Rise Up

Chapter 22

The gates were already opening. Before I got to them, Ezekiel and a few others were making their way inside. Richard was among them. He looked bloodied and beaten. I made my way to him.

"Where is he?" I asked when I got to him.

"He's alright," he said.

"Then where is he?" I asked again.

"He went to Carol's," he said.

"If anything happened to him, I'm coming back here and I'm beating the shit out of you. You hear me?" I said sternly.

"Not exactly the first death threat I've received today," he retorted.

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"He'll tell you all about it when you find him," he said.

He made his way further into the Kingdom. I glared at him until he had disappeared. I made my way out and headed in the direction Benjamin had mentioned. After about half an hour of walking in the woods, I finally came across a road and followed it. It didn't take long to come across the only mailbox in the area. This had to be Carol's place. I was just about to turn the corner when I saw them both. Daryl was talking with Carol. I quickly knelt down. I didn't want to interrupt their reunion. They deserved the time to catch up. And maybe time with Carol could help him feel a little better. It then dawned on me that he blamed himself for Glenn's death. Even though I told him it wasn't. I knew Daryl. And I knew that he wouldn't let this go easily. Talking to Carol could help. But I wanted him to talk to Maggie. I knew she didn't hate him and that she didn't blame him. That's not her. After this, maybe we'd head back to Hilltop. I sat down and pulled out one of the pomegranates. I cleaned my knife then sliced it open. I had always loved these. I savored it. I looked over to see if Daryl and Carol were still there. They weren't. They must have gone inside. I continued eating. I took out a bottle of water and sipped on it. When I was almost finished with the pomegranate, there was some rustling I heard. I pulled out my knife and stood up. I followed the noise making sure I distanced myself. I whistled while watching the trees carefully. A walker emerged and reached for me but I quickly put an end to it. I looked into the trees and whistled again. There was two more. I dove my knife into one and knocked down the other. When the first hit the ground, I went to the other and pierced my knife into it. I waited for a few minutes, staring into the trees to make sure that was the last of them. When I was certain there was no chance of any others making an appearance, I dragged the three bodies to one spot. If I had a lighter or a match on me, I would have lit them up. Then again, I wouldn't want attention being drawn to Carol's. I looked up at the sky. The sun was barely getting ready to set. I sat near my pack and pulled out a granola bar. I then started to think about what could have driven Carol to pack up and leave. It wasn't like her to just leave the way she did. I then thought back on the day we got her and Maggie back from that building. After taking out the satellite outpost. Both she and Maggie seemed shaken up. It all became clear to me. She couldn't do it anymore. She understood that she would have to kill to save us. Like Daryl had said back at the Kingdom, if she knew about Glenn and Abraham, she'd be ready to take them all out. But she couldn't do that. Not right now at least. She needed to take a step back and figure things out for herself. Clear her head. And I respected her all the more for it. Sometimes, the shit we go through, it becomes too much. Every day in this world, we risk losing who we were. Our humanity. Some are too far gone and others, like Carol, decide to step back from it all in order to avoid that. I rested my head on my backpack and looked up at the sky again. I wasn't sure as to how much time had passed. I had actually dozed off for a bit. Looking around to make sure there was no threat around, I stood up grabbed my backpack and slung it over my shoulders. I took in a few breathes and headed to the house. There was light coming from inside. A fire more than likely. I went ahead and knocked on the door lightly. The door opened rather quickly and she looked right at me.

"Hey," I said softly.

She had been crying. More tears fell at the sight of me. And well, didn't take long for me to do the same. She came up and embraced me. I held her tightly.

"You're here," she whispered.

"And so are you," I whispered back.

We parted and I looked at her.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She wiped her tears and cleared her throat.

"Yes. How'd you find me?" she asked.

"Morgan told us that you left. That you didn't want to be found. And uh...that kid, Benjamin mentioned you. So I asked where to find you. I just...I had to see you. Had to make sure you were okay. The others don't know," I said.

"Well, Daryl does. He's inside. Are you hungry?" she said.

"Uh. Not really. I had something before I left," I lied.

"Well come on in. I'm sure Daryl would like to see you," she said.

I was hesitant. I really wasn't all that sure if Daryl did in fact want to see me.

"You okay?" she asked when I didn't move.

"Yeah. No. I'm good," I said.

I entered the house. It was small and cozy. He was right there eating a bowl of what looked like soup. He looked at me then looked down.

"So, how'd you find this place anyway?" I asked trying to avoid talking to Daryl right away.

"On our way to the Kingdom. Saw it after we came across a group of walkers. I couldn't be in the Kingdom. It was all too much for me. And so, I came here," she said.

"To clear your head?" I asked.

"Something like that. Daryl told me that you all struck a deal with the Saviors. How's that going?" she said.

I didn't have to look at Daryl to know this was what he told her. So she wouldn't worry. She didn't know about Glenn and Abraham. Or the others. And I was not going to be the one to give her the bad news.

"Well, it was hard at first. But we're all slowly getting used to it," I said.

"I'm glad to see the two of you. And to know that everyone's alright," she said.

"They'll be glad to know you are too. Would it be okay if we told them that we saw you?" I asked.

She sighed.

"Give it time. Don't tell them right away. Eventually though, I'd be okay with that. Are they still back at the Kingdom?" she said.

"Yeah. We just wanted to come and check this place out. We're gonna be taking off in the morning," Daryl said.

"It was good seeing you, Carol. Real good," I said.

She came up and hugged me once more. We parted then looked at Daryl.

"You finished?" she asked.

"Yup. All done. Thanks," he said.

"You sure you don't want any, Amelia?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm good. Thanks, Carol," I said smiling warmly at her.

"Well we better get going. We're taking off early in the morning," Daryl said standing up.

He grabbed his crossbow and his backpack then made his way to the door.

"You two okay?" she asked me.

"Yeah," I said.

"You seem distant," she said.

"We're just a little tired. We'll leave you to get some rest too," I said.

Daryl had walked out the door but stopped halfway. He turned and went up to Carol. He hugged her.

"Watch out for yourself, all right," he said.

She nodded. I kissed her cheek then hugged her again.

"Hope to see you again soon," I said.

"Same here," she said once we parted.

Daryl had made his way around the house. I looked back once more at Carol and waved. She waved back. I then followed where Daryl went.