𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝟑. carl grimes

9 - REUNITED

The hesitance and guilt in Daryl stops him from approaching Maggie. His lips were trembling a little as Maggie walked towards him, pulling him into a hug. Daryl hugs back immediately, him crying.

This is rare, seeing Daryl cry, and it hurts my heart. He blames himself for getting Glenn killed, I blame myself too.

As the little reunion was on going, I walked towards Jesus. "D-Did you see Carl? Did you?"

Jesus nods. "He was in one of the trucks. He gunned down some of Negan's men."

I ran my fingers through my hair before pulling on them. "The hell, Carl... What else? What else happened? Did Negan hurt him? Did they—"

"Nothing bad happened to him." Jesus interrupts me, calming me down a little. "Now, they went back to Alexandria. I don't know for how long, but he's alright. Okay?"

I nodded before removing my hands from my hair. I gave Jesus a thank you nod, before going back to my friends. Enid wrapped her arms around my shoulder when I got to her side, Maggie's having an emotional conversation with Daryl, as both of them are in tears. I leaned my head on Enid's shoulder for a moment, then the two adults finished their heart-to-heart.

We lead Daryl to Jesus' trailer, giving him something to eat and water to drink. It takes a while before Daryl finally spoke about what they did to him. They fed him dog food sandwiches, treated him like he's a rag doll, locking him up in a dark room as they play a song over and over again. I feel so bad for Daryl, but I know he doesn't like it when people gives him sympathy, so I just listened to him.

We let Daryl eat as much as he can, to get his strength back, before we let him take some rests.

"You know where their lair is?" Sasha asked Jesus as we piled up by the trailer door.

Jesus nods. "It's a compound, surrounded by fences and walkers that are chained up."

"How many are they?" Maggie asked, crossing her arms.

"He has a whole army." Jesus tells us. "Most of them are men."

So the ones they killed from the satellite outpost and the ones we came across with, weren't even half of them? Why do they side with Negan? Why do they agree on his terms and rules?

Even if us Alexandrians and the people here in Hilltop, team up, we're still no match against the Saviors. Some people here don't know how to fight, and even if they, we don't have guns and enough weapons to protect ourselves. The Saviors took them all. We can't fight them like this, they'll win and we'll loose. So many blood will be spilled.

The numbers aren't with us, luck isn't with us. Man, I hate feeling so powerless and not in control.

"So what do we do?" Enid asked, pulling me away from my thoughts.

"Nothing. For now." I spoke up, making the four of them look at me. "It's not like I don't want to fight them. Hell, I want to, but without weapons and enough fighters? We won't stand a chance."

The four of them listened to me, and they listened intently. "Even if our people and the people here team up, we still won't win. But that doesn't mean we won't fight back. We will. Just, not right now."

They know I'm right, I know I'm right. Waiting for a perfect opportunity to get revenge is the key, not just full out going to Negan's compound and ambushing them.

"She's right." Jesus agrees with me after seconds of silence.

Maggie looks like she understands, so does Sasha, while Enid just plainly looks proud of me. After the discussion was finished, I decided to take a rest just like Daryl's doing.

— next day

I legit think I'm going to die of sadness because I miss Carl so much. Now, I don't mean for to sound like I'm clingy or shit, I just miss him so much. Not just him, I also miss home. I don't know when Enid and I will come back to Alexandria, but it's risky. We don't know if the Saviors are still there. Plus, people here in Hilltop will need more fighters.

I also I can't just leave Maggie or Daryl here again. They both got away from Negan, the latter is probably looking for Daryl right now.

I'm wearing Carl's shirt right now. It's a grey shirt, the one I always wore whenever I get the chance too. It just smells so much like Carl and the fabric is so comfortable against my skin. It's my favorite shirt of his. I didn't even noticed that I packed this, but I'm glad I did.

I'm sitting by the steps of the trailer right now, sitting in front of me is Enid. I'm trying to do different hairstyles with her hair, since she just finished doing mine. It's a simple two french braids. I'm trying to figure if I should style Enid's hair the same way or if I should do something different.

"Anytime now, Fare." Enid said jokingly. Her saying my nickname makes me miss Carl even more. She heard that nickname from him.

"I'm trying." I said, before deciding that I'll just do a simple french braid.

As I was braiding Enid's long brown hair, we both hear Maggie yell ours and Sasha's name. I didn't get to finish styling Enid's hair because we both ran away from the trailer, just in time as the gates open.

The first person my eyes land on was Carl. Then, there were also Rick, Michonne, Rosita and Tara. The first person I hugged was the latter.

"You're back." I breathe out before pulling away. She looks happy to see me, so am I, but I remembered Denise. "Tara, about Denise..."

Her eyes became glossy in an instant, telling me that she already knew. My heart aches for her before I pulled her in for another hug. Then, I go to hug Rick. We exchanged smiles before I go and hug Michonne, the closest person to Rick.

When I got in front of Rosita, I immediately noticed the fresh scar on her face. She noticed what I was looking at. "Don't mind it, it doesn't hurt."

I pulled her in for a hug, before she tells me that Spencer and Olivia are dead. I was never close to the two, but knowing they got killed because of Negan, fuels my anger for him even more. But my anger got replaced by sympathy when Rosita told me that Olivia got killed because of her.

Apparently, she tried to shoot Negan with the homemade bullet that Eugene built. She shot Lucille because the goddamn bat got in the way, in result of Olivia's death. They also took Eugene away.

The only person I haven't hugged yet, is Carl. He stands there, expecting me to come running to his arms, but instead I did something else. I hit his arm.

"You fucking dumbass." I muttered, hitting his arm again. My eyes are glossy. "You fucking dumbass, you scared me."

I was going to hit him again, harder this time, but Carl pulls me in for a hug. I melt into his touch immediately. "I'm alright, bub. I'm okay."

I looked up when I heard him call me the nickname. "Bub?"

Carl's cheeks turn pink. "It just slipped out."

I go to tease him but he shuts me up by hugging me again, placing a kiss on top of my head, before we pulled away. We watched as Rick and Daryl have an emotional reunion and share a hug. Carl's hand found mine and he laces our fingers together, him squeezing first before I do.

And here we are, reunited, even if we're incomplete.