Have you ever felt embarrassed for the person who's doing something embarrassing, but doesn't feel embarrassed at all, so you're the one who's feeling the embarrassment for them?
Yeah, well that's exactly what I'm feeling right now.
Days after we took in the people from Woodbury, we started taking in strangers we come across and provide them shelter, food and safety. There's more teens, kids and adults in this place now. This place is alive than it was before. We got clean water, working showers, more cleared cellblocks and stronger gates.
A stronger community, all thanks to Rick.
"Patrick, just stop." I said to my friend as he keeps on looking at Daryl.
Most of the people we took in are amazed by Daryl. Some are crushing on him, some are idolizing him like Patrick is doing.
"How come you're not a fan of him?" The latter asks me before he stands up.
This has become my morning routine for the past couple of weeks. Go eat breakfast with Patrick and Carl—only this time he's busy feeding the pigs—while mom's serving, then Daryl gets breakfast, everyone greets him and Patrick fanboys.
"Patrick, you want to take over?" My mom turns to him.
"Yes ma'am." He takes the spatula from my mom and before she and Daryl could leave, Patrick gets his attention. "Mr. Dixon."
I don't know why I cringe when he calls Daryl 'Mr. Dixon'.
"I just wanted to thank you for bringing that deer back yesterday. It was a real treat, sir." Patrick said politely with a smile. "And I'd be honored to shake your hand."
I couldn't help it, I snorted but stopped myself from laughing. Patrick ignores me and focuses on Daryl, as the latter licks his fingers before shaking my friend's hand.
When my mom and Daryl leaves, Patrick had this smile on his face before he faces me. He rolls his eyes when he sees my grin. "Cut it out."
"I don't know about you, but that was gross." I told him, still grinning and he rolled his eyes at me. I finished my breakfast and stood up. "See you later."
"Gonna go find Carl?" He questioned.
"Don't have to. I already know where he is." I told him before walking away.
Once I reached the pig-pen where Carl was at, I leaned against the wood and looked at the pigs.
"How are they?"
"They're good, but I don't know what's going on with Violet." He said and I immediately looked at the pig. The pig wasn't as lively as the others; she wasn't even standing up.
I was about to speak, but then we heard the sound of hooves. We both turn and saw Michonne riding a horse. I felt relief wash over me. She's been gone for a few days, trying to find where the Governor is. We haven't stopped looking for the said man, he could still be out there somewhere and as long as we can't locate him or have assurance that he's dead, we're not safe.
Rick calls to the both of us and we run towards the gate. The latter grabbed the rope on the left while I help Carl open the gate. Michonne comes in with her ride as we close the gate. We ran towards the said woman.
"We're glad to see you." Rick says and Michonne turns to him. "Glad to see you too."
I smiled at the woman and we hugged for a second, before pulling away. Michonne and I have gotten closer for the past few weeks, turns out she's not bad at all and she's pretty cool.
"Somebody hit the jackpot." She said, glancing at Carl and I.
She grabs a few comic books and gives it to the boy beside me, who says 'no way' before she hands me two books.
"Cool." I said before I spoke up again the same time Carl did. "Thank you."
"I get to read 'em when you're done." Michonne tells the former, before she turns to Rick, handing him a shaver. "And I found this."
I walked towards Carl and checked his comic book. I'm not really a fan of comic books, I'm more into books.
Later on, Michonne leaves again to go on a run with Daryl and the others. Rick told us to go and hang out with Patrick, or maybe go to story telling with the kids. Carl and I both don't go to story telling, his reason was because it's not for him and mine is because I'd rather read alone.
"Hey guys!" Carl and I turned around to see Patrick, holding a soccer ball.
Moments later I found myself enjoying playing soccer with Carl and Patrick. I'm not a bragger, but these two aren't the best choice when it comes to soccer.
"Okay, I'm officially worn out for today." Patrick announces as he places his hands on his knees, panting.
Carl and I chuckled at him, before I tossed my best friend the soccer ball and faced Patrick. "Already? Come on, we haven't even done laps yet."
Patrick looks like he's gonna pass out and I laugh at him, before we started talking a walk to catch our breaths. We spotted four kids by the fence, it seemed like they were hollering for walkers. So we walked towards them, and when we got close enough, I realized that they were calling those walkers with names.
"You're naming them?" Carl asked and they faced us.
A little girl with blonde hair named Mika, answered him. "Well, one of them has a name tag so we thought all of them should."
"They had names when they were alive. They're dead now." Carl states.
Mika's sister named Lizzie, doesn't agree with that statement. "No, they're not. They're just different."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Carl says to the kids and I gave him a look. "Hey, just drop it." But he doesn't.
"Okay, they don't talk. They don't think. They eat people. They kill people." I sighed, one of the things that I don't like about Carl is when he's too stubborn to listen to me.
"People kill people. They still have names." Lizzie tells him.
"Have you seen what happens?" He questions the girl as Patrick and I share glances. "Have you seen someone die like that?"
"Yeah, I have." I felt sympathy for Lizzie but she seemed stubborn too like Carl, both of them not backing down. Plus, from what I've heard, she's kinda messed up.
"They're not people and they're not pets. Don't name them."
I crossed my arms and took a step forward, giving the kids a small smile. "Um, I think it's story telling time. You kids should go."
Lizzie nods her head at me before the two other kids join her.
Mika stays though. She looks at Patrick before talking. "Are you coming to story telling tonight?"
I looked at Patrick with an amused look, and the latter glances at me and Carl, before looking back at Mika. "Uh, yeah."
She smiles brightly. "See you then!"
She then leaves. Patrick turns to the both of us. "I go sometimes. I'm immature."
"Not judging." I tell him with a small amused smile.
"You wouldn't dig it." He tells Carl. "It's for kids."
The said guy nods at him, before Patrick looks back at the direction the kids went off. "I'm gonna go head up there too. I'll catch you later, young sir," he looks at me. "Ma'am."
"Yep." Carl says as Patrick walks away.
Carl and I started walking away from Patrick as well, until I remembered something. "Shoot, I left the book I was reading back at the library. I'll be right—"
"Nah, it's cool. I'm going with you." He tells me before we head off the library.
Days after we took people in, Carl finally talked to me and apologized. Although he has changed, he's much more mature and doesn't open up that much. The tables have turned between us, before I was the one who pushes people away, now that's him. Not often, but he still pushes people away.
Once we reached the library, my mom was reading a book to the kids and I spot Patrick sitting on a chair. Mr. Samuels leaves the room, and Carl and I hid behind a book shelf.
"Where did you leave it?" Carl whispers to me.
"You know we don't have to whisper and hide, Carl." I tell him and roll my eyes but just went along with it. "I think it's somewhere near Patrick—"
"Ma'am, should I take watch now?" I heard a little boy's voice. It made me confused. Why should he take watch? Aren't they just reading?
"Yes, Luke. You do that." My mom answers the kid. Carl and I look at each other, confused. What is going on? "Today... we are talking about knives—how to use them," What the actual hell. "How to be safe with them, and how they could save your life."
"Do you know about this?" Carl whispers to me.
I shook my head. "Of course not."
"Sometimes you're gonna have to fight it through," I hear my mom say again. Carl and I slowly stood up and took a peek of what's happening. "What if you wind up out there alone? You just give up because you're feeling bad?"
"No, it's just... I don't want to yack on somebody." Patrick answers my mom.
My mom dismisses him and Patrick leaves the library without seeing us. So he knows about this?
"Okay, today we're gonna learn how to hold a knife, how to stab and slash and where to aim for." Carl stands up completely, making my mom look at him. I stood up as well, her eyes landing on the both of us. "Please don't tell your father."
Carl runs out of the library and I follow him immediately. "Carl, wait!"
I grabbed his arm to stop him from running. "Are you gonna tell your dad?"
"Yes, I am." He said firmly and pulled his arm away from my hold.
"Shouldn't we hear my mom out first?" I suggested. "Or maybe we should let her tell your dad instead. Let them handle this and let her explain. We should hear her out—"
"She's teaching those kids without my dad knowing, Farren. He needs to know about this." Carl states firmly once again, voice and eyes determined.
"Carl, I really think we should hear my mom out first before we talk to your dad. You can't just throw her under the bus like that—"
"Farren, I'm not throwing her under the bus." Carl snaps at me and I'm taken back by his attitude. "Damn it. Just stop, okay? Jesus, you're not helping at all. I'm telling my dad, and that's final."
I pursed my lips into a thin line, before I started walking backwards. I nod my head before turning my back on him, walking away.
And like I expected, he doesn't even try to stop me.
—~—
okay yeah chapter 20 is the first longest chapter i've written in this fanfic lol