Forever Unfinished // Carl Grimes

Chapter 11

Carl saw something move in his periferal vision, only a matter of feet from where Declan was standing.

Make sure he comes home.

Carl launched himself forward, crashing into Declan while shouting for him to move. He hit something hard, which must have been the set large metal shelves that held hundreds of cans of food. The shelf crashed down on top of Carl and he cursed, trying to scramble backward. A low growl sounded to his right just as the shelf came down on top of him.

"Declan help me!" Carl screamed in agony while Declan slid towards the flashlight which had rolled away when Carl pushed him. Carl felt an extra weight push down on him as the undead fell forward and onto the shelf covering Carl. He could smell it's rancid breath fanning on his face as it clamped it's jaws at him. Carl turned his face away in a desperate attempt to become as small as possible. A loud gunshot echoed through the basement and the Walker fell limp on the shelves. Carl could feel it's little hair tickle his face.

"Shit, are you okay?" Declan spoke, panicked. "Are you bit?"

Carl groaned from the pain.
"I'm fine just please get this off me."

Declan hauled the Walker off Carl by it's legs and lifted the metal shelves, waiting until Carl fully slid out from underneath. Carl stood upright and clutched his stomach, already knowing that there were plenty of painful bruises forming. He breathed in and out, waiting until his lungs recovered from the pressure. Declan shone his light around the whole room, which was significantly bigger than he had anticipated. There were beds at the far side of the room, medical supplies and weapons.

"Well shit." Carl summarised it all in two words, taking in the abundence of precious supplies. "You may as well move in here, there's no point in taking that all back to your other place."

Declan nodded in agreement.
"Do you mind staying here while I get Val? I'll get the rest of the stuff tomrrow. You can help yourself to anything you'll need for tomorrow."

Carl nodded and smiled sincerely towards Declan.
"Let's get that thing out first before it starts to smell in here."

Declan one of the Walkers arms and Carl took the other. They both dragged it up the basement steps and out the door. They dropped it by a tree, far enough away from view.

"I'll be back in under an hour," Declan promised. "Take anything you need."

"Be careful." Carl waved goodbye and retreated into the creepy stone house. He descended the stairs and shone his flashlight around. He spotted a tiny window at the back wall of the room, slightly ajar. He jogged up to it and noticed a thick cable running through the window and into a large generator that was connected to an outlet in the wall.

Carl ran back outside and around the house to see if he could fix it. He chuckled to himself when he noticed that the solar panel at the top of the house was covered thickly in dead leaves. He climbed onto a coal bunker and pulled himself onto the roof of the house. He wiped the solar panel clean and watched as the sun reflected onto the glass, silently praying that he could witness electricity for the first time in ages.

When he got back into the house the basement was still dark and Carl sighed. He walked over to the generator saw that the large switch on the top of it was in the off position. He flicked it on and watched, facinated, as the room lit up in a dull yellow light, growing by the second.

Above him, hundreds of tiny christmas lights came to life. He smiled and watched the farmiliar, yet, unfarmiliar electricity illuminate the room. The basement covered the full underneath of the house. It was like a home under a home. There were chairs, a table, a bookshelf, a sofa, stacks of food, a shelf of medical supplies and so much more.

For a moment, it felt as if nothing had changed. That he could go home and see his mom, almost like he came back from school. For a split second, every bad thing that haunted his mind dissolved into nothingness.

"Lauren would love this." Carl mumbelled to noone. He froze when he realised what he had said and shook his head, not letting this moment fall into the claws of grief.

He walked aimlessly around the room, collecting a few necessities, food, water, some bandages, painkillers and stitches. His bag was almost full up of supplies and he knew it would be hard to carry around all day for a while. He stopped at a wooden table with a couple of handguns and an assault rifle. It didn't seem much and Carl expected more.

A large painting hung over the table. Carl took a moment to admire it, it was of a lake, a small brown row boat in the centre of the picture, paddles hanging outside it. He noticed a signature in the corner and pulled the corner of the painting to get a better look. He cursed when the pretty painting fell down and the frame cracked on the table beneath it. He looked up and did a double take when he saw the arsenal of weapons that were hidden behind it, in a cut out in the wall. Each weapon hung on metal pegs, inside a large rectangle cut into the concrete wall. Grenades, handguns, pistols, and a few large rifles. Carl noticed a large metal box next to his right foot, he bent down and opened it to reveal bullets and boxes of each ammunition type, even some extra ammo clips.

"I'm certainly not putting one of them in my backpack." Carl chuckled, tracing his finger on the pin of the deadly grenade. Carl settled on taking some more ammunition for his two guns.

"Light?" Carl heard a voice exclaim and Valorie entered the room before Declan, who carried a duffle bag full of what Carl suspected was their baby stuff.

"Yeah," Carl smiled. "I found solar panels and fixed them up. By 'fixed them up' I mean I got rid of the leaves that were blocking the sun."

"There's so much food." Valorie gasped, her hand covering her mouth and tears of happiness forming in her grey eyes. "We'll never have to go on runs for months."

Carl was unable to contain the smile that formed on his face. Valorie was only a young woman forced into this world, she was bound to have known hardships and being six months pregnant didn't make that any easier. To be able to reveal this to her was one of the best feelings Carl had ever experienced. It gave him a sense of contentment, that he helped people live their lives without being in fear.

He just wished that Lauren could share this with him.

~•~

"Are you sure you don't want to stay any longer?" Declan asked Carl, who was happily eating his huge meal. "You've done so much. You saved my life Carl, twice."

"No," Carl sighed. "I need to go and find her. I promise I'll be back one day. I'll come visit or something."

"It's a suicide mission." Valorie frowned, smoothing down her black hair. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"I've come to far to give up now," Carl said, offering Valorie a reassuring smile. "I'll be okay, I promise. I've been through worse."

Valorie was reluctant to agree but she knew it wasn't her choice. Carl had been through three weeks of this and he couldn't let it all go to waste when he finally found his first clue. After all, he needed to know if he still loved her.

Once they all finished their meals, Carl retired to bed. He wanted to be ready for whatever was ahead of him tomorrow. He didn't even know where he was going, but did he this past three weeks? He was once again travelling into the unknown.

Declan flicked off the generator and Carl snuggled into the thin duvet that covered him. He soon fell asleep to the promise of tomorrow.

~•~

I like this chapter, it's cool XD
Will he find her? Will he not?

Vote?