RULE THE WORLD | D.DIXON

141

He flinched when the shelf fell taking the monster with it. His aunt stabbed it in the head before she was blindsided by two more. Carl shot out of his hiding place and over to one of the monsters and pushed it backward with everything he had in his tiny body.

"Get away from her!" He yelled as the unstable monster stumbled backward.

"Carl!" Aunt Carol shouted, hurrying over to him and pushing the monster away, shoving it into one of the shelves and stabbing it in the head. She rounded him with an angry expression. "What are you doing here—"

The woman was tackled by the other monster and fell to the ground. Her knife was knocked out of her hand, causing her to use her hands to keep the Walker from biting her. Carl made a split decision and picked up her knife and stabbed the monster in the head.

He immediately dropped the knife as his aunt pushed the monster off her before standing up. "I told you to stay—Carl, hey, it's alright."

The little boy had tears running down his face, his whole body shaking and his hands covered his ears as he repeated 'I'm sorry' over and over again. Carol immediately took him in her arms, hugging the boy tightly.

"It's okay, Carl. Shh, it's alright, take a breath." He didn't seem to hear her as she tried to pull his hands away from his ears. "C, look at me. Hey, it's alright, baby boy. I'm here. I'm here."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He whimpered, clutching his ears.

"I know, you are. I'm not mad." Carol tried to console him by running his back and muttering comforting words. When he was calmer than before, she managed to pull his hands from his ears. "It's okay, Carl. I'm not mad."

"I'm sorry, aunt Carol. I wanted to be brave like sissy and Maxie and Daddy." Carl confessed, hugging his aunt like a lifeline. "I'm not."

Carol smoothed back his curls, pressing her lips to his head. "You are. Just in your own way. But I don't want you to follow me out of the gates again. Okay?"

"Okay." He nodded as she picked him up.

***

Max followed Mercer and the Governor of Commonwealth's son, Sebastian Milton, who was a preppy poster boy and an entitled pain in the ass. He carried a bag filled with weapons while his dad carried the other one.

Rosita, Violet, Alice, and surprisingly Sally walked up behind him causing Mercer to turn around and say. "Espinosa, Dyer, Jackson, Allen, we don't need you for this."

The four women shared a look before Sally spoke. "We volunteered."

Before Mercer could speak, Sebastian smirked at the woman. "Give her a bag. I love volunteers. Especially ones that look like that."

Without seeing Sally's full face, you could tell that she looked disgusted and spoke in a language nobody could understand. "Vous êtes un cochon." (You are a pig)

She took the bag out of Max's hand and walked over to the table, tossing the bag onto it. Max watched as she opened the bag to reveal weapons, more like their weapons.

"Alright. Let's see that Santa brought me." Sebastian says as Daryl scoffed.

"This supposed to be funny?" He sneered, looking at Mercer.