Carl Grimes's life was great. He had both parents, a ton of friends, and a great role model. His dad was a sheriff at the King's County Police Department, while his mom was a stay at home mother. His role model just so happened to be his dad's best...
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Emily's POV
"Blessed be God, father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to him for the gift of our brother, Otis, for his span of years, for his abundance of character; Otis, who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset. We thank you, God, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived, in Grace." Hershel preached. We were all standing around Otis's grave listening as Hershel went on. "Shane, will you speak for Otis?"
Dad looked shocked, like he didn't know what to say. "I'm not good with words. I'm sorry." He said, avoiding eye contact.
"You were the last one with him. You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning." Patricia begged. He voice was shaky and broke at the end.
Dad just stared at her for a moment before saying, "Okay." He took a step forward and started talking, "We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping it was bad. Ankle all swollen up. We've got to save the boy." His voice broke and I looked at him dead faced. He's lying. Now I know he's lying. "See, that's what he said. He gave me his backpack. He shoved me ahead. Run, he said, I'll take the rear. I'll cover you. And when I looked back.." Dad paused, stepping up to place a rock on the grave, "If not for Otis, I'd have never made it out alive. And that goes for Carl too. It was Otis. He saved both of us. If any death ever had meaning, it was his."
Patricia held every word dad spoke. I felt eyes on me and looked to my right side to see Dale looking at me. I nodded, which he returned. I then turned back to dad.
꧁꧂
After the funeral, everyone went to work. Half of our group was setting up tents while the other half were beginning to make strategies on finding Sophia. Lori had invited me to sit with her and wait for Carl to wake up again, but I told her that I'd like to help the group in some way.
I decided to start helping set up tents and was currently working on a fairly large one. It was easy for me because Daryl used to take me camping on the weekends my mother didn't have to work, and when Shane got custody of me I begged to go camping, which he complied to.
"Working hard, Em?" Maggie asked, bopping my head with a map she was carrying to the search group. I just smiled her way as I put the last stake into the ground. I looked around to see who else I could help and saw that Dale and Glenn were teamed up on one tent, and that Carol was working on one alone. She seemed to be having trouble, so I walked over and squatted down, taking the two poles she was having trouble with and putting them together.
"I don't need your help!" She snapped, taking the now joined poles out of my hand. She continued working, not looking at me.
I sat there and watched her struggle some more while being angered at my presence. Her forehead wrinkled in frustration, eyes focused on her task.
