Envy in the Ashes // carl grimes

Alone at What Cost?

      "You..."

      I spoke to him sensibly just above a whisper, never breaking eye contact with him. His eyes widened, and his lips parted slightly, as if he wanted to drop his jaw at my sudden boldness. I felt that familiar pit in my stomach make itself known, the same pit that formed that night we bumped into each other in the hallway. It's obnoxious how easily he can make me feel this way with just a shifted facial expression, and he doesn't even know it...or maybe he does. Carl is just the stubborn type I've noticed, and with each day that passes that he hides behind his mental walls, the more his stubbornness becomes charming.

Carl opens his mouth to speak, but in the same motion, I feel a hand grab my leg and pull, causing me to fall forward onto the ground.

"WALKERS!!!" Carl screams in a panic so his father and Daryl can hear him.

I frantically try to kick my leg away from the walker that grabbed me, whimpering in fear as this is my first close encounter. I scramble to grab the knife from my belt as the walker makes attempts to bite my leg, growling, gurgling, and pulling itself closer and closer. A knife plunges into its skull and I scoot myself backwards on the floor away from its now limp grasp, and look up to see Carl.

"Cmon we need to go now!!" he shouts desperately as I grab his hand. He pulls me up to my feet quickly and I notice the few walkers down at the end of the isle we were in, walking towards us.

I quickly grab my bag from the floor and swing it over my shoulder, and run down the clear end of the aisle behind Carl, and around the corner to head for the door. We're stopped in our tracks, by a tall shelf that's been overturned, propped up on a concrete slab leaving room enough for a child to climb underneath comfortably. We hadn't covered this part of the store yet, so we hadn't seen the shelf that's now blocking our escape route.

"Fuck...fuck..." Carl mumbles, looking around wildly for a different option.

"We're gonna have to just squeeze under it Carl! There's no other option unless we wanna go through more walkers than we can fight!" I exclaim anxiously.

"Let's go now!! Go under, I'll pull you through!!" Rick yells as he makes his way over to us, bending down to meet us at the other side of our narrow escape.

"Charlotte you go! I'll be right behind you, just go!!" Carl pleads as he stares at me wild eyed, and he grabs my arm to usher me in front of him. Quickly, I take my bag off and throw it over the shelf, and drop to my stomach to army crawl my way under the shelf. Making my way through spilled alcohol and shattered bottles, ripping at my clothes and my skin underneath. I grit my teeth through the pain as I feel Rick grab my hand and pull me out and up to my feet.

I hear gunshots echo through the building as Carl fires from the other side of the shelf.

"Carl!!" I yell worriedly, not being able to see him.

"I'm coming!" he replies.

After about a minute Carl manages to squeeze his way through the confined area. As he pushes his hands to push himself up off the ground, I hear him groan in pain. I watch his face as he winces in pain, balling up his fist while blood drips to the floor, and trails down his forearm.

"You bit?" Daryl asks tensely as he sees the blood.

"No, I'm not bit, but we need to go now!!" Carl disregards Daryl's concern as we all take notice of the walkers now making their way down the aisle towards us.

I grab my bag off the floor again and we all make a beeline for the doors we entered from. Daryl is the first to slam through the doors, holding it open to make sure the rest of us make it out. Once we all make it out the door, we make a straight shot run to the car, and pile in as quickly as we can. I glance over to the door to see the dozen or so walkers, making their way towards our car as Rick starts it, and as he drives away, the sight of the walkers fades away slowly.