"IT'S A NICE PHOTO." Grace stood in the doorway of her shared cell block, which she'd packed up hours ago, it hurt. She'd grown to like the prison, and she wasn't sure what would happen now that they were packing up. "Thanks," Carl mumbled, placing the family photo down into his bag before he stood up and brushed past Grace.
She wasn't all that sure why, but he'd been extra closed off with her for some time now, she didn't remember doing anything wrong, she tried to tell herself it wasn't her, and he was just dealing with some stuff and taking it out on her, but grace's brain could never agree with her thoughts.
She sighed as she walked the boy walked down the stairs, heading outside to the cars. Grace walked into their cell block reminiscing once more before she picked up her bat and her bags and brought them outside,
"Hey, you okay, Grace?" Glenn caught Grace as she walked towards the car, "Yeah." Grace nodded as she smiled at the man before walking past him to the car, "Oh, I can take that." Beth grabbed Grace's bag and placed it in the trunk. "Thanks, Beth." Grace smiled at the older girl.
"Hey, did you see Carl?" Grace shyly asked Beth, his bag was in the trunk so she must've, "Uhm yeah, just a minute ago, he seemed really upset though." Beth answered the girl, sighing as she did so.
"Yeah, I know," Grace mumbled, looking down at the ground. "Do you know where he went?" She questioned Beth once more, "No, I didn't see, he kind of ran off, sorry." She apologized, "It's okay." She weakly smiled at the older girl, giving her a quick hug before she walked off.
Grace searched the outside of the prison for Carl, she knew he had to be somewhere around, and she had a feeling if she didn't confront it now, she never would.
Grace searched every corner of the outside of the prison for the boy, she would've searched more until she spotted vehicles in the distance, seemingly arriving at the prison's front gates, "Oh shit." Grace murmured, she knew exactly what was going on.
The moment Grace ran back to the cars, Glenn ordered her to get in the car, she did so without hesitation, Grace wasn't weak, but she wasn't good with a gun, her being at the prison when they attacked was just not what they needed, they had bodies, and those bodies were all good shots.
Grace believed, she believed they'd be okay and they'd make it out.
"I should be there." Carl peered over the tree branches, Grace was okay with being stuck to watch them attack, but Carl surely wasn't.
"They can handle it," Grace mumbled as she leaned on the car door. "Are they leaving?" Grace stood up, walking to where Carl stood to get a better view as she stopped vehicles pulling out of the prison, "No way." she chuckled, they were gonna let down that easily?
"They did it, oh my god-- They did it!" Grace cheered, words couldn't describe how proud she was, if they hadn't scared them away then, they surely did now.
"Gracie." Carl put his hand over the girl's shoulder, putting up a finger to his mouth, Grace quickly froze as she lowered her voice, listening closely to trees and leaves ruffling, she quickly picked her bat up from where it laid in the leaves as she followed closely behind Carl and Hershel who wanted to check out the sound.
"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Don't shoot."
A figure of a young man stood upon them Carl cocking his gun and Grace holding her bat up.
"Drop the weapon, son." Hershel lifted his gun up, aiming it at the boy, based on his looks, he was probably a bit older than Grace and Carl, maybe Beth's age, she thought to herself.
"Sure, here, take it." The boy kept his arms up, slowly inching towards Carl as he lowered the gun onto the ground.
The gun didn't even meet the ground until the boy's body did.
Carl shot him, there and then.
He hadn't done anything, he complied, he was handing the gun over, and Carl shot him.
"Oh my god--" Grace dropped her bat onto the ground, running over to the boy's body, Carl shot him in the head, there was no chance he'd survived, but Grace still hovered over his body.
"He's dead," She whispered, she knew Carl was going through things, and that he was having a tough time, but he'd shot a kid, a kid just like them, with no hesitation.
Who knows what his intentions were, they could never be sure as he laid dead on the ground, Grace wiped a tear off her cheek as she stood up, brushing past Carl as she picked up her bat, making her way back to the car.
It wasn't the Carl she knew, the Carl she knew wouldn't kill someone like that, someone who surrendered, someone who posed no threat,
She could've done something about it, she could've stopped it, she could've told Carl to lower his gun, she could've taken the gun from the boy, there were so many what if's.
But nothing changed reality.
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"SO WHAT, ARE YOU GOING TO WOODBURY, NOW?" Grace sat in their cell, it was already cleared out, but Grace needed a space, a space to deal with everything, and that was always her cell. "I don't know, I want to," Carl mumbled as he stood in the doorway, his eyes glued to the floor. "Why? literally why, Carl?" Grace stood up, tears forming in her eyes.
"Gracie-- I have too."
"No, you don't! do you want to die or something?" Grace cried out. "I'm not gonna die, Gracie." Carl tried speaking calmly to calm her down but it wasn't working.
"What, so you're just gonna go to Woodbury and kill other people in cold blood like you did with that guy?!" Grace sniffled, a tear running down her cheek.
"Gracie, he drew on us." Carl's eyes widened, "No, he didn't! He was giving you his gun, and you shot him!" Grace shouted back.
Carl didn't say anything. He just stood there, looking at Grace as she cried.
"I don't know who you are anymore, Carl." Grace wiped away her tears as she brushed past the boy,
"So that's it? you're just never gonna talk to me again?" Carl turned around as Grace descended the stairs, "Just stop. okay?" Grace looked up, "Just.. stop." she whispered, making her way down the stairs.
At that moment, she regretted everything she said, she regretted it all, she always believed in this world, you couldn't spend your time arguing with the people you loved, and there she'd done it, she'd ruined possibly the thing that meant most to her, she'd ruined it all,
And that was on her.
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☆ ENIDLOVE-BOT NOTE,
such a short chapter but this is officially the end of s3.. what a journey fr