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

Chapter 39 Stepping Up

Ashley's POV:

As Carl would say, we're facing serious war. Well I guess I can't argue with that. The man I killed said he had over 50 men wanting to find and kill us? I think that scared everybody. We've never faced no more then 25, and we barley got through that. With only 10 of us here, were fighting 5 times the size of us. I've never felt this scared before, but I hide it. On the outside I look tough and not affected. But on this inside I'm the scared little girl I was before everything started, the girl who was scared of the dark, the girl who was scared of spiders, and the girl scared of losing the people she loved. But I can't give up, I made a promise that I plan to keep. I promised Carl that we would both survive this would together.

Everyone is required to fight, except for Hershel and Judith of course. That leaves us with a very small army vs 50. Looking around the room, everyone looked frightened. Everyone was unsure if we would survive, even Rick. We all sat down at the cafeteria, not knowing what to say. My hand was gripped tightly to Carl's not wanting to let go. Rick was currently pacing back and forth while everyone else was waiting for him to say something.

"I'll be honest with you, this will be difficult to win. I guess we just go with the same plan we've always done. But we will have new positions. Carol and Mary in guard tower #1, Ashley and Daryl tower #2, Carl and Maggie tower #3. Michonne, Glenn, and I will be below fighting them off." Rick said. I guess I won't be with Carl, and that scared me. Also my mom will be in tower 1 so I won't be with her either. But I have Daryl, one of the strongest people here. That made me feel pretty safe. After Rick was done talking we all went our separate ways. I stood up with Carl and walked into our cell, my hand still in his. When we got into the cell it was full of complete silence. Both of us being speechless from the situation going on. I slowly went to sit down on the bottom bunk, him following.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Scared." I replied.

"Me too." It's not like Carl to admit to being scared.

"What are we going to do?"

"Fight, like always." I was tired of hearing that response. What if fighting isn't enough. I didn't respond after that, I felt like there was nothing to say anymore. We continued to sit in silence until we heard a scream coming from the cafeteria. Without hesitation we both ran towards it. We see everyone on their knees with their hands up, and 10 men holding their guns up to them. I covered my mouth with my hand to keep the sobs from coming out.

"Here's what we do. I'm going to go distract them. You go to our cell and hide under the bed. Don't come out until I come and get you. Promise you'll stay there!" He whispered. I faintly nodded.

"Okay I'll be back." He said quickly hugging me. He tried pulling away, but I just held on tighter.

"Please don't go!" I whispered.

"I have to, I'll be back. We are both surviving together." I pulled away and watched as he sneaked away. I did as told and ran under the bed, holding tightly on to my knife. I heard a gunshot go off, and then multiple. I started to get dizzy and light headed. That's all I remembered after drifting off.

Carl's POV:

I snuck down the stairs, making sure to make zero noise. All the men were facing away from me, focused on the group in front of them.

"All we need is the girl. And we'll let you go. Simple as that." One of the men said. They want Ashley? That isn't happening. As I got down to the last step there was a loud creak from the step making the men turn around. Without thinking I fired my gun. I fired it until I was all out of ammo. Luckily everyone still had their guns and got to help me out. They were to focused on me to even notice so they got taken down fairly quickly.

"Where is Ashley?" Glenn asked.

"Up here!" I ran back up the stairs with him right behind me. I went to our cell and quickly got on my knees to get her.

"Ashley it's okay it's us." No response. I ducked my head under the bed to see her unconscious. I carefully pulled her out and put her on the bed. I trie shaking her awake but had no luck. Glenn pulled me aside, he put his head on her chest looking for a heartbeat.

"She's still breathing, just unconscious she must've been to scared." That made me feel relieved.

"I can take if from here. Thanks Glenn." He nodded and walked out.

"I'm sorry Ashley. I'm sorry for not being able to protect you, and leaving you scared like that. I shouldn't of done that, I'm so sorry." I know she can't hear me, but I just had to let it out somehow. I feel like such a terrible boyfriend. I let her get shot, kidnapped, almost raped, and left her here in total fear. "I will step up, I will be a better and smarter man from this day forward."

"C-Carl?"

"Ashley! Are you okay I'm so sorry."

"What are you talking about? I'm okay."

"Um nothing. Never mind. We can talk about it later but for now we should just rest." She nodded and I climbed into bed with her. She drifted off to sleep again while I just started up at the ceiling. "I promise, I'll be stepping up to be a better man."

"The biggest obstacle to people becoming better is that you have to really want to be a better person, and most people would rather be other things."

A/N: Sorry this chapter is kinda short compared to the others. But please comment and vote!