wait and bleed

four

the bed shifted from the added weight.

y/n groggily propped herself up on her elbows, feeling a wet rag fall down from her head.

"carl?" she croaked, rubbing her eyes, trying to adjust to the light.

"you're not dead!" the boy said loudly, sarcasm thick.

"yea not yet." she rolled her eyes yawning.

biting her lip she stood up from the bed. sawyer still hadn't been back and it had been two days now. at least she thought it had been around two days.

y/n hadn't really been focused on tracking time.

she slipped her converse back on and wiped her nose with the back of a flannel she didn't remember putting on.

"hey this yours?" she asked the cowboy referring to the navy plaid flannel.

"you were shaking like a wet rat, all i could do to get you to stop." carl explained, shrugging.

"mm thanks" mumbled the girl as she walked out the bedroom door.

she hastily went down the stairs checking her pockets for the little amount of things she carried, carl watching her from the top.

she found the remains of the tin of pudding and two dirtied spoons.

writing down a sloppy note she left through the front door.

"hey where you goin'!" carl shouted after her.

"gotta go" y/n shrugged starting in no particular direction.

"go where? need i remind you of your impending death." carl scoffed, still behind the girl.

"it's really not your buisness but if you must know i gotta find sawyer" carl grabbed her wrist making her face him.

"you don't even know where to look and you passed out yesterday. think this is a good idea" he said seriously. probably the most serious he's been since she met him.

"why do you care?" she huffed, "i'm not your pro-! hey!" in an instant his hand was over her mouth and arm wrapped around her waist.

the cowboy pulled her behind a house, removing his hand from her mouth.

"i'm convinced you're trying to get us killed!" carl hissed.

peering around the house y/n saw trucks and people shuffling into a house not far from where they stood.

a group of men, burly, gruff looking men.

she watched from a distance curious as to what they were doing.

it was strange, the way her breath got caught in her lungs. a feeling she wasn't sure she'd ever felt before.

sawyer yelled out shouting obscenities and attempting to throw off his attackers.

she stood readying to launch herself at the men before she was thrown against the floor.

carl forcefully pinned her to the dewy grass watching so very intently at the scene in front of them.

"let me go!" she hissed, kicking her feet into the dirt beneath her. carl said nothing.

"i'll kill you" sawyer screamed before being shoved into the truck. "hyper one, i think he'll like him" one of the men said before entering the rusty red truck and starting the engine.

y/n bit carl's hand forcing him to release her. her head spun as she stood much too quickly.

her feet tossed up gravel as she followed after the truck, sawyer struggling and screaming seared into her brain.

the truck drove off not even noticing her desperate attempts to save the boy. tears welled in her eyes, her chest stung, her head spinning, she dropped to the ground.

the shadow of the sheriff's hat gave away carl's position behind her. he watched as she sobbed into the gravel road.

"we'll find him" he said finally crouching down beside her after she hadn't stopped crying.

"c'mon you need rest or something" he muttered wrapping his hand around her forearm.

she shoved him off aggressively

"go ahead run right up to em, get captured too. they'll do worse things than kill you" carl spat.

his face tightened angrily as he held her glare.

"i can't just leave him!" she protested standing up again.

carl pulled her back down, redding her wrist. "what do you possibly think we can do against five men that are three times our size? jesus, i thought you were smarter than this."

he rolled his eyes throwing her arm down and walking away. "where are you going?" she yelled after him, feeling the indentations of the tiny grey rocks in her skin.

he didn't answer, just kept walking. in fear of being alone y/n stood up, her knees feeling shakey as she walked towards him.

they walked in silence, she covered her face with her mask and desperately tried not to make any noise as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

biters stood at the porch of a house, groaning and banging on the door. a rock hit the head of one of the loudest bitters, bringing it's attention to them.

"are you trying to get us killed?" y/n whisper yelled, looking to carl who had rocks in his hand. "unlike you i know what i'm doin'" carl huffed, raising his knife.

the biters began to clamber after them. the rot of their bodies making it difficult to breathe. carl successfully killed the first before being pushed to the ground by the now dead and falling body.

the second biter lunged while the third followed creating a sort of pile of the nearly dead while carl lay at the bottom of it struggling.

"carl!" y/n cried, grabbing her knife swiftly and stabbing a biter in the head while he shot the other.

"get me out of here would ya?" he groaned attempting to wriggle his body out from the dead.

she pulled on his arms and pushed at the pile. dead, stringy, rotting skin stuck to the bottom of her shoe and she desperately tried not to gag.

once free carl started at the pile before promptly turning away and vomiting majority of the chocolate pudding.

"did you get bit?" the girl beside him asked not really sure what to do with the moody cowboy.

"course i didn't." he grumbled wiping his mouth with the sleeve of y/n's flannel.

"really?!" she shouted, wrinkling her nose in disgust as she attempted to push him away. "what? it's mine anyway" carl laughed and started walking up the steps where the biters had come from.

"what are you doing?" she followed behind him feeling incredibly disturbed by the pile of dead that reeked beside her.

"packing" he sighed before grabbing a bag that was hidden beneath what y/n thought was trash. he opened the door to the house and began grabbing random food items.

"this where you staying?" she looked around the room, trying her best to ignore the family photos that eerily sat as decoration on the shelves of the living room.

"was staying, were going now. if we go now, we could probably find their tire tracks. least for a couple miles" carl slung the backpack on his back before wiping the sweat off his brow.

"you think so? you mean maybe we could find him?" she tried not to seem to hopeful, she tried to play cool.

"i told you we would"