The Mini Badass

Chapter 17

The next morning I'm awoken by something shocking. "Carl?" I whisper to the boy standing in front of me.

"Wakey wakey."

"Oh my god." I squeal standing up. "You're walking?"

"Hershel gave me the all clear this morning." He barely gets out before I hug him. "Ow, ow."

"Sorry, god I've been so bored." I tell him, pulling away and placing my hands on his shoulders.

"And I'm hungry, come-on." The newly healed boy says, taking my hand and dragging me downstairs.

"Morning Maggie, Beth." I greet the two girls, dropping Carl's hand so we can both sit at the table.

Beth hands us both a plate of last nights leftovers as her sister sits down next to us.

"Glenn told me you liked the horses." Maggie tells me as I take a bite. "Yeah I do." I answer, covering my mouth with my hand while I chew.

"How you feel bout chickens?"

"Never seen one unless it was on my plate." I tell her making Carl snort. 

"We have some outback, can I trust you two to feed them?" Maggie asks and I look over at Carl who nods. 

"You can trust us." I swear, eating another spoon full of corn. She sits down next to us, stealing a small piece of meat off my plate. 

Carl and I finish up quickly so Maggie takes us to the chicken coop. The smell of shit hits my nose pretty quick but to be honest it isn't the worst smell I've smelt.

She hands me a bucket full of seeds, which I promptly almost drop. "I'll be back in a bit alright."

Maggie isn't back in a bit, instead Lori comes over sitting down on a bucket next to us. Carl and I ignore her as we continue feeding the chickens.

Patricia opening the chicken coop makes Lori jump up. "Don't look so worried." Carl tells his mother. 

"It's my job."

"No it's not, you're a housewife." Carl says and Lori stares at him mouth agape for a moment before reaching into my bucket and throwing seeds at him.

"Yeah punk?" She says as Carl smiles and I laugh. "You see my house around here?"  She asks as we keep laughing.

"A housewife." Lori mutters to herself and I giggle as Carl reaches into the bucket for more seeds.

"They don't have a mother." Carl says looking at the baby chicks, taking both Lori and I back. 

"She might be somewhere else." Lori tells her son as I recover from the sudden mood change.

"Maybe she got eaten." Carl shoots back making me turn to him, my confusion clearly shown across my face. "Everything is food for something else."

"That's grim." I mumble setting the bucket down and going to sit next to Lori.

The three of us only stay like this for a few minutes before Lori pales and tells us to hurry back to the house soon as she walks off.

Carl finishes the bucket of seed pretty soon after that and we both start walking back to the house. 

On our way Glenn comes up to us, holding out a basket full of peaches. "Take one, both of you." He says, clearly stressed out. Carl and I take a peach as I ask. "You okay?"

"Yeah fine." He says, turning on his heel and walking away. "Okay then."

"I'm gonna go check on Daryl." I tell Carl, earning a nod from him. I walk into the house and towards Daryl's room.