Our Shadows (Carl Grimes/The Walking Dead)

Chapter 8: Flee

I woke up to Carl pushing me off the couch, landing on the cold ground with a thud. He didn't wake up but only wrapped the blanket around himself, snoring softly. Boy, was he a restless sleeper. I sat up and stretched my arms, looking out the window to see rain pouring over the city. It was strange but I sort of enjoyed rainy days, it made me feel safe and protected much like my sleep last night. The only thing I didn't like about rainy days was because it would get cold. I looked over to see Sophia was gone, she is probably with her mom. I thought.

Carl's morning moan snapped me out of my thoughts, "Mornin" he mumbled as he turned over to face me.

"Hey dork" I joked.

He turned over to face me, his sleepy eyes staring at mine. "Why are you on the floor?" He smiled.

"You decided to have the couch for yourself and pushed me off" I chuckled. His eyes widened and he sat straight up.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to" he looked out the dark window, the rain becoming more interesting then our conversation.

I could see fear in his eyes, sweat on his collar, and bags under his eye. "You had a bad dream, didn't you?" I asked.

"Yeah, I did." he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What about?" I was curious what he was dreaming about, and what could possibly be worse in his mind then in reality.

When he opened his mouth, the lounge door opened. We turned our heads to see Lori and Rick walk in. "Oh, we were about to come wake you two up. How was your sleep?" Rick asked.

"Pretty good actually" I answered for the two of us.

"Well go take a shower and meet us in the cafeteria for some breakfast, we have a big day a head of us" Lori ordered. We nodded in unison and walked to separate showers. It was nice taking a hot shower and to get rid of that rotten body smell. After my shower, Andrea brought me a black shirt and grey sweats from her clothing since mine were dirty. Although Andrea looks like she had gotten over her sister's death, I could still see the pain in her eyes. I know because that same look never disappeared from mine.

I walked down to the cafeteria to meet the rest of the group except for Carl and Glenn. Instead of looking for Carl, I sat with his parents. We had food galore and so I stuffed my face with as much as I could eat because I never know when I'll eat again. "Happy birthday sweet heart!" Lori said excitingly. Giving me a bone crushing hug

I almost forgot it was my birthday. I guess when you live in an apocalypse, you often forget things a lot. Today I was fourteen. "Thank you, Lori. I can't believe you remembered" I smiled.

"Your apart of the family, we could never forget anything about you" she laughed and I joined.

After everyone finished, we all head up to join Edwin to tell us the good and the bad news. As I followed close behind everyone, Carl ran up to me out of no where. "Hey can I talk to you for a second?" he asked. I nodded. "Well my mom told me this morning that it was your birthday. Since I, your best friend, didn't know about it I felt the need to get you something. He handed me a small black box with newspaper wrapping. I smiled at his effort and unwrapped the gift.

When I opened the box, my mouth fell open. It was a silver horse attached to a sliver chain. I pulled it out, admiring it's beauty. "Carl, it's... beautiful. How did you get it?" I asked.

"Mom told me you liked horses so I convinced Glenn to come with me to a small jewelry store I say on our way here" he sounded proud of himself. "Here I'll put it on for you" He offered. I let him take the necklace and drape it from my neck, clipping it together.