Remnants -- Remake (Carl Grimes Gay Fanfiction)

27: Cabin in the Woods

Carl's... Kissing me?

Usually when Carl initiated this sort of interaction, I would gently close my eyes and gladly embrace the beautiful moment.

But this was completely unexpected, and my eyes were wide open in shock and confusion.

I still felt the warmth that surged through us, and the amazing feeling of Carl's soft lips brushing intimately against mine, and for a moment I was tempted to wrap my arms around him and pull him closer to me.

But we had only been arguing a few seconds ago, and I had a feeling that our dispute was not yet over.

After a few seconds - what felt like minutes - Carl parted from me, a smile vaguely identifiable on his face as his glistening aqua-blue eyes searched mine intently.

"I..." was all I could muster, still taken aback by the sensation and how suddenly and abruptly it had all happened.

I'd been wanting to do this for so long, but these were far from the circumstances I'd expected.

Carl chuckled at my reaction; something I had missed more than I thought. I may have been confused, with the embers of anger still lingering between us, but that sound warmed my heart in spite of everything.

"So... You forgive me?" I asked awkwardly, forcing myself to ask the question that would either make or break Carl and I's relationship.

"I don't know yet," Carl admitted, smile fading as he peered down at the ground, as though he were in consideration, "I just... Wanted to do that. It's been so long, I..."

"Yeah," I nodded in agreement, "too long."

A short pause followed as we both contemplated what had just happened. It was obvious from our behavior that we were very close, both mentally and physically, to kissing again. But I couldn't yet; not until we had resolved our disagreement.

"Shall we... Keep walking?" I suggested abruptly

"Y-Yeah. Lets."

Silence fell upon us once more as we traipsed cautiously through the wilderness, constantly tormented by the ever-present knowledge that potentially deadly threats - both alive and dead - could be lingering in the foliage that surrounded us.

No more than two minutes later, however, did we discover a welcoming sight through the trees.

It was not Alexandria, or the sight of a friendly face; we wouldn't be seeing either of them for several days, at least. But it promised a brief respite from the dangers of the forest.

"Some sort of cabin?" Carl wondered aloud, as we walked closer to inspect the apparently abandoned structure.

"Kinda familiar, huh?" I commented to him, referring to the ordeal with Simon all those months ago.

The fight against Simon and his men seems like nothing now. Not when compared to an absolute war with  Governor and his entire army of followers.

Besides, at least Simon was honest about being an asshole.

This cabin was not like the ones we had seen in the forest two months ago, however. Those ones were reasonably well maintained, courtesy of Simon. This one did not look as though it had been touched since before the apocalypse; the windows were shattered, the door was hanging from its hinges, and vines trailed up the facade of the cabin, seeping in through the splintered wood that composed it.

"Hardly five-star accommodation," Carl quipped as we circled the cabin, examining it from all sides.

In many ways, however, this lack of use was a promising sign. It meant that there was little chance of any hostile human occupants, and the worst we could possibly encounter was a walker or two, which we could handle with ease.