Survive ( twd carlgrimes)

chapter 116

There's a counter beside the kitchen door that separates the two rooms and there I find Glenn perched on a stool with spoon in his hand. I watch as he takes dips into his bowl and chews on a clearly out of date cereal. It's beats eating squirrels.

I walk through the kitchen doors to the other side of the counter so that I can talk to him, face to face.
"Morning." He greets and I smile in return.
"Hi. Uh, Maggie is still asleep upstairs."
He nods and takes another bite from his cereal. "I know. I was looking for her last night and found yous both asleep in the bed. Thought I'd let you both get your sleep there instead."
"Thanks."

"Is everything okay though? Even when asleep, you looked exhausted."
I chuckle weakly. "I just, needed a moment and poor Maggie got the blunt end of it."
Glenn doesn't ask any questions and I couldn't be more grateful to him. Instead he pulls up another bowl and fills it with cereal before sliding it in front of me.

I smile in thanks and grab a spoon. I take a bite and chew the stale tasting cardboard. Maybe I was wrong before, at least the squirrel had flavor. But it was finally good to have some proper food in my stomach. I hope it stays down.

"Do you trust this place? It seems a little too good to be true." I say.
"I don't know. I want to trust it. We need this to work." He says.
We eat our cereal in silence while the others wake up.

When I finish I turn around to see Carl asleep on the ground. He took the seat cushions from the chairs by the table in the dining room to make a make-shift bed. His brown hair is sticking in all directions under his hat that covers his face. I smile at the image but it quickly fades as I hear somebody groaning and then stretching their arms in the air after waking up. I know its Luke, those green eyes and that razor sharp jaw line is a dead give away.

"Excuse me." I say to Glenn as I jump off the stool and rush back into the bedroom. Maggie is still asleep but I head straight for the toilet again and I realise I might as well not have eaten breakfast at all because it just makes a reappearance. I need to find that medication now before blood makes a show too. I leave Maggie to sleep and I walk back into the hall again. This time everybody is awake. I walk into the sitting room again and avoid Luke. I look around for my bow and arrows that I left in here last night when I grab them I swing my arrows onto my back and I feel someone tap my shoulder.
"Where are you going?" I turn to see Rick.
"Out." I explain and his brows knit together.
"Can I come with?"
I already know that this is his excuse to tell me about what Deanna said in private.
"Sure. Lets go now though I really need to talk to you." I say.
"So do I. Lets go." He mumbles while ushering me out the door and whispering to Daryl where we are going.
When we get outside we just start to walk in any direction and see where it takes us to, but I know that i'm looking for the infirmary. I talk first to break the silence but mostly because I have to get this out of the way.
"Im sorry that I've been an ass and kept pushing you away when you were only trying to help. I treated you like shit and-"
"HEY! Watch your mouth." He scolds.
"Sorry, I meant... I'm sorry that I treated you like crap. I just wasnt ...me. I'm not fully normal again. I mean I never was, but I mean, Im not like used to be, but i'm trying to make it up to everyone but mostly you. I know how scared and concerned you were for me and ... i'm just really sorry." I plead.
"I know Mads. You were going through some shit that-" I cut him off with a glance and an eyebrow raise.
"Sorry I meant, you were going through some crap that is personal and it hurts like hell. That was your way of dealing with it." He nods.
"But do you forgive me?" I ask. He stops on his tracks and so do I but im nervous for his answer. He places his hand on my shoulder.
"Of course I do, thats out of the question. You are my own and I love you like a daughter." He tells me.
His answer makes a smile spread across my face and he pulls me into a hug. I feel a slight weight taken from my chest but I still have my other problems to deal with.
When he pulls back he looks almost guilty. He opens his mouth to speak.
"So Deanna came to me to talk about the interviews and, well, she said-"
"I know." I tell him.
"How?"
"I was on the roof. I overheard." I shorten the story how I actually found out.
Yeah you were a nosy bitch who wanted to know what Rick and Deanna were talking about.
The voice in my head mocks.
"So Mads, you have to be on your best behaviour. Stop threatening people and no fighting. I mean it. We need this place to work." He tells me.
I nod. "Sure Rick, but... do you a actually think these people are telling the truth?" I ask.
"I dono Mads. I hope they are and for their sakes they would want to hope they are. They seem like decent people but then again so did the people at Terminus.  So I don't know." He vaguely answers. We pass a small house with a red cross painted on the doorway. I presume this is the infirmary. It has a bigger house connected on the back making it look like a small shed.
"This is where I wanted to go." I whisper to him.
"The infirmary?"
"Yeah i've been getting sick again and i'm not waiting long enough for the blood to make an apperance again." I tell him and his face pales with worry.
"Dont worry, they said they had a doctor here or something." I say just to make him relax. I knock on the door and nobody answers. I stroll around to the side of the building and look through the window at the small bed and equipment. Opposite the bed lies a large brown cabinet with glass windows full of medicine. I use the sharpened ends of my bow and lodge it underneath the window frame and push down to make the window open.
"MADS! What are you doing?" Rick hushly interrogates. I push harder and I hear it slowly opening.
"Im opening the window to get my medicine." I explain.
"This is the exact behaviour I was telling you to avoid. This is breaking and entering." He states.
"No Rick, its prying and borrowing. Besides didn't they say make yourself at home." I say.
"No. They said explore." He reminds me. With a small bang I finally open the window
"Oh too late now." I chuckle while swinging myself inside.
"Are you coming?" I ask from inside but he stays quiet. I sigh. "Fine you stay there and keep watch. Tell me if anybody comes." He nods. I walk towards the brown cabinet and open it. I take a few minutes searching through the various amounts of bottles but after ten minutes of searching I give up and decide that they don't have it. Frustrated, I slam the door shut and three bottles fall off the shelf. They fall to the ground with a loud smash and I hear Rick telling me to hurry up and get out. I quickly clean up the evidence and put it away but when I look out a boy stands in the doorway that connects to the other house. He looks about my age if not older and he has shandy brown hair. I pull out my bow and quickly load an arrow. He puts up his hands in surrender.
"Who are you?" He asks.
"Who the hell are you?" I ask.
He makes the smart decision and answers me.
"Im Ron."