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Chapter Nine:
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— A week later —
Light pored in from the living room blinds awakening Karma from his sleeping state. He sat up groggily, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes.
"Morning, sleeping beauty," Karma turned to look at the source of the voice, eyes squinted harshly. Carl sat at the kitchen island, a bowl of frosted flakes infront of him, a comic splayed out beside it.
"Morning," Karma yawned, throwing the blankets off of him and making his way over to the kitchen. He pulled a spoon out of the silverware drawer, and not-so-stealthily reached over the cowboys shoulder and scooped some of his cereal out of it and raised it to his own mouth.
"Dude!" Carl complained, no harshness in his words. Karma shrugged with a smile, walking back over to his sleeping area and slipping on his outfit, which happened to be the same one he had been wearing for a week now. A blue flannel given to him by Carl, and some black jeans.
Carl and Karma seemed to have develop some kind of a routine over the past week hes been staying here when it comes to mornings. Carl is more of a morning person than Karma is, so he always wakes up first, makes breakfast, the whole shabang. Then Karma wakes up, eats the leftover scraps, then the two of them get ready for the day.
Alexandria has been drained of the storms water, so now Karma gets to go back to work. The only problem is that the water drowned out all the crops. so now karma can't work in the garden until the crops regrow.
But thankfully for him, Rick had other ideas up his sleeve. Not only did the leader allow Karma to continue staying at the Grimes house instead of the cellar, but he was also able to find him a new job.
Carl and Karma slip on their boots and head to the front door, yelling a quick goodbye to michone and rick who are barreling through the kitchen attempting to get to their jobs on time.
The two boys practically skip down the stairs and down the street. Carl waves to the people he passes by, some even choosing to wave at Karma as well.
"Told ya," Carl says sweetly, elbowing Karma in the ribs lightly, "Give them time," Karma smiled softly, giving a small wave to one of the food stock workers who smiled at him.
As the two reach the middle of Alexandria, a nice large patch of plain grass, two adults come into view. Rosita, and Aaron. Karma walked up to them, muttering a quiet 'good morning' and a smile.
Carl left a minute later to go do his daily activities, his hand lingering on Karmas shoulder for a little longer than needed.
"Catch ya later Julian," Carl said with a smile, turning on his heel and walking away. A small queezie feeling erupted in his stomach, one that made him smile. This is gonna take some getting used to.
Asking people to call him Julian instead of Karma was something he had been thinking over for awhile. He's always hated being called Karma. Sure, the names dope as hell, but the backstory behind it isn't the most amazing thing. Julian makes him sound like a normal kid, something he never got to have. A soft hand landed inbetween his shoulder blades,
"Cmon, kid," Rosita said, a tried yet happy look on her face.
Luckily for Karma, Rick is warming up to him quicker than he expected. Meaning, even though Karma can't do his job anymore, he's still giving him another option, one he specializes in.
The community bored had a vote on it, and they all agreed that Karma could help the people of Alexandria use weapons. Most of them could wield a gun, but some needed help with others.
Rick never explained why the lessons were necessary but everyone felt the tension in the air.
A war was coming.
Karma felt it everytime the saviours came for their weekly visit. The way Negan began to snap at the people quicker, and how Rick would loose his temper faster. Negan wasn't going to let this slide.
after about half an hour, there were three groups of people lined up around the three teachers. One lined up to use a machete, taught by rosita. Another one to use guns, taught by Aaron. and a final group, to use knives, taught by Karma.
The three groups started quickly, handing out weapons for everyone to keep, and demonstrating how to use them. Karma demonstrated on some wood blocks to show how deep it can go. He also showed how to cut up certain objects in order to craft new ones, and even safety.
The lessons went by quickly, every day getting shorter and shorter as the people began to learn more and more.
But todays lesson was a bit different. the class went by as normal, but afterwards, as Karma was finishing up, talking quietly to Rosita and Aaron, a soft tap was found on his shoulder. Karma turned around to meet a girl around the same age as him with long brown hair.
"Hey Julian." She said quietly. Karma smiled,
"Hey. You're Enid, right?" He asked. The girl had shown up to a couple of his lessons, though, she seemed to know how to hold her own pretty well.
"yea, sorry if im interrupting something. I was just wondering if pocket knives could work for these lessons as well?" She asked kindly, pulling a red swiss army knife out of her pocket. Karma looked at the knife carefully. It was very worn down, but as Edin pulled thr blades out, theh all seemed to be in decent condition.
"I thjnk they'll work just fine," Karma reponded tapping the knife with his index finger. Enid smiled as she shut it, slipping it back into her pocket.
"Thanks," She responded softly. She opened her mouth again to say somethjng, but cut herself off when a hand found her lower back.
Carl had snuck up on her, wrapping his arms around her middle in a big hug. She giggled quietly, attempting to turn herself around.
Karma felt like throwing up.
it had happened a lot lately, and he hated it. A queasy feeling in his stomach whenever Carl was around. It made Karma feel clammy and uncomfortable, his hands finding their way to grip the fabric on his shirt to calm his hands.
Carl set Enid down with a huff and a smile. "Whatcha guys up to?" He asked. Karma snapped himself out of his thoughts.
"Julian's teaching me how to use my knife better. safety and stuff" Enid responds happily, twirling the end of her hair absentmindedly. Carl nods and smiles a little, then turns back to face Karma.
"you good?" He asks him in a whisper. Karma nods, looking away, embarrassed he didn't notice that he'd zoned out.
"im Good." Karma replies. Carl nods softly before returning back to Rosita and Aaron. Karma's stomach flipped again. He hated it. He hated this stupid feeling. It was starting to mess with his nerves. His mind was racing for no apparent reason. it was just Carl. But god does it make Karma feel strange. He feels his face start to flush, a hot redness seeping over his cheeks and down to his neck. His stomach churned, his heart pounded. Why did this have to happen? All this time trying to avoid having feelings, trying not to let anyone affect his life too much. Trying so hard to keep things under wraps, and keep his emotions in check, but nothing seems to work anymore.
a lump forms in his throat, and he knows he needs to stop acting like this. He needs to put his walls back up. He needs to forget how Carl makes him feel.
His work day ended much faster than he had though. He barley even remembered finishing his last class.
The three adults sat with eachother during lunch, Karma and Rosita on one side of the bench, and aaron on the other. Rosita and Aaron idly talked while Karma ran a fork through his salad.
"i'm telling you man, Marvels just better," Aaron responds, biting his own fork. Rosita huffs, setting hers down.
"I'll admit, the storyline itself is better, but when's the last time you saw a hot female lead?" She said, raising her eyebrows. Aaron flushed and smiled,
"Im probably not the best person to ask about that, but Black Widow, Captian Marvel, She-Hulk, Pepper, Gwen stacy, I can go on." He joked with a smirk. Rosita frowned, clearly being beaten.
"Shut up,"
"I win," Aaron said, finishing the last bite of his salad and standing up. "I'm gonna head home, see ya guys later?" Karma nodded, picking a crouton out of his bowl. Rosita gave a thumbs up, mouth full.
As Aaron left the picnic table, Rick Grimes quickly took his place.
"Hey, Julian. I need to talk to you, do you have a minute?" He asked quietly, sideeying Rosita silently. The young woman took the hint that she wasn't wanted there at that moment and left swiftly, placing a comforting hand on Julian's back as she left. A second later, rick continued.
"I'm sorry to get straight to the point, but this is something that I can't wait to have set in stone," Rick explained. Julian felt himself tense up slighty, but he kept a stiff presence. He gestured for Rick to continue.
"You've been living here for awhile now, and have been helping around the town, which we appreciate emmensly," Rick compliments, crossing his arms, "But I need to know. Are you on our side? Or his?" Julian froze slightly at that, looking up at Rick's eyes with confusion.
"What are you saying...?" He asked, almost hesitantly. Rick shook his head gently,
"I mean, I know you say youre not with the saviours. but i need a firm, sure answer before I can continue letting you help," he started. "we don't have anything against you. i'm asking because i want to protect the people from a possible threat, not only to our community, but to us as a whole,"
Julian took a moment to think, weighing the pros and cons in his head. It was a fairly clear answer.
"I stand with Alexandria."
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A/N
very short chapter, but I just wanted to get something posted since its been so long since the last update. Starting tomorrow my marching band season is officially over and I should have a ton more freetime to write :)