The New Kid || Carl Grimes

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Skylar's P.O.V.

I was unloading supplies when I spotted Rachael (my older sister) sitting over on the tree trunk near the gates, crying she seems to be. I walk over to see what's the matter.

"Rachael are you okay?" I questioned.

She doesn't answer, and wipes away her tears. "Rachael..what's wro-"

"I'm fine," she stoods up. "I'm fine," and she walks away.

Since our brother, Blake, has died to a walker rampage, she's been overly depressed. I have, too. And it hasn't been easy for either of us. Nobody really there to comfort us, no more mom and dad, no support. It's just been us, and the people we've met along the way. Sometimes, our days has brightened up a bit. Like the time we searched a house, no walkers at all, yet all the lollipops you could ever have...well, in a apocalypse you could say. I guess you could call it that. An "apocalypse".

There were a little over twenty lollipops and my sister and I grabbed them all. We saved them for ourselves, but promised only to eat one when times got rough.

Which reminded me.

I reached inside my satchel, searched for a lollipop, eventually grabbing an orange flavored one, and looked around for my sister. Sooner or later, I find her, leaning on a tree.

"Rachael," I tapped her shoulder. "Cmon, take it."

She eyed the lollipop, looked me in the eye, and looked back down at it. "Thanks, Sky, but it's nothing serious. Just feeling a little down, ya know. Nothing special."

"You sure?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What about we go and-"

"Open the gates! We got wounded!" We hear Brian, a survivor of our own, shout from the other side of our gates.

Rachael and I run to the back of one of the houses, and secretly watch as our people come in with another guy, with half his arm cut off, and a few other people. Maybe they're with the armless guy.

"Stay here," Rachael says as she runs over to Brian.

While I'm waiting, I eye the four unknown people.

There's a man, maybe in his early 40s. Looks like he has a beard growing in, I guess. Looks like the leader.

There's another man, but this one looks younger, maybe mid to late twenties, and he's Asian, I think. He's with a woman, a little taller than him. Her hair's kinda short. Brunette. They seem to like each other. Maybe they're a couple.

Then, there's a---oh my god.
He looks young...around my age?! 15/16. I'm 15. He's maybe a little taller than me. His hair is brunette, and is a little long, comes to his shoulders. Wavy. He's wearing a sheriff's hat. And...I think he has a bandage around his eye. Geez, what happened to him? But...he's cute. Oh my god.

Something inside of me, is saying I want him to stay here. I want to finally have a friend. Someone I can talk to, and maybe help me become more of an optimist in this community. Sure, we're safe where we are, but I want to at least live a little. I'm still alive, aren't I?

For a second, we lock eyes. I quickly look away to break the stare. At the corner of my eye, I still see him looking at me. I decide to walk around a bit so it doesn't seem like I'm creeping. They seem to have the man all set up, and begin to take him inside so he can rest. But I see that the Asian man and the woman are talking to Rachael. I decide to walk over.

"Oh, guys. This is my little sister, Skylar," she introduces me to them. "Sky, this is Glenn and his wife, Maggie."

I shake their hands and introduce myself. "You can call me Sky, nice to meet you."

They seem very nice. I almost wanted to hug them, they were so genuine.

"Hey Sky," Maggie started. "How old are you?"
"15."
"Well then, I believe you might be good friends with Carl. You might've seen him come in with us. He's in your age range."

"I seen him go in the second house over there with the injured man, along with another."

Carl.

Now I know his name. I'm glad that I actually know he's my age now.

"Yeah, that was his father, Rick. He's our leader. And the injured one, well," Glenn gave a hopeless look to Maggie. "We don't think he'll make it. His name's Dylan and he got bit twice during a run."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I reply sympathetically.

"Maybe we should go and check in, and see how he's doing," Rachael suggests.

We all enter our leader, Greg's living room and see Dylan lying on the couch. He doesn't look too good.

I see, the dad, Rick? Yeah, Rick it is, and see him sitting down next to his son, Carl.

Carl. I won't forget it.

"Just checking in," Glenn sits beside Dylan. "How's he doing?"

"Not good," Rick replies with disappointment. "Maybe Daryl was right. We should've never brought him in. He was an amateur. He wasn't gonna last this long," Rick looked towards Carl. "Um, Carl," he gestured a look towards the door for him to leave. He did as told.

"Maybe you should give us a minute," Maggie suggests to my sister.

"Sure, take your time."
And we leave. Along with Carl.

We walk, not really knowing where to go, practically just wandering around.

"Hey," Rachael speaks up. "I'm gonna ask Lisa (our main cook) to prepare something simple for us. See ya around," she gestures a look towards my way, telling me to speak up to him.

Just like that, she leaves.
Just like that, it's me and Carl.

Alone.

We stand their silent for a bit, twiddling with our fingers, until I hear--

"Um, hi, I'm Carl."

He starts to smile, and looks me in my eyes.

Me, still silent, faces him, and I feel my cheeks start to get red.

Why am I still quiet?

A small, simple smile plasters on my face, and I finally respond.

"H-hi, I'm Skylar. B-but you can call me S-sky."