I slowly open my eyes, my grogginess fading by the second. I lift my head from Carl's shoulder to look around the small fire truck cabin to see everyone was asleep except for Glenn and Maggie. I carefully unhook my arm from Carl's trying my best not wake him up. Before I turn around I linger for a second, watching Carl. He looked so peaceful when he slept. It was cute the way his head was laying against Michonne's shoulder, his face all smushed, and his arms wrapped tighter around Judith who was surprisingly asleep as well. With a smile on my face I slowly turn my body to face the front of the truck. I lean forward and squeeze the front half of my body in between the two front seats. As I do this the tall buildings in the distance catch my eye. "Is that?" I whisper.
Maggie turns her head back to face me, giving me a smile. "Atlanta? Yeah" she answers.
I watch as the city slowly grows closer and closer, it's tall buildings reaching up to the sky. "You know, it's nice to see a city. Especially after living out in the middle of nowhere for so long" I whisper contently.
Glenn doesn't take his eyes off the road in front of him as he responds with, "I never really did like Atlanta, even before the millions of walkers took over"
I let out a small chuckle, "I've never been" I then gained back at Claire who was peacefully asleep, laying on Carl. "Neither has Claire. We never really traveled much after my parents spilt" I add.
I look back over at Maggie to see an apologetic smile form in her face as Glenn cracks another joke, "Well, you're not missing much kiddo. I lived in Atlanta for a couple years and I hated it"
I lean forward a little more. "Oh really?" I ask, prying for more information.
Glenn lets out another small chuckle. "When I was little my parents and I live super close to the city for my dad's work for a couple years before he got fired" Glenn answers, taking a pause before continuing, "I don't know, I guess i'm okay with the city itself. It just holds bad memories."
I give Glenn a sympathetic smile, letting him know I was sorry for prying the information out of him. Maggie reaches her hand over and lays it on Glenn's thigh as he continues to drive. This immediately makes me think of Carl. I turn my head around to see him still sound asleep.
"You really like him, don't you?" Maggie says from behind me, startling me. I whip my head around as the familiar reddish tint returns to my face. I quickly wipe the large smile that I didn't notice was there before off my face to end up just staring at Maggie, not knowing what to say. "Finn, you don't have to be embarrassed about it. It's cute" Maggie kindly whispers with a wink.
"Cute?" Glenn exclaims before making gagging noises.
I slam my palm into Glenn's shoulder to try to get him to stop. "What the hell, Glenn!" I yell a little too loudly.
I hear rustling behind me and out of instinct I quickly whip my head around. When I look back though all I find is both Carl and Michonne waking up. Carl brings his free hand up to his eyes and rubs them as a worried Michonne asks, "What's going on?"
"Oh nothing" I lie before shooting a death glare at Glenn and Maggie.
Michonne lets out a small chuckle before she catches a glance at the city in front of us through the window next to her. "Looks like we're close" she announces.
I nod my head at Michonne before sitting back into my spot next to Carl. As my back flips onto the hard cushion I feel Carl's arm wrap around my shoulder. "You know, this is where Glenn found my dad" he mumbles into my ear.
"Really? Here?" I ask, confused on why Glenn hadn't mentioned it before. I knew the story about how Glenn found Rick but for some reason I never knew it was here.
"Yeah, here" Carl answers. He pauses for a minute before adding, "Every single day that goes by, I'm glad Glenn found my dad. Not just because he brought my dad back from the dead but because without my dad, we would've never moved to the prison and found you"
I feel a smile form onto my face as a happiness spread through my body. I give Carl's hand a tight squeeze as I rest my head onto his shoulders. "Thank god for Glenn Rhee and Rick Grimes then" I say with a small chuckle.
"Did someone say my name?" Glenn asks, his eyes gal ding up at the rear view mirror to see us.
I give Carl a little wink before turning to Glenn. "No one said you name Glenn" I lie.
"You sure? I could've sworn I heard it" he replies.
I shake my head, trying my hardest not to laugh. "Man are you starting to hear stuff now? Do
you need to get your hearing checked, old man?" I ask slyly.
Glenn laughs at my joke before responding with one of his own, "Yeah and how would I do that? Have a walker take a look at it?"
"I'm sure they would love to do that" Carl jokes. The whole truck chuckles at bit before it goes quiet. I wrap my arm around Carl's, locking us together. I slump down in my seat and rest my back against Carl's shoulder, pushing my legs on top of a sleeping Claire. As I feel Carl's hands start to run through my tangled hair I look out the side window that Tara was leaned against, also asleep. The increasingly tall buildings and highway debris pass by in a blur of brown and tan. It felt as thought the closer we got to the city, the more color disappeared. The sky was an ugly grey and the only trees I could see were a dusty brown. The excited feeling I had before was now slowly being replaced by an overwhelming feeling of danger that only kept growing. I tighly squeeze Carl's hand and it's momentarily takes away all my worries
—————
"It should be just around the corner" Maggie tells Glenn, her arm outstretched and pointing to the turn ahead.
The entire truck full of people was awake now. As we pulled closer to Grady Memorial we all grew even more restless. The sound of the shuffling and shifting of bodied filled the truck as everyone drew their weapons. As Grady Memorial comes into view I realize, there was nothing there. There were no people, no walkers, no cars, nothing. The unsettling feeling of danger started to tie my stomach in a knot as I realized, we have no idea what we are getting in to. We had no idea whether or not the rest of the group was here, let alone if they were safe or not.
Glenn pulls in front of Grady Memorial and the truck comes to a halt. The moment Glenn shifts the heat of the truck into park Maggie pushes open her door and jumps out. Glenn quickly follows as I urge the the back row to get out of the truck faster.
I hop out of the truck, my feet landing on the hard concrete road in front of the hospital. I look up to find that past the chain link gate that separated the road from the hospital, there were dozens of walker bodies dead on the ground. I take a couple steps forward to allow Carl to hop out of the truck before I tighten my grip on my machete, ready to attack.
Maggie and Glenn lead the group forward towards the hospital. Carl, Claire, and I towards the middle of the group, all walking very closely. The three of us had our weapons ready as we stepped over the rotting bodies in the asphalt and passed the abandoned military looking tents. We kept walking until we reached a a second, smaller chain link gate that was left wide open.
Suddenly, I watch as the small door a couple feet away slowly opens with a creak. I slowly lower my weapon as Rick Grimes walks through the door, a rifle in hand. I glance over to see the relief in Carl's eyes now that he knew his dad was safe before quickly glancing back to watch for my dad. Tyreese and a limping Carol soon follow Rick along with Sasha and Noah. Finally, I get a glimpse of my dad's long hair as he walks out of the door and I let out a sigh of relief. That relief was soon replaced though as I notice the body my dad was holding.
My heart drops as I recognize the long blonde hair of the girl my dad was holding. I slowly bring my shaking hands up to my mouth as Maggie's heart-shattering cry echoes throughout the city. The closer my dad gets, the more clearly I can see the tears streaming down his face. I start to feel some tears build up on my eyes as the body of Beth Greene flop lifelessly in my own dad's arms, the blood on her head from what look like a gunshot wound, dried. My dad's head drops, fighting back his tears and I quickly grasp onto Carl's hand. I give his hand a tight squeeze and Carl returns it without either of us taking our eyes off of our lifeless friend, his hand being the only thing keeping me together.
XXX
woahh super short chapter i'm sorry! i promise i'll write more! also i'm going to start focusing back on the relation between carl and finn now so that they are the main point of the story. i hope you all enjoyed! lmk anything you would like to happen next! i'm always open to suggestions!
also are you guys ready for the second half of season 10?!?! :))))
ALSO THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR 14k READS SHSJNSJSJSJS I LOVE YOU ALL!