"finally"
When we took off we had no idea where we were going, we just needed to get away from the burning Terminus. For once I didn't mind walking because I knew that where ever I went next I would have Talia at my side.
I would do anything to keep Talia by my side. I refuse to let her vanish again.
The thought of doing anything to protect Talia used to scare me but as I discovered more of this world I realized that's just what I had to do. I watch Rick do it over and over again to protect Carl and Judith, even to protect his group. I had to step up, I needed to be able to do what it took to make sure Talia was safe.
I would do more to make sure the group was safe as well. Tyreese and Carol kept Talia safe when I couldn't, I owed them everything. Rick and Michonne kept Carl and me safe, I owed them. Everyone's efforts at Terminus, minus Eugene, kept us safe. I owed all of them.
We traveled around five miles before we took a break, Judith needed fed and Talia was started to get tired. I sat on the leafy hill by the tracks and Talia laid her head on my lap. "Sleep," I told her, she hummed in response and slowly drifted off.
While she slept I ran my fingers through her hair and started to untangle the knots. I was gentle, I didn't want her to wake up, she needed all the rest she could get right now. As I worked on her hair, Carol came over to me, she took a seat next to us and watched as I struggled with a chunk of her hair.
"I wanted to tell you," Carol started she was careful with her words, "no one else knows but Tyreese and Talia," she looked away from me, her gaze landed on the group who gathered a few feet away. "We had Lizzie and Mika with us for awhile," Carol started, her voice was low so that no one would overhear us.
I let out a short breath of air that made the sound "oh" as it clicked in my head. Lizzie and Mika weren't with us anymore. Mika and Talia were close friends, I couldn't imagine the pain Talia has been through since losing her. "Lizzie wanted to show us how she understood the walkers," Carol looked down at Talia who was fast asleep. "While Tyreese and I went out to get water we left the girls with Judith and when we returned," she had to stop to think about what she was going to say next.
This is what Talia was trying to tell me at the prison, Lizzie was feeding the walkers at the fence, she was naming them, crying over their dead bodies. Talia even told me Lizzie claimed to hate me because I was always down there killing them on the fences. There was something wrong with Lizzie. "Lizzie had killed Mika to show us that she would be the same even after she turned," Carol finally let out, "when we got back, Lizzie had Talia pinned to the ground, she almost.. If Talia hadn't screamed for us we would have never gotten back in time," she lifted her hand and let it rest on Talia's back.
"But you got back in time," I smiled looking at Carol, they have saved Talia more than I could count and I was so thankful for that. "You did what you had to do," I knew what would happen next, Lizzie wasn't here. She was dangerous and now she was gone.
Carol nodded, "Tyreese and I decided it was too risky to have her traveling with Judith and Talia, so..." she let the story drop, she didn't need to explain herself to me. I knew how much those girls meant to her back at the prison, she was only doing what she needed to do.
"Why haven't you told Rick?" I asked, I looked over to see Rick and Carl feeding Judith on the other side of the tracks. Keeping things from Rick was hard to do now, he was the leader again and we had to trust him.
"We don't need to, we want to forget about it but I knew I needed to tell you. Talia has been worked up about it. She understands what happened but she's confused. Told me she was mad she didn't stop Lizzie from hurting Mika," Carol explained, "we don't talk about it anymore, none of us want to but you needed to know."
I understood, I would keep this information with me and I would make sure Talia was okay, answer any questions she had. "Thank you for everything, she wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you both and I don't know if I could live with myself if she wasn't here," I said as Carol wrapped an arm around me and gave me a side hug, she was careful not to bother the sleeping Talia.
"She wouldn't stop talking about you, always asking when we were going to find you and Uncle Daryl," Carol laughed softly, "I didn't want to get her hopes up. I saw the prison in flames, didn't know who all got out. But she never gave up hope."
Of course not, Talia trusted me to always come to her when she needed me to, I've never let her down, why would this time be different? "I taught her how to shoot," Carol said, now she looked at me, did she think I would be mad? I knew back at the prison I didn't want to to handle any of the weapons but she knew how to work them if needed. I was a little bit too overprotective of her back then.
"Thank you," I offered, "now that we are out here... she'll need it," Carol handed me a gun that look all too familiar. The one they took at Terminus, my father's pistol.
"I saw it with Daryl's crossbow and I knew you'd need it," she smiled as I took the gun. The familiar heaviness to it made me grin.
When I looked back up, Rick had Judith, he spoke to Tara while Carl was watching us. He waved at me to go over there but I looked down at the sleeping Talia. "Go, I'll watch her," Carol said as she slowly moved Talia off of my legs and onto hers.
I stood up watching to make sure the movement didn't wake Talia but she seemed to be fast asleep. "I'll be back," I told both of them, even though Talia was asleep she needed to know I'd be back.
My legs were slightly numb from having Talia use me as a pillow but as I walked they slowly came back to life. As I walked towards Carl I pushed my pistol back into my holster, the feeling of the gun softly hitting my thigh was comforting.
"What's up?" I asked, Carl didn't say anything but he showed me four empty water bottles. "Making me do chores?" I chuckled softly, it was nice to talk again, having Talia back in my life helped me recover from the mindset I was in before.
He rolled his eyes and pushed on my shoulder, "let's go," he said.
Apparently there was a stream close enough that Daryl gave Rick the okay to let us go gather water while everyone else took a moment. It was a pretty safe chore for us to do plus I had my gun and my knife I would be able to fend off any of the dead if needed.
"They were together," Carl said as we approached the stream, it was larger than I expected but we would be able to fill these water bottles with no issue. It was quiet out here, we couldn't hear our group chatting in the distance or hear any walkers. It was peaceful.
"They were," I agreed as I bent down to fill the first water bottle. We would have to boil the water over a fire before we drank it but it was one step closer to keeping us hydrated. We were in the middle of nowhere, food was our biggest issue now.
Carl also started to fill a bottle as he spoke, "she looks so happy with you, Talia, I mean," I watched my bottle so I wouldn't get sand in it. Once it was full I put the plastic cap on it and grabbed for another one.
The water was almost painfully cold but it was nice to watch as the dirt ran off of my hands. "We have our people back," Carl said and grabbed his other bottle, "you know they will protect us, right?"
I let out a chuckle, "yes, and I'll help protect them."
"You don't need to do the heavy stuff," Carl interjected. I knew what he was talking about, killing the living. "You didn't like doing it back at the prison and you don't like doing it now, just let them take care of it," he capped his last bottle and looked at me, waiting for me to respond.
I shrugged my shoulders as I tossed my last bottle into the pile we had, "I'll do what I have to," I went to stand up but Carl stopped me. His eyes fell to the water and before I could ask him what he wanted he wet his hand and rubbed the water on my face, removing what was left of the blood.
He reached into his pocket and grabbed what looked to be a part of a cut up shirt, he ran the fabric across my cheek and smiled at me, "there, a lot better."
I bit my bottom lip as I stared back at him, how he could go from yelling at me a few days ago to making me blush is insane but as I looked at him I saw the Carl who I spent all my time with at the prison. I released my lip and smiled at him.
"What?" he asked in a laugh, he put the cloth back in his pocket and used his now free hand to push a piece of my hair behind my ear. I could feel my face heating up, I definitely still had feelings for him, I thought I had lost any attraction to him back at the houses but here I was stunned as he was just inches away from my face.
History likes to repeat itself.
As we leaned into each other the groan of a walker filled the air, I pulled back and got onto my feet. It only sounded like one so I grabbed my knife, the walker stumbled up to us and I lead it away from the water. I backed up slowly getting its attention away from Carl.
"Lennox watch out," Carl called right as I slammed my back into the tree. I groaned out in pain at the feeling of the bark scratching into my back. I was slammed against the tree again as the walker pushed its body onto me. The unexpected motion caused me to drop my knife.
Fuck.
In desperation I grabbed onto the walker's shoulders, I tried to shove it's body off of me but it had its eyes set on me.
It happened so quickly, the walker's head flung to the side as Carl shoved a stick through it's head, it dropped, nearly bringing me with it. Thankfully Carl grabbed onto me and held me up. I let out a sigh and let myself fall back into the tree.
I thought it had me.
"Looks like you finally got to save me for once," I laughed, I slowly opened my eyes to see Carl staring at me. He was silent as he took a step closer to me, his hand resting on the tree behind me. "What?" I asked but I didn't get a response. Instead his lips pressed against mine in a gentle connection.
The kiss lasted for a few seconds but he didn't pull away, his nose brushed against mine as he hovered still inches from my lips. "It was my turn to save you," his voice was barely a whisper.
"Finally," I said in a breathy laugh. I took a second to let the moment sink in, Carl had kissed me. Honestly, it was something that I had thought about since the prison but it never happened. We were still strangers back then but after going through everything we have together, we were already so much more. I didn't let myself get caught up in the thoughts as we stood there inches from each other, I knew we had to return back to the group even though I could spent hours like this. "We should get back, your dad is going to come looking for us," I said, I felt his nose touch against mine as he nodded, he then took a step back releasing me from the tree.
Carl grabbed the waters and threw them into his bag, he reached me again and grabbed my hand. We interlocked our fingers as he lead us away from the stream, "Come on, let's get back on track to nowhere land," he grinned.