Carls POV
Dad put me and Enid on watch duty of Y/N, she was only staying for the night before I would walk her far enough from the walls that we wouldn't have to worry about her sneaking back in. I'll be honest though, she didn't seem like the type to do that, she was more of a keep away and don't bother me type.
Dad and Daryl decided she'd stay in one of the empty, smaller houses, placing me and Enid in and outside the house. At around 8 Enid requested she go do the outside watch for a couple hours before Michonne would come so we could go to bed.
I entered the house as Enid left, closing the door and walking through the first floor. Y/N was sat on the floor in one of the bedrooms reading a comic I recognized.
"Is that the second volume to 'Lost but not Forgotten'?" I asked. She looked over at me surprised, like she hadn't noticed me in the doorway.
"Ya it is. Had it a while though so it's a little dirty." She sat up and closed it.
"I have the first and third volumes, never found a second one though."
"Really, I've wanted to read the first one for a while now."
"I've read them both, there pretty good, don't really make sense without the second one though." I leaned against the door frame.
"Ya this one doesn't make much sense without the first one either. Could I maybe read yours while I'm here? I promise to give it back before I leave tomorrow " She asked.
The way she looked up at me, with those y/e/c eyes full of wonder. I wanted to offer the world to her for a moment, I'd never felt like that when looking at someone, it almost scared me. I had to force myself to answer her.
"Uh, ya sure, I can ask Enid to watch you while I go get it. Stay here I'll be back." I said, moving out of the doorway and through the house.
Enid's POV
I'd just done my first walk around the house when Carl came down the porch steps towards me.
"Hey could you go inside and watch Y/N, I've gotta run and grab something really quick." He asked.
"I guess I could, I don't know how your dad would feel about you leaving though." I questioned, he seemed a little off.
"It'll be fine, beside I won't be gone long, just to my place and back, should be like 15 minutes if I run."
"I think it would be better if you stayed with her, I don't feel safe being alone with her." I already didn't feel safe with her even when Carl was with me, I didn't want to remove him from the equation even for a second. I sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Fine, but I need you to grab only what I ask for and not ask questions." He said.
"Okay." I was already confused.
"I need you grab the comic called 'Lost but not Forgotten', volume one, off the pile in my room ok, it should be on the bottom of the pile."
"A comic book, really?" I placed my hand on my hip and frowned at him.
"What did I say about asking questions, or even questioning me in general." He was pretending to be serious but I could tell he was trying to be a little funny.
"Fine, comic on the very bottom, but just know if I get caught I'm telling your dad you were reading comics when you were supposed to be keeping watch." I said, warning him playfully.
"I await your return." He smiled.
Y/N POV
Carl came back into the house 3 minutes after leaving, causally standing in the doorway like nothing was non the wise.
"That was fast." I said as he stepped into the room.
"Enid's gone to get it for me, she's faster than me, and she doesn't trust you."
"That's fair, I wouldn't expect her to."
"Why not? He asked walking into the room further.
"She doesn't know me, I don't trust people till I've been with them at least a week." I exclaimed.
Carl came and sat on the floor in front of me, taking his hat off and placing it on the floor. The bandages on his right eye caught my attention almost immediately. They were dirty, very dirty, like they'd been dragged through dirt then put onto him.
"Your staring at me." He said.
"Oh sorry, I just noticed your bandages are kinda dirty."
"Oh, ya I guess they are." He pressed his fingers it, adjusting them slightly.
I looked towards my pack and remembered the little bit of bandage I'd grabbed from an ambulance a few days prior. And idea popped into my mind as I look back to him.
"I have clean bandage in my bag, I can change them for you. If you'd like." I asked.
I'd been bandaging my own wounds long enough that I knew what was good and bad for one, surely his wouldn't be that much different.
He looked up at me surprised, "you don't need to do that, it'll be fine for now"
"Are you sure, I don't mind, I have extras so I won't run out if your worried." I offered, opening my pack and pulling out the packages bandages.
"No, no, it's not that important." He replied.
"Not important, isn't it over your eye?" I asked.
He looked at me curiously. "We'll yes but it's not important to you."
"I may not know you but having clean bandages over a wound, new or old, is important." I opened the package and started to unroll the bandage.
"How so?"
"Because you could get an infection from dirty bandages, it could make you sick and possibly kill you. Peoples lives are important, especially in the world we live in." I pulled out some gaze and a small bottle of rubbing alcohol from the front pouch.
"Like the people in that fire Daryl was talking about." I stopped.
Looking up at him cautiously, I asked, "How do you know about that?"
He scratched the side of his head and shrugged casually. "My dad, Rick, he told everyone who needed to know about it, so we would be careful around you."
"Did he tell you that was a long time ago." I asked.
"Ya, he also said that you tried to find Daryl and Merle, but when you couldn't you just shut the door and hoped they'd been killed by walkers in the pig barn." He seemed agitated suddenly. "He also said you would try to gain our trust, so you could get close to us. So you could betray us."
"Your dad doesn't know me."
"Daryl does, he seems to know a lot about you."
"And you believe everything some crazy redneck tells you. For all you know he could be lying." I was becoming defensive, Daryl was right to tell them about me, but he was stretching the truth more than necessary.
"Ya, as someone who's been saved by him multiple times, and trusts him with their life, I do. You on the other hand, you could be lying about who you are entirely." He stood quickly and I followed.
I was almost as tall as him, even in his boots, and as we stood face to face our eyes met at equal level. I knew I was tall but it felt off to be nearly the same height as him, not that he seemed very tall to begin with.
"And why would I lie to you guys, I haven't any reason to."
"To gain our trust, that's why."
"If u wanted your trust, I would've done more to try and get it by now."
"Like reading a comic in front of me, one that I knew?"
"As of currently, I've known about you and your very existence for about 4 hours, so even if I knew you read comics it would still be pure chance that I would read one you knew." I could feel myself becoming more and more angry, who was he to talk like this.
"Sure, and it was just chance that my dad and Daryl found you when they were looking for Michonne on that rooftop." He raised his voice a little.
"Yes, if I wanted to be found, I would've let the walkers find me, not some half blind wannabe cowboy and his crazy family!"
"I'm not half blind." His nostrils flared from the heavy breathes he was taking in.
"Said the guy with a dirty, probably rotting bandage on his face, do you even have a wound there or are you just trying to look cool or something, cause it isn't working."
"Either you shut up, or I will make you, we've let you into our home out of the kindness of our hearts and this is how you treat us?"
"I didn't ask to be here, DARYL AND YOUR DAD FORCED ME INTO THIS PLACE!" I yelled.
"THEN WHY DON'T YOU JUST LEAVE, TAKE ALL YOUR SHIT AND GET OUT!"
"WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE IM DOING, MOVING IN, SETTLING DOWN AND GETTING CONFORTABLE?!"
"You seem pretty comfortable to me."
I wanted to punch him, I wanted to pull his hair and connect his uncovered eye with my knee, I wanted to take my stuff and run out of here, leave them all behind. I'm better on my own, I don't need some strange boy yelling at me over things he didn't understand.
But I was to tired from eveything to do any of that, I needed to stay, how matter how much I desired leaving. I thought for a second, wondering if I should just stop talking or try to end the argument. I took a deep breathe and made my choice.
"Look Carl, all I want is to sleep tonight, have some food tomorrow and then get the hell out of here alright." I said, trying to defuse the situation.
"And how can I trust that."
"I'm not asking you to trust me, I'm asking you to not assume I'm going to move in and murder everyone just for the fun of it." I sighed and sat back down.
He stood above me in silence as I started to put away the gauze and rubbing alcohol, I wanted to be done with this interaction, if we were to be in the same space for the rest of the night, then I needed to keep my distance. Starting with not being so nice and helpful just because I could.
I was about to close the front pouch of my pack when he sat down in front of me and took the bandages off the ground and unwound the roll. Pulling off a strip, he reached into my bag and grabbed the gauze and the rubbing alcohol. I simply watched, confused by his sudden change in demeanour.
He reached behind his head and undid the bandages, letting them fall from his face and into his hand to show the large, empty socket in the place where his right eye should have been. He looked up at me slowly and I knew I was staring, but that didn't stop me.
The sight of the wide, dark red hole in his face, each tendon and muscle that would be been covered by his eye moving as he looked up at me. It was disgusting, i pitied him for it.
"Tell me why." He spoke suddenly.
"What?"
"Tell me why every life is important if you burned those people."
Howdy, hope u guys enjoyed the second part to this, I'm gonna make two more parts to this so be prepared as they may be a little interesting.
If anyone has any requests or suggestions please let me know, I'm open to everything.
Also I forgot to mention in the first part that these were inspired by a tiktok by a cosplayer called c0ral_grimes_, they made a tiktok to a sound from doctor who and it just started the thought process of this whole part series.
Go check them out, their Carl cosplay is super dope and their content is awsome!
Toodles 😘
-Cassy