𝐏𝐔𝐍𝐊 𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒, the walking dead

1.

—

rick and daryl were walking the newly-discovered prisoners around the courtyard, letting them see what had become of the world when they heard it— a scream, someone just outside the gate trying to garner attention.

"d'you hear that?" daryl asked, while t-dog got closer to the gate to see what it was, rick not far behind while daryl kept his crossbow trained on the prisoners.

t-dog clicks his tongue and turns back to rick, "shit, that's gotta be a kid," he's about to start speaking again when rick cuts him off, already knowing what he was going to say.

"shit, that's— i know that kid, oh my god," he mumbles, putting a hand over his mouth. "t-dog come with me, we gotta get to him before the walkers do."

rick takes off for the gate, the other man not far behind, quickly dragging the unconscious boy behind the safety of their walls. he checks for a pulse, saying a silent 'thank god' when he's still alive and scans him for injuries.

"okay, he's not infected and still breathin' i gotta get him into our block," rick quickly picks him up, ignoring the struggle it is given the boy's height.

"who the hell is this kid, rick?" t-dog asks as he pulls the gate closed and locks it, following behind rick as they get stares from the prisoners, and a confused look from daryl.

rick only huffs out an answer once they're back in the courtyard, "this is my nephew— on lori's side, ross." he yells for said woman once they're inside the cell block, cursing when he realizes just how messy everything has become— hershel, the prisoners, and now the appearance of ross.

"rick, what is it now- oh my god is that ross?" lori gasps, and rick takes in her shock at the sight of her sister's son.

"he was just- he was just at the gate. just standin' there," he explains and sets him down on a bed and pressing his hands against the top of his head. "he's breathing and all, no injuries, just.. clocked out."

lori lets out a small laugh, shaking her head slightly. "i'll be damned, i knew that kid had some kind of fire in him,"

rick smiles back, letting himself take this one win in the chaos around him. "yeah, just like his mom and aunt, huh?" he jokes with lori before realizing he needed to get back to the courtyard and deal with the problem the prisoners had presented.

"can you make sure carl is in here when he wakes up, 'n give him some water? a familiar face would probably be best," he waits for lori to nod before rushing off to where he was needed.

he only hoped that when the boy awoke, there would be something good he could tell them.

—

ross doesn't realize he was actually alive when he first came to. he opens his eyes to a  scribbled on, dirty surface above him.

is this my heaven-supplied coffin? he coughed, before he turns to see himself inside of some type of cell. it doesn't click until a few seconds later that he's inside the prison he'd found.

he squeezes his eyes together repeatedly, sitting up and looking around until his eyes focused on a familiar figure.

"holy shit- where am i?" he mumbles as his eyes fully focused and recognized who was sitting on the bed across from him. "carl? is that you?"

"ross!" carl exclaims and jumps towards him, engulfing him in a hug. of course, he hugged back, but his mind could only wonder to the millions of questions he had. how did he get inside? who was carl with? there was no way a 12 year old was roaming free inside a prison this large, nor got inside it himself.