Down by the water • TWD

True Colors.

Jackson took a bite out of his oatmeal, watching Maggie pace through the living room. He had agreed to live with Maggie and Glenn when she had approached him with the idea. Truthfully he was grateful she asked; he didn't like the idea of being the kid with no real family, who's a burden.

"You've been pacing for the past hour." Jackson said, raising his eyebrows at Maggie's disheveled state.

"Who knows what Nicholas is telling Deanna?" She shook her head at him. Her fingers combed through her hair aggressively as she sat down on the couch.

"We know Glenn's telling the truth." He shrugged, taking another bite from his bowl. "What else can we do?"

Maggie groaned, dropping her head into her hands. "I need to get some air," she muttered into her palms, rising and walking out the front door.

Jackson watched her leave with his eyebrows furrowed. "Did I say something wrong?" He frowned to himself. Shrugging his shoulders once more before finishing his oatmeal in silence.

–

Jackson followed Carl through a break in the trees just outside the walls, stepping over fallen branches and patches of dead leaves.

"You seriously come out here all the time?" Jackson asked quietly.

"Not all the time." Carl glanced back at him.

"You literally just had me climb the walls."

"It gets easier." Carl shrugged. "At least Enid says it does."

A walker stumbled out from behind a tree up ahead before Jackson could tease him. Its clothes were torn, face half-hidden behind tangled hair, and Carl pulled his knife without even thinking.

"Get the left," he muttered.

They moved fast. Jackson swung first, knocking the walker sideways while Carl stepped in and finished it. A second walker turned toward them from farther down the path, and Jackson drove his knife into its chest before Carl shoved it back and put it down for good.

"Been a bit since I've done that." Jackson let out a breath. "You make that look way too easy."

Carl wiped his knife on his jeans. "Only because I've done it too much."

They kept walking, and eventually the trees opened up into a small clearing hidden behind a cluster of rocks and fallen branches. There was an old log near the edge and the remains of a rusted lawn chair tipped over in the grass.

Carl dropped his backpack beside the log and sat down.

Jackson looked around. "This is your secret place?"

"Pretty much." Carl said, leaning back against the log.

"It's kinda depressing."

He smirked a little. "Yeah, well, there are not exactly a lot of options around here."

Jackson sat down across from him. In the silence they just listened to the wind moving through the trees. Then he looked over as Carl spoke.

"So...did Maggie tell you what happened?"

Jackson looked down at the dirt between his shoes. "On the run?"

"Yeah."

He was quiet for a second. "A grenade went off," he said finally. "Blew Aiden into a piece of the wall. Glenn wanted to help him, but Tara was injured too."

"And Nicholas?" Carl frowned.

Jackson scoffed softly. "Nicholas wanted to leave them before anything even happened." He picked at a loose thread on his sleeve. "And Noah..." His voice trailed off. "Glenn looked messed up when he got back," he said quietly.