Just Keep Walking

One hundred and eleven

"Okey dokey! You brought his on yourself, Rick. See, I was willing to work with you, all you had to do was follow a few very simple rules. Now, well, now I see that you've got to go! Scorched earth you dick!"
"He's not home!" Carl shouted suddenly, the oldest two Grimes children on the guard tower, all guns pointed at them.
"Oh ho ho, holy shit, everybody, hold your fire, it's Carl! Look at you, answering the door like a big boy. I am so proud. Daddy's not home, huh? Well I guess he's gonna get back to a big old smoke surprise!"
"There's families in here. Kids. My little sisters."
"That shit just breaks my heart. There was kids at the Sanctuary, you must have seen them. Mary did. We had a little baby in one of the outposts. Wonder what happened to her. None of this shit's fair, kid. Hell, you know that. You had to kill your own mom. That is screwed up," Negan shouted, making Mary holding Carl's sweaty hand even tighter, "ergo, we need someone in charge who's willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that shit doesn't happen. Oh. Wait. That's me!"
"That stuff does happen, but we can figure this out! We can stop this!0
"Oh, now you want to talk? See, your dad had it that I died no matter what. Gave my people a choice. Not me! Now we're gonna need a new understanding. Apology. Punishment!"
"Kill me!" Carl screamed, his voice loaf and firm, creating silence, making Mary's heart race, adrenaline rioting in her bloodstream.
"What did you say?" Negan whispered, stepping forwards, showing a hint of concern.
lIf you have to kill someone, if there has to be punishment, kill me. I'm serious."
"You wanna die? Leave your sisters?"
"No, I don't. But I will. It's gonna happen. And if if me dying can stop this, if it can make things different for us for Mary, for Judith, for all those other kids it'd be worth it.  I mean was this the plan? Was it supposed to be this way? Is this who you wanted to be?" Carl asked emotively, but on cue, half of the wall fell down, as truck escaped, and immediately Carl and Mary were jumping down the guard tower, and getting ready to run.
"Son of a bitch, Carl! Was that just a play? I though we were having a moment you little asshole! Bombs away!" Negan shouted, but they were already running, letting the bombs fall. Mary was in so much pain, however although her bullet wound not yet healed, that's wasn't where the pain was coming from. Soon enough, she'd have to admit that her brother was going to die.
"Come on." Carl breathed, grabbing his bag and hat, holding Mary's good hand tightly. The wind whipped around them, the smell of smoke thick and daunting. Mary whimpered shakily, seeing her sick brother and the town that saved them in flames and ruin, houses exploding.
Carl set off a smoke bomb, and they ran again, Mary pushing aside her emotions, just as she had promised Carl she would. They kept running, letting off smoke bombs every so often. They kept being knocked over, the Saviours' bombs flinging them aside, but they carried on.
After a while, Carl was so sick he was simply stumbling around, covered in sweat. His face turned into a smile as he saw some other Alexandrians helping, and he allowed himself and Mary to have a seconds rest.
"Are you okay?" Mary asked Carl in a whisper, and the boy nodded as he panted.
"'M... 'M good." He breathed, and Mary nodded, knowing that she should be quiet - Carl was exhausted and needed a seconds rest.
"Hey. Carl, what's that noise?" She asked, hearing a beeping, and Carl's eyes were alert suddenly.
"Run." Carl mumbled, and he was dragging Mary behind him before the house behind them exploded.
Their ears were ringing, and Carl was panting, looking sicker than ever. "Come on. Can't stop." Carl mumbled, and they carried on, hearing a truck drive through the gate, and the Saviours come through.
"Carl." Mary breathed, her hands shaking with fear.
"It's okay. It's fine. We're okay." Carl soothed, and Mary nodded shakily, clinging onto Carl's hand. The explosions carried on ringing out, Mary getting closer to Carl every time, but as she did so, she felt how hot and weak he felt, and it made her fear grow, not shrink.
"I think it's over." Mary whispered to Carl, and he nodded with a smile. "Carl. It's over. We need to hide now. It's time to hide and be sad. We need to find daddy and mom. We need to talk to them before you get worse."
"I know." Carl sighed groggily, going silent when he saw two Saviours.
"On the ground, kid!" One of them shouted, and Carl simply got out another smoke bomb and waved it in the air.
"Look, down here." Carl mumbled, opening up the grate beside them. Ark stumbled down it, helping Mary after, then putting the grate back over the manhole.
"Quiet, quiet." Carl breathed, and Mary could see his glassy eyes, his broken face.
"They've gone." Mary nodded after a few minutes, and Carl nodded. "Carl?"
"I jus'... Jus' need a minute..." Carl breathed, then he began to collapse.
"Help! Siddiq! Someone help!" Mary called trying to pull Carl down the sewers to the rest of their group.
"Mary?" A voice called, "Mary, call out again."
"I'm here." Mary whined, attempting to sit Carl up. "Get up! Get up, now! Stop it! You're not allowed to die! Stop it, right now! You're not dying. You're not! I lost Glenn and we lost mommy and I can't lose you! You're not allowed!"
"Mary? Hey, hey, Mary. What's goin' on?" Daryl panicked, running over with Rosita and Tobin at his side.
"'M 'kay." Carl mumbled groggily, as Daryl bent down, checking him over.
"Hey, hey, what's goin' on? Are you okay?" Rosita asked Mary firmly, picking her up and holding her tightly.
"Carl got bit." Mary whispered, making everyone freeze.
"What? What did she just say?" Daryl croaked, looking over Carl again.
"Carl got bit." Mary announced louder, and Rosita held her even tighter. "I'm not allowed to be sad until he's safe. So can we get to the safe bit with daddy and mom and Judith so I can cry? Because I really want to cry a lot."
"Help me carry him. Carl, man, ya gotta get up now. I know yer sick, but ya gotta let us help you. Wake up, come on."
"Jus' let me rest. Jus' a minute."
"No. No resting. Come on. Yer gonna feel better, because ya need to see yer dad. He'll never forgive himself. Carl! Get. UP!" Daryl barked, knowing being harsh was how to get through to him, and Carl nodded, letting Daryl and Tobin help him walk.
"It's okay," Rosita soothed to Mary, "it's all gonna be okay."
"No it's not. Where's daddy? I want daddy!" Mary cried softly, and Rosita held her even tighter.
"Guapa, daddy isn't back yet. I don't know where he is. Mom's looking for him."
Suddenly, Mary had never felt more alone. Carl was dying, her father was missing, her stepmother gone. She only had Judith. So while she was waiting in a Rosita's arms, she sobbed. She was going to be the big sister now, not the little one. But she had a few hours left, and she sobbed. She wasn't ready to be the big sister.

"And then the little princess found all of the dogs," Carl whispered to Mary, "and she took them back to her home. Her big princess tower. And her daddy didn't mind. The king and queen said that it was okay, because they loved her, and she could look after all the dogs and horses and rabbits and chickens. Because the little princess was the kindest person in the world. She had the kindest heart. A golden heart with flowers on it. She was a beautiful wildflower. And the little princess and the baby princess lived happily ever after, in the princess tower with the king and queen and all the animals."
"That's a good story." Mary nodded with a tiny smiled, nestling a little closer into Carl's side. "Every night we do story time. But..."
"Mom will do story time. I promise."
"She's not as good as you. And we never finished our book."
"Which one?" Carl asked softly, and Mary whimpered.
"Glenn's book. About Pip. Glenn never finished it, so we were going to finish it for him. But we haven't finished it, and you'll never know the ending."
"The Pip book... Does she mean Great Expectations? By Dickens?" Dwight asked quietly, and Mary glared at the man.
"Yeah." Carl said simply, and Dwight nodded, walking over.
"Where are you up to?"
"Pip visits the lady. The one in the wedding dress. And he's only a little boy and he falls in love with Estella, but she doesn't like him."
"Okay. So, Pip becomes a blacksmith's apprentice. So he learns how to do it. And when he's older, someone gives him a lot of money, and he becomes rich, and moves to London. He thinks it's Estella's mom, but it's not, it was the prisoner he met and the very start of the book. Basically, Pip is very rich, and has his ups and downs in life, but he's happy, and he still loves Estella, but Estella's mom told her to be mean to Pip. Pip came home after working in a different country for loads of years, and visits his family and Estella. She was married, but her husband died. And Pip forgives Estella for being mean, and they live happily ever after."
"So Pip and Estella are in love?"
"Yeah." Dwight nodded with a smile.
"Thanks." Carl mumbled, knowing how much finishing the story meant to Mary. Dwight nodded again, and left, as Mary turned to smile at Carl.
"We finished the story!"
"We did." Carl laughed weakly.
"We finished the story." Mary cried softly, the tiny hint of happiness falling from her face. Carl held her tightly, as she sobbed shakily.
Suddenly Mary leapt up, hearing someone come into the tunnels. Within a second, she was in Rick's arms, sobbing hysterically.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Rick panicked, as everyone looked at him with sympathy, "Are you hurt? Who's upset you?"
Mary simply carried on sobbing, and Rick's eyes fell on Siddiq, then on Carl.
He was weaker than ever, and covered in sweat. He was only going to get worse.
"I brought him here," Carl croaked, Rick and Michonne by his side, his shaky hands lifting up his shirt, and pulling off a gauze pad, "that's how it happened."
Michonne fell to the floor, crying shakily, as Rick was crouched, shaking as he held Mary, unable to comprehend the information.
A bomb went off above their heads, and Rick finally spoke up, still looking half blank, and half confused. "I... I don't... How..."
"Dad. It's alright. It's gotta be." Carl panted, as he got out a handful of letters, "I wasn't sure if you'd make it back before... But... Just in case, in case, you know, I need to be able to say goodbye."
Michonne took the letters, her face still filled with disbelief, and Rick shook with confusion and fear and broken heartedness.
"It's them, it's them, they, they don't, it wasn't..." He mumbled, his voice filled with delusion and fear.
"Carl." Michonne cried, Mary wailing.
"No," Rick breathed, "no."
He was shaking so much that Mary was dropped from his hold, and Michonne grabbed her, holding the child to her chest. She needed something.
"I got bit," Carl sighed, "I was bringing someone back. His names Siddiq. We saw him at that gas station before. Dad, it wasn't the Saviours. It just happened."
"He's gonna die." Mary sobbed, clinging to a shaking Michonne. Rick put his hand on Carl's leg, finally allowing himself to cry, accepting what was happening.
Carl took a shaky breath in, then spoke up again, his eyes on Rick's disbelieving, heartbroken face. "I got bit."