Bonds {TWD}

Chapter 15 {CARL}

I walk out of the room and heave a deep breath. I had lied to her, I'm fine most times with pain and blood but, to see her in pain tore me apart. I calm myself and slowly and quietly close the door, not letting a sound escape it. My dad sees me and his eyebrows scrunch up in confusion before he nods to me.
"We've got to get out of here, is Arizona okay? Can she walk?" He asks as he walks over to me.
"Yeah she's just resting, she can walk too, but not fast. The cut on her leg is really nasty and really deep." I tell him.
"She doesn't need to be fast." He grunts.
"How do you plan on us getting out dad? We're surrounded by walkers." I ask him.
"Remember the story I told you when I was in Atlanta and Glenn and I covered ourselves in walker guts?" He asks me nostalgically.
"Yeah you walked straight through the walkers!" I recall.
"We're doing that, Jessie is rounding up some sheets to cover ourselves with, me and Michonne are gonna get a couple of walkers to tear up, and you're gonna watch Deanna, Ari and Judith." He tells me.
"Okay dad." I agree.
• • •
"Carl go get Arizona." My dad tells me.
"Can't we wait for just a bit longer?" I plead.
"No we need to go now. The walkers are trying to get up here!" He grunts.
"Okay." I sigh and slowly and quietly walk into the room she's asleep in.
I tip toe over to the bed and sit down on the edge slowly and gently. I watch her with adoring eyes as she breathes softly. I rest a hand on her arm and she shutters awake. She rolls over and looks at me with sleepy eyes.
"Hey." I smile.
"Hi." She says in a raspy voice. "What's up?" She asks with more strength than before.
"We're leaving." I say vaguely.
"What? How?" She asks.
"Oh, umm... Just come with me I'll explain it to you." I tell her.
"Okay." She sighs and sits up, she rubs her eyes with both hands and slides out of bed.
She stands up and limps around the bed and over to me, combing her disheveled hair with her fingers. I stand up next to her and look into her beautiful eyes, before I know it my forehead is pressed against hers, I put a hand on her right cheek and I look her directly in the eyes, she looks back into mine.
"You promised me you'd never leave." I remind her.
"I know but- I-I'm bound to hurt you Carl, just like I always do. I'm so sorry. I might break it." She whispers.
"Don't leave me." I plead.
"I'll stay, for now." She promises.
"Okay." I sigh sadly.
"Carl let's go!" My dad barges in, I jump back from Ari and turn to him.
"DAD!" I complain.
He looks from me to Ari and back to me.
"We've got to hurry, they're getting past the couch." He informs.
"C'mon Carl." Ari tells me before limping out of the room and past my dad.
When I get out of the room my dad gives me a weird look before I get over to the top of the stairs where people stand in sheets with holes cut out for their heads, smearing themselves with the guts from a pair of cut up walkers that lie on the floor.
Ari squats down in her sheet and grabs a unhealthy heap of guts before smearing it down her front. I look at her and she nods at me with a small smile which I return.
I pick up a sheet and slip into it before picking up a glob of gooey and squishy, foul-smelling guts which I smear on myself.
"Here Carl let me get your back." Jessie offers and I feel the goop get slopped onto my back.
"Thanks Jessie." I say as she smears enough on my back for at least a whole sheet.
I look up at Ari to see Michonne smearing guts on her back and a small smile creeps onto my lips. She looks up at me and the same exact smile blooms onto her beautiful face, even streaked with blood and crusted with dirt she's stunning.
'You okay?' She mouths to me.
'Great.' I mouth back, nodding my head.
'Good.' She mouthes with a smile.
"Is everyone okay? Is everyone ready?" My dad asks the crowd.
"I think so." Michonne tells him.
"Everyone stay calm, we can pass right through them." My dad pushes through the crowd and we follow him down the stairs where he pushes the couch that bars us from getting out and the walkers getting in.
I make sure that Ari is behind me as we file down the stairs and through the walker filled house, in a line. I stand behind my dad and Jessie is behind Ari as we shamble out of the front door and onto the porch.
We line up so that each of us can see the walker crowded street that we are about to launch ourselves into. My dad slowly steps off the porch and I follow. I look behind me and see Ari followed by Jessie, Sam, Ron, Father Gabriel and Michonne.
I feel dad grab my hand in intention to not loose me, so I grab Ari's, her fingers slip effortlessly between mine and she smiles at me before looking behind her and grabbing Jessie's hand.
We are in the middle of the street when Sam's annoying voice begins to whine; "Mom? Mom? Mom?" I turn to see Ari giving him the death stare, what's this kid thinking? He could get us all killed! But then he shuts up, it's as if the walkers scared it out of him.
Soon Dad pulls us to the side behind a bush near the pond in the centre of town, everyone drops each-others hands and turn to listen to my dad.
"Alright new plan, a few guns aren't enough, too many walkers too spread out... We're not going to the armory we need our vehicles back at the quarry. All of us drive, we need to round them up. We leave, we come back." Dad explains.
"Okay, but Judith. To the quarry and back I-I-" Jessie frets, fear in her eyes screaming at him.
"I'll take her. We can hide in my church until you lead the walkers away." Gabriel offers quickly.
"Can you do this?" Michonne asks him gravely.
"I'm supposed to, that'll do." Gabriel tells her. "I will." Gabriel now promises dad.
"Alright." I agree and take Judith out from under the gut coated cloth and hand her carefully to dad who helps Gabriel put her under his sheet.
Judith starts to whine and it'll evolve to full out crying if we're not careful.
"Shhhhh shhhhh" Gabriel soothes her.
"Take Sam." Jessie tells Gabriel.
"No." Sam protests.
"Yes Sam, it'll be safer." Jessie argues.
"No mom I'm not leaving you." Sam whines.
"Sam..." Jessie trails off.
"Mom I'm not. I can keep going I promise. Please. Please. Let's just go." Sam begs.
"Okay." Jessie gives in.
"I'm going to keep her safe." Gabriel promises my dad.
"Thank you." Dad tells him.
Gabriel walks away slowly with Judith safely under his sheet.
"Hey, he's gonna make it, okay? I know it." Jessie grabs dad's hand in the intention to reassure him.
"Sam." Dad grabs Sam's hand and we all join hands again.
Dad leads, Sam behind him, Jessie holding Sam's hand, Ari holding her's, I follow Ari with our hands linked.
"Ron." I fidget my hand next to his wrist and his hand emerges from the gut covered cloth and I take it before we get lead away.
• • •
The sun has just set, and we're walking in the dark, weaving at arm's length between walkers. Suddenly Sam stops and drops dad's hand.
"Sam? Sam? C'mon c'mon, sweetheart, Sam. Sam, sam c'mon." Jessie urges him.
"C'mon Sam." Dad pushes.
"Sam, sam." Jessie tries to get his attention.
"Sam buddy you can do this, hey just look at mom." Ron tells him.
"Honey you can do it, sam honey I need you to come with me." Jessie pleads.
"Sam sam." Ron tries to get his attention, but that's not the only attention this is drawing. Walkers are getting curious and I don't think our disguises will work much longer.
"Sam, honey c'mon." Jessie begs.
"I want to..." Sam cries; his voice is higher than those towers we learned about in history class.
Then two curious walkers come closer and they sink their teeth in Sam's shouler and head, blood spurts everywhere as Sam gets eaten with a scream.
I look over to see Ari averting her eyes and I squeeze her hand. She looks at me with wide, frightened grey eyes. Jessie screams in terror and grief as her son gets devoured in front of her, suddenly even more walkers have our attention and are coming closer.
"Jessie? C'mon Jessie. Jessie c'mon we've got to go." Ari pulls on Jessie's hand.
Jessie, defeatedly stands there as walkers shamble over and bite into her, she lets herself get eaten in defeat.
"Dad. Dad!" I try to bring his attention to Ari's hand being tightly held in Jessie's grasp.
Dad takes out his hatchet and hacks at Jessie's outstretched forearm. When dad hacks his last at her arm and she lets Ari go Ari falls back on me and my gun flies away and skids to Ron's feet.
"You okay?" I ask Ari when I help her up.
"Yeah- fine." She tells me.
"You." Ron aims my gun at dad." You." He repeats before a bloody katana punctures through his chest, his arms splay out to the sides and in a last effort he pulls the trigger.
I feel a piercing pain in my right eye and everything goes black within it.
I reach up to touch underneath it, I touch underneath my eye and bring it away to see blood, I turn to Ari who looks at me with tears in her eyes.
"Ari?" I say before blacking out.