Forever Alone // Carl Grimes (The Walking Dead)

Chapter 46

Edit is by me B)

Daryl and Kirsty dumped everything we owned on the kitchen table, checking to see the amount of supplies we had left. Carl and I sat on the comfortable leather sofa, his arm draped over my shoulders.

"We have about a weeks supply of food and water," Kirsty announced, tucking a strand of her red hair behind her ear. "We'll be fine for now, but we should look for supplies when we head off."

Carl stifled a yawn and I nodded to Kirsty with a small smile. Daryl rubbed his eyes in exhaustion and smiled.

"I'll take the final perimeter check, you guys should probably sleep. I'm not too tired yet." I offered and they nodded their heads gratefully. "I'll get going in a little while, you guys should get to sleep."

Daryl and Kirsty left the kitchen and padded down the hall towards their room. Carl's eyes were betraying him, closing as he began to drift off to sleep. I shook him with a small chuckle.
"You too, Carl."

He smiled and shifted his body from the couch.
"I'll see you in the morning, beautiful."

I felt a blush creep up my neck as he pecked my cheek before leaving the room. I sighed in contentment and grabbed my machete and rucksack that was down on the floor beneath my feet before sitting up. I streatched out my arms and ran a hand through my cleaned brown locks, before leaving the house and stepping into the cool night air.

The night was silent, as I thought, only the cooing of an owl to break the silence. I almost laughed at the eerie atmosphere of the whole place. I yawned and grabbed my flashlight from my backpack before flicking it on, suddenly illuminating the crisp night.

With my flashlight in one hand and my machete in the other, I began to walk the perimeter of the small brick house. A few lone Walker's lingered outside the fences, which I took out easily and expertly, before continuing. I had made it to the back of the house before the snapping of sticks immediatly caught my attention. I shone my flashlight towards the direction of the noise, earning nothing but a good view of the trees.

From my knowledge of cliché movies, now would be the time the protagonist would stupidly say 'Hello?' and get themselves killed. Instead, I flicked off my light and inched around the area where the noise originated from, trying to catch the assailant off guard.

I expected to see a Walker, an animal or even a person, but I saw nothing.

For a long time I lived with the monsters of the apocalypse around me. I learned the hard way, most times, that if you hear a noise - something going 'bump' in the night - it's not good. So, hearing nothing immediately put me on edge and I gripped my machete even tighter.

I sucked in a deep breath, moving through the leaves as quietly as possible. I spotted the movement of a shadow, just a few meters infront of me. It was almost too dark to see anything, but I caught the movement. I approached, my machete held protectively infront of my body.

I was just about to reach it when a strong hand clamped over my mouth and an ever-so-farmiliar sharp point loom over my side. I froze when a hot breath tickled my ear.

"You think you're sneaky do ya?" This voice, I haden't heard before. It was deep, but not old. I squirmed under his grip, the hand over my mouth blocking and way of screaming for help. I did the only thing I could do, I bit down on his hand until I could taste the metallic bitterness of blood in my mouth.

"Bitch." He cursed, recoiling from my body. I used his distraction to gain a few feet on him. "Get her, Brian!"

I was only a few meters from my attacker when I was knocked to the side by a powerful force, a body. I scrambled around on the ground, desperatly trying to get my footing. I screamed out for help when the body pinned me down.

"Shut up!" He ordered, pulling my hair back so my face was off the ground. Before I could react, a scratchy cloth was pressed against my mouth and nose. I refused to breathe it in but my body failed me, gasping for oxygen. The liquid on the cloth burned my nostrils as I inhaled. Only seconds after my body became numb and it took more concentration and energy to just keep my eyes open.

"Let's get her out of here. They'll surely wake up after that damn scream."

Those were the last words I heard before I welcomed the darkness once more.

-

"People are adviced to stay in their homes until the riots are over. Stay safe, stay in your houses, lock the doors and lock the windows."

The TV was the only thing making any noise throughout Lauren's house. Her father was nowhere to be seen, probably down in the nearest pub getting his fix. Her mother, Lauren haden't seen her in a few days, and honestly, it didn't bother her.

The news was constantly putting people on edge, the streets were devoid of all people apart from the few that walked around like they were high, attracted to any kind of noise.

"Lauren!" A voice jolted younger Lauren from her thoughts. Chelsie, her best friend, was banging on her window, along with two other people Lauren recognised as Chelsie's two older brothers, who she lived with after her parents passed away.

Younger Lauren ran to the door, unlocking it and ushering them in.
"What are you doing? We aren't supposed to leave our homes."

"We're getting out of here." One of Chelsie's brothers, Leo, explained. "I saw someone get eaten by another man. These aren't riots, this is an infection, a disease."

"Grab food, water and a weapon." Chelsie ordered and I immediatly complied.

Lauren was packed up, everything they told me to bring packed into the new denim rucksack she got weeks ago. A knife in hand. Lauren had never used a weapon before, and she surely didn't think she ever would have to.

Then she left her house. Lauren thought one day she would be coming back, but she never did.

-

"Lauren, what do we do?" Chelsie cried, her body shaking from the sobs. She had just lost her brothers to a horde of the monsters, Leo tried to save Trevor but they both ended up dying that day.

Lauren scanned the room of the two- story house, looking for any kind of weapon. They had lost theirs while running for their lives. The house was in the middle of nowhere, but they didn't check before they went inside. Now they were trapped inside a teenage girl's bedroom, waiting for the moment when the door would finally give way under the pressure of the two monsters pounding on it.

Chelsie hugged her knees, neither of them had killed one of them before. Leo and Trevor did that for them, but they weren't with them anymore. Lauren ran to the closet, throwing clothes all over the floor, desperately looking for something to use as a weapon. That was the moment when her eyes landed on the blue-handled machete.

You'd be surprised what people hide in their closets, Lauren thought, gripping the weapon in her hands. The door fell to the floor and the monsters toppled inside.

That was the first ever moment Lauren felt the blood of another coat her hands.

-

The moment Lauren left Daryl, Kirsty and Carl in that small brick house, she would have another fight to face. Another evil that wished to have what she had.

This time, she might not be able to win.

-

I'm backkkk!!! Did you miss me ? ;)
That is a little bit about how it all started for Lauren, how she found her machete and how she ended up with Chelsie.

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