Collision

Chapter Ten

~ Chapter Ten ~

Carl's P.O.V.

I didn't know what to say; I never did in those moments. I couldn't get involved because I didn't know them well enough. All I noticed was the old man bleed to death, but I was too busy telling stories to the two children. Distracting them from reality.

I wished I had the chance to be distracted from reality as well.

"Hey man, uh... Thanks for your help back there..." Aaron said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Why would you thank me? I was pretty much useless," I spat, keeping my pace.

"Well, you kept the kids busy. They've been through so much already, they didn't need to see that," he continued, grateful. I nodded and kept on walking.

By now, I would've thought that deaths wouldn't emotionally scar me anymore. I thought wrong.

As I was walking, I saw Ellie holding Lia in the corner of my eye. They were hand in hand, each holding a jug of water. Ellie didn't look too good, her eyes had been set on the ground ever since it happened. She hasn't said a word either.

"How are you holding up?" I asked her.

She simply shrugged as a response. I then talked to Lia and said, "did you like the stories I told you?"

The six year old just nodded, keeping her eyes straight. I guess silence was a very popular option for everyone today. I sighed and kept quiet throughout the walk.

None of us knew where to go, or where we were heading. It was already lunch time with the sun right above our heads, but we still hadn't found a place to take a break. The soil was nowhere near moist, so the lake wasn't an option. The only thing we had left was the road.

"If we go out there, we risk exposure. Exposure to infected, to fireflies, to hunters, to just about everybody," Joel exclaimed.

"You never really told us about those hunters, why they tied up a person the hood of their truck?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Joel sighed and started explaining, "hunters are a group of people that don't care who you are, as long as you have something useful. If you've got guns, ammo, armor, food, clothes, just about anything, they'll take it from you. They've killed lots of innocent people, feigning injury and pretending they need help. After you give in to that act, they rob you, rape you, or kill you. Sometimes, they even take you in as a source of food. The person on the hood of their truck? It's like a warning. They use it to scare people away, it's basically a message not to mess with them. They started out in Pittsburgh, and they've stayed there a long time now. I guess they've run out of supplies back in that city, never a good sign."

"We better get out of here before more of them start showing up. Joel, the only option we have left is the road. We're lost and we're going to be dead in the morning if we keep heading this way," dad stated.

Joel pondered for a moment, then nodded. All of us headed out of the forest and on to the pathway. Right now, all we were holding on to was hope. Hope that there was something good after we kept walking. Hope that none of us would get bit anymore. But most importantly, hope that we would reunite with our loved ones.

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"Over there! I see something!" Aaron yelled, squinting and holding a hand over his head to protect his eyes from the sun.

"Can you be any louder?" Joel complained, earning a few chuckles.

"It's nothing, just a windmill," Ellie sighed.

Michonne looked up, "that doesn't mean nothing. There's got to be someone using these windmills somehow."

"She's right, let's go check this out," Rick agreed.

All of this commotion over a windmill. I let out a deep breath and kept walking.

"Stop giving yourselves false hope," Ellie muttered quietly to herself. She must've thought no one else heard her, but I did. I kept my comments to myself, but as terrible as it sounded, I completely agreed with her.