I Saw The Lights Go Out - Carl Grimes

Chapter One Hundred - Laid to Rest

The wind blew through us as we stood at the edge of the awning, searching for our next move. As safe as a roof was in a situation like this, that window wouldn't hold for long and Carl and I weren't the types to wait to be rescued.

Below us, the entirety of Alexandria had been swallowed whole by the walkers that forced their way in. With their pointed elbows and craned necks, they gouged into ribs and tore up freshly planted flowerbeds.

"Look, through the window!" Carl called. I followed his pointed finger three houses down. Through the upstairs window a figure moved. "That's my dad." Carl concluded in a completely convinced tone.

He crossed the roof immediately as I tried to get a better look through the window that stood so far away. The breeze threw my hair across my cheeks from up so high. The figure paced back and forth across the window but I let out a sigh seeing for myself it wasn't just a walker. If we're to run from one safety to another, I wanted to be sure it was not as infested as our current whereabouts.

Following Carl across the plane of the roof churned my stomach. The horde below us roared together, all trying to pile into the house that we only minutes before had inhabited and called home. In the distance, more trampled through the pavilion, even a few were submerged in the pond, making bubbles with what little air expelled from their joints. The screams in the distance only drew in more as the unlucky members of Alexandria were ripped limb from limb. I casted my gaze away from a piling horde that undoubtedly devoured someone losing the fight.

Carl whispered to gain my attention and my eyes fell to him. He peered over the side of the awning ready to jump down to the ground between the two houses. My heart hammered as I marched toward him knowing what we'd have to do next.

"We have to be quick, they'll come around the side soon. You ready?" Carl asked and I smirked indifferent. What choice did we have?

"Let's go." I nodded and he echoed it.

Carl and I linked at our forearms and I swung my legs over the edge of the awning. He lowered me down as far as he could before we let go and I landed hard against the grass. I kept low and turned toward the front of the house. Only a few walkers took notice and pushed through the crowd eager to snare their fingers into my veins. The beating of my heart was so loud I almost thought they could hear it, parading after it like a drum. Carl hung down next and even more walkers turned their heads to follow the few that had gone astray.

As Carl dropped behind me, I stood and swung my crowbar. It connected with the mushy skull of a walker making far too much noise. It fell and I swung at another while suppressing the grunt that flexed along with my muscles.

Carl stood and grabbed my hand, pulling me from the staggering bodies and through backyards. Having to cut past only two houses, I had hoped it would be an easy escape to safety. Carl and I kept low and peered around brick edges, dodging the few that had found their way around.

Eventually, we reached Jessie's house and Carl tried the handle to the back garage. He let out a curse under his breath and tried again before throwing his shoulder into the white door, nearly knocking its window loose. My peripheral caught movement. The decayed forms of walkers began to round the corner of Jessie's house, following after us. Their blackened teeth glinted in the sun as they growled and snapped after us.

I raised my crowbar, prepared and protective, as Carl continued to fiddle with the door. My stomach flipped realizing there was no possible way for us to reach the safety of the roof again. Walkers were predictable, they were bound to move as a unit and find their way to us in numbers we could not fend off. Even the iron wall ahead of me shook with the force of bodies incessant to get inside.