Unexpected Events

-honor 8.09-

Something was up with him. I could tell as soon as I saw him. Rick and Michonne both had tears in their eyes and down their cheeks, crouched in front of him.

Everyone was down there, all trying to hide out while Alexandria went up in flames above us.

I tried to ignore it as I went closer, ignoring the looks people gave me, ignoring the bad feeling growing inside of me. Rick and Michonne looked at me devastated, Siddiq was at the end area of the tunnel too, gloomy looking.

"You get shot again or something?" I nervously laughed.

Nobody said anything.

"Where?" I bent down too, minding his stretched-out legs and going to the side with Rick.

"He's not- he's not shot, Liam." Rick stuttered painfully like he did whenever something really bad happened.

"Okay... what's going on then?" I asked not sure if I did want to know. I got lucky out there, just missing the things being shot and thrown at me, down here my luck had run out again, I could feel it.

Rick and Michonne looked to each other like they didn't know what to say before looking down at the dirt floor, defeated.

My brows furrowed, "what's going on?" I asked directly to Carl.

He sighed before moving his hands the hem of his shirt, pulling it up to show a bandage taped onto his side. He then moved to undo it, just enough to lift it up and reveal the deathly mark. He was bit.

My heart sunk, my stomach lurched, my head spun, all of it. I couldn't even process what I was seeing, feeling like it was a nightmare. Maybe it was, maybe I passed out outside.

This was real.

"When?" I asked, watching him recover it.

"When we went out." Carl answered with a breathless cough.

Rick and Michonne both looked up, the new information having both heads at me.

When we went out

It's my fault. I'm the reason he got bit.

"It's my fault." I murmured, mind going endlessly blank.

Rick looked distraught; it wasn't at all what I intended to happen.

"It's not your fault." Carl said, you could hear how much he had already faded.

I should've known why he was acting so weird. This is why he was so bent out of shape about my joke, this is why he didn't want to kiss me.

My brain couldn't even process this, the fact he was bit and closer to the end at this point.

Sweat and tears fell down my face, sweat from how hot this sewer was and tears from everything else.

I looked over my shoulder, trying to inhale a breath and calm down. Nothing felt right, maybe it was the way Tara and Daryl looked at me. Maybe it was the sound of his raspy breathing, or Rick talking in denial, Michonne's quiet sobs, or the explosions above us.

I sat down, knees bent up to my chest as I put my hand on my chest to feel my rapid heartbeats, even my body was shocked, everything was shaky and not because of what was happening upon us.

"Don't leave..." I mumbled with another perfectly timed tear, my face in an ultimate frown. Carl looked into my eyes but couldn't say anything, what was there to say? The lip quiver from him was gut wrenching, I would do anything to go back and not go after those walkers.

Carl shifted, grabbing a small stack of letters. I had saw him writing earlier but didn't say anything, why hadn't I said something?

"I didn't know if you guys would make it back in time." He gave Michonne and Rick both an envelope, then grabbing another and handing it out to me, "for after."