Walking Dead-Carl Grimes

Day gone by

*Val's p.o.v.*

Breath in. Breath out.

    I forcefully wipe away the sweat that is running in droplets down the side of my face. The sun has been beating unforgivably onto our rag tag group of adolescents for days and I have a feeling that the heat was finally getting to us.

   Petty arguments have been breaking out into full blown shouting matches as time passed, to a point I was worried that the sudden rise in herd attacks may not just be because of the world ending around us as we knew it.

"I told you this brush is mine!" Averlynn looked downright murderous, her blue eyes practically glowing in the harsh light of the cabin.

"I told you, this brush is mine! I found it fair and square and I want you to keep your nasty hands off!" Ruth spat back instantly, ripping said brush from the brunettes hands.

"And I told you both to keep the volume down unless you want us and all of the babies we're responsible for to become walker chow." I tried to keep my voice low and calm but it came out more strained and irritated. Being one of the designated leaders made diffusing tension difficult. No matter who's side you're on, you are always the bad guy.

Madisyn laughed snidely from her corner of the loveseat she was sharing with her best friend. Caine and Kally were napping peacefully in her lap as she bounced them gently. Funny how the kids loved her even though she was one of the iciest people I've ever met.

"I'm sorry," She leered, not sounding sorry at all, "I just find it really ironic how you lecture everyone on noise levels when your boyfriends are literally screeching at each other as we speak."

I follow her line of sight to the cracked door of the back room. I don't even have to see them to know Carl and Gale are in there fighting. They'd been at each other's throats for the past month we've been separated from the adults and absolutely nothing I do or say can get either of them to back off.

"The older boys don't listen to me," I say simply, my brows furrowing in frustration as broken sentences leak into the room. "Everybody else will, but not them."

   Madisyn snorts softly, but I can see a small look of sympathy cross over her face.

"Well, let me just say that I don't envy you. None of us do." I didn't expect Averylynn to rejoin the conversation, but what she said brought my attention back to the living room and not my boyfriend and his drama.

"I don't know how you guys do it. None of us actually said that you and Carl were the leaders, it just seemed like an unspoken rule. You are the only two people any of us know who could handle this obligation. I mean, you're dads literally ran the prison together. None of us were surprised when you guys ended up being natural leaders."

   I really didn't know what to say to this sudden bout of gratitude I was receiving. I was never any good at taking compliments, so I just did what I did best and sent her an awkward albeit genuine smile. The conversation ended there.

   Things have been...hard, to say the least. We were getting closer to the prison every day we could chance walking for 8 or 9 hours straight before absolutely needing to settle down (which wasn't as often as we'd like but often enough), but it still wasn't fast enough. We were running out of suburban neighborhoods to scavenge and our baby supplies was running dangerously low. If we don't pick up the pace we're going to lose quite a few group members before we ever make it close to home.

    Carl was dead set on returning, he swore up and down that that was where his father and our family was. I don't think he understood the risks or disadvantages of traveling long distance during the apocalypse with small children on a dwindling food and water supply, but he said the reunion would be worth the hardships. I wanted to believe him. I think I wanted to more than I actually did, but I had taken a vow of optimism in these trying times and I was forcing myself to think positive.