𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. carl grimes

11 - WOULDN'T

"Shh," I caress Carl's back for the first time since the CDC. The way his voice breaks and how he's shaking in my arms, is enough to make me realize how important I am to him. I made a promise to myself that I'm not gonna take my mom, or Carl, for granted again. "It's alright, I'm alright. I'm here now, I'm not going anywhere."

As we pull away, I can hear my mom asking where Daryl was. I look down at the ground. I know that Merle is Daryl's only blood-family left, and I understand why he chose him, but part of me wishes that he chose us. When my mom asked about Oscar, I can feel sadness in me. In a short period of time, Oscar proved he's trustworthy and a good guy who learned from his mistakes.

"Let's go inside." Carl tells me and I nod, before starting to walk. I suddenly can feel the pain from my leg and I started limping again, my mom and Carl noticing that. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a bullet graze." I winced and stopped walking. I saw the look on my mom's face so I quickly say, "I'll be fine."

Carl hooks my arm around his shoulder and helps me walk.

"How's the baby?" I asked him as we walk. He smiles at me, telling me that she's alright and doing well.

"She's got a name now." Carl tells me and I smiled. "Judith."

I tell him it's a cute name and later on, we made it inside the cellblock. I can hear more voices than before and noticed that none of them sounded like my friends' voice. When we got inside, my eyes landed on four strangers. There was a woman, next to her was a tall black man, and then a slightly smaller man and a teenage boy were standing behind them. I looked at Carl in confusion.

"Survivors." Carl tells me when he sees the look on my face. "I'll tell you everything tomorrow, you need to get patched up and rest."

I nodded, glancing at the strangers who are quietly watching us. I take my eyes off them and Carl takes me to our cell and sits me on his bunk. "Stay here, I'll be back."

I nodded before he left. Crouching down, I untie the laces of my dirty combat boots and remove my feet from them, feeling relaxed a little. I can feel how sticky my skin is from the sweat and dirt, but I have no energy to go shower right now. I remove my jacket and placed it down along with my boots, as Carl comes back with some medical supplies.

"You can sleep in my bunk, I'll sleep in yours." He announces as he plops down to the floor, bringing out a cotton ball and alcohol. He grabs my leg, the one with the bullet graze, and soaks the cotton ball up with alcohol. "This will sting,"

I grit my teeth and hiss as the cotton ball glides across my skin. I can feel the stinging feeling but it's not that bad. After Carl wraps my leg with bandages, my mom appears by the cell gate and smiles.

"I'll leave you two alone." Carl said before leaving the cell.

Mom sits beside me and wraps her arm around my shoulders. "I'm glad you're safe," I lean onto my mom and accept the comfort and warmth. "I'm sorry if I scared you."

I sighed. "I really thought you were gone... Daryl told me that walkers got you and T-Dog, he showed me your scarf and we all believed you were gone."

I want to tell my mom so many things, like how sorry I am for pushing her away, for being so cold and distant, but I can't find the courage to say it. "I got a gun pointed at my head earlier."

I felt my mom stiffen before she removes her arm around me, a look of shock, disbelief, and worry all in her face. "All I could think of in that moment, was that if the Governor pulled the trigger... I would be reunited with you, dad... a-and Sophia, and everyone else we lost."

"Oh baby," my mom hugs me with tears in her eyes. I feel so overwhelmed with so many emotions but I can't bring myself to cry.

So, I keep talking. "But then, I thought of everyone else. I thought of Daryl, Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Hershel, Beth... and Carl. Part of me wanted to be with you because I thought you were dead, but most of me didn't. I couldn't leave them, I wouldn't leave Carl behind. They've been our family since the start."

Who knew that end of the world heart-to-heart could make you feel so relieved.

My mom keeps hugging me, before sniffing and pulling away. I smile at her and she does the same, before she reaches something behind her.

My gun.

My mom hands it to me and I look at her, unsure. "Do you remember when you told me that you're not a kid anymore? Back at the farm?"

I remember that, that was the first time I raised my voice at my mom and I regret it. "You're right. You're a young woman who can handle this world. You're gonna need this to take care of our group... of me."

I smiled genuinely, before taking the gun. Still heavy as before, but feels good.

"But I need you to promise me to never to anything like that again." My mom says, looking at me sternly. I nodded, not even thinking of doing it again.

I thank my mom for this, before she tells me to get some rest and leaves.

I placed my gun to the floor along with my jacket, before laying down completely, and getting some shut-eye.