The Governor's Daughter {Carl Grimes/The Walking Dead}

Chapter Sixteen

"You have a son?" I hear from the room next to the one I'm in.

I walk into the doorway with my bag of supplies slung over my shoulder. Carl is asking Michonne a million questions about her family. She turns to him, shaking her head, a faint smile on her face.

"One question at a time," she says. "And after."

He frowns as she walks into a different room. I tap him, and he turns to me curiously.

"Patience," I grin.

"Oh, shut up," he rolls his eyes, smiling.

Oh, I missed that... As I walk towards the doorway, he clears his throat.

"Um... Sorry about earlier... I keep bringing up things I don't want to."

"Don't worry about it," I say. "What else did you bring up?"

His face falls. "Judith. After you went outside to wait for us."

"Oh gosh. Sorry," I blink.

"I-It's fine. See, I just brought it up again," he forces a grin.

I give his arm a light squeeze. "Don't think about her. We'll find her, and she'll be fine."

He chews his lip as I rejoin Michonne in the next room. As soon as we walk in, she slams a door shut, panting.

"What?" Carl asks.

She shakes her head.

"There's a baby in there, isn't there?" I ask sadly.

"It's a dog," she says loudly and firmly.

Carl and I stay quiet. Michonne shakes her head again and walks back to the next room. I'm curious about that room, but I don't know if I really want to see.

I sigh and turn on my heel, carrying my bag out of the room. I want to find the others. Especially little Judy. I can't stand it only being the four of us; I want everyone else, too. Including Jai. And Christina. And even if I have to be the one to tell Ronan that Eli is really dead.

"Are you ready to tell Carl about your kid?" I ask.

She stops. Carl comes up behind me and stands there.

Without turning to look at us, Michonne says, "Andre. His name was Andre. And he was a handful, like you."

I grin. "It's nice that someone finally admits I'm difficult."

"Do you think..." Carl starts. "Do you think... That wherever he is, he's with my sister?"

"Carl," I mutter.

Michonne still smiles at him. "If she's really gone, I'm sure he'll take good care of her. And so will your mom."

He nods sadly.

Once Michonne leaves once again, I turn to him. "So that's it?"

"Huh?"

"You're just going to assume she's dead?" I frown. "What kind of brother would that make you?"

"She's a baby, Kayleigh, there's no way she--" he stops in the middle of his sentence and sighs.

"The car was locked. She was buckled in. I'm positive a walker couldn't have opened a locked door and taken a baby out of a seatbelt. Someone in the group has her, Carl, you don't just give up," I say.

"Why shouldn't i? I don't want to get my hopes up for nothing..."

I glare at him. "No way. If you care about someone, if you really care about someone, you never lose hope in them. The circumstances don't matter. If you love someone, you can't give in."

"I do care about her, don't you dare try and tell me I don't," he says with a pang of sadness in his eyes.

"I know you do," I say. "You just should at least act like it."

As I go to walk away, he says, "Ever since we met, you've never given up on me."

I stop.

"What does that mean, then?" Carl asks.

"It might mean that I care about you and don't want you to get killed," I say.

"Well... I-If that's the case..." he stutters. "I won't give up on you."

I smile to myself and join Michonne again as she walks out the front door.

I yeuss you won't, Carl, I yeuss you won't.

Rick comes running up to us as we approach the house. "Go! It isn't safe here! Let's go!"

Without any question since we know to trust him, we turn and run down a different way: to the woods.

We crash through countless branches and trees until finally we appear in a clearing. Old-looking train tracks run down the center. A train is stuck in the middle of the tracks, immobilized forever.

We slow to a walk, guessing that it's safer here.

"Wait," Carl suddenly says.

Michonne, Rick, and I turn to him.

I didn't even notice the huge, white banner on the train until now.

"Those who arrive survive," I read. "The terminus?"

Even Rick pauses for a moment. "I don't know, but if it means living, then someone else might be there, too."

"It's worth a shot," Michonne agrees.

Carl smiles a little. "Then let's go."

We start to walk in the direction the banner told us to, Michonne and Rick next to each other, and Carl and I next to each other as well.