Ties In The Torn World

Between Breaths

June's POV: 

I feel faint but as soon as I'm about to close my eyes--

BOOM

the entire damn building shakes and dust falls on top of my head. 

what.

the.

f*ck.

I stand up quickly, feeling dizzy and stumbling over to the bars of the window and squinting my eyes, trying to see something in the distance. I suddenly hear the door burst wide open, I crane my neck to see who it is and... sh*t. 

Carl. 

"what's going on?" I ask, a hint of urgency in my voice. 

"back up" he tells me, I furrow my brows, offended. 

"excuse me?" I tilt my head to the side until I hear another loud bang, followed by multiple shouts and a couple gunshots. 

"to the wall, now!" he yells. if I was in any other situation then I was in right now, I'd be teaching him one hell of a lesson, but... I listen with a sigh. slipping on the mask of a cool and controlled character. I back up to the wall and look at him. he takes out a key and opens the cell. what is he doing? after he swings the door wide open, he takes his gun out of the holster and walks into the cell, keeping it low, but still pointing it at me. 

he grabs my arm roughly and drags me out. who does he think he is?

"the hell are you doing?" I ask and he looks down at me, there's a layer of seriousness beneath his penetrative gaze and I struggle to find out what's going on. when he opens the door, the light outside hits me like a freight train and I squint. I still don't understand what's going on as Carl leads me down the streets of Alexandria and I see people running to the direction we're headed. they're armed. 

for what? 

God, I hate the fact I feel sick. if I was in a normal state of mind, I would've been out of Alexandria's walls right now, and this boy would've been knocked out cold. I shove the pain down as deep as possible, along with all feelings that might make me seem weak. 

I finally see Rick and the rest of his group, and I see...

my dad? 

I feel a weight lift off my shoulders when I see him but when I see what he's fighting, my heart drops. I take in the entire view. there are two walls that are down, a small horde of walkers is passing through. I recognize a couple saviors as well, all fighting walkers. 

Rick stabs a walker right in the soft skull and as it falls he sees me and Carl. he runs over to us. 

"Carl!" Carl twists his neck in that direction and as soon as he lets his guard down I snatch a knife that was at his waist and I sprint, not out the open gates, but to my dad. 

I come up from behind him and he's on the floor, being attacked by two walkers. my heart beats out of my chest as I bring the knife down on a walker, blood splatters all over my shirt and at the same moment my dad shoots the other one. we make eye contact, and I let out a sigh of relief.

"bitten? scratched?" I ask him, worried. I pick myself up and offer my hand. he grabs it and stands up. 

"I'm not the kind of person to die by a walker" he says and I laugh. I open my mouth to say something before my eardrums damn near burst from a sound. a gunshot. I flinch and I look up at my dad's eyes. his eyes are wide with shock, he looks down at his stomach and I follow his gaze. 

a deep red liquid is seeping through his shirt, a gunshot. 

The world seems to freeze, the air thickens, and in that singular, heart-stopping moment when the gunshot echoes around us, everything changes. I see him fall, and it's as if the ground beneath me shifts. Panic, sharp and unyielding, claws its way through my chest. My hands shake as I rush to his side, the reality of what's happening crashing into me with brutal force. Blood, his blood, spreads beneath him like a dark promise of the end, and I'm suddenly terrified.