Carl moves to Alexandria and finds Ron's journal, which he may have read a little bit (or all) of.
And then they fall in love of course.
I wrote a whole first part but it disappeared 😭
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Carl and Ron pulled up to the commonwealths gates, surprised to see them open. "Something bad happened." Carl claimed, seeing no one watching the open gate. "Yeah. Let's go on foot from here. I don't want to make too much noise." Ron said, stopping the truck and opening the door. "Good idea." Carl agreed, stepping out of the truck.
The two walked hand in hand towards the town, the issue becoming quite evident. There were walkers everywhere in town. The whole place was overrun, and a few were wondering the field they were in. "Fuck." Ron whispered, a sense of worry in his voice. "I have an idea." Carl said, putting his hand on Ron's shoulder. "We'll kill one of the stragglers and cover ourselves. Then we can go see what's going on." He explained, looking into Ron's hazel eyes. "Yeah. Ok." Ron agreed, although he wasn't enthusiastic about the idea.
"Here. This one." Carl said, gesturing to a walker before leaving their hiding spot to kill it. Ron reluctantly joined him at the body, watching as his husband cut the walkers stomach open. He'd never get used to this. "Come here." Carl said, his hands covered in blood and guts.
Ron stood still as Carl covered him in the disgusting mixture, a look of disgust on his face.
"You're ok." Carl whispered, kissing his cheek to comfort him. Now, possibly worse than being covered in it himself, Ron had to get it on his hands and cover Carl.
He reach a hand in the cut Carl had made, gagging as he did so. He quickly wiped it on to Carl, trying not to think of it as he did so.
"You're doing good." Carl encouraged him, clearly seeing that this was difficult for him. "Well I don't feel so good." Ron claimed, gathering the courage to put his hand back in the walker. He finally did so, wiping it on Carl and then throwing up. "Sorry." He said quietly, going to finish covering Carl. "It's ok. I get it." Carl said, still more desensitized to this stuff than Ron obviously. "Ok that's good. Remember, we have to stay quiet and not panic. Ok?" Carl reminded him, taking his hand.
"Mhm. I remember." Ron said, always finding the not panicking part to be difficult. "Ok. Don't let go of me." Carl said, squeezing Ron's hand and leading him to the town.
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The two Grimes slowly pushed their way through the crowd of walkers, never letting go of each other's hand. Bodies lay on the ground, too much of them having been eaten to get up once they reanimated.
They made their way towards the Grimes apartment, hoping their families would be safe inside. Thunder roared in the distance, a storm quickly approaching. One raindrop fell on Ron, then two, then three. "Carl." Ron whispered, squeezing his hand with fear. "It's ok." Carl whispered, worried, but not wanting Ron to know.
"Carl. They're going to notice us." Ron said, the worry in his voice obvious. "They won't." Carl claimed, the rain coming down harder. The two walked through the rain, picking up their pace a bit.
A few walkers looked at them as they passed by, sensing they weren't like the others.
Carl turned the doorknob of the apartment building door, surprised to find it unlocked. He pushed the door open, pulling Ron inside and shutting the door behind him. He watched for a moment as Ron caught his breath. "You're ok. I love you." Carl said, giving him a hug. "Ok. Ok. I love you too." Ron said, calming down. "We have to get upstairs. Come on." Carl said, taking Ron's hand once again.
The stairwell was clear of walkers and people. "Here." Carl whispered, stopping on the floor where the apartment was. He pushed the door open, looking both ways down the hall before going out or allowing Ron to. Once he decided it was clear, he reached and took Ron's hand again, the two cautiously walking down the hallway. He knocked on the door of the Grimes apartment, hoping his family was inside.
"Oh my god. Get in here." Rosita said, pulling the two inside the apartment.
Everyone was inside, looking quite worried. "Carl!" Rick exclaimed, he and the other Grimes running over to him, despite him being covered in walker guts.
"Are you ok? What happened?" Jessie said softly, putting her hands on Ron's face and wiping his tears. "It was aunt Phoebe. She took him." Ron whispered, breaking down into tears and hiding his face on his mom. "It's ok. He's ok." Jessie comforted him, honestly not surprised with what Phoebe had done.
"What happened? Where did all the walkers come from?" Carl asked, putting his hand on Ron's back. "The army was supposed to be leading them away from here. They must have gotten out of control and ended up at the gates. Then the gates got opened somehow." Gabriel gave his theory. "I don't think it was an accident." Daryl claimed, peaking out the blinds. "Well they're here now. Whether it was on accident or not. So what should we do? Dad?" Carl said after kissing Ron's cheek.
"It's raining now. So how you guys got here won't work to get out for now." Michonne said, pondering their options. "You think we should just leave? Leave all these people to die?" Sam said, obviously disagreeing. "We do what we have to." Michonne claimed as Rick was coming up with a plan. "There's too many to lead away." Lydia said, having experience leading walkers. "You're right. We'll have to kill them some how." Rick agreed, trying to figure out how to do that.
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The rain had stopped, and the plan was simple. Simple but dangerous.
They needed to draw the wakler to the center of town, where Daryl, Rosita, and a few others had set up a trap.
Carl and Lydia looked at each other, giving a nod to confirm they were ready and ok. The two of them were covered in guts, and were ready to push the outside walkers to the center. The walkers on the outside probably wouldn't hear the music blasting from the center of town.
Carl and Lydia were one team, Rick and Michonne another. There were more, but Carl couldn't remember any other pairing right now. He and Ron were supposed to be together, but Carl refused to let Ron out in the herd. He had already almost panicked earlier, and Carl didn't want that happening again.
Lydia screamed, bringing Carl back to the present. He looked over quickly, seeing a walker biting her arm. "Fuck!" He said quietly, rushing over to her. He killed the walker, grabbing her uninjured arm and pulling her into a nearby trailer.
She cried, holding her arm. "Hey, you're going to be ok." Carl said softly, trying to calm her. "How? Not everyone is like you." She said through her tears. "You don't have to be. It only got your arm." Carl said, getting out his knife.
She kept crying, know what had to be done. Carl took off the sheet over him with the guts on it, then removing his flannel. He tore off the sleeve, wrapping it tightly around her arm. "Bite down on this." He said, reaching her the shirt. She did so, still in tears from the pain and shock.
"Ok. We can do this. You can do this." Carl said, talking to himself and Lydia. "Just do it. Before it spreads." Lydia said. "Just breath." Carl said, raising the knife up and preparing for what had to happen.
