The Rest of your Life

Chapter 58

"Just one more suture." Denise reassured.

"But he's out there."

"This is his son." Denise stated, surprisingly calm. "Give me a second." Rory didn't pay attention to what the others were saying as she looked out the window. She squeezed her eyes shut before looking to Carl.

Yes, she was a kid, but she'd be damned if she let Rick take the dead on his own. He needed help.

"He's alive?" Rory asked steadily, surprising herself.

"He's alive." Denise nodded. That's all the girl needed. She ducked under Spencer's arm as he attempted to grab her as she made her way out of the door. She was closely followed by Michonne.

The two begun killing walkers left and right, eventually making their way to Rick. Rory had to admit, beside certain circumstances, it felt nice to fight side by side with the man again after so long of being behind the walls of Alexandria.

She could see how Rick was fighting with his anger, his hurt. Rory's mind slipped back to Carl, laying motionless on the metal table. She kicked the walkers knee harder before almost punching her knife through its skull. She growled, twisting the knife free.

Carl had to live.

Spencer came in from her side, killing a walker with a blow to the head, she noticed how the man stayed relatively close to her. She didn't mind. Aaron and Heath were killing the dead too.

Please let him live.

"Knock 'em away. Drive em down." Rick ordered. Rory almost laughed in disbelief as she drove her knife into another eye socket, more people joined from their houses, fighting to take the town back from the dead. Eric fought beside Aaron, Olivia beside Spencer. The group formed an odd sort of circle. "We can beat em. We can beat em!"

It was odd not having Carl at her side. She didn't like it. At least they had drawn the huge heard away from the infirmary. At least Denise was safe to work on her brother.

Rory huffed as they fought. There were more people now, they we're actually making a difference. She watched as Carol, Morgan, Rosita, Tara, hell, even Eugine came to fight.

There were quite a few Alexandrians, Rory was surprised they had the guts. Rory couldn't help but think on the whereabouts of Maggie. With a growl, she killed another walker. Rory turned to the side as she heard a wave of gunfire, she hoped it was something good. She hoped that it was the others, that they had made it back safe.

Spencer hoisted Rory back up by her arm as she stumbled on a body on the floor.

The girl puffed out air as she nodded to Spencer before she kicked another walked in the knee before driving her knife into its head and pulling it back out, blood splattering all over her face. "Move it! Back up!" Rick yelled out, Rory managed to fight her way back to his side again. The man nodded at the child.

In the middle of the killing, Rory wiped her arms on her shirt, trying to rid her arms of the sticky blood clinging to her skin. Gross.

Between the stabbing and slashing, everyone momentarily paused. There was a fire in the lake. Someone had lit a fire as a distraction. Rory looked to Rick, the man grinning slightly, as the walkers broke off towards the lake. "Don't let up!"

Rory was slashing, stabbing, kicking, pulling, killing.

They were all fighting. Everyone, together. All for the same cause. Rory almost couldn't believe it. People who were terrified of the dead, not having even seen them up close until two days ago, they were fighting. Together.

They could beat this.

•••

The sky was full of ash as bodies of the dead littered the streets of Alexandria. Rory followed Abraham into the infirmary, the man holding open the door for Rory. She thanked him before walking through.

She saw Daryl first, Rory grimaced at how dirty he was before looking to Denise. She was stitching up his back, but he didn't look too bothered. Rory leant into the man. Daryl brought a hand up to ruffle Rory's hair before he nodded his head to the other side of the room. Rory gasped before rushing to Glenn.

The man gave the girl a side hug, holding her tight and kissing her head. She shared a smile with Tara before she hugged Glenn properly. "Some people thought you were dead." Rory whispered into Glenn's chest. She felt the man stiffen before she continued. "Me and Maggie, we knew you wasn't. We didn't believe them."

"I'm here now." Glenn told the child. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise?" Rory asked quietly.

"I promise." Glenn nodded, holding the small girl close. She stayed beside Glenn for a few minutes, internally building up the courage to go into the other room. With a smile from Glenn and a gentle push, the girl stumbled her way into Carls room.

As Rory entered, Rick looked up with a watery smile, gesturing for the girl to sit beside him. She quietly pulled the second chair closer to Ricks and rested her head on his shoulder as she sat beside him. They both looked at Carl.

"I... I was so scared he was gonna die." Rory whispered. Rick wrapped his free arm around his daughters shoulders and pulled her close. "I don't want anyone else to die."

"This world... this world is unpredictable." Rick begun quietly. "I would give the world to promise you that we'll always be here, that I'll be here for you every step of the way... but I can't. But I can promise you, Ivory, I can promise you I will fight to make it home to you, to Carl and to Judith."

Rory's sniffle echoed in the quiet room. She rested her head not heavily on Rick as she looked at Carl. If it wasn't for the huge ass bandage on his head, she'd say he looked relatively normal. His hair was more brushed, she guessed that would have been Michonne.

Carl had been shot twice now.

Rory wiped her eyes as she worried her lip in between her teeth. How was he gonna cope with one eye? She remembered the old neighbours cat back in Atlanta, he was called Fred and Fred only had one eye too. He was okay, mostly... until he got ran over...

Rory looked at Rick as he began to speak to his son. "I thought that for living behind these walls for so long that... maybe they couldn't learn. But today, I saw what they could do. What we could do, if we work together." Rick nodded at Rory.

"We'll rebuild the walls. We'll expand the walls. There will be more. There's gotta be more. Everything Deanna was talking about... is possible. It's all possible. I see that now." Rick scrubbed his eye before continuing.

"When I was out there... with them... when it was over... when I knew that we had this place again... I had this feeling. It took me a while to remember what it was, because I haven't felt it since before I woke up in that hospital bed." Rick reached over and stroked his sons hair gently.

"I want to show you the new world, Carl. I wanna make it a reality for you. Please, Carl... let me show you, son."

Rory sank more into Ricks side as she focused on the periodic rise and fall of her brothers chest. She clutched his hand tighter. He was alive...

they were alive.

•••
Guess who has a lung infection 🤺🤺🤺

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