A Long Way From Home//Carl Grimes

Chapter 2 - Meeting the Group

Rick and I passed through the trees in an awkward silence.
"So how old are you Cassie?" He asks me. Like I said, Rick is full of questions.
"I'm 14." I say, still a bit shocked that I actually found a group. People. Real people. Not the dead ones that try and kill me. But, actually, real, living people.
"My son Carl is 15. We also have Beth, she's 17 and my daughter Judith. She's only a year old." He says smiling. I can see something through the trees. "Welcome home." Rick says. The prison is huge. Walkers surround the fences but they aren't inside. My eyes grow wide at the beautiful, yet dirty, prison.
"Wow." is all I can say as we slowly approach the safe haven.
"Glenn!" Rick yells. Suddenly an asian looking man comes running up to the gates and opens them. A man with a crossbow also walks up.
"Who's the girl?" Asks the man with the crossbow. There's so many new people. How many of them are there?
"Um, the girl has a name." I snap back. "This is Cassie." Rick says.
"Hm. Sarcastic. I like you Cassie. I'm Daryl." The man with the crossbow says smirking.
"I'm Glenn." The asian one says. I give my best smile I can to all of them. Rick pats my shoulder and guides me towards my new home.
"Everyone come out here!" Glenn yells. A big group of people walk out into the prison yard. They all start introducing themselves. I meet Carol, Michonne, Hershel, Beth, and Maggie. Then a boy my age walks up to me. He's holding a baby which I assume is Judith.
"I'm Carl and this is Judith." He says smirking at me. Wow. I am too good. "My name is Cassie." I say to everyone smiling.
"Carl will you show Cassie around please?" Rick asks. Carl nods his head and then turns on his heels. He leads me through different cell blocks, the cafeteria, bathrooms, showers, and finally, my cell.
"Oh my gosh. A bed." I say letting out a sigh of relief. I drop my bag and jump onto the small bed. It creaks at the impact.
"If you need anything or have any questions just come find me." Carl says smirking. He winked with his crystal blue eyes. He seems...nice? He doesn't like to talk very much. Soon, my eyelids feel very heavy. For the first time in a while, I slept without worry that something would eat me.

*next morning*

I got up and took a shower. I decided that I was going to need new clothes. My usual t-shirt and jeans needed to be washed. Since, they were covered in blood. And dirt. And some more blood. Shocker, right? I thought that Beth might have some extra clothes. I searched through the cells until I found Beth.
"Hey Beth? I was wondering if you have any extra clothes that I could borrow?" I asked her.
"Oh! Of course!" She said searching through her drawers. She grabbed a white tank-top, a black and white flannel, and a pair of jeans. Thank the lord.
"Thank you so much! I owe you one." I say smiling.
"It's no big deal. Don't worry about it!" She says smiling back. Beth seems really nice. I'm starting to like this place. I walk out of the cell and go back on my journey to the showers. I finally reach them and turn on the water. Surprisingly, it's-warm? Warm water. This place really is like heaven. I laugh at my thoughts and start to scrub the blood and dirt off of my face. Eventually, I get every spot of dirt off of myself and turn off the water. I put on my new clothes and I find a mirror. I haven't looked in one in forever. When I look into the piece of glass I don't even recognize myself. My once short, brown hair is now very long. My now clean face reveals my many freckles. My blue eyes still look dull and tired even after my wonderful sleep. I sigh at the sight. I've lost a lot of weight. My cheeks are sunken in. I look away, it bothers me to see what this screwed up world has done. I begin to head back towards my cell. My bed sounds pretty good right now. Right before I'm about to walk into my cell, I run into Carl. "Oh, hey Cassie!" He says kind of excitedly.
"Hey Carl!" I say smiling.
"My dad wants to know if you can keep watch with me tonight. He wants you to try it out." Carl says. Does that mean I don't get to sleep? Dang.
"Oh, yeah. Of course. When should I go up there?" I ask.
"Meet me up in the guard tower around nine. We got stuck with the night shift." He says rolling his eyes and walking away. I'm really happy that Rick is letting me help out around here. I obviously want to sleep, but I have to pull my weight around here. I would feel really bad if I were staying here and not doing anything to pay off my debts. I hope that this 'keeping watch' thing with Carl will help me learn more about him. I'm very curious about that boy.

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Hi guys! Thank you for the votes, comments, and reads! It means a lot! This chapter is boring sorry. It's just a filler so I can start working on the good stuff. I'll update soon! ~Lilly