before i sleep • carl grimes

oo. prologue

OO. PROLOGUE

Whose woods these are I think I know.  
His house is in the village though;  
He will not see me stopping here  
To watch his woods fill up with snow.  

My little horse must think it queer  
To stop without a farmhouse near  
Between the woods and frozen lake  
The darkest evening of the year.  

He gives his harness bells a shake  
To ask if there is some mistake.  
The only other sound's the sweep  
Of easy wind and downy flake.  

( Motel Inn - one year ago )

"Go ahead," Lennie scowled. "You'll fucking die out there alone."

The night was growing dark, but she could still see his pale, ugly face in the moonlight. He looked like a monster–hell, he was one.

Crickets sang around them, almost like they knew what was going to happen, as Andi glanced at the others. Lee, a dark colored man who was their group's leader, shifted his weight and shook his head. "Lennie, come on. She's just—"

"Just a girl?" She finished for him with a snap, her eyes narrowing and eyebrows knitting. Lee winced, noticing his mistake and running his hand over his face and his scruff. Perhaps she'd been too harsh, but Lennie's presence had always been enough to set her off. "You know that's not what I meant," Lee apologized quietly. Andi knew he was being sincere. Lee was the most honest person she'd met thus far. Of course, he had his flaws, but didn't every leader?

"It doesn't matter," She muttered, readjusting her backpack strap and looking away from Lee in guilt. She felt pressure building behind her eyes. Andi would be leaving the Motor Inn tonight. The feeling of dread ran through her veins like rushing water, jolting her awake. What time was it? Ten? Eleven? Since when did time slip by without a second thought?

"Look, Lennie, now isn't the time to torment her. She's been through enough," Lee said to redeem himself. Kenny, an older man–Lee's best friend–crossed his arms and nodded, touching the tip of his ball hat with his fingers. "Lee's right. She's saved your ass more than once—" he said gruffly through his grey goatee.

"And if it weren't for me letting her stay in the group after she tried killing me, she wouldn't be alive!" Lennie argued, spitting in her face. He was referring to when Andi saved him at the drug store a few miles back, giving him medicine for his "heart attack" and helping his daughter by getting him the hell out of there before it was overrun. Lennie seemed to think she was trying to drug him, or kill him.

"Bullshit!" She yelled finally, silencing the others as they had started to defend either one of them. Her voice shook as she took a step toward him. "If I hadn't saved your life back at the drug store, you'd be a walker just like all them out there," Andi pointed angrily towards their man-made rickety fence that Mark, Lennie and Lee helped build.  Beyond it were what they called 'walkers'—dead folks who had come back as something worse than dead.

Lennie was silent for a moment, and she looked away in pride. For once, she stood up for herself, and that asshole deserved it. Just then, Andi flinched as his fist flung toward her nose and she was thrown to the ground with a harsh thud, landing with her elbows skimming the concrete.

"Shit!" Lee's voice echoed, "Kenny, help me hold him!"

Andi opened her eyes and blinked the black spots from her vision. The crickets were loud and clear now that she was on the ground. She reached a trembling hand up toward her nose, feeling the bridge that hurt when she touched it. Blood dripped from her nostrils, coating her lips and hand with the crimson red liquid.