murky waters | carl grimes¹

3. baby

"i'm sorry."

For the next two days I debated the prison, I stayed up and circled the cabin for hours while Talia slept. They could help us or they could kill us. The sentence replayed in my head over and over again. Could I risk it? 

It was the second day that I decided we had to go for it. Talia was in pain and she slept more than she was awake. I was starting to worry that she got an infection. She wasn't eating or drinking much and dehydration also worried me. I have barely slept, I got a few hours here and there but every time I shot awake at any sound of movement. 

I approached her small sleeping body and tapped her shoulder. She groaned as she awoke from her slumber, "what?" she whispered, she slowly opened her eyes to meet mine. 

"I found a prison," I told her, "there are people there and I think they could help us." 

"Are they nice?" She asked. 

"I haven't met them yet but we are going to see today. It's our best chance," I sighed, running my hand through her tangled curly hair. She got that from dad's side of the family. While Tally got more curls I got a wavy version of their hair though it often fell flat. Most of the time it was thrown up in a knotted ponytail so I tended not to worry about it. 

She nodded and pushed herself off the couch. "What are we waiting for?" she gave me a small smile, reaching out for me to grab her. I was surprised at her willingness to go but I think she sensed the same thing I did. She wasn't going to make it without help. 

I loaded her in the back of the car and got the rest of our supplies from the cabin. 

The ride was completely silent as we headed towards the unknown. 

When I pulled up the the fence that was standing, I was met with two people, one of them ran inside and in a few moments there were five more. There were more people than I expected but that could be a good thing. 

I heard one of the men yell, "get out of the car!" and I took a deep breath. I could still turn around but when I looked back at Talia I knew I had to at least try. 

I left the car running as I got out, "stay down, if... if something goes wrong back out and drive," I tell her. I knew she probably wasn't capable of such actions at this point but she could try to save herself. 

I shut the door behind me and held my hands in the air, just like he told me to, and walked slowly towards the gate. "Are you alone?" he asked a gun following my every movement. "I said, are you alone?" his voice got louder. 

My eyes went to the trees, he's being too loud and the dead would hear. I looked back over to see three other people, their guns pointed out, not at me but towards the trees. I took a deep breath, "I have my sister, she's hurt, she can't come out," I say, trying to make my voice loud but it hurt to talk. I felt like there was already a bullet down my throat. 

"Are you with the Governor?" 

"What?" 

"The Governor, Woodbury?" he pressed. 

"I don't know what that is," I admit as I reached the fence. 

The group took a hard look at me before they turned back to each other, the only person who didn't turn to the group was a boy. He looked to be around my age, his gun was aimed directly at my head. 

I stared at him. Would he actually shoot me? Would he need prompted? Someone my age killing another living person was something I never thought of. I always had mom and dad to do the heavy work but now that they are gone, I guess I would have to be the person to step up. I could do it. If it meant protecting Talia.