Hard Candy [Carl Grimes/The Walking Dead]

Escape

I can't recall falling asleep last night, but I must've at some point for I'm woken by screaming. Not Shane's wails, nor Rick and Kemper's arguments. But a long, endless shriek of agony. I have no idea what I'm hearing. Nevertheless, I'm wide awake.

What happens next is a blur. People are racing up and down the hall, trying to locate the agonizing cries. Finally, someone ends up in Melly's room, where we find our answer.

I push through the door, my head spinning. "What the fuck is going on?" I hiss. "Where's Melly? Where's the baby?"

Through the crowd, I can just barely see my aunt on her knees beside my cousin's bed, her head slumped in her hands as she cries and sobs inconsolably. Uncle Kemper is leaning on the closet door, his arms crossed tightly and his head bowed. But I can tell from his shaking shoulders and silent tears that something terrible has happened.

I want to go to them but I can't. Carol grasps my shoulders and gently shoves me back. She has tears in her eyes too. "Can you please tell me what's going on?" I beg her. But I get no reply.

I turn around so abruptly that Carl is forced to jump back. "What happened? Why won't anyone let me in? Please tell me," I plead.

Carl sucks in his breath and looks to his father, who has materialized from thin air. Rick looks grim, but something else lurks beneath. Dare I say he looks...guilty? Regretful?

Suddenly I know. God, how the fuck could I be so slow?

I cover mouth as tears flood my eyes. "Melly didn't...not now, please..." But Carl's sad blue eyes tell it true. I sway dangerously, but he catches me before I topple over. He holds me for years and years as I cry endlessly in his arms, those wondrously strong arms his son fits so perfectly in...

"And Shane?" I gasp, my eyes and throat burning with tears and bile.

"The boy is okay," Rick says. He looks me straight in the eye. "Frankly, I'm glad he didn't get to know his mother for too long. So he doesn't have to miss her."

Perhaps his words are meant to comfort, but the twist the knife further into my chest and I cry even harder. What of Carl and I, though? Her cousin and her child's father? What of Luce and Karel, who just lost their sister? What of her parents?

She was only 17.

***

We've gathered in the living room now, save for Aunt Kizzi, who was last seen paralyzed upstairs, and Shane, who is thankfully asleep.

And Melly, of course, who died of supposed organ failure in the wee hours of morn.

"Yara," Rick says suddenly. "You seemed a little lost for words back there. How are you feeling?"

I raise my eyes to Rick's. "My cousin is dead. Her child is motherless. My aunt lies sedated in bed. I wasn't even allowed to see either of them. And you ask me how I feel?"

Rick looks defeated. "I'm so sorry, Yara. I'm apologizing to your whole

family. My actions last night..."

"Your actions didn't kill Melly," Carl suddenly cuts in angrily. "Your words didn't kill her. She knew she was going to die. We all did. Stop trying to make this all about yourself!"

"That was not my intention, Carl," Rick shoots back. "I'm sorry if that's how anyone took it." He stares long and hard at his son. "But Melly is dead now, and we have to decide what to do."

What to do? "You mean... With her body?" I choke out.

Rick sighs. "We'll give her a proper burial," He says. "But I mean for the child. Where do you suppose we'll find formula for him? Who will care for him? Beth already's got the two little girls to look after..."