Spider Monkey

Chapter Seventy - Six - Thankful

Henry was out of bullets and he was panicking. He looked left and right, finding a walker on his path. Hedley took them outside Hilltop, beelining out from the chaos but quickly finding more than he bargained for. That was until he felt a familiar instinct.

"Get on my back!" Hedley ordered the boy.

"What?!"

"Get on my back and hold as tight as you can!"

Henry jumped onto Hedley's back, legs around his waist with his ankles locked together while his hands were around his neck. Hedley, now knowing the boy was accrue, began to climb the nearest tree. The higher he got, the tighter Henry gripped. The growls of the dead were below them, arms reaching up for them.

Hedley then swung on a strong branch to get to the next tree. Henry screamed but calmed when noticing how effortless Hedley was at getting from one tree to the other. He quickly lost the walkers and the two huddled into the thick stalks of a tree as night grew darker.

"What do we do now?" Henry whispered, scared.

"We wait." The older boy answered.

Henry shivered as the cold air came in through the leaves and so Hedley brought him close to his side, rubbing Henry's arms to keep the chill off.

They waited there until a voice was calling from the dark.

"Henry! Henry!"

It was Carol.

Henry went back on Hedley's back so he could climb down and as soon as they were on the ground, Henry was running towards the voice. Hedley had his knives out at the ready but luckily the only one they came across was Carol.

Henry ran into her arms and she started to cry into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry!" The boy sobbed into her chest, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." She whispered.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." He continued, "I was wrong. I'm sorry!"

Carol looked up and saw Hedley watching them with a small smile. She gasped, all the fight leaving her. "Hedley-"

"He saved me." Henry explained, "He took me up into the trees."

Carol, with Henry still clinging to her, went and hugged Hedley tightly, whispering her gratitude over and over again. Hedley just held them both for as long as they needed before heading back home.

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(( Notes: Smut and love and fluff. Don't like then skip :3 ))) 

After getting a briefing with Maggie and Rick - and having a check in with Daryl -, Michonne told Hedley where Carl was spending the night. He was in a bedroom on the ground floor of the building. He went in the door and saw Carl sitting on the bed, trousers off as he inspected the bandage around his thigh.

"Hey."

Carl's head shot up at the sound of his voice and hopped up. Hedley went to him and they both collided in a tight embrace. "I'm so glad you're okay!" Carl exclaimed into his boyfriend's shoulder, "I heard shots and screaming and dad told me to take Judith and go! I didn't know what to think. I was so--"

"I'm o-okay." Hedley said, cutting off his panicked rambling. He gave Carl a gentle kiss on the lips. "I promise." Carl hummed happily, shoulders deflating of tension and stress. Hedley carefully pushed him back onto the bed to rest. "How's your leg?"

"I'm okay. Siddiq gave me some more antibiotics and stuff to change my bandage so I can do it myself. I'm good. Oh! And Maggie found me some crutches so I can move about without putting pressure on my wound."