Protect Me Carl

And the Heard Goes By

" Wow." Carl said. that was wow. that was fun. " You were good. Have you..."

" No. You?"

" No"

" That was cool,"

" Who do we tell?"

" Do we tell?"

" I don't know."

" Daryl and Amy already know, and they probably told others.

" How did they know?"

" They were suspicious when I came into your room."

" Oh. Well, they don't know for sure."

LogO " Did we make sounds?"

" I don't know."

" Did you like it?"

" Did you?"

" Uh huh."

" Same." He grabbed my but and I let out a squeal.

" Well I'm a little worried." I told him.

" Why so?"

" Amy's gonna ask for what happened in excruciating detail."

" Oh boy."

" Yep."

" We should get to work, we're already late as it is."

" you're right. let's go."

We climbed out of bed and slipped into our clothes. When we got outside, everyone just stared at us.

" Uh, hi." Carl said. he was a mess. so was I. if we were trying to hide the fact that we did it last night, we were doing a pretty bad job. Everyone laughed and kept working.

" Told you." Amy got out while giggling.

" Shut up!" I responded with a playful push. Lori came up to us.

" Y'all have fun last night? I remember my first time."

" Mom, seriously. Walk. a. way."

" Alright, alright." She went back to washing the clothes. Carl and I went to cook some meat that Rick had gotten the day before.

" So... is that like a nightly thing now?" Carl asked me.

" No, just on occasion. and we need condoms."

" Why?"

" Why! Because I'm 15! I've only even had my period for like three years! That's why!"

" Oh"

We saw Rick come running towards us.

" Everyone! Under the cars!" He yelled in a whisper-shout. "Walkers! Get under the cars!" A huge heard of walkers was coming in our direction. Amy pulled me with her under a car, Carl pulled Sophia, Daryl pulled Carol, Glenn pulled Maggie, Hershel grabbed Beth, and Rick grabbed Lori. I looked at Carl. his hand was over Sophia' s mouth to keep her from calling out to her mother. Carl repetitively mouthed to me 'it's okay, you're okay. I'm right here. Then, a bunch of walker feet started shuffling by. Hundreds of thousands! Sophia began to silently cry and Carl wrapped his other arm around her to comfort her. But he never stopped looking at me and mouthing the same words over and over. Amy was holding me down as if she thought if she loosened up I would lunge to Carl. At first I was angry at her for this, but then I realized that she was only doing it to make sure I was safe, and she just needed to take percausion.

It felt like hours before the herd had passed. Amy had loosened her grip, so I started to crawl out from under the Mercedes Benz. carl held up his hand gesturing for me not to get out, then let go of Sophia and crawled out himself. After looking around a bit he came back. he reached out his hand and I grabbed it and he helped pull me up and out from under the car. Amy was already out and was helping Sophia. carl and I ran back to the R.V together, Amy and Sophia close behind. Once we got there, we were relieved to see that everyone else was there, too. Lori came up to us.

"Oh, thank god!" She gave us both a hug.

" Where are Sophia and Amy?" Rick asked. I turned around. I didn't see them.

" They were right behind us..." I began.

" AHHHHHH!!!" We heard in a piercing scream.

" SOPHIA!!!!!" Carol ran towards the scream.

" AMY!!!!!" I started to go too, but Carl grabbed me. " What are you doing?! What if something happened to Amy?! I

need to be there!"

" Listen, you stay here and Rick Glenn and me are gonna go down there. if it's Amy and

she's gonna, you know, I'll come get you. but we'll most likely just bring her back fine. Okay?" Before giving me the time to protest, they were already off.

" Thee, come here." I went to Lori. " He's gonna come back without a scratch on him."

" Its not a scratch I'm worried about, it's a bite."

" Oh honey. I know you think that you're alone, but you're not."

" Yes, I am. My brother and dad are dead. My mom is probably off somewhere like at an abandoned bar or dead. Carl, Carl's all I have left. I told him, I told him that I was afraid to love him because... in this world especially... I didn't want to lose him to either a break up or a bite. But I just couldn't help it Lori. I've loved him since the start. And of coarse I believe in girl power, but I just need someone to watch over me. I need Carl to protect me. save me. Because in this world, what else is left?"

" Now, you don't just have Carl, you know. You obviously don't plan on a break up, and you need a family. Rick and I, and of coarse Carl, we can be your family. We are your family." She gave me a light kiss on the top of my head like a mother would to a daughter.

" You know Lori, I like to think that if my mom came back, and told me to leave you guys and go with her, I'd tell her to fuck off and go to hell."

" Now Thea, your mama loved you, she was just going through a rough patch. she was in mourning. she was in pain. Alcohol was just... just her... 'get away'. Her head would get all light and fuzzy and she'd have no more worries. Sheila just needed an escape is all. but she loved you unconditionally, and I want you to remember that."

" I love you." I mumbled.

" I love you too, Theodora." There was a brief pause before I saw Carol running towards us carrying Sophia in her arms. ( Sophia wasn't hurt, but I'm guessing it'd be pretty hard to run with one leg only supported by crutches.)

" Don't worry, they're on their way. they just need to carry Amy." Carol said while entering the R.V.

" WHAT!" I started. " What happened to Amy?!?!?!?"

No response.