Dark Serenity - Carl Grimes

•Chapter Fourty-Two•

Teenagers - My Chemical Romance
Wires - The Neighborhood

*Carl's P.O.V.*

We were now gathered around the counter, contemplating group arrangements and which group went where.

I was for sure my dad was going to send me with Grey again, I was for certain.

But when I hear Collin's voice, my heart drops.

"I'll go with Greyson." His deep, spine tingling voice rang through my ears.

"We need three on that group then. Volunteers?" My dad says, looking amongst the adults

"I'm going with them." I say. I could feel Collin's glare on the back of my head, burning a hole in my skull.

"I was saying three as more of a suggestion to an adult, Carl." My dad responds, looking at me as if I didn't know what he was talking about.

"I can handle it." I argue, leaning my head forward as I talked.

"I can't risk having three fifteen year olds out there alone. Not while your life is on the line, not while anyone's life is on the line."

"Who says older people can protect me? I'm old enough to walk for half a day to the end of the trail, and back. You're lucky I even want to be in a group at all." Without any further assistance from my father, I grab an empty bag and exit the gas station.

I hear the door open once again, letting another human out of the store.

I turn around, expecting it to be my dad coming to argue with me. Instead, I see Grey holding an empty bag and a look of subtleness.

I feel my lips curve up at her actions. I knew Grey wants to support me, and I loved that.

My slight happiness falls when Collin emerges from behind her, a neutral expression planted on his face.

Greyson is all that matters, Greyson and only Greyson.

I flick my head back to where I had had it pre-Greyson's-occurrence. I begin to travel the direction we went yesterday, taking opposite turns then we had chosen yesterday.

~*~

All three of us were walking side by side, Grey in the middle, as we traveled a road we hadn't taken before.

We rarely talked, the occasional 'turn here' or 'water' being shared amongst each other but nothing else sounded through out our group.

"Water?" Collin asks Grey who had two waters in her bag, one almost empty.

"No, you had a drink thirty minutes ago." Grey rolls hers eyes.

Collin huffs out a large sigh, returning an eye roll.

"What?" Grey asks, stopping and turning to him angrily.

"Oh nothing, just that I didn't have a water break thirty minutes ago, Carl did. Funny how all you remember is what he does." Collin tilts his head.

"So what? I got the people mixed up. My mistake." She returns, sarcasm threaded through her vocals.

"No, it's not just this, its everything! Everything he does is just so majestic to you. Everything I do makes you even more oblivious." Collin steps forward towards Grey, his eyes burning holes in hers. "I volunteered to be with you today, not him." He steps closer to her once more, her staying steady and showing no hint of fright.

His eyes flicker to me then back to her, his eyebrows bowing themselves.

Every inch of my body wanted me grab my gun and shoot him. Shoot him straight through the skull and end this. I couldn't, and I wouldn't.