carl. It was only 6:00 so he still has a couple hours of sleep. I have to talk to him.

~8:37AM~

I heard footsteps coming from my cell, finally he is up. I went to meet him halfway and grabbed his hand and lead him to the library. When we got there I let go and went to sit on the couch.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I think we should tell them the truth. You know about what happened. I know I said not to, but I would feel better if we did."

"Yeah no problem, when should we tell them."

"Soon, sometime this afternoon." He nodded and came to sit by me.

"But what do you mean it would make you feel better? Are you okay?" I guess I should tell him the truth too.

"Honestly no. Seeing Ellie like that and having to shoot her, I don't know you shouldn't have to do stuff like that. And when he hit you and did that stuff to you? You shouldn't have to go through that!"

"Ashley I'm okay I've had worse. And I know I'm so sorry about Ellie." He said putting his arm around me.

"But are you okay?" I asked.

"No, seeing you be treated like that and I couldn't do anything about it? Worst thing I've ever felt, it even beats getting shot." I hugged him and put my face on his shoulder.

"But were okay now, you don't have to worry about me, and I don't have to worry about you. Were safe now." I said trying to reassure him. He didn't say anything, just hugged me tighter.

~12:30 in the afternoon~

This is it. Carl and I were walking to the cafeteria to meet everyone and tell them the truth. I don't want to have any secrets to hide. When we reached the doors to the cafeteria, Carl took my hand before we pushed the doors open. We walked to the table where everyone was sitting around.

"We have something to tell you." I said making everyone look at me.

"Um back at the cabin, we didn't just get tied up. The men also abused us. He gave me a cut on my leg, and slapped Carl in the face a couple of times. And they probably would've done more if I didn't stop them." Carl also decided to talk.

"There are two reasons why we are telling you this. One, we don't want to hide any secrets anymore. Second, these guys are more dangerous then they seem. They must have a camp not to far from here. We have to get ready for something we've
never faced before. Serious war.

"There are three things that cannot be long hidden; the sun, the moon, and the truth."

"End of chapter 38"

A/N: Thank you so much for 25k reads! It means so much that so many people read this story! Please continue to read and vote! :)