When The World Caves In |C.G.

forty two

There's a knock on the door the next morning that wakes me up. I don't get up to answer it though, instead I just stay in the bed. There's only two people it could be, and I don't foresee Rick making his way up the stairs any time soon on that leg. I'm not ready to talk to Carl yet so I continue staring at the ceiling. 

I'm real hungry though so I'll have to get over it soon. There's the sound of something being set down and his footsteps retreating down the hallway. Curious, once I know for sure he's downstairs I move the table and unlock the door. 

The jar of pickles from yesterday sits there, as well as a bowl of corn flakes. A note was placed under the bowl and I pick the items up gingerly. 

I'm sorry. 

I take the items back into the room I'm occupying, making myself comfortable on the bed as I eat the dried cereal and a handful of the pickles when I'm done. 

"Breakfast of champions." I whisper to myself, setting the empty bowl and the rest of the jar on the desk. 

I'm reading for a while, some girly book I found on the shelf. It's thick, and the first in a series about vampires and werewolves. I thought it would be really cool but turns out it's all lovey dovey. Frustrated, I throw the book to the side. I'll still probably finish it though, out of spite and boredom. 

"Wake up!" Carl's shouts echo upstairs, Rick must still be unconscious. Then I hear banging on the door so I rush downstairs with my crossbow. The closer I get the more I can tell that it's walkers at the door. Without saying anything to Carl I slip out the side door, he follows wordlessly as well. 

There's a few of them banging on the door, clawing at it as they try to get to Rick. I load a bolt into my crossbow and aim as Carl yells at the dead beings. 

"Hey you!" Slowly, they turn their decaying heads and wandering over towards the two of us. "Fresh meat, right here come and get it." 

He calls towards them, it's smart leading them away from the house. We don't want any sign of us being there. It's unknown whose lurking about this area. We walk backwards, continuing to call towards the walkers I'm thinking we're far enough away when Carl turns on his heel. 

"Oh shit." He says as another walker appears from behind us. 

Quickly, I shoot one of the walkers we were leading away as the other one grabs ahold of Carl. I swing my crossbow at the walker, pushing it away from us but it keeps coming back. Tripping over an old overturned root, Carl falls directly on top of me and I wheeze at the impact. 

He points his gun, shooting the female walker in the brain and that one falls on top of us too, I take in a sharp intake of breath as Carl wriggles around on top of me, elbowing me in the ribs. 

"Fuck!" I gasp as Carl shoots another walker and it falls on us. 

A third walker comes out of the woodwork and Carl squirms again. I can't fucking breathe, and for decaying bodies they sure do weigh a lot. He shoots the walker twice and misses, but finally the third shot lands, sending the dead thing toppling on top of us. 

I'm reminded of the farm, when Carl was shot and fell on me. This is so much worse. He's gained some weight since then and the dead walkers aren't helping neither. He exhales loudly before shoving the walkers off of us and we get up in a fit of coughs. 

Carl retches up a deep brown liquid, whatever he ate this morning is gone on the floor. He wipes his mouth off with his arm before wrapping his arms around me. 

"Are you okay?" He asks carefully. It's a loaded question, and somehow I know he's not just talking about the walkers. He's asking about everything that's happened over the past 24 hours.