"Carl?" Rick called out, Rio could barely hear him from the rooms. "Carl!" He yelled again.
"Rio?" He shouted and that's when the boy decided to get up and follow Carl, a confused expression across his face.
The two boys got up from where they sat, hurrying out of the room and down the hallway. They stopped once they caught sight of Rick, a few meters between them. He was disheveled and alone, two bags sound over his shoulder and his hand wrapped in bandages.
"Are you okay?" Carl asked.
"I was gonna ask you that." He chuckled.
"We're fine." The boy smiled back.
"No one's sick?" Rick asked, looking between the two. "You didn't have to do anything?"
"Nope."
"I haven't had to use my gun, Dad."
"And Judith?"
"She's with Beth." Rio answered.
"Good."
Then he crouched down, pulling a bag from off of his shoulder and sliding it across the paper covered carpet towards them. He then slung the other bag too. "We found some food on the run. There's a bunch of fruit leather in there."
"Oh, nice."
"I trust that you'll share." Rick warned. "And have everybody brush their teeth after."
"Can we come out soon?"
"Not just yet."
"Dad, I was around you when you were in the middle of it. Rio was with Daryl and we were both around Patrick." Carl tried to explain, he gestured to Rio bringing up their old conversation. "He saw him just an hour before he died."
"Neither of us have it."
"We can help you."
"Thanks, but I need you to stay here."
"I will." Carl replied, stepping closer as Rick stepped back. "But, Dad, you can't keep us from it."
"From what?"
"From what always happens."
"Yeah." He breathed out. "Maybe. But I think it's my job to try."
Rick left, adjusting the bag over his shoulder as he walked away, leaving Carl standing in the hallway watching after him.
The door closed.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Carl replied walking back over to Rio. "Let's go search through this bag. Find some fruit leather then we can have, like, a party or something."
"A party?" Rio raised an eyebrow at him.
"We've got food and music." Carl shrugged, holding up his dads Walkman. "That's basically a party."
"I don't think it is."
"It is."
"Just give me time." The other boy huffed.
Rio was right, the party wasn't really much of a party. The two boys just lay next to each other on the floor with Rick's Walkman between their heads, blasting music neither of them knew the words to.
The fruit leather was gone, the wrapper thrown on the floor beside them taking place with the rest of the trash in the room.
They'd had fun nonetheless, talking about anything that wasn't the illness.
"So," Carl began, turning his head to face the other boy. Their faces were an inch apart.
"So what?"
Carl took a deep breath. "I was thinking..."
"First time?" Rio joked, smiling at the other boy. Being this close let him take in all of Carl's features. Everything from the small scar on his cheek to the freckles that littered his face and how blue his eyes actually were.
"Shut up." He replied. Rio watched as his face turned bright red.
Rio could lean in. He wasn't going to; but he could. He grew very aware that he could.
"I—." Carl stumbled.
Suddenly a gunshot rang out. Rio could only assume it was from the cell blocks. There was silence as he shot up, turning to the door immediately.
"We can't leave." Carl said, grabbing Rio's hand as it reached for his crossbow.
"I've left."
"What?"
"I left yesterday. I went to see Glenn."
"You saw him?"
"No he didn't come out, but Hershel spoke to us and... there was glass between us." Rio's voice dropped, realizing his reasoning wasn't contributing anything.
"Then you can't go in and help." Carl stood his ground. "I know it's hard not to do anything but we can't. What if you get sick and die?"
"I could get shot and die, y'all still let me do that." Rio replied. The other boy didn't answer. He just sat down, content that Rio wasn't going anywhere anymore.
***
Rick called out to them again, later in the night this time. Carl was lying beside Rio who was sitting straight, reading over his diary. Rick shouted for the two boys, more urgently than he had before so Rio shook the other boy awake and made his way outside, grabbing his crossbow as he did.
He ran out of the room facing Rick in the hallway once again. "What is it? Is it about the gunshots?"
"I need both of your help, go get Carl."
"He's comin'." Rio nodded along. As if in cue, the boy came running around the corner, asking his father what was wrong.
"Just come with me, both of you." He instructed, already halfway out of the building. Rio followed close behind.
Rick led them to the fence, where a cluster of walkers pushed themselves against, trying to make the beams give way.
"See that?" He gestured to the hoard, how the frail chain link fence was leaning under its weight. "We need to make it stronger. Reinforce it. Me and Maggie started but I need your help to finish."
"Okay." The boys nodded. Rick chucked Carl a hammer and a large nail. He placed his lantern beside him, carefully holding the nail in place with only the sim light to guide him. Rio picked up the hammer, placing a hand over Carl's to steady the nail and see roughly where it was.
"Don't hit me." Carl pleaded.
"I won't." Rio reassured, bringing the hammer up as the other boy squeezed his eyes shut. He hammered the nail down, just in time for Rick to bring back another hammer. He handed it to Carl and both boys were now helping, working twice as fast.
"Think they're okay?" Cark asked as he hammered down on the wooden beam that Rio held in place. Rick walked past them, grabbing another and positioned it straight. Rio left his place, beginning to hammer down on the new pole.
"If things were going bad, we would've heard more shots," the man replied as he grunted, lodging the wood. "Maggie would've gotten us."
He let out another sigh, grabbing a wooden beam once again. "We have to do this."
"Then, let's do it." Carl answered, dropping his hammer and heading over to his dad, crouching beside him as he tried to lift another beam.
"I got it." Rick assured him, sticking a hand out.
"Let me help." The boy protested, grabbing the end. He hoisted it up, helping his father greatly despite the man's hesitance.
"All right, set it down. All right." Carl let go of the bottom as Rick held the beam in place. Rio got up off of the ground, lantern in one hand, hammer in the other. The fence to the right of his started rattling, a walker's face pressed between the gaps.
He inched closer, holding up a light towards the fence. The beam collapsed, wood splintering around him. Rio jumped back and Rick hopped over another beam, holding the fence up with his hands, he wasn't letting it collapse.
Rio threw the lantern to the floor, foolishly letting the light go out. The two boys tried to grab a bean from the pile, hauling it over to Rick but it was too late. Another one collapsed and the fence gave way, coming down atop of him.
Carl jumped back as Rick screamed for the two to run. He barged into a Walker, stabbing it through its head, the body limply rolling over hind back. Another approached but he didn't bother, he sprinted, shoving walkers to the side to make his way back to the kids.
"Dad, come on!" Carl yelled as the man tumbled, rolling over. He got back up, the two boys pulling his arms to get him back on his feet. He clung onto their shirts as they ran, all three of them heading straight towards the watchtower.
"Come on!" Rio muttered as they ran inside. Rick pushed the door shut, throwing himself against it. The sound of snarls grew along with the banging of hollow metal.
"Lock it!" Rick yelled to them. "I can't hold off that many, lock it!"
Carl hurried over, fumbling to lock the door with no light but did it eventually. Rio opened the door on the other side, the trio quickly leaving the small dark room.
He let out a sigh of relief once they were back in the outskirts of the prison yard, only for that relief to soon be washed away. He stood by the corner of the watchtower, looking at where the two fences connected.
The fence was beginning to give way on this side, the walkers reaching over the corner.
"Dad, what do we do?"
Rick wiped his face, a panicked look painted across it. "Maybe I could back the bus up against the fence." He suggested.
"Will it hold?" Rio asked, turning around abruptly.
"Come on." Rick grabbed the both by the arm, the fence still rattling behind them as they backed away. They hurried over to the gun bin, Rick pulling out three and handing them out. Rio threw his crossbow in, not wanting it to get in the way.
"Here, got it?"
"Yeah." Carl replied, pocketing extra rounds. Rio did the same, one wouldn't be enough for the amount of walkers desperate to get a taste of them.
The fence was freaking more now, the majority of the creatures piling onto the new soon to be breech.
Rio turned his attention to Rick, listening to his instructions as best as he could.
"All right, listen to me." He said, getting closer to the two boys. He pulled the magazine out of his pocket, loading it in his gun and talking the two through it. "Magazine goes in here."
He pointed to the next part as they all hurried forward. "Release is here, make sure it latches." He ran over to the wall, turning on the outside lights to give them more visibility.
"Pull back the operating rod and the rounds feed up." He explained with the click of his gun.
"Keep squeezing the trigger for rapid fire, okay?"
"Okay." Rio nodded along, hanging onto the man's every word as he went over in his head.
"You shoot or you run. Do not let them get close, okay?" He ordered, stopping them before they even started.
As expected, the fence gave way, giving the roaming walkers ample access to the courtyard. Rio loaded his gun, holding his breath subconsciously as the herd drew closer.
He pulled the trigger, aiming for the rough headline of the crowd, not caring which ones he took down. The ones at the front fell rapidly, taking some from the row behind with them; they got up though, not weak enough to be affected by the piling bodies.
Rio kept pulling the trigger, shuffling back when his gun clicked empty.
"Back off!" Rick yelled, releasing his magazine and throwing it to the ground. He replaced it with a new one swiftly, far quicker than Rio or Carl had.
One Walker approached Rick fast, he didn't bother shooting, hitting it across the head with the butt of his gun. It fell to the ground, not dead. Rio shot it quickly and Rick looked over, muttering a small thanks.
Carl continued to shoot the walkers down, the action looking almost natural on him. They all got taken down one by one as Rick joined in, shortly followed by Rio.
There weren't many left, the flow coming to a halt. The boy let his gun clatter to the ground when it was over, looking up to the sky and letting out a relieved laugh.
The noise altered some walkers, once that were trapped beneath others, bodies upon bodies splayed across the floor.
Rio unsheathed his knife, dropping to one knee and stabbing the ones that were left. Rick and Carl did the others, grabbing a crow bar each from the box. The boy didn't care about the blood that pooled at his knees or the blood that was now sprayed across his face and shirt. He just cared that it was over. He could go back to the shitty office block, lay his head down on a bag and try to sleep.
He stood up, shielding his face as a bright light shone in the field, catching his eye. Rio squinted, stepping closer as the one light turned into two and the sound of rumbling made its way to the courtyard.
"Dad..." Carl began. Rio didn't hear the rest, he took off down the path towards the car. He hauled open the gate, Carl and Rick coming to help soon after.
The car pulled up with the door already open, Tyreese trying to get out of the side as soon as he could. He asked about Sasha, how she was if she was alright.
"I don't know. I'm sorry."
Daryl climbed out of the front seat and Rio rushed over, wasting no time in wrapping his arms around the man's neck as he caught him.
"Hey, hey, I thought you were quarantining." The man protested, pulling Rio back. He just shook his head, hugging Daryl tighter as he looked towards Rick.
"Look, you've been gone two days." The man reasoned, he stuck a hand out, gesturing to the two. "I think you're both okay."
"You're like a little leech, kid." He laughed, rubbing a hand on his shoulder.
Rio threw his head back, laughing harder than he should have due to the adrenaline mixed with the time. The boy sighed, looking up at Daryl.
"I'm so tired." He breathed out, laughing slightly.
"Go to sleep." Daryl replied, placing a hand upon his face. "I'll find you in the morning."
"Promise?"
"Promise." He confirmed, and Rio believed him, waking back to the administration offices. Carl walked beside him, also being sent to sleep.
The two walked in together, Beth calling out from her room to make sure that they were okay. Rio answered her, confirming that they were, in fact, fine.
"We'll tell you what happened in the morning!" Carl added on. Rio grabbed his hand, pulling him away from the door and to their room.
"You've got blood on you." Rio said. He pointed out where it was, tilting his head to the side and gesturing to his neck.
"So do you." Carl replied, sitting down on the floor beside their 'beds'.
"But mine is not all over my face." The boy retorted, grabbing a cloth and some bottled water.
"It is a bit."
"Then you're gonna have to get it for me." Rio smiled. He poured water onto the cloth, missing slightly and spilling it on the floor.
He stared at it for a second before Carl just shrugged. "It'll dry."
"Uh-huh." Rio replied, sitting down. He smiled at the other boy as he inched forward, holding the wet cloth out. He grabbed Carl's face to no protests, rubbing at the dried blood with the cloth, trying to get it off whilst still being gentle.
The other boy squirmed anyway, "It tickles." Carl snickered quietly.
"Quit whining." Rio whispered, finishing up.
He pulled back, hand still against Carl's cheek. He just laughed as the other boy pressed their foreheads together. Then he stopped. Carl placed his hands on either side of the boy's face, bringing them closer than they already were, if that was even something they could do.
Rio smiled, leaning in and closing the gap between them and pressing his lips against Carl's. He cut it short, about to apologize when Carl grabbed him tighter, kissing him back. His hand made his way into Rio's hair and Rio's rested upon his jaw.
The boy broke into a smile, his teeth clashing with Carl's as he began laughing. "Sorry." He giggled.
"Don't be."
"That was nice." Rio teased as they both lay down.
"Oh my god." Carl replied, turning away. The other boy rolled him back over, taking his hands in his.
"I was being serious."
"We could do it again, sometime?" He suggested. Carl rested his head against Rio's shoulder, looking up at him.
"Sure." Rio laughed, leaning down again. The other boy met him in the middle, sharing a short kiss before lying back down.
"So," Carl began, a semi-serious look on his face. "When did you start liking me? As in—."
"Who said I liked you?"
"You don't?" The other boy's face dropped and Rio felt cruel for even making the joke.
"Of course I do." He let out a small laugh. "I was just joking."
"You know, jokes are supposed to be funny." Carl frowned.
Rio started laughing, then he stopped to think. "After my birthday." He decided.
"Your birthday? That's so late." The other boy exclaimed in return.
"Okay, now I'm curious, when did you?"
"I don't think I wanna answer the question." Carl replied, turning away.
"Awe," Rio teased. "Was it love at first sight? I didn't know you were that kinda guy."
"It was not."
"It totally was."
"You can keep believing that—."
Rio smiled and laid his head back down on the bag. "Oh, you can bet that until you give me an answer, I will."
***
wanted this one to land on my birthday so bad and It did so yay