DEVILS ♛ C. G. 〖 #wattys2018 〗

F O U R / S I X

wow, a three day streak~

SOTC: Dark Red — Steve Lacy
• don't you give me up / please, don't give up / on me •

The last time he was in this RV, it was three months ago, and he was with April. 

He hated her then. He found joy in imagining her death, the act of shoving her out the door and watching her be eaten alive. Carl could barely think of those things without feeling a sense of revulsion.

As the RV started up again, he went down the aisle, reuniting with his lost friends. So many of them were there. Carl hugged each of them, all asking similar questions with concerned eyes, and one sentence over and over. We're so glad you're back.

Carl grabbed a change of clothes from the back. A pair of jeans several sizes too big, and a flannel shirt that hung off his shoulders. He rejoined his parents at the front, finding himself struggling with the buttons. His hands were shaky and weak. 

"It's freezing out there," Rick said. "I'm glad you changed.

"Yeah, I ditched the prison uniform."

"Carl." Michonne said it so quietly, she could have been whispering. She took his face in her hands. Studied him. "What did they do to you?"

Carl cracked a small smile. "Didn't April tell you? I was in the prison."

"And what did she do to you?"

He was holding his breath, he realized. He tried to conjure as much relief as possible. He was back. He was home. Why wasn't he loosened up yet?

It's because it isn't over. April is still out there. Negan is on the prowl.

"April was so kind to me," he said, some warmth entering his body, letting some of his smile into his voice. "She was quite generous. She was no angel, certainly. She was flawed as hell. But April sacrificed so much to try to help me. And I promise you, she feels as much animosity towards Negan as do the rest of us. She's one of the good guys."

Michonne looked grim. "Then why did she take you away?"

"She was playing a character. Negan wanted to take me anyway, to try to toy with Dad."

Michonne shook her head. "That's so sick."

"God." Rick was looking through the front window. Carl looked ahead, and almost gasped. 

It was a formidable setting. There was the Sanctuary, or at least a foggy picture of it, filling up the window as they drove nearer. And the sky around it, completely inked out by stone gray smoke. 

Part of Carl thought he should be feeling happy at the destruction of such a building, since it contained so many harsh, ugly memories. But he felt nothing but sick as he watched it crumble before his gaze. It felt like watching a sandcastle being kicked over.

"So, why are we here?" Carl asked softly. "Why did you guys come here?"

"April told us to." His dad's voice was raspy and low. He stepped forward, closer to the window. "She said she would need our help once things settled, or if any complications arose."

Carl nodded. He still couldn't stop looking at the Sanctuary. It looked almost like it was bleeding upwards, defying gravity.

They reached the gates. The smoke had gotten thicker here. It wasn't often that a catastrophe didn't involve walkers, but there wasn't one in sight. Somehow, this didn't make Carl feel any less anxious.

They began to see people around there, sparse clusters administering first aid or waiting on the side of the road. Nobody looked particularly injured, just shaken up. All eyes kept flicking back to the burning torch in the heavens.