When The World Caves In |C.G.

fifteen

Rick kicks in the door of a house, immediately shooting a walker that is directly in front of him. T-dog follows closely, stabbing a fire poker through another's brain. Daddy leads Carl and I in next. We're told that if we're to help clear out these places, we have to stick together. 

I don't mind though, I enjoy Carl's presence. We've gotten real close, typically sharing a small blanket between the two of us for on nights when one of our parents is on guard duty with Lori watching over us both.

 Carl turns a corner into the kitchen, and I hold my crossbow parallel with my eye just incase theres any danger. We walk through the kitchen, pushing through the door. A lone female walker stands there, she's slow to notice us. Carl stands out of my way and gives me a nod.

"Roo, she's yours." He tells me and I nod. 

Pulling the trigger of my crossbow, the walker falls straight to the ground and doesn't move again. While I retrieve my arrow, putting one foot on the walkers head and giving a hard yank, Carl heads back into the kitchen to search through cabinets.

We find nothing but two cans of puppy food. I grimace at the thought of eating it but Carl simply gives me a shrug. 

"Food is food." He tells me. I've ate weirder things than that, but the thought of willingly eating dog food is enough to make me forget about my hunger. Sort of. I know I shouldn't be picky, but I hate the smell of it. 

 Daddy seems to have had better luck than us in the kitchen. He's sitting by a window plucking a dead owl. I reckon he must've found it upstairs somewhere.

My stomach grumbles at the sight. There's a lot of us, so we'll only get a small portion; but a little is better than nothing. I take a seat next to Daddy, watching as he plucks the owl quickly when Carl takes a seat on the floor. He's got the cans of puppy food and is working on opening one. 

Rick sees this and takes one of the cans, throwing it to the side. He says nothing, nobody does. We don't talk much anymore. It draws the attention of the dead and takes more energy than we're willing to give. Especially when morale is so low. 

"Psst." T-dog says, gesturing towards the window. A group of walkers is making it's way towards the house. Sighing, I gather my crossbow and look towards Carl. We're quick to grab all of our things and start heading out the door, loading into our vehicles and taking off. 

We stop a little way's down the road. Scrambling out of our vehicle Carl and I make our way to the front of the brigade, holding our weapons close. We've done this dance way too many times. The one where we stand shoulder to shoulder, waiting for any sign of danger. 

"15, you're on point." Rick tells us and we both nod. The adults all gather around a map, discussing where we're going next. We've spent all winter avoiding herds, going in circles. 

We stand in silence, watching down the road for signs of trouble. I look over at Carl and see he's looking back at me. My brain feels foggy, the owl we had earlier was too small to even make a difference in my hunger and I feel dizzy. 

"What?" I ask quietly and he shrugs. 

"Just looking." He tells me.

"Mhm." I mutter and he laughs but doesn't say anything else cause Daddy is walking over to us, his crossbow slung over his shoulder. 

"Going hunting with Rick." Daddy tells the two of us. "Stick together, we'll be back soon."

Carl and I nod, watching as they head off into the woods. I'm disappointed that I wasn't invited to go along, but like I said earlier I don't mind Carl's presence. Besides I don't think I'd be much help anyways. We sit on the ground, facing opposite sides of the road back to back.