MAKE A DEAL WITH GOD, AND GET HIM TO SWAP OUR PLACES, part two-086
Michonne lead the pair into the sewers towards their family. Matilda walked into front of them, looking at her people before heading towards her husband, son, and baby sister.
She picked up Judith, held her to her chest, one of her arms wrapped around Max who hugged her. Looking up at her husband, Matilda gave him a faint smile before raising her hand brushing out some hair.
Daryl looked at her with an odd expression, making her frown. His eyes turned towards something, she looked to where he was looking.
Her blood ran cold as her eyes lied on her baby brother. She handed her sister to her husband before stepping towards him, their father, and Michonne as he lifted up his shirt and realized a bite mark.
"No, no, no." Matilda breathed as her brother looked up at her. Her chin started to wobble as tears welled up in her eyes. "No. Not you."
She let out a shuttered breath as she turned away from him. Bile ran up her throat as she wrapped an arm around her stomach before leaning over and vomited on the ground
Matilda crouched, wiped her mouth and closed her eyes as she placed a hand on her forehead. A sob choked her as her father's and brother's voice sounded like they were underwater.
She stood up, walking down the other sewer tube away from everyone. Tilly collapsed against the wall, sliding down and landed on the ground. A sob escaped her mouth as she rested her head against the wall.
When Matilda stopped crying, she stared ahead of her at the wall when the voice of her brother called out.
"Where's Tilly?"
She climbed to her feet, walking towards the boy and saw that he was lying on a cot. "I'm right here."
Carl reached out for her. "C'here."
Matilda swallowed harshly as tears welled in her eyes. She sat on the other side of the cot, her hand clutched his as he weakly smiled up at her.
"Hey." He whispered with his doofy smile. "Hey, Til. Look at me."
Tears streamed down her face as she looked him. A sob choked her, her chin wobbled violently as Carl squeezed her hand.
"The-the baby. Do you have a name?" Carl asked, panting.
Matilda shook her head. "No. Haven't t-thought of one yet."
Carl moved his hand from hers, resting it against her stomach. "Lee and I—we were coming with names. Do you want to hear them?"
"What are they?" She said, as a explosion from above sounded.
"For a boy, we thought it would be funny if you named him after us. Carl Lee." Carl chucked weakly. "For a girl, we like Cassidy."
"They're perfect, Carl." Matilda whispered.
"Lee and I made you something when we have going art with Judy." The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a bracelet. "It has our initials. The charms are from necklaces I found."
Matilda took the bracelet in her palm, it had a M,L,C,and J, charms in the middle and all their favorite color yarn held them together. She let out a sob, running her thumb over the letters.
"Now, you have something to remember us by." Carl said, rubbing his hand over her stomach. "Tilly, I'm gonna okay."
She stared at the bracket with more tears escaping her eyes. "I'm not."
"You are. You gotta be." He said, taking her hand. "Look at me." His big sister looked at him. "You gonna be okay. You gonna be okay for them. The baby and Max. Daryl, dad, Michonne, and Judy. You gotta be okay. Gotta a strong. It's gotta stop, Tilly. It's not supposed to be like this. Lee didn't want this. We know it can be better."
"I can't loss you." Matilda said after a few seconds of silence. "But I already did, didn't I?"
Carl nodded. "Yeah. I'm gone. Hilltop isn't going to save me. I'm already dead."
She swallowed, nodding as she tied the bracelet around her waist. "I want be there when—when you—"
"End it?" The boy suggested.
"Yeah." Matilda said, looking at her brother's pretty blue eye. "I wanna be there. I—I wanna hold you, like I did when you were born. Please."
Carl stared at her for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, you can. But dad and Michonne, they can't. It will hurt them."
"Okay. I love you."
"I love you too." He said before looking towards their parents, sister, and Daryl. "Let me say goodbye."
Matilda and Michonne helped the boy sit up, he leaned against his oldest sister's chest as their father kneeled down with Judith.
"You be good, okay?" Carl said, looking at his baby sister. "For Michonne. For dad. For Matilda. You gotta honor him. Listen, he tells you stuff. You don't have to always. Sometimes, kids got to show their parents the way."
Matilda watched as her baby brother placed his hat on top of their sisters head.
"This was Dad's before it was mine. Now it's yours. I don't know—just—just having it and it always kept dad with me. It made me feel as strong as him. It helped me. Maybe it'll help you, too. Before mom died... she told me that I was gonna beat this world. I didn't. But you will. I know you will."
Judith's face screwed up as she started to cry. Matilda hugged Carl, pain from their sister crying stabbed her in the heart.
"These people. You saved them all. That's all you, man." Daryl said, looking at the boy taking Judith before he and Tara walked away.
"You were helping me honor my mom..." Siddiq said, kneeling in front of the boy.
"Not just yours." Carl said. "Mine, too."
"You brought me here. You gave me a chance. I know I can never repay you...but I can honor you by showing your people, your friends, your—your family that what you did wasn't for nothing. That it mattered. That it—that it mean something. Because it did. So that what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna honor you, Carl."
Carl smiled, reaching out his hand towards the man. "Congratulations. You're stuck with me."
Siddiq sniffled, squeezing the boy's hand before standing up and walked away, leaving the family.
Time past with the small family making the boy comfortable before they had to leave the sewer. Matilda watched with a heavy heart as her baby brother got weaker and weaker as time passed.
"You okay?" Michonne whispered, wiping the sweat away from his forehead.
"I don't want you to be sad after this." Carl told her.
"Carl..." The woman breathed.
"Or angry. You're gonna have to be strong. For my dad. For my sisters. For yourself."
"I will." Michonne said, her voice shook.
"Don't carry this. Not this part. You're my best friend, Michonne." Carl smiled.
"You're mine, too." The woman said, crying. "You're mine."
Matilda's head rested in the crook of her brother's arm, his hand rested in her stomach as her father and Michonne spoke.
"I need your help." Her father said, looking at Michonne.
"With what?" She replied.
"Getting him out of here."
***
Matilda followers behind her father and Michonne as they hurried though the burning town of Alexandria with Carl hanging from their shoulders.
Carl grunted in pain as his body was slightly jostled. "We gotta stop." Michonne said.
"The house up ahead. We can make it." Rick said.
"It's okay." Carl muttered. "It's okay. Just put me down here."
Matilda shook her head. "No. We'll make it."
"There," Michonne said, pointing towards the church.
Once inside the church, Rick and Michonne placed down the boy befor kneeling next to him.
Breathing heavily, Carl smiled. "Thanks...for—for getting me here."
"I'm—I'm sorry." His father said. "I-I just...I didn't—I didn't want you out there."
Carl shook his head. "No, for getting me here. For—for making it, so I cloud be who—who I wound up. Back at the prison...when we got attacked...there was a kid, a little older than me. He had a gun. He was—he was starting to put it down, and I-I s—I shot him. He was— giving up and I...I just...I shot him. I think about him. What I did to him and how—how easy it was to just kill him."
"Carl, no." Rick breathed. "No. What happened...what you'd lost...all those things you had to...all those things you had do, you—you—you—you were just—you were just a boy."
"And you saw it. What it did. How—how easy it got. That's why you changed...why you brought those people from Woodbury in...you brought them in and we all lived together. We were enemies. You put away your gun. You did it so I could change, so I could be who I am now. What you did then...how you—how you stopped fighting...it was right. It still is. It can be like that again. You can still be like that again."
"I can't be who I was. It's different now." Rick says.
"You can't kill all of 'em, dad. There's gotta be something after. For you...and for them. There's gotta be something after. I know...you can't see it yet... how it could be. But I have...you have a beard. It's—bigger...and grayer....Michonne's happy...Judith is older, and she's listening to the songs that I used to before...Matilda is happy, Cassidy or Carl Lee is older, Alexandria's bigger. There's—-there's new houses...crops...and people working. Everybody living...helping everybody else live. If you can still be who you were...that's how it could be. It could."
"Carl." Rick breathed. "It was all for you and your siblings. Right from the start. Back in Atlanta, the farm—everything I did, it was for you three. Then, at the prison, it was for you three and Judith. It still is. It's gonna be. And nothing—nothing is gonna change that."
Carl swallowed. "I want this for you, dad."
"I'm gonna make it real, Carl. I promise. I'm gonna make it real." Rick cried. "Carl, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. A father's job is to protect his sons."
"Love. It's just to love." Carl let out a shallow breath as he reached for his gun.
Rick shook his head, tears falling out of his eyes. "No. No."
"Carl...it—it—should be." Michonne stuttered.
"I know. I know. Somebody you love. When you can't do it yourself. But I still can. I grew up. I have to do this. Me. I love you."
"I love you, too." Michonne's voice break.
Carl looked at his father. "I love you, dad."
"I love you, Carl." Rick sobbed. "I love you so much. I'll make it real. I will. I will."
The brother and sister watched as their parents walked out of the church, Matilda let a ragged breath as she shifted her baby brother in her arms.
Carl's hand gripped her arm as he looked up at her. "You didn't fail. You and dad got me this far. You protect me as much as you can. You succeeded, Matilda. You're the best sister I could ever ask for. You're gonna beat this world."
"I will. For you." She nodded.
"I'll love you till all the stars in universe burn out." Carl swallowed. "Goodnight, Tilly."
Matilda watched as her brother raised his gun to his head, smiling at her once more before pulling the rigger. A silenced gunshot made her flinch as her baby brother's body went limp in her arms.
She closed her eyes, tears fall down her cheeks as her father let out a sob from outside. Laying his body on the ground, his blood coated her arms as she stood up.
Numbly walking out of the church, Matilda looked at her father who was sobbing. She stepped closer to him, placing a hand on his shoulder making him stand up.
Her father and her wrapped their arms around each other, sobbing from the lost of their brother and son. After the father and daughter mourned Carl, Rick and Michonne dig a hole next to Lee's grave.
Rick places his son's body into the grave before burying him. Matilda looked between her brothers' graves, numbly, before she walked away, leaving her father kneeling between them.
She aimlessly walked down the street, her eyes darting at the ruins of her home. Stabbing the incoming walkers, Matilda was attacked from behind.
The woman was shoved to the ground before a hand gripped her hair. Her eyes landed on her attacker and saw Maria smirking her.
"How depressing. Little Matilda lost her brothers. What you're gonna cry?" Maria taunted. "They deserved to—"
The woman didn't get to finish her sentence when Matilda swung her hand, lodging her knife in Maria's throat. She shoved the woman off, standing as her biological mother kneeled over.
"Shut the fuck up, bitch. I should've did this a long time ago."
Matilda pulled out her gun and shot the woman in the head. A satisfying feeling ran through her.
"Shoulda kept my brothers' out of your mouth."