Forever Unfinished // Carl Grimes

Chapter 18

For years since the start of the end, Carl was practically alone. He had his parents for a long time but between fighting for their lives and keeping together a group, they didn't have time for him. Carl was forced to toughen up and raise himself strong.

As he held her in his arms, gently brushing his fingers over her long brunette hair, he realised that he couldn't be alone anymore. Carl couldn't go back to the times when he had noone. When you never feel love, you can live without it, but he fell and he fell hard, so hard that he never wanted to go back. He would be lost without her.

Being alone would be the worst curse imaginable.

The months with Lauren flew by in a blur, but he realised how much better his life was with her in it. He couldn't let her go again, she was his lifeline.

It was still dark when Carl looked out the window, although he could see a dull orange glow shine in the distance. Lauren was still fast asleep, she was sickly looking but that would have been expected from what had transpired in the last twenty-four hours. Every so often she would shiver and snuggle deeper into Carl's arms.

Carl heard a faint noise in the distance, almost like tyres scraping on gravel. His head shot to the window, but he couldn't see anything. He gently shook Lauren and she groggily opened her eyes.

"I think I heard something, we need to move." He whispered and she nodded. Carl only then noticed the full extent of Lauren's injuries take hold as she tried to pull herself off him, she winced and stiffly moved, trying to hold it all in.

"Open the window," Lauren said with a heave. "The latch should be somewhere along the middle."

Carl ran his hand along the window until he caught the cool metal of the latch. He pulled it and with a push, the window opened. He helped Lauren out the window and hopped onto the concrete below him.

"Behind that row of houses there is a forest," Lauren pointed to the small housing estate infront of them. "We can get out there."

Carl nodded and ran forward with Lauren in tow, their steps illuminated by the slowly rising sun. Lauren covered her injured right shoulder with her left hand while her free hand held her gun. They had just made it to the garden wall of one of the houses when a bright light shone at them.

The headlights of a car blinded them both while they tried to get into cover.

"For fuck sake," Lauren cursed. She pushed herself onto the creme coloured garden wall of the houses but slipped back, clipping her shoulder injury on the way down. She cried out through gritted teeth.

Carl immediatly helped her over the wall while footsteps echoed closer to them both, when Lauren got over he pushed himself over and fell onto the grass below him.

"Give it up!" They heard from behind them, assuming it was Bennett. Lauren hobbled over to the back door of the house and pulled at the door handle to no avail.

"Kick it down, it's not that strong." Lauren ordered while she clutched her wound that had re-opened and stained her bandage a brighter red. Carl complied, launching his foot towards the flimsy plastic door. Luckily, with a couple of kicks it was down, the shutters clattering to the floor with a metallic jingle.

Carl grabbed Lauren's arm and hauled her through the house to the front door. He cursed when he heard the door knob jiggle. He headed straight towards the stairs, his feet falling hard on the wooden steps.

"Hide," Carl said as he pushed through a door into a spacious bedroom. He gripped his gun tightly and breathed in and out to calm himself, his palms were sweaty and his heart thundered loudly in his chest.

"We're doing this together," Lauren shook her head and readied her gun. "I'm not going to sit this one out. Two is better than one."

"At least get behind something," Carl fretted, doubting Lauren's abilities in her state. He nodded his head, knowing that he could never change her mind and grabbed the end of a dressing table and pulled it over the door. They could both hear the footsteps thundering around the house below them.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Someone sang from outside of the door. The doorknob began to turn and the door was forced open, the dresser moving slightly with ever shove. They backed into a storage room filled with clothes and faced the door.

"Is there a way out the window?" Carl asked, his breathing quickening and his gun trembling.

"It's a bit of a drop but there is garbage bins below the window." Lauren answered, her gun held up.

"Get ready." Carl said just as the door burst open. Gunshots flew past their heads as they crouched behind the dry wall.

Lauren jumped from her cover and with a couple of well-placed shots, one of the two opponents fell. Lauren continued to shoot, missing her shots, each vibration from her weapon causing pain to spiral from her wounds.

Carl sprang out from his cover and shot, missing a few before he hit his target, catching the last of the Blades on her right arm, before another shot to the chest took her down for good.

Lauren didn't wait for Carl to say anything before she pulled open the window and threw herself down, using the window ledge to lower herself down.

"I can hear more of them," Lauren said from below when her feet landed on the dark green plastic of the bin. Carl nodded and followed in her footsteps down through the window.

"Where do we go?" He asked when they were both down on solid ground.

"Into the forest," Lauren answered, her hand still held over her shoulder. She was pale, too pale and Carl tried not to imagine the amount of pain she was enduring.

Lauren pushed herself of the white-wall of the house and ran as fast as her legs could take her. The forest grew closer and closer as they ran to the beat of the rising sun. Shouting echoed from behind them, bullets whizzing past them.

Lauren hit the ground, her expression pained and her hand clutching her calf which had been grazed by a well-aimed shot. Carl grabbed her, hauling the girl he once called his, to her feet and into the dense treeline that stood tall infront of them. They ran, Carl practically carrying Lauren. She was fueled by the adrenaline that coursed through her veins, once it wore off, so would her strength.

"Is it deep?" Carl asked, coming to a stop. Lauren panted, drawing in oxygen and shook her head.

"Just a graze," She insisted, once she had caught her breath. "I'll be fine. We should go."

"I don't think they followed us," Carl said after a minute. "But I know people not too far from here. We should get there soon."

Lauren nodded, trying to hide from the pain she was feeling. She couldn't let him know she was close to falling, she couldn't let him know that her skin burned, yet she felt as cold as ice, and her heart beat too fast.

~•~

Short chapter but I'll have the next one up soon!
Such a busy week *.*

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