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I woke up to something hitting me. It was still the middle of the night.
"Carl? What's wrong?" I groaned. I sat up while rubbing my eyes. I heard gurgling and started to panic. At this point, I was wide awake. "Is he-Is he dead?"
"I don't know," Carl said, tears tumbling down his face. He pulled me back in case he was dead. Carl started to breathe heavily as Rick reached towards us. He grabbed his gun off the floor, took off the safety, and aimed. Only he couldn't do it. Rick fell of the couch and started to inch his way towards us. Carl began sobbing. I put my hands over his in case we did have to shoot Rick.
"I can't," Carl cried, the gun falling to his side. Rick's handed latched onto his foot.
"It's alright," I said. Truth was, I couldn't shoot him either.
"I was wrong. Just do it," Carl said.
"Carl," I said, looking at him with tears in my eyes.
"Carl," Rick said before wheezing.
"Rick," I breathed out in relief. He was alive.
"Don't go outside. Stay safe," Rick managed to say through ragity breaths before he fell limp. Carl moved away from my touch and gently placed Rick's head in his lap.
"I'm scared," Carl admitted. I sat next to Carl and gave him a side hug. "I'm scared."
"We're okay. Rick's okay," I whispered in his ear.
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The next morning Rick was awake. He was upset with Carl, but awake. That's all we could ask for. I let him have a talk with Carl while I tried to find a rag.
"Here, Rick. I found a rag to clean of the blood on your face," I said, crouching down in front of him.
"Thanks, Rori," Rick said as I began whipping any leftover blood off his face.
"I'm glad your alright," I met his gaze and smiled. Car; stood up and walked to the kitchen, pouring us some cereal
"Yeah. I'm sorry about Will," Rick said. I paused momentarily.
"That's alright," I said, setting the rag down. I sat next to him and said a quick thanks to Carl as I was handed a small bowl of cereal. We ate in silence. The boys grabbed their guns when we heard a knock at the door. I watched Rick with wide eyes as he began laughing. Carl and I shared a concerned glance.
"What?" Carl whispered to his dad.
"It's for you guys," Rick said with a smile. I helped Carl push the couch a little, so we could open the door. Carl gave me one last glance before yanking open the door. On the other end was a crying Michonne.
"Michonne!" Carl and I exclaimed at the same time. She held her arms open for us and hugged us tightly.
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Michonne, Carl, and I moved to eat at the table together. Rick stayed in the kitchen probably eavesdropping. Michonne set down some empty water bottle in front of us. Me and Carl glanced at her outfit before starting to laugh. She chuckled along with us.
"Do you have something to say about my extremely comfortable and attractive shirt?" Michonne asked playfully.
"Those are not the words I'd use to describe that shirt," I said. I started to laugh even harder when she whacked me over the head.
"Children. They don't know how to behave," Michonne rolled her eyes in a playful way.
"Hey, I'm not a child! I'm a teenager," I defended, shoving a spoon full of cereal in my mouth.
"Whatever you say, child," Michonne said, sitting down next to us. She poured the rest of the cereal in her own bowl. "I wish we had some soy milk."
"Seriously?" Carl asked, his eyes brows crinkled together.
"Yes, seriously. Have you ever tried it?" Michonne asked.
"Yes, and it's awful. Will and I tried it once. It was disgusting," I said. I shoved a big bite of cereal in my mouth to hide the sadness spreading across my face.
"My best friend in third grade, he was allergic to dairy," Carl said.
"Uh-huh," Michonne nodded.
"And every day he would bring this soy stuff to lunch. I tried it," Carl explained.
"And?" Michonne asked, one eyebrow raised.
"I threw up."
"Oh, yeah, right," Michonne laughed.
"Dramatic much," I said. A large smile was on my face for the first time since the prison.
"All right, all right. I almost threw up. But I was like, ugh," Carl immediated himself and pretended to throw up. "It was so gross."
"I agree. It's awful," I said.
"I mean, literally, I would rather have powdered milk than to have to drink that stuff again. I would rather had Judith's formula-" After Carl realized what he said, he froze. "I'm gonna go finish my book."
"Carl-" I called out.
"I have a couple of chapters left," Carl mumbled pitifully. I went to stand up but Michonne stopped me.
"Let him be alone for a little bit," Michonne said.
"Okay," I said sitting back down.
"While we're on a sad subject, you never told me what happened to Will," Michonne said. I glanced up at her.
"He told me to leave and I did. Then I found Carl and we-" I paused.
"You what?" Michonne asked, a teasing smile forming on her face.
"We shared our first kiss," I said, biting my lip at the thought.
"Really? How was it?" Michonne asked.
"No, I'm not explaining that to you," I shook my head. Michonne burst out laughing.
"Man, you are a love sick puppy," she laughed.
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"How long you think you'll be?" Rick asked. I turned and hugged Carl. Since I wasn't going on the run with them, I had to "take care of Rick." He wouldn't let me take care of him but I'd do the best I could.
"Fill a couple bags, shouldn't be too long," Michonne said. Rick pulled out a small pocket watch. It reminded me of Grandpas.
"It's 8:15 now," Rick said, putting the watch back into his pocket.
"We'll be back by noon," Michonne said. Rick nodded and turned to Carl.
"All right, you follow her lead. You understand?" Rick asked, handing Carl his gun. Carl took it, hooking it on his jeans. I blushed as his shirt moved up slightly. "Hey. Everything okay?" Carl looked up at his dad.
"Yeah, I'm just..hungry," Carl said but I knew it was a lie. He just ate. Even though it wasn't much. I knew that's not what this was about.
"Alright. I'll see you in a couple hours," Rick gently patted Carl's shoulder.
"Be safe!" I called out as they walked away.
"Always am!" Michonne replied.
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