Our Extinction Event {Daryl Dixon}

You'll Be Alright

They took Carl to the church and laid him down inside. Parker had gone ahead, clearing the area of ​​walkers with her rifle. All around them, the houses of Alexandria were burning and the town was submerged in smoke.

"Thanks.. for... for getting me here," Carl whispered, looking ten times worse than before after making the trip there.

"I'm... I'm sorry," Rick apologized, knowing how hard the trip had been on his sons body. "I- I just... I didn't... I didn't want to leave you out there. I.. I-"

"No. No... for getting me here.." Carl said again. "For... for making it so I could be who.. who I wound up. Back at the prison... when we got attacked.. there was a kid, a little older than me. He had a gun. He was... he was starting to put it down, and I... I sh- I shot him. He was... he was giving up, and I... I just... shot him. I think about him. What I did to him and how... how easy it was to just... kill him."

"Carl, no," Rick shook his head. "No. What happened... what you'd lost... all the things you had to- all those things that you had to do. You- you- you.. you were just... you were just a boy."

"And you saw it," Carl nodded slowly, looking up at his father. "What it did. How... how easy it got. That's why you changed... why you brought those people from Woodbury in... you brought them in, and we all lived together. We were enemies. You put away your gun. You did it so I could change, so I could be who I am now. What you did then, how you... how you stopped fighting... it was right. It still is. It can be like that again. You can still be like that again."

"I can't be who I was," Rick whispered quietly, his voice gravely. "It's different now."

"You can't kill all of 'em, Dad," Carl insisted, barely able to lift his head. "There's gotta be something after. For you... and for them. There's gotta be something after. I know... you can't see it yet... how it could be. But I have. You have a beard. It's... it's bigger and grayer. Michonne's happy, Judith.. is older and she's listening to the songs I used to before with Aunt Parker's kids. Alexandria's bigger. There's... there's new houses... crops.. and people working. Everybody living... helping everybody else live. If you can still be who you were... that's how it could be. It could."

"Carl..." Rick blinked back tears. "It was all for you. Right from the start. Back in Atlanta, the farm... everything I did, it was for you. Then, at the prison, it was for you and Judith. It still is. It's gonna be. And nothing...nothing is gonna change that."

"I want this for you, Dad," Carl told him. "For you and Aunt Parker."

"I'm gonna make it real, Carl," Rick promised him, carefully placing a hand on his cheek. "I promise. I'm gonna make it real."

"Do you have my letters?" Carl asked, looking over to Parker.

"I've got them right here," She nodded, pulling them out to show him.

"Okay," Carl nodded, groaning slightly as he shifted uncomfortably. "Promise me that everyone gets them."

"I promise."

"Carl... I'm sorry," Rick whispered. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. A father's job is to protect his son."

"Love," Carl said back to him. "It's just to love." Carl took his gun and Parker shook her head, quickly covering his hand with her own.

"Carl, no. No. It should... it should be..."

"I know, I know," Carl mumbled, pulling his hand away. "Somebody you love. When you can't do it yourself. But I still can. I grew up. I have to do this."

"You've grown up," Parker whispered in agreement. "And I'm so proud of who you've become and how far you've come since Atlanta. You're so brave and so strong, and you'll be okay. Whatever comes next. My beautiful boy, I love you. I love you so much."