Alice was not worried of the unknown. She was worried of what she already knew. She was worried of the promises that the new people were making to her-the ones bringing the people of a fallen Woodbury into their own settlement. The girl felt sorry t...
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C A R L
CARL GRIMES NEVER THOUGHT that he would have to relearn himself. But he did. He listened about times in his own life as if they were bedtime stories, letting the memories play as blurred films in his own head as Alice explained them to him. Eventually, he came to remember things without being reminded—even things from before Alice came into his life. It took a while, but he gathered his bearings.
After his recovery, it did not take him long to begin traveling outside the walls. For a solid few days before the incident, Carl considered the—very real—possibility of never getting to see the outside or Alice again.
He, once again, walked out into the woods, taking in the fresh air he could not seem to capture inside the walls. His head remained on a swivel, twice over to make up for the vision he now lacked.
Someone gently tapped on his shoulder.
Carl didn't have to look to see who it was, but he wanted to see her. He turned his entire body, allowing his eye a chance to look where the other one couldn't, but no one was there.
When he turned back around, Alice was standing on his other side.
This little trick was something she did quite a few times, just to mess with him. It was a tad messed up to poke fun at his injury but Carl liked it—Carl liked her. She was the only one who didn't tiptoe around the whole thing, didn't baby him. It was something he needed to not feel like such a pitiful freak.
The boy was enamored by Alice's small giggle. "You fall for it every time."
"How'd you find me?" Carl finally captured her in a stand-still, allowing a sense of relief to pass over him once he had her in his sights. The boy thought that Alice might've liked those few seconds where he'd frantically search for her over his shoulder.
She allowed a grin to pass along her lips as she opened her eyes up at him. "I could recognize those obnoxiously loud footsteps anywhere."
The boy had been told, time and time again, that he had a heavy foot. His safety lied in the fact that he'd hear the dead before they would hear him. The only thing he wanted sneaking up on him was Alice Dunlap. His wish was granted, and she was staring up at him with an expectant gaze.
Carl continued to stare at her, so torn by the fact that she was now confined to only half of his vision. His gaze traveled around the entire surface of her face. Her skin was supple, surrounding her gentle lips. The boy wondered if her hair smelled as good as it looked. He took a breath of her downstream wind. It did.
