𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗 , the walking dead

[04] the grimes

THE GRIMES
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RORY GRIMES FOUND HIM, she actually found her family. Her brother, Carl, was sitting right next to her on the couch. Alive. His hair was longer and he was much taller than she last saw him, but it was really him. All grown up, probably around the same age she was the last time she saw him. Carl looked tougher, she could see it in his eyes, they weren't as innocent as they once were. That only worried her a bit, she didn't like that he wasn't her little brother anymore. He was grown up, he saw dark days and who knows what else.

The other thing was that Rory and Carl weren't alone, Carl held a baby. A baby girl who looked just ever so adorable. Rory had a feeling, by the way Carl held her and the way she just lit up at the sight of him. Rory just knew, "Is she..?"

"Meet Judith," Carl smiled, "She's our sister."

Rory slightly gasped, even though she knew she still couldn't believe it. Rory put her hands out, and this caught Judith's attention. Judith did a little baby giggle and then reached for Rory, this made her heart melt as Rory took her baby sister into her arms. Setting her down on her lap, and looking at her with a big smile. At this moment Rory felt as if everything was just falling into place. Not only was her brother alive, so was a little sister she didn't know about. It was just too much, but in the best way.

As Rory held Judith, the older two stayed silent. After not seeing each other for so long, it almost felt like they weren't real. Like this was all just a dream and if she were to speak it would make her dream end. Deep down, both of them were scared to say anything, they both blamed themselves. Both of them felt guilty even though they were both just kids, they still held themselves responsible.

Judith wrapped her little finger around Rory's, and this made Rory smile. But the smile wasn't as happy as she wanted it to be, she was devastated. She should never have given up, she should have trusted her family that they'd find a way to survive. Especially their dad, he always showed up, even when she didn't want him too. So her smile made her eyes water, because she can't be happy knowing she abandoned her family.

"I went looking for you," Rory said in a sad, shameful whisper, "I tried. I thought you—"

Carl cut her off while shaking his head, "We thought you were dead." He face was riddled with guilt, "Shane told us that he went to your school, it had been locked down and abandoned. He said...he said there were dead bodies everywhere. He saw you. Dead."

Rory didn't dare glance at her brother, she was fighting back the tears of guilt, "When things went to shit, the school quickly broke into chaos. I managed to get out before the dead got there, but even then the streets weren't all that better. I remember running into one of them, I had just watched it rip a guys faces off. It was so bloody, and his screams. It was like a horror movie in real life. It came at me, I tried to kill it but it just kept coming at me." Rory paused, took a breath as she felt the pain burning up in her throat reliving one of her more painful memories, "That's when Elliott found me, he heard me screaming and killed it. He tried to drive me home, but there was so many road blocks and chaos that we had to run it. The dead kept coming at us. It took us forever to get there, but when we got there...it was empty. I went to the hospital, but it was covered with military. So many people were dead, I thought dad was too. Elliott and I tried Atlanta city, but it was destroyed by the time we got there. I thought—I thought you guys were down there. I thought you were dead."

Only a second of painful silence passed before Carl started to apologize profusely, his voice cracking as he did and she could hear the lump in his throat start forming. Quickly and gently Rory placed Judith in the crib, and turned to Carl finally looking at him. He looked as sad as he sounded, there was a few tears that had fallen down his cheeks but he was still trying to fight off the others.