Chapter Thirteen:
Carls face was just inches away from mine, time feeling like it was slowing down as we just stared at each other. His gaze was no longer located on my eyes but on my cheeks. (A/N: It's the face cheeks, not the ass cheeks.)
Carl brought his hand up and wiped my cheek. He then moved back to his position on the other side of the tree. It didn't change much but he wasn't as close. I turned my head outside the tree, hoping to hide the blush that was making it's way to my face.
I looked around the tree, seeing the herd pass us. Just as the first part herd headed north, almost out of earshot, the rest of the dead ones buddies came along.
As I saw the rest of their group, maybe about 30 or so, I placed my whole body back inside the tree. The constant and growing growls of the dead ones was causing thoughts to run through my head.
'That's a lot of dead ones... I don't think I've been so close to a group this big! What if they hear us? Or smell us? Can they smell us? Ugh. I don't know. What Carl ends up like Milia?! I can't lose another person.' Anxiety was coursing through my veins as one though turned into another thought.
The herd just started to limp past us as Carl shook my shoulders, taking me away from my thoughts.
"Hey, what's wrong? Is it the walkers?" Carl whispered in my ear as he pulled me a bit closer.
By now, I'm sure Carl could feel my heart beating rapidly. "Just thoughts. I'm fine."
"You're not fine. Whenever someone says they're fine, they are most likely not." Carl let go of his sheriffs hat and pulled me in even closer.
The dead ones moans and groans were the only thing I could hear. I couldn't see them as my face was hidden with Carl's shoulder. My mind began thinking thoughts again as I felt the tree being hit by the mindless bodies. But the thoughts weren't that bad in the beginning.
'Carl's very warm. I'm glad I know him, I don't think any other person would be able to put up with me. But does just like me as a friend or like a pity thing? Earlier it seemed like he was gonna kiss me... Jeez! I sound like a teenage girl.'
"Well.... You kinda are."
"Shut up. I meant like a teenage girl that doesn't have to go through the shit hole called an apocalypse." '
I argued with myself for who knows how long. I usually talk with myself but that's not weird.
'Yeah it is but you're weird so it's okay.' Here I go again. I opened my eyes to see a flannel. I turned my body a bit and tried to look out the hole.
I saw the dead ones still wandering around to the north but it seemed as the old ones left, more new ones came.
"How many do you think there is?" I asked Carl, standing in my toes to reach his ear.
"Hell of a lot. I think we're stuck in one of those massive herds. It's might've came from a city." He whispered back and then looked through the big hole himself.
"Or a quarry." He seemed to shake at the thought of that word.
I started to freak out as the dead ones just kept on coming and almost finding us. My body was only shaking a little but Carl noticed. He used his right hand to move my head back into his shoulder area and made sure I kept it there.
'Carl probably did that so I wouldn't have a panic attack. If that happened, we'd both be meat for the undead.' Instead of focusing on the dead ones, I focused on Carl.
His flannel over shirt was soft and was a mix of black and blue. He had a smell of coconut and the woods. Carl's right arm was around my waist area and his left was placed at my side, near my knife.
I pulled back a bit and looked at Carl's bright blue eyes. "Do you think that we'll get eaten by them?" As I said that, Carl's eye washed over with worry.
"I'd hope not. I have plans for the future." I continued to look at him, hoping for him to elaborate more on his plans.
"What plans?"
"Well there is one I'd like to get done first..." Carl said this without breaking eye contact.
Before I could as what he'd like first, I felt a slight pressure on my lips. The pressure was Carl's lips on mine, my eyes were wide open until I started to kiss back. My stomach felt like a whole zoo went on a rampage, my eyes fluttering to a close just as he pulled back.
His forehead was resting on mine as he spoke, "To kiss you (y/n). That's what I wanted to get done first. The second thing is, I was wondering if you would like to be my partner I guess. I know we don't know a lot about each other, but we can get to know each other. I feel like sharing things with you that I swore I would never share.
I know we haven't seen each other in a long time and we have only really known each other for a month. This is unrealistic but I want to have something like this before I die. You're the closest thing to it and I know that sounds bad. But I can also relate to you-" Carl just kept on rambling on and on but it was cute. His eye held so much emotions.
I pondered the thought for a moment and came to the best conclusion. "I would not like to be with you Carl." I paused for the slightest moment, "I would love to be with you."
Yes I took what he said into consideration pretty quickly, that I'm basically just something for now and not for a while. But there isn't a lot of chances like this during these days.
Carl's eye went from rejection to what I think is happiness. He put both arms around my waist as held on tightly. Carl placed his head in the crook of my neck and said, "You scared me. I thought you said no."
"Of course I'd say yes. I just always wanted to say the answer like that." I smiled against him. At that moment, the growls faded into nothing. All I could hear was my heart rate increasing and Carl's as well.
I wrapped my arms around Carl's neck as he secured his hands on my waist. Carl and I stood there in each others grasp as we let the herd of the undead pass by us. About an half a hour later, the herd was almost out of eye sight.
"(Y/n), I think we can go now. Just be quiet." Carl said as he let go and bent down to grab his hat. He placed his sheriffs hat on his head and went outside of the hollow tree.
Carl put his hand on his gun as he looked around the area. "You can come out now, just be real quiet."
I walked out of the tree, picked up my backpack and secured it on my shoulders. I looked West to see the dead ones gone and looked North to see a few stragglers.
"Are we gonna go back to Alexandria now?" I asked as I looked at Carl.
He smiled and then replied. "Nope. We'll probably be okay if we just stay out the directions the walkers went. I have a place not too far from here anyways."
"Okay but if I see another herd, I'm leaving back to where I think Alexandria would be." I heard a small chuckle as I said that.
Carl started to walk to his left and motioned for me to come with. I walked up to him and grabbed his hand. I looked up to Carl and saw a slight smile.
'This boy sure likes to give small everything. But it's nice to at least get a small smile. That's asking a lot these days.' We continued to walk, hand in hand, quietly. Carl and I walked for around 10 minutes until we reached a fallen log and a tipped over locker space.
"What is this place?" It seemed like Carl came out here often if had made a mini place like this.
"I usually come out here with Enid to read comics. It's just somewhere to go." Carl walked over to in front of the log and little far from the locker. Then he sat down, securing his hat upon his head.
"Sit here (y/n)." He patted the spot between him and the tipped locker space. As I walked over to the spot, I began to take off my backpack. I reached the area and sat down criss cross applesauce with the bag between my legs.
"Why did you choose this place?" The part where Carl and I sat was covered in leaves with towering trees surrounding us. All in all, it was a beautiful spot.
"Well for some reason it had the locker thing here. So I just tipped it over and now it's used as storage for comics." I reached over to the locker unit and opened the lid. It showed different comics just splattered all over the space inside.
I picked a random comic and saw it was a Captain America one. I began flipping through the pages when I heard Carl make the 'Uh umm' sound.
"What's up Carl?" I looked over into his one blue eyes and saw nervousness.
"I was uh wondering if I could you know..." He seemed very nervous.
"No I don't know. What do you want?" I asked in quiet voice.
"Can I put my arm around you?" Her asked it so fast, I almost didn't hear it right.
"Yeah, you don't need to ask to do that." I smiled up at him and his nervousness looked like it was being lowered. Carl's right arm was the placed around my shoulders with his hand ending at my forearm area.
I placed the Captain America comic back in the unit. "Hey is there any (favorite comic/ DC/ Marvel) comics?"
"Uh yeah. Here let me find it." As Carl tried to find my wanted comic, it caused his body to be pressed even closer to mine. He looked around for 10 minutes until I talked to him.
"Hey did you find (wanted comic)?" I gazed up to his face seeing a bit of humor in his eye.
"Yep. I saw it like 7 minutes ago. I just liked being close to you." He finished his sentence with a laugh.
"Dipshit. And thank you for my comic." I grabbed the much wanted comic out of his hand and opened it up to the first page.
"Yeah yeah." Carl placed his right arm back to its original place and read the comic along with me.
I was about to turn the page when Carl spoke up. "Wait. I'm not done with the page yet." He continued to read for the next few minutes.
"You can continue. I'm sorry." My guess was that his missing eye made it harder to read the comic strips throughout the pages.
"It's okay. It's not your fault." I said as I moved the comic to more in between us and lifted my head a bit to give his cheek a kiss.
3rd Point Of View
(Y/n) pulled away from the short kiss that left blush on both hers and Carl's faces. The new couple stayed like that for a long time, just reading comics and being next to each other.
They just wished that that moment will never end but everyone in this world knows, nothing good last forever.
Kely's Point Of View
The gated community was getting closer and closer as we kept on walking. I think we're only 5 minutes from reaching the gates. I turned my gaze from the gates to the perch just above them.
It had what I believed to be a guy with a gun. I glanced down at my own weapon. A pink and black handled machete that I had found in the beginning. I know I should've thrown it out a while ago but I haven't been able to find any pink or black duct tape for a new handle.
'I wonder what the people will think of it. Maybe they'll think I'm girly and that I can't survive. But that wasn't the case when I forced to be on my own.'
My legs feel like jello right now.
'Mmm.. Jelloooo. Man, I sound like Homer Simpson with doughnuts.'
I heard coughing as I then looked around. It was just that girl. The one with the black hair. I saw that we were just at the gates. The man with the crossbow, I think, started to talk to the man guarding the gate.
"Hey Eugene! Open up, we got some new comers."
"I am not authorized to do so. This is Olivia's watch. She said she'd be back in a few ticks but clearly it has been more like 5 ticks." Who I'm guessing is Eugene, sounds weird. He's probably from a different state.
"I don't give a damn. Just open the doors!" By judging how fast Eugene opened up the gates after that, Daryl is not to be messed with. That's a good tip.
With the gates open, our small group walked in. Well more like hobbled in. The Asian guy... Uh... Glenn started to talk towards me and that other girl with the long brown hair.
"I have to take you to Rick to see if you can stay, okay?" The one other girl and I nodded and starts to walk to where Glenn was leading us.
"It's Molli and..." Glenn looked over to me, expecting me to tell my name.
"It's Kely." Well I guess the other new girls name is Molli. We started walking again but I looked behind me. I could see Daryl walking with the two other teens in a different direction.
'They're probably going to like a hospital type building.'
We kept on walking silently until we reached a two story house. On the porch it had a slightly old man with a young child on his lap.
"Who are they?" The man asked as he began to stand up. His face was very platonic.
"Rick, this is Molli. She is said to be cousins with (y/n)'s family." Glenn said as he pointed at Molli. "This is Kely. She helped us a bit when we saw another group."
"How did she help you?" Rick face was still stoic.
"Kely told us that they were a bad group. She must've been telling the truth because it caused some problems with Thalia and Jason. They said they used to know them." Glenn explained what had happened to what I guess is Rick.
"Did you ask them the questions?" Glenn answered his head shaking.
"Well, this is how it will go. I ask and you answer. Common courtesy. How many walkers have you killed?"
Molli answered first, "Um I lost count in the beginning around 20."
Rick turned his gaze to me. "I never counted."
"Alright. How many humans have you killed?" Rick's gaze went back to Molli.
"None. When I had to, I didn't get why I had to. It was in the beginning of it all." Glenn seemed to be puzzled by her answer.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that in the beginning when my friends were bitten, I didn't get that I had to kill them. I just ran away. I didn't find out till later that I had to." Now that Glenn seemed to understand, Rick's gaze yet again went back to me.
"One." My stomach started to hurt as the memories began to surface again.
'Please don't have him ask wh-' My thought stopped as Rick spoke up.
"Third question. Why?" His face was still blank but now a little alarmed.
Before I could say anything, I took a breath. "My dad was bitten a couple months ago on his side. Before my dad was going to turn, he told me to strike my knife through his skull as soon as he passed out. I did as he said."
I didn't look up but I felt the stare of Rick and Glenn. I felt a single tear run down my face but I quickly wiped it away. I brought head back up and saw that they were all staring.
"Well... It seems that you guys are okay. But by no means does that mean I trust you. Glenn will take your weapons, all of them, and take them to our weaponry room. You will earn them back as soon as we can trust you. Our other new group has yet to earn our full trust but is getting there."
Glenn came over to me and held out his hand. I begrudgingly took my knife out of its sheath and handed it to him. I bent down and grabbed the last weapon I had, a pocket knife that had belonged to my dad.
"Can you make sure that no one else will take my stuff?" I said as I gripped tightly to the pocket knife.
"Yes. I'm taking that the pocket knife belonged to someone you care about? But yes. No one else will take them." Glenn reassured me as I handed over the knife that became mine two months ago.
Glenn went over to Molli and she gave him a knife. It looked to be a kitchen knife. Glenn asked if she had more and all she said was no.
"Molli, you can stay with your family. And Kely, well you can stay with them as well. They have space. I'll take you there." Rick stated as he went down the steps and then to the right.
Molli and I followed behind Rick as he walked through the streets of this community. He walked while bouncing the toddler on his hips, who looked mighty cute.
"There is your new house." He pointed with his left arm to a house that had two figures in the porch.
No one else talked until we reached the house. "Thalia, Jason. Molli and Kely will be staying with you. Where's (y/n)?" Rick asked.
"She is getting ready to take a shower. We already told her about the run." The girl, Thalia, said.
"Okay. Do you know where Carl is?" Rick asked before he left.
"No sorry." Thalia said in a bored tone and then Rick walked away.
"Come on." Jason ushered us inside.
I closed the door as we stepped into the hallway. I looked around and nearly fell backwards because of the living room.
3rd Point Of View
Thalia explained to Molli and Kely why the living room was a disaster. How their little sister was taken away from this world cruelly. Molli went up in tears as she found out about her little cousin. Kely, the girl who didn't even know her, even got upset.
Jason offered Molli to take a shower but she got confused. Molli had thought (y/n) was in there. But no, it was just a lie to cover up that Carl and her was out and about. She then reluctantly went upstairs to the bathroom. After about ten minutes of standing there, Jason and Thalia began to try to clean the living room. Then Kely began to help a bit after.
All in all, the day had began to end but with different people having two different feelings. (Y/n) feeling pure happiness in a long time and Molli feeling just how (y/n) had felt just earlier that day, heartbroken.
Word Count: 3388
A/N: On this day eighteen years ago, a talented and wonderful boy was born. Happy Eighteenth Birthday Chandler Riggs!!! I wanted to get this chapter done and published on your birthday. So here it is being published at 11:58 on June 27, 2017.