Don't Go Home Without Me [Carl Grimes/The Walking Dead fanfiction]

Escape

We've been at Terminus for who knows how long. I've been trying to keep track of the days, but it's really hard when you can't see the daylight. Sometimes I look through the cracks in the door, to see what's going on, but usually there's nothing there.

This boxcar is a pain in my ass, figuratively and literally. There's nothing to do but sit and wait, so to pass the time I like walk around the perimeter and make up little songs. Maggie likes it and says it reminds her of her sister.

It was still early in the day, but everyone was already awake and waiting for what little food we'd receive. I was humming a random melody to fill the silence and not too much longer after that, the large door opened all the way and sunlight poured in. Gareth stood in the doorway and glanced around at all of us.

"Ringleader, Archer, Asian, and who ever you are," he pointed to Bob. "You're coming with me."

Rick looked back to us and hesitated, but gave in and went with Gareth. That prompted the others to step forward and go with him. Gareth was smart though; he had brought men to escort them so they wouldn't get away.

Rick and the other passed through the door, all sending us looks saying that they'd be okay. I appreciated the gesture, but it didn't really help.

Sitting down, I pulled my knees to my chest to help keep myself warm. It was warm outside, but in here it was damp, dark, and musty. I started shivering slightly and wished for the sunlight to come back. Then I started feeling homesick, which just made everything worse.

Carl tapped my shoulder and thrust his plaid shirt into my arms. Looking at it, I shook my head. "No, keep it, you'll get chilly."

"I'll be fine, I don't want you to catch cold."

"Thank you, I appreciate it, but why are you helping me? You don't even know who I am."

He hesitated. "I know what you're going through, with your mom."

"You know?"

"I overheard Daryl talking to my dad about it after... you know."

I nodded.  "Sorry about your mom."

"It's okay."

I nodded again. "I'm Cassidy by the way. I never really properly introduced myself."

"Carl, nice to meet you, I guess."

"Wish it were on better circumstances, but yeah."

Carl chuckled. "Yeah... but we're gonna make it out of here."

Somehow, I had forgotten that I was cold until a I caught a sudden draft. I slipped my arms through Carl's shirt and pulled it around my body. The warmth I received from it made me feel a lot less worn out and tired.

While Carl and I had been talking, the others were coming up with a plan of escape. It had been about an house since Gareth came for Rick, Glenn, Daryl, and Bob, and we had all gotten even more worried.

Suddenly, lots of yelling and rapid gunfire made everyone jump up. Hopefully Rick and the others had gotten their hands on some guns.

Not long after the gunfire started, there was a loud bang. Something had exploded, which (hopefully) meant we were getting out of his hellhole. We waited around five minutes before I heard someone fiddling with the lock on the door.

"Someone's unlocking the door!" I cried.

None of us cared whether or not the person unlocking the door was one of our own or someone from Terminus. Either way, we were getting out of here.

The door slid open, revealing familiar faces. Rick, Glenn, Daryl, and Bob were standing there, guns in hand. Carl was right. We were gonna make it.

"What's happening?" asked Maggie as she jumped out of the boxcar and into the open.

"I don't know how, but the fences are down. Herd of walkers came through, and something exploded and caught the place on fire. Come on, let's go." said Rick.

We began running towards the fences. I stepped down on my foot wrong, nearly twisting my ankle, but I caught myself and kept on going. I was one of the last to reach the fence, but thankfully Daryl had stayed behind to help me over. He gave me a leg up and I grabbed onto the top of the fence to pull myself over. I tumbled to the ground and felt a sharp pain in my side.

"Shit," I muttered, lifting up the edge of my shirt. The fence caught it and gave me a nasty scratch on my side.

"Here, take this," said Rick, thrusting a gun into my arms. "Spread out along the fence, if anyone's alive, take them out. They don't get to live."

"Rick, the place is on fire. All they can do is run, and they're probably gonna end up dying anyway. We need to go." said Glenn.

Rick paused for a moment, then got ready to speak again, but Daryl ran past him and made him turn around.

A woman stood there, gun in hand.

"You did that?" asked Rick, a smile forming on his face. The woman nodded and Rick enveloped her in a hug.

"Who's this?" she asked, looking right at me.

"Cassidy, nice to meet you."

"I'm Carol. Glad you made it out okay."

"Mostly okay," I corrected. Everyone looked a bit confused until I showed off the gash in my side from the fence.

"Don't worry, I've got some stuff to patch you up. C'mon, there's also a few people you-" she gestured to everyone else "-might want to see."

We followed Carol back to a small cabin in the woods. There was a man holding a baby standing there with a smile on his face. Carl ran past me and took the baby from the man's arms, leaving room for Sasha to hug him. I'm guessing it was Tyresse, her brother.

Rick surrounded Carl and gave the baby a small hug. I couldn't help but smile at the sight. Here was a group of people - a family - torn apart by tragedy and brought back together by fate. It was beautiful and it was something I longed to be a part of.

"Cassidy, come here a second." called Carl.

Walking over, I looked at a teary-eyed Rick. The baby that Maggie mentioned must've been his daughter.

A large smile swept over Carl's face. "This is my sister, Judith. Daryl calls her Lil Ass Kicker."

The baby cooed and I smiled along with them, letting Judith play with my fingers. "She's an adorable ass kicker, that's for sure."

。。。。

A/N: Cassidy finally introduced herself to Carl! yes! and Carl gave Cassidy his shirt ;)))) nah I'm jk lmao

so, anyway, what do you think's gonna happen to Cassidy's injury? let me know, ya know, if you wanna...

oh and hopefully I'll be caught up to season six within the next few weeks.

thanks for reading!
-Sarah xoxo