november rain | d. dixon²

[25] desperate times

His shoulders slumped and he sent an incredulous look at the visitors.

"Hi," Enid said puzzled at his behaviour as if the place wasn't being currently attacked. Nora, who he knew to be her sister but never talked to before, was next to her silent, deep in thought with a conflicted and sad look.

Carl had seen her talking to his sister though. He'd heard her and Daryl talk about the kid as well.

"Why didn't you just knock?" he asked Enid obviously as he closed the door from the kitchen.

"I have these," she showed him a full key ring. "Didn't want them to have them," she dropped the item into his hand. "And I wanted to say goodbye."

Nora snapped out of her daydream, which was rather hellish as she replayed the recent deaths, staring at her sister with a snarky look.

Why did she get to say goodbye?

And why are we here? I thought she was dating Ron. She thought of the boy with slight annoyance as she'd never liked him, nor his younger brother who was around her age. Not because they were bad, but because even though they seemed to be around the same age, their minds couldn't have a bigger gap.

They were just too naïve and wanted to stay that way.

For Nora, who'd already seen too much, that seemed dumb and ridiculous. Pretending.

"Okay, watch the back door," Carl told her dismissing Enid's last comment, not addressing the fact that both sisters had backpacks on them. "Tell me if you see them coming."

"We're not staying," Enid protested.

Carl turned around facing away from the main door. "You're not going anywhere. Sit down. You're helping me protect Judith," he told her. Carol had been with him until the attack when she told him to stay inside protecting his sister. "You can go with my sister if you want, she's upstairs," he told Nora but the kid shook her head standing close to her sister. He nodded. "Then you two stay here. They're not getting inside this house," he stated sitting down on the floor as Enid followed. "We're not gonna let them."

Enid and Carl sat back-to-back each facing a different area of the house. His hair reached his shoulders, but it didn't match her long straight locks that reached at least until the middle of her back.

Nora remained standing not able to sit down because of how tense she was. She stared at the Grimes' rifle wishing she also had a gun. She wasn't allowed to carry one because she was underage. At least she didn't have to hide her knife anymore.

"Did you see them?" Carl asked.

"They're just people," Enid responded. "This place is too big to protect. There are too many blind spots. That's how we were able to—"

"They got in the walls, but they're gonna die," Carl interjected. "All of them... Don't tell me goodbye."

Nora watched her sister in silence. Through her hardened expression, she could make out the sadness in her eyes.

If she was sad about leaving, why did they have to leave? Did she really believe they'd be better off by themselves?

"Okay," Enid said finally. "I won't."

Nora decided to briefly go upstairs to see Judith, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the scene.

Besides, maybe that would be as close as she would get to a goodbye, even if Judith wasn't the Grimes she wanted to see, and certainly not the man she would've liked to say goodbye to either. Even if he didn't seem to like her much. Even if she thought the woman was only paying attention to her because she was concerned for a rebel kid.