Protect Me Carl

The beginning

4 "I love you, Thea. Now go to sleep, and no matter what happens, know that." My mom kissed me on the forehead as I snuggled under my covers.

"Mom, what's wrong? I am not just a little girl anymore. You can tell me. I know you don't like this arrangement, but I am all you have left."

" THEODORA! You watch your mouth! Now you get some sleep." Mama slammed her hand onto my light switch. I lay there, in the darkness, waiting to be overcome by sleep. but you know, I don't remember it ever coming. the next thing I remember is getting dressed, going down stairs, and looking for my horrible mother. she wasn't always horrible, though, only since we lost my father and brother to my father's drunk driving.

"Mama?mama you in the bathroom or something?" I swear I must have checked every room in the house twelve times and still didn't find that woman. I ran outside to see if she may have gone out to hang laundry on the clothes line.

"Mama! I cried out. still no response. I wasn't expecting one. there were more cars outside than I could count with my fingers and toes and they were making such a racket that I wouldn't be able to hear my mom if she had screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Thea honey,where's your mama?"I heard from a car pulling up near my house. it was Laurie grimes. she's my neighbor, but the grimes family are also close family friends.

" Oh hi Mrs. Grimes! hi Mr. grimes! hi Carl!"

"yes, hi sweetheart. Sheila?! Sheila you in there?" Laurie continued, calling into my house.

"Oh no, ma'am. I checked all over the place. I'm sure she'll be back later though if you still want to talk to her!"

"Rick, Rick what should we do?" Laurie asked Mr. Grimes but in a whisper to try and make it that I didn't hear her, but I have great hearing.

" Well Sheila obviously hit the road last night while everyone was asleep in order to get an early start, and we can't just leave the girl here."

" Sweetheart? can you do me a favor and hop into the backseat with Carl?" Laurie asked. I know all of the things about don't go into the cars of strangers and stuff, but these people weren't strangers! I had known them my whole life! so, I did what I was told and went into the backseat with Carl. the road was packed with cars. we were going about a foot per hour.

"What's happening?" I asked. "where are we going?" Laurie turned her head to me as Rick continued driving.

" There have been a few... accidents recently, and all of these people are just trying to prevent these accidents from happening to them."

" What do you mean 'accidents'?"

"Bad, BAD accidents. so we've got to go because we can't get stuck in the middle, either." I still didn't understand, and Carl saw that.

" it's the dead. you see, they aren't staying dead. then, these monster things go around and start to eat living people, and the size of the wound will probably kill you, but if not, the toxins from the bite will."

"Carl!"

" What mom? her and I are the same age. if I can know, so can she." Rick turned the radio broadcast up. all it kept on talking about was the refugee center and how many people (and the names of the people) have been found dead. 382. 395. 407. the numbers rose and rose. That's when we heard the first scream. Then we heard the second, then third, then nothing but screams.

" Laurie! Laurie out of the car, now!" She jumped out. Rick turned to us. "You stay here and you do NOT move do you understand?!" he jumped out of the car as well and ran off.

" You wanna play a game?" Carl asked.

" What games do you have?"

"let's take a look." he unbuckled his seat belt and reached over into the trunk. there were so many games to choose from. "You wanna play sorry?"

"Sure!" Carl began opening the game when we heard a moan.

"What was that?" I looked out the window. so did he. but we saw nothing.

"Maybe we should play later."

"Yeah let's put it away" we began putting away the pieces when something slammed against my window.

" CARL!!! What is that?!" the thing slammed its body against the car and showed his rotting yellow teeth and gums as it tried biting through the window.

"It's one of the undead things I told you about!"

"Carl open your door! Do it now!" He opened his door and we both shuffled out of the red SUV as fast as we could. we pushed through the crowds on the streets filled with the undead, soon to be undead, and the soon to be long lasting survivors.

"Mom! Dad! Where are you?! Mom! Dad!" Carl began to yell. we then ran right into Rick.

" Why the hell are you two out here? I thought I told both of you to stay in the car!"

" We were in the car dad! But one of the things slammed up on the car and we couldn't..."

" You know what, Never mind. Just follow me into the woods. Your mama's already there waiting for me. We did just that. When we found Laurie, the first thing Rick did was give each of us a gun and a knife.

" Thea? Theodora is that you?" I heard someone coming up behind me. I turned to see who it was.

" Kate! Kate I have never been happier to see you!" Kate and I embraced, but quickly because we knew that we had a serious situation on our hands. I looked at her face and instantly saw that it was teary and bloody.

"Rick! Laurie! Carl! Come here!" We had already gotten on the move, so because of my stopping they were pretty far ahead of me. Rick was the first I saw coming to me, then Carl, then Laurie.

"Who's this?" Rick asked.

" Kate. she is my friend from school." Rick turned to Kate.

" Why are you bloody? We're you bit?" Rick put one hand on his gun holster but Laurie immediately slapped it away, giving him the 'you're terrible' look. "Well were you?"

" No! no this isn't even my own blood! it's my father's... and mothers... and sisters...and..."

" Okay honey." Laurie chimed in. We'll talk about it later but right now just follow us. I'm Laurie, that's Rick and that's Carl, and for now you're just gonna have to trust us." Kate slipped her hand into mine.

" Lets keep going." Rick concluded. we continued making our way through the bushes.

There were so many bugs, and Kate's hand was SO sweaty that I didn't know how much more of it I could take. I felt a yank on my arm and then a piercing screech broke the silence of the woods.

" THEODORA!!!!" I turned around and witnessed some creature ripping the flesh from Kate's neck. the thing tugged on her body, but I still kept a strong grip on her hand.

" KATE! KATE NO!!!" What ever it was it kept on eating different parts of her. her neck, her ears, her shoulders. but I still held on. I felt Carl's arms rap around me and tug. Then I heard his voice.

" Thea you have to let go now. it's over just let go. we need to get out of here please." I understood what he was saying and knew that I had to let go but I just couldn't. I could only watch as Kate's blood flew all around as the creature started her arms. the worst part was, though, that through all of this, she was still alive. she was still screaming. I took my knife and stabbed the thing in its head, causing it and Kate to fall to the ground.Carl and his family just stood next to me now, eyes glued on Kate.she was no longer screaming because blood was filling up her mouth and she was making weird glugging noises because of her clogged windpipe. I kneeled next to her head and got my knife ready.

" I'm sorry" I whispered. I got a good grip on my knife and stabbed her in the head.

we continued on in silence. Carl put his arm around my shoulders as we walked because he knew that I needed a shoulder to cry on after murdering my best friend. it was that moment that I knew that nothing was the same, and may never be the same again.