waiting for the light that never comes »» #wattys2018

23

DESTROYED

Karen volunteered to go with Rick, Noah, Tyreese, Glenn, and Michonne to Noah's hometown, which wasn't too far away.

As Karen geared up, she felt Carl's presence in the barn they were in. She sighed before turning to face him.

"I have to go." Karen said as Carl shrugged.

"I mean, you don't have to. But if that's what you want to do, I support you all the way." Carl said as he rested his hands on her hips.

"Thank you, Carl. You're like the first person I ever met that supported me in anything I did, besides Beth, Tyreese, Sasha, and my sister. This is why I love you." Karen said as Carl smiled down at her before pecking her lips.

"Go ahead, Karen. They're waiting for you." He said as Karen nodded before she walked out of the barn towards the caravan.

Karen sat next to Glenn while Tyreese sat next to Michonne and Tyreese was in the driver seat next to Noah. Karen sometimes glance at him, only to see a sorrowful look on his face.

She knew how much Beth meant to him, it hurts her just as much as it hurts him.

"Karen?" Karen took her attention to Rick who handed her a map.

"How far are we?" Karen looked at the map before looking at the road.

"About 5 minutes." Karen said as Rick nodded.

"Okay, let's park over here. So we're not out in the open." Rick said as Tyreese nodded and pulled over into the woods. They parked by a crash site and grabbed their weapons.

"Alright, everyone stay close." Rick ordered as they all acknowledged. Karen made her way next to Tyreese and Noah, making sure that she covered them both.

"How did you get into all of this?" Noah asked as he looked down at the youngest. Karen sighed before looked at him.

"I got into an accident with my sister, ended up finding out she was dead, met Tyreese and Sasha, we all happen to find this place called Woodbury. I..." Karen paused in her explanation. She didn't want to mention her father aka the Governor. She's seen him to unspeakable things. She even found out that he tried to rape a pretty girl which ended up being Maggie.

She felt disgusted. She couldn't even begin to explain how badly she didn't want to believe he was her father. But it was true.

"Karen?" Karen jumped out of her trance before she continued.

"Sorry. So I was on a run, but ended up meeting Carl. The next day, I found the prison, met the rest of the group and became one of them." Karen finished as they approached the gates.

"Um, shouldn't we be getting like a welcome committee or something?" Tyreese asked Noah as he nodded. Glenn quickly climbed the wall and looked around. His eyes went wide as he saw burned out houses, dead bodies on the ground.

He looked back at the others before he shook his head.

"No..." Noah said as he climbed the wall.

"Noah!" Karen clombed in after him only to see the horrible scene. Noah collapsed on his knees and sobbed at the sight, knowing that he would end finding nothing left.

"Noah, I—I'm so sorry." Karen said as she shed a few of her own. Noah continued to sob, Karen finally knelt down and hugged Noah. He surprisingly leaned into her touch, sobbing into her shoulder as he did.

Karen felt his pain. It didn't need to be said into words, or see in actions. Just feels.

Tyreese approached the two and looked down at them.

"The people here didn't die in vain," Tyreese began as Karen looked up at him. "We're going to find out who did this and kill them."

Karen nodded before she rubbed Noah's back. Noah began to stand up and started to limp/run into a particular direction.

"Wait! Noah!" Karen said as she ran after him. He came to a house but Karen stepped in front of him.

"I need to see. Please." He said as Karen looked at rhe front door, seeing it barged open.

"You sure?" Noah nodded before Karen moved to the side and watched him walk into the house. His house.

"Where's Noah?" She heard Tyreese ask as she pointed to the house.

"He's in there." Tyreese sighed before running into the house. Karen followed in after him and walked around.

She heard snarling and saw a closed door down the hallway. She walked the other way into a bedroom where she saw a dead body tied to a bed.

She looked over it and realized it was a woman, with nothing on under her dress. She realized that whoever this was was raped before she was killed.

Then she heard the snarling and turned to see a walker behind her. She went to stab it, but tripped over a cord. That's when Tyreese came and wrapped his forearm around it. Ready to stab it, but it got a chunk out of his arm.

He screamed in pain before Karen stabbed it. Jane began to shed tears as she saw the bite mark. She slowly sat him up against a wall before she called for Noah.

"NOAH!" Noah came rushing in and saw Tyreese with the bite.

"I need you to hold his arm steady. I'm going to have to cut it off." Karen shouted as Noah nodded and grabbed for Tyreese's injured arm.

"Okay, Tyreese. You're doing good. I need you to hold your breath. Okay? You'll feel less pain if you do. Okay, on three. One...two...three!" Karen brought the stake knife down on Tyreese's arm, it cutting clean through his arm.

Tyreese yelled in pain as blood oozed out of his wound. Karen quickly grabbed bandages and began to wrap his arm, making sure he doesn't bleed out.

"Noah, go get Rick and the others now!" Noah nodded before he ran off. Karen took her attention back to Tyreese as he slowly breathed heavily.

"T—Thank you—u." Tyreese said as he slowly began to close his eyes in exhaustion.

"Stay with me, Ty. Please. I can't lose you too." Karen said as she sat next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I'm okay. I—I'm not dying. I'm just tired—d." He said softly as Karen sighed quietly.

"Ty, please don't die on me."

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