𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝟐. carl grimes

25 - JESUS

Carl shook me until I was awake, him telling me that there's a stranger in our house. I immediately grabbed my gun from under the bed and we both went out of our room, tiptoeing until we saw a man sitting on the top of the stairs.

We both aimed our gun at him and cocked it. "What the hell are you doing in our house?"

"I'm, uh, sitting on the steps, looking at this painting, waiting for your mom and dad to get dressed." Mom and dad? Get dressed? Carl and I looked at each other in confusion. "Hi... I'm Jesus."

Okay, I'm confused as hell and I just woke up. Michonne and Rick are getting dressed? This guy calls himself Jesus or is that really his name?

We heard footsteps behind and we saw a topless Rick, who's putting his belt on, with Michonne on his side. "Carl, hey, um..."

We heard more footsteps from the stairs and saw Daryl, Maggie, Glenn and Abraham, all aiming their weapons at Jesus or whatsoever. It's weird calling him that.

"It's—It's okay." Rick tells the three men, before looking at the stranger. "You said we should talk. So let's talk."

Rick gestures for us to lower our weapons and we do just that. Abraham, Daryl, Maggie and Glenn are guarding Jesus downstairs while Rick and Michonne get dressed properly. I rubbed my eyes, still a bit sleepy as Carl and I walk back to our room.

When we got there, Carl started chuckling. I chuckled along, fully knowing why. "Dad and Michonne... saw that coming."

"Same." I said before going through the cabinet and grabbing a pair of pants, before putting them on. "Been teasing them for months now, that was long and overdue."

Carl and I joined the rest downstairs, at the dining table. Carl lets me take a seat and he stands behind me, placing his hands on my shoulders as Jesus sats across me. Apparently, they were keeping the latter where Morgan kept that guy who had W's on their foreheads.

"So, how'd you get out?" Rick asked the man.

"One guard can't cover two exits. Or third floor windows." Well, he has a point. I glanced at Michonne, giving her a knowing look and smirk, and she turns away from me. "Knots untie and locks get picked. Entropy comes from order, right?"

Daryl nods. "Right."

"I checked out your arsenal." Jesus states, making me wonder where else did he go. "I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well-equipped, but your provisions are low. Very low for the amount of people you have. 54?"

"More than that." Maggie answers, making Jesus nod and continue talking. "Well, I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef."

"She's not here." I spoke up, knowing that my mom made that, the same time Daryl did. "Yeah, she ain't here."

Jesus glanced at me before looking back at the former. "Look, we got off to a bad start. But we're on the same side—the living side. You and Rick had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't."

That's because that's not who Rick and Daryl are. "I'm from a place that's a lot like this one. Part of my job is searching out other settlements to trade with. I took your truck because my community needs things, and both of you looked like trouble. I was wrong. You're good people. And this is a good place. I think our communities may be in a position to help each other."

I reached up to grab Carl's hand and hold it, as Glenn drops the question. "Do you have food?"

We have more than enough guns and ammos, that's not a problem to us, but food is the problem. We've been running low on it for the past week, Maggie planted some crops but it's not just gonna grow overnight.

"We've started to raise a livestock." Jesus informed. "We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to sorghum."

Rick raised his hand in the air. "Tell us why we should believe you."

"I'll show you. If we take a car, I can take you back home in a day," he suggests. "And you can see for yourselves who we are and what we have to offer."

I'm skeptical of the idea and think through it as Maggie talks. "Well, you're looking for more settlements. You mean you're already trading with other groups?"

He did say that. All of us looked at him and wait for his answer. Jesus only leans back on his chair. "Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger."

— later

Rick decided that we'll take Jesus' offer and they'll visit this place called Hilltop. It's miles away from Alexandria but they said they'll come back. Carl's coming along with them and I'm staying put, no particular reason, I'm just not in the mood to have a long talk with other people. I helped Carl get the gas ready, before Rick reached us, carrying Judith.

I wiped my hands off using a wet towel, before grabbing Judith from Rick. "You sure?"

"No." The latter answers me. "But if he's telling the truth, this could be the start of everything."

Michonne comes down the steps with Jesus, making all of us turn to her. I smirked a little when I remembered earlier.

Rick turns to Carl. "Look, I was gonna tell you about me and Michonne, but it just happened. It just happened. Last night."

I couldn't hide the small smile from my lips as I looked at Carl, who's trying to contain the smile.

Rick looks like he's about to panic. "This is—this is different."

Carl finally smiled. "It's cool."

Rick looks relieved before he nods. "Alright. Well, get your stuff. Farren will take care of Judith while we're gone."

Rick pats my shoulders and I smiled at him, before Carl spoke up. "No. I'm not coming."

The former and I looked at Carl, who continued speaking. "Someone's gotta stay here, help Farren keep this place safe." I smiled at Carl. "A kid with a messed-up face probably wouldn't make the best first impression anyway."

I'm saddened that Carl thinks of himself like that. He doesn't know he's still breathtaking like he is before, even with one eye only. Nothing's changed about the way I feel for him. The visible flaw on his face just made me love him even more, because it's a sign that he's strong.

Rick nods, before he walks away. I smiled at Carl before kissing his cheek, then we went up to the porch and watch as our family gets in the RV and leaves for Hilltop.

I turned to Carl and called for his attention. "Know that I still love you, okay?"

He looks confused to why I'm telling him this, so I faced him completely and sighed. "Your physical appearance... it doesn't change the way I feel about you. So, don't think of yourself like that, okay?"

Carl kisses my forehead before he nods. "What did I do to deserve you..."

I chuckled. "You told me that my drawing skills are horrible, that's how."

Carl laughs and kisses me, reminiscing the past. We sure did came a long way.