Don't Let Me Go ~ A Carl Grimes Fanfiction

Chapter Ten

“This is the food bank. All the canned food at my church was supposed to end up here. It served the entire county,” Gabriel says. Rick, Gabriel, Sasha, Bob, Michonne and I have all gone on a run for supplies. Everyone has split up into groups, doing what we can. Gabriel told us that the food bank was overrun with about one or two dozen walkers. That’s nothing. We’ve handled worse. We walk into the building and there’s not a corpse in sight. At first I’m confused, until I see the massive gaping hole in the floor, and several smaller holes in the roof. We walk closer to the edge of the hole and the smell hits us. 

“If a sewer could puke, this is what it smelled like,” Bob says, covering his nose

“Water’s been coming down that hole for a while,” Michonne states, pointing at the ceiling. I see a few walkers swishing about in the deep, slimy water.

“We can use the shelves to block them,” Sasha suggests.

“Yeah, that’s it Sasha. There’s our way. Down those shelves,” Rick says. I drop my backpack and brace myself.

He is the first to climb down and the rest of us follow suit. As soon as we feel our feet hit the bottom, we grab the shelves and corner ourselves. I use my biggest knife to start taking out the disgusting, warped, disfigured creatures. They’ve clearly been down here for a long time. When I stab them, even their brains are watery. Gabriel sees a walker and he looks taken aback and he stumbles away from the group. “We have to get Gabriel,” I yell, shoving my knife through a walker’s eye.

“Okay, push the shelves down on these walkers, and I’ll go get Gabriel,” Rick orders. 

“One! Two! Three!” we chant, and slam the shelves over on top of the walkers. The slimy water splashes up my face, but I won’t allow myself to stop fighting.

It’s as if the walkers come out of nowhere. They just keep coming and all we can do is keep hitting. 

******

After we’re sure the walkers are dead, and Gabriel is safe, we start to pack the enormous amount of food into large plastic containers. Bob walks to the other end of the “basement” and that’s when I see it. There are bubbles coming up from under the slime. “Bob, don’t!” I yell but I’m too late. He reaches for a container and as he does, a mutilated hand grabs him and pulls him under.

“Bob!” Sasha yells, trying to get to him. A few seconds later, Bob resurfaces, but he holds in his grips, a water damaged walker. He throws it away from himself, and picks up the nearby crate, repeatedly hitting the walker in the head with it. When it’s dead he turns to Sasha. “Are you okay? Bob, are you okay?” she asks him.

“I’m fine, now,” Bob says with a weak smile. Sasha smiles in return.

We start throwing things into crates, afraid to get caught up in another unexpected attack. “Okay, Kaitlyn, you go up first, and then Michonne. We can pass all of the food up to you,” Rick says. I tuck my weapons away and start to climb up. Michonne is quick on my heels and I grab her hand to help her up. As soon as we’re standing, Rick and Gabriel start passing us containers, while Bob and Sasha keep packing what’s left. 

After a lot of heaving and panting and pulling everyone out of a deep, dark mess, we are ready to head back. I leave everyone else to load the food onto carts, while I pick my backpack up and walk over to look at clothes. It’s obvious that a lot of us could use new clothes. The shirt I’m wearing has no sleeves and has countless holes, while Sammy’s clothes are covered in blood. 

The food bank is in the same building as the Thrift Shop so I look around and I pick a purple flannel shirt and a black tank top for me plus a black leather belt. I find a yellow hoodie and a grey tank tee for Sammy, plus a pair of grey sweatpants, and I see an adorable little pair of sneakers which I have to take for Judith. I put everything into my bag. Then I see a sewing kit, right at the very back of the store and decide to get it. 

Without looking first, I walk straight to it. As I place my hand on it, I hear a moan and feel an attempted grip at my shoe, fear jolts through me as I look down. There’s a walker lying on the ground and at first, I wonder why it didn’t attempt to move or get up, but then I see that it’s trapped under a clothes rail. I move my foot away and pull my knife from my belt. I don’t hesitate to plunge it into the walker’s skull. I retrieve the sewing kit, place it in my backpack and return to the group, just in time to help Michonne push a cart full of food back to the church.

******

“So do you miss the sword?” Rick asks Michonne.

“It wasn’t really mine, in the first place,” she answers. “I found it, in the very beginning.”

“How’d you get so good?” Rick asks.

“It was just me and them out here, all day, every day. For a good long time. I don’t know what that was, but it wasn’t life.” Michonne pauses. “Not like today. Stumbling around in three feet of slime for some peas and carrots. That’s living.” She pauses again. “I miss Andrea—” I have a vague idea who Andrea was, even though I never met her. “—I miss Hershel,” Michonne continues and I realise that I haven’t thought much about his death. And then I remember that Beth isn’t here either and to be honest, I’m not sure I believe that she’s alive. “I don’t miss what was before. I don’t miss that sword,” Michonne finishes. Just as she does the church comes into view and I start to speed up. I see Abraham and Rosita fixing the church bus that they found behind the church. Then I see him, and he sees me. He turns and waves and I feel like smiling from ear to ear.

“Go,” Michonne says, smiling for me. I run for about twenty yards, until I reach him. 

“Kaitlyn,” Carl says, and I press my lips to his. “What was that for?” he asks when we break apart.

“Just because,” I say. “I gotta go inside for five minutes. Wait out here?” I ask.

“Of course,” he says. I walk around and into the church. 

“Sammy!” I call and she comes out of a room, carrying Judith. Sammy hands Judith to Tyreese and looks at me. I set my bag down and rummage until I find what I’m looking for. “Here you go,” I say, giving her the bundle of clothes.

“What’s wrong with mine’s?” she asks, looking down. “Oh… Thank you.” She hugs me. 

“Oh, I almost forgot…” I say, rummaging again. I find the princess doll at the bottom of my bag. “Here.” Sammy’s face lights up.

“Thank you so much!” she cries, this time throwing her arms around me.

“No problem,” I say. “Now I have to get changed. I’ll see you later.” As I pass Tyreese, I give him the shoes for Judith. He gives me a short nod and I walk into the bathrooms and lock the cubicle door. I get changed as quickly as I can and stuff the old clothes in my bag. They might come in handy for bandages or whatever.

I rush back out to see Carl. When he sees me, he kisses me. Then when our lips part, he takes my hand. “I have something to show you,” he says, swapping the happy look on his face for a confused one.