Anything - Carl Grimes

xvii. Baby makin'

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She ain't cryin' a lot, she's calmer than most babies, Carmen thought to herself as she glanced at the baby Beth held. Carmen sat between Carl and Glenn, playing with her old oatmeal. She used to be a big fan of it but this one was made with warm water- not hot water, warm one so it wasn't as good as it should be.

She glanced at Carl every so often, noticing how he just sat there and stared into nothingness. He was slightly swollen and his eye bags were red from crying almost the whole night. Now he didn't have a single emotion on his face but his sadness was noticeable in his eyes. "Everybody okay?"

Everyone turned their heads towards the door when Rick walked in. "Yeah, we are," Maggie answered as everyone's attention turned to Rick. When he came back this morning, he was covered in blood and he looked like he had seen a ghost. It was obvious that even though Lori and he didn't get along the past few months, her death hit a nerve in his brain.

"What about you?" Hershel asked after a few moments of silence.

"I cleared out the boiler block," He stopped in front of Carl, staring down at him.

"How many were there?" Daryl asked from where he sat on the stairs next to Dottie, eating his oatmeal.

"I don't know. A dozen, two dozen," Rick replied, putting his hand on Carl's back. "I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl."

"Rick," Glenn stood up. "We can handle taking out the bodies. You don't have to."

"No, I do." He shook his head as he walked over to Daryl. "Everyone have a gun and a knife?"

"Yeah, we're runnin' low on ammo, though," Daryl explained.

"Dottie, Maggie, and I were planning on making a run this afternoon," Glenn spoke up, making Carmen lift her head to look at Dottie. Dottie obviously felt Carmen's eyes on her but decided to keep her eyes on her food, knowing Carmen didn't want her to go. "Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula."

"We cleared out the generator room," Daryl added. "Axel's there tryin' to fix it in case of emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well."

"Good. Good." Rick nodded as he began walking towards the door again.

"Rick," Hershel called out but Rick just shut the door of the cell and left again. Carmen turned to look at Carl who was staring at the table and she could see how upset he was about Rick.

...

Carmen jogged up the stairs to Dottie's cell since she was now leaving with Glenn and Maggie on that run. Carmen didn't want her to go. She didn't want her to leave. That overwhelming feeling something was going to happen didn't leave her mind. Maybe she was just paranoid, or maybe she just had a sixth sense for that stuff.

"You don't gotta go," Dottie was tying her hair up in a ponytail when Carmen showed up in front of her cell. The mother sighed and shook her head. "Glenn and Maggie are fine by themselves."

"Ain't nothin' bad gonna happen to us. We'll be back in no time," Carmen scoffed at that and crossed her arms. "And stop actin' like that. It ain't yer decision."

"T wouldn't want you to go," That reminded both of them about the argument she had with T-Dog and Daryl the morning T died. He practically begged her to be smart and stay at the prison.

"Hey, hey, hey." Dottie furrowed her brows at Carmen. "You ain't involvin' him in this. And it don't matter what he would want 'cause he's dead." The younger girl clenched her jaw as she stared at Dottie who was leaving the cell, attaching her gun to her belt.