When The World Caves In |C.G.

twenty six

It seems as though Daddy and I got back to the prison just in time. The Governor wound up attacking the place, filling the yard with walkers. Rick was outside of the fence too, nearly becoming overpowered with walkers until Daddy shot the one closest. 

The group inside of the gates managed to most of the walkers inside while Daddy, Merle, Rick and I took care of the ones near the fence line. There's still a bunch of them wandering through the gate though, all because that looney psycho took our gate down. 

I try to ignore that though, cause I see Carl. He's running at me full force so I run right back at him, matching his speed. 

"Roo!" He screams and we collide in a hug. Our foreheads bump together and we tumble to ground. I hear the others laughing at us but I don't care cause I'm still hugging my best friend real close and he's squeezing me even tighter. "I thought you were a goner, I took real good care of Mr. Tubbins for you too." 

"I thought I'd never see you again." I whisper and his grip on me falters a bit. "Where's Lori? Has she had the baby?" 

"Rory..." He says, his voice quivering. "You don't know?" 

"Don't know what?" I ask, fearing the worst. Carl hugs me tighter for just a moment before the both of us sit up. I feel leaves in my hair but I don't focus on that. I focus on the way Carl looks at me with a distant gaze. Like he's here and somewhere else all at once. 

"My mom's dead." He says, his voice shaking. My throat closes up real tight, and my cheeks get real hot as I try not to cry. 

"Come on guys, let's get inside before they come back." Glenn tells us and I'm trying not to think about the bomb Carl just dropped on me. Lori's dead? 

I've mentioned her to Daddy and Rick but neither of them said a thing to me. Carl stands up first, reaching his hand to help me up. When he does pull me to my feet, he doesn't drop my hand. I don't mind though, I'm still processing what he said about Lori. 

Carl leads me inside, and while the rest of the adults talk takes me to a cell where there's a baby laying in there in a makeshift crib. On the side written in black marker are the words "Lil AssKicker",  I recall Daddy saying something about that earlier. Now it makes sense as to who that is because the baby is cooing softly. 

"What happened?" I ask, putting my finger down. The baby grabs it with a teeny tiny hand in a vice like grip. 

"The day you went missing, Maggie, Mom, and I ran" His voice shakes, like he's reliving the moment entirely before my eyes. "We wound up in the boiler room, and Maggie had to cut mom open to save the baby. She wasn't going to make it, and I couldn't let her turn so I shot her in the head." 

I can't believe that Lori's been gone for a week now. A week that I didn't even know she was gone because I was in Woodbury. I wonder what else happened. T-dog wasn't outside neither... I can only assume the worst happened to him as well. 

"Carl..." I whisper, hugging my friend tightly. Tears are falling down my own face, but Lori wasn't my mom. She was Carl's, I got to stay strong for him. It ain't right for him to console me about Lori when she was his mama and he shot her. "I'm so sorry." 

"Thanks," he says and I reach out to grab his hand in mine, giving it a friendly squeeze. When I think about dropping his hand from mine, he just squeezes tighter as we look at the baby. "Her name is Judith, you were right about her being a girl." 

"Hi Judy," I mumble at the baby, she grips my finger tightly in her own as she closes her eyes. She looks like Lori already, or maybe she doesn't. Babies look like babies too me, but thinking she looks like Lori is something I find comfort in. Like even though she's gone, we still got. a piece of her right here. "She's a real pretty baby."