Complicated ✔

Ch. 48 - The Tombs

DARYL'S POV

It's been two days since that guy let lose all those damn walkers in our prison. It's been two days since my Kat was taken away from me. Carol found her way back the day before, informing us all that Kat had been alive when she last saw her after T-Dog sacrificed himself to help them get away from the walkers on their tails. But then Kat panicked and went the wrong way when they were so close to the cell block. I've kept to myself since she was presumed dead, and the group's began to take notice. They've asked me to do small things and I've simply snapped back at them. I don't want anything to do with anyone right now, because they keep asking if there was something that I'm not telling them because of how I'm reacting to Kat's loss.

I haven't exactly ate much in the last few days. I'd merely get my food and go back up to her cell to sit and eat, or I just wouldn't eat at all. I wasn't in the mood to do shit, and I sure as hell wasn't in the mood for all the questions I was being asked. Most of the time, I spent the day out in the woods. It was when I came back from walking in the woods when I found out Carol had made her way back to us. I knew Kat was last in the tomb, and I had to go down there and find her. Whether I was looking for a dead body, or a walker, I wasn't sure but I knew I had to find her and give her the proper burial she needed. When I heard that Oscar and Carl were going into the tombs to clear it out, I volunteered to help. Everyone was shocked that I was finally doing something, but they didn't say shit to me about it.

This morning, before we headed for the tombs, Rick showed up all covered in walker blood and looking mentally and physically exhausted. I think I was in the same boat as him, I could sleep well at night when all I'd see was Kat's red hair and blue eyes. It wasn't an hour after Rick went back down into the boiler room when Oscar, Carl, and myself headed down into the tombs to begin sweeping for stragglers. Not too far from the door to the cell block, we came across a door slowly pushing itself open and then closing back. "Check it out man," Oscar said behind me as he aimed his flashlight at it, "must have missed it last night." "It's probably just one or two of 'em," I said as I poked at the door, "don't look they got much fight."

I paused for a second, looking away from the door and to where Carl stood ahead of us slightly. He wasn't looking at us, like he had something on his mind. "They ain't goin' nowhere," I said looking back to the door then to Oscar, "we'll take care of it on the way back." I walked up to the kid, he was staring off into the long halls of the tombs with this blank expression on his face that he's had pretty much since we lost those in our group. It only soured more when Carol came back and told us that she lost Kat down here. "C'mon," I said nudging his shoulder before nodding off in the direction to head once he looked at me. We slowly started walking, me glancing back toward Oscar before looking ahead again with my flashlight up so I could see. Carl's been about the only one who didn't pester me after we lost his sister, of course he seemed to be in the same state of mind as I was.

"You know my mom," I started off as I looking through each of the cells in the solitary part of the tombs, "she liked her wine. She liked to smoke in bed. Virginia Slims." I stopped for a second, peering in through the crack in one of the doors to check and make sure it was clear before I carried on. "I was playing out with the kids in the neighborhood," I said glancing at the boy to my left, "I could do that with Merle gone. They had bikes, I didn't. We heard sirens getting louder. They jumped on their bikes, ran after it, you know hoping to see something worth seeing." I paused again, looking through another cracked door before looking behind me to see Oscar catching up slowly behind us.

"I ran after them," I said, "but I couldn't keep up. I ran around a corner and saw my friends looking at me. Hell I saw everybody looking at me. Fire trucks everywhere. People from the neighborhood. It was my house they were there for. It was my mom in bed burnt down to nothing. That was the hard part. You know, she was just gone. Erased. Nothing left of her. People say it was better that way. I don't know. It just made it seem like it wasn't real, y'know?" I stood there for a moment, before I heard Carl clear his throat. "I shot my mom," he said as he lifted his eyes to look up at me, "she was out. Hadn't turned yet. I ended it. It was real." He looked up at me for a moment longer before he lowered his head, speaking again. "Sorry about your mom," he whispered out.

"I'm sorry about yours," I said looking down at him as he lifted up his head, "and your older sister." We both glanced back at Oscar, seeing him a short ways back before Carl looked back to me. "Is that why you're down here," he asked in a whisper as he peered up at me again with the same blue eyes as his older sister, "because Carol told us that she last seen Kathryn here?" I looked down at him, chewing on the inside of my cheek as I debated on telling him. "Yeah," I said nodding once before looking ahead of us, "whether she's alive or a walker, I need to find her. I have to know." "I wanna know too," Carl said nodding up at me before looking ahead once more. "C'mon," I said placing my hand on his shoulder, "let's keep looking through here to make sure we don't find any surprises."

CARL'S POV

I was surprised when Daryl started telling me about his mother while we were walking. I've kept away from him since we lost Kathryn because every time I'd see someone speaking to him, he just looked on edge and the littlest thing asked of him caused him to lose his temper. I wasn't sure why he became so ill-tempered after we lost her, but I had a pretty good idea that maybe Daryl and my sister were closer than just friends like she claimed to be that day when we were in the field for the prison after we found out Hershel was going to be alright. And I couldn't agree more with Daryl about wanting to know if my sister was still somewhere down here, alive, or not. Not knowing was torture. I was hoping for the best outcome on this, but I was also expecting the worse because of the situation we were now living in.

We walked down a corridor with cells similar to ours in our prison block when Oscar found something to his liking in a cell we'd passed. "Oh that's what I'm talking about," he said as he walked into the cell, causing me and Daryl to stop and turn around, walking back towards him to see just what it was he found. "The hell you need slippers for," Daryl asked as we walked into the cell and looked down at him. "You know," Oscar said looking up at Daryl like he was crazy, "for the end of the day, relaxing." Just then, growling could be heard behind us. When we turned around, the walker was already making its way into the cell with us. Quickly, we put it down before Daryl let out a breath as he looked down and over at me.

"Alright," he said before looking back to the walker with a confused look on his face as he knelt down. "What is it," I asked taking a step forwards before spying the knife in its throat. I watched as he slowly pulled the knife out, spurts of blood coming out with it before he lifted it up to look at.

"That's Kat's knife," he said and I could hear the confusion in his voice, "the one I gave her a while back." "Does that mean she's still alive," I asked, the hopeful note in my voice obvious that I wanted my sister back. "Don't know," he said as he looked back down at the walker that the knife had originally been embedded in. Staring at it, he had this contemplating look on his face as he thought about the possibility that Kathryn was still alive somewhere in here. "Y'all go on back up," he said as he slowly began wiping the blood from the blade, "I'll meet y'all back in the cell block. And all take care of the walker in that one cell. I just need a few minutes." I watched as he looked back at us before both Oscar and I nodded, walking off to leave him to his thoughts as he stared back down at the walker in front of him.