traded my life [TWD]

『117』

Glenn stays on the front porch to talk to Rick about the run.

Maggie all but carried a distraught Beth upstairs to lay down.

The run crew had a bad time, to say the least. Noah was dead. As was Aiden, Deanna's bastard son. Tara was injured- hardly hanging on to life.

"Back when Ed lost his father.. people in town sent casseroles to our house, hoping it would 'help'," Carol recalls as she sets some noodles on to boil.

"When we lost my dad, our Korean friends just gave us money," I note. "American friends sent flowers and spaghetti. We were eating spaghetti for a month after."

"I would've preferred the money," she jokes.

She glances out the window and wipes her hands on a towel.

"Glenn saw Noah die," she adds. "He did everything he could.. but that son of a bitch just had to pussy out."

I rest my elbow on the counter, jumping in fright when I see a face in the window. "The fuck?"

Carol looks over and sighs. She waves her hand to shoo away the lingering child.

"And I told Carl he was stalking," I mumble under my breath. "What the hell was that? Wasn't that Pete's kid?"

Carol rests her hands on the counter across from me. "Did Rick tell you that I killed Karen and David?"

"Yeah. To be honest, we kind of got into an argument about it right before Michonne, Hershel, and I got taken."

"Argument?" she repeats.

"I saw your point. He didn't," I clarify a bit. "And I still get why you did it."

She visibly relaxes, understanding that I saw her point of view. Or maybe it was because she was upset.. it was hard to tell.

"Would you have changed it?" I wonder.

"Yes," she answers.

My brows crease in confusion.

"I would've done it a lot sooner. Maybe if I had done it when I first thought of it, we wouldn't have lost as many people as we did. We might have had more numbers when he.. Maybe then Hershel.." she pauses.

I hang my head at the mention. Though vague, I understood clearly what she was saying. Maybe if the flu didn't kill as many people as it did, we would have been stronger when the Governor attacked and maybe Hershel could still be alive.

I feel a new weight on my chest, realizing that all of us held guilt over every decision. I still questioned the things I could've done differently that would have saved Hershel's life- and beyond. Jacqui, Merle, Tyreese.. everyone.

"Pete's hitting Jessie and the kids."

My head snaps up to look at Carol. "What?"

Carol sighs. She looks around to make sure no one is listening and moves closer.

"Sam wants a gun. But, not for himself. When I asked him who it was for, he ran. I went to their house and just.. I looked Pete in the eyes. I could tell."

When it came to topics of abuse, I knew there weren't many people outside of myself, Carol, and Daryl who could pinpoint it without words.

But, an abusive husband? Carol knew that all too well.

I go back over my encounters with Pete. We worked together, sure. But, since we were the only two with medical knowledge, we took separate shifts. We didn't cross paths at the infirmary much.

The whiskey.

My eyes widen as I recall the drink. Daryl and I's talk. Woojin's fear of Pete.

"Does Rick know?" I ask.

"Not yet," she denies. "I thought we could tell him together."

"No," I deny quickly, standing up straight.

"What?" she asks. "But.. he should know."

"He can know later. Not now."

"Something needs to be done about it. He's gonna kill her-"

"And it will be handled. Between me and you," I argue. "We can tell Rick when it's over. But it needs to stay between us right now."

Carol hesitates. "Can we?"

I scoff. "You blew up an entire place on your own and I've got my own body count. We don't need to run and tell 'dad'- we can be big girls and fix it ourselves."

She chuckles at the metaphor. 

"Plus, Rick needs to focus on how Noah got killed. He's gotta deal with Deanna straight up so those coward-ass bitches don't get more of us killed," I add.

She digests the words and inhales. "All right. So, we clean this up before it gets out of hand."

The timer dings. Carol quirks her eyebrow and leans up, getting her oven mits and taking care of the 'apology casserole' for the Monroe family.

"When?" I ask.

"Depends. You got a plan?"

The words were more vague now that we were talking at a normal tone. It was funny how fast we could switch our roles from sneaking and planning a murder to 'catching up over dinner'.

"I might. if you don't have plans tonight, Betty Crocker," I tease.

Carol sets the casserole on the counter. She gives me a knowing, but calm look. "Only thing I've gotta do is drop this off on Deanna's doorstep."

"That's fine," I assure. "We can check on Tara on our way back home. 

Carol and I left the house together. I patted Glenn's shoulder to give him some resemblance of comfort as he recounted everything over to Rick. Rick paused the conversation to ask where we were going and we said we were just extending the olive branch and checking on Tara.

𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇 𝓇𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓈--

the scary bitches are back together and killing men again we love to see it

nah cause WHY did tv canon carol go to rick to begin with when she could literally take out pete on her own and no one would suspect her ??

amc,,,,, one chance,,,,,