DEFIANT | Carl Grimes

20: keeping him safe

"can you give us a minute?" i ask enid quietly and she walks up ahead. i go over to glenn, walking beside him. "where's, uh, nicholas... is he... is he dead? i mean, where's nicholas?"

"he's dead," glenn nods and i hand him a water bottle.

"thank you," i whisper as my eyes get teary. "thank you."

he rubs my back and pulls me into his side. "i know you guys were supposed to start working together," he says.

"yeah, well," i take a deep breath and rub my eyes. "that's not happening because reg is dead."

"he's dead?"

"pete killed him," i tell him. "pete got real drunk and killed reg. he wanted to kill rick , but rick killed him."

"and what happened in alexandria?" he asks. "we heard that sound. the gunfire."

"what happened is what always happened," enid speaks up. "people died."

"the herd broke through the walls?" glenn asks, looking at me.

"no," i shake my head. "at least not yet anyway."

"don't talk like that," he tells me.

"oh, come on glenn. let's be realistic," i tell him. "this is what happened. the dead get through. how'd they even get there?"

"they broke out of the quarry early. we got on them but that sound, the air horn. what was that?" he asks.

"people came over the wall," i tell him. "i don't know why, but they just started killing people."

"maggie, she okay?" glenn asks worried. "she's just worried about you."

we walk down another alley and stop at the fence. it's david. glenn stabs him in the head. i stare at the ground and see paper with writing on it. i pick it up.

betsy, my love
if you are reading this it means i didn't make it.

i hand it to glenn. "look," i say. he takes it. he reads it and then pauses. he looks over at david and then at me. he grabs his bag and we start walking again.

"so, did we get them all?" he asks me.

"we did."

"and your limp? is that from the infection?" he asks.

"isn't she always limping?" enid asks.

"my legs are just so sore," i ignore her.

"you need to rest," glenn says.

"i'll rest when i'm dead."

"jade."

"what?" i look at him.

he looks between the two of us. "and you two are friends?" he asks.

"well, it only makes sense," enid says.

we reach the road and glenn looks around. "let's go. we're taking the road. we need visibility," he says.

"why?" enid asks.

"because half the herd broke off and they're headed towards home." he says. "i guessed you missed that. lead the way."

~

"we're gonna need a signal," i speak up. "so, people know we're coming."

"does anyone know you guys are out here?" glenn looks at us, seemingly disappointed.

"well," i chuckle nervously. "you know we're out here. we know we're out here."

"you have to stop doing this," he says.