BRR! - A Sturniolo Triplet Special

october twenty-third

THE WALKING DEAD AU (WE CARRY ON)

! Here, Matt is playing as Carl Grimes, no Nick or Chris mentioned !
(also, i didn't feel like rewatching the episode, so the banter isn't exactly script)

The days were grueling. Every day, there was this restless look on your face. You could feel the exhaustion in every limb of your body. Constantly fighting, the hunger shaking your bones, the thirst. The dried blood and mud covering parts of your body you never expected to find blood and mud. The shoes you've outgrown two years ago, ripped and missing part of its lace. The T-shirt 2 times too big, the long sleeve underneath to hide you from the glaring sun. The sweltering heat of the evening's, the cold shivers when you get too hot. The murderous headaches. 

It was all too much. Until the rain came. 

A barn being our best friend for the night as the storm rolled on. Water bottles filled with rain water. A dead woman in the other room. It was all normal. Matt and I are sitting in a cold corner of the barn, watching a baby. His baby sister, Judith. Matt was a great older brother. Caring for her more than he cared for himself. We had ran out of baby food a while ago. Luckily though she was getting to the age where she didn't need milk as often and could live off something more sustainable. But at the same time, none of us had eaten in a few days either. Except for that one night where Daryl found a couple rabbits in the woods. "Do you want me to hold her for a while so you can sleep?" I asked Matt quietly. Matt's blue, tired eyes looked over at me hopefully. "You wouldn't mind?" He's been carrying her for two days almost. She's been passed between me, Maggie and Rick. No one else seems to want to hold her for too long, but then again, everyone's going through something right now. I think Judith comforts Maggie in a way, giving her something to care for, to live for aside from Glenn. "Of course not." I shook my head. Matt carefully passed Judith into my tired arms. I was glad we got to sit for a moment, and the rain pattering against the barn rooftop was calming, even if we stayed the night I wasn't worried. "Go to sleep, I've got her." I promised. Matt slides down a bit, resting his head on my thigh, using a jacket we mutually shared as a blanket. I stared around at the group around me. Glenn, Rick, Michonne, and Carol. 

Rick glances back at Matt and I and I smiled slightly. "They're gonna be okay." Carol reassures Rick. I met the group when they came to the farm. Maggie and Beth had found me locked up in my bedroom at the beginning, a good family friend of mine, and took me in. When Rick and the others came, I knew thing's were going to be different. And then Maggie and Glenn fell in love with each other, and I definitely knew thing's were going to be different. Since then, we've been through so much together. So much that if anything happened to anyone, I'd be completely gutted. "Matt and Y/n bounce back better than any of us do." I overhear Carol say. They're sitting around a fire to try keeping the barn warm in the cold, harsh rain. "I used to feel sorry for kids who had to grow up in this." Rick says. I decide then, to not pay attention to their conversation. Instead, I hold Judy in one arm against my chest, running my fingers through Matt's hair gently. 

I was so tired. I looked around at everyone else. Maggie all alone, Sasha sleeping, and Daryl leaned against a wall staring at the door. He was always ready to strike, even in calm moments like this one. I felt almost a sense of safety for once. With the wooden wall pressed against my back, I didn't feel the need to look behind me constantly and wonder who was going to stab me in the back or kill me today. I wasn't afraid of what lay behind me. Just hours ago there was a huge hoard of walkers, steadily building as we lead them through a backroad filled with dense trees and more threats looming in the distance. 

I rest my head against the wall and let my eyes fall shut. I steady my breathing, ignore the burning pain in my stomach, and the dull ache in my head, and rest.