Whispers (Carl Grimes AU)

Prologue

Prologue - 3rd Person

It's funny, really, the way it all works. How the world can go from being a peaceful, organized place, to being literal hell in seconds. How you think you need someone, need them in order to live, to breathe, when really, you don't need them at all. Maybe you needed to lose them...
In 2010, the month and day long forgotten, all hell breaks loose as the dead rise. In Atlanta, Georgia, at a certain elementary school, a certain little girl hides in a boys' bathroom stall, sitting on the toilet with her feet hanging. She knows she can run straight home if she could just get past the monsters, but the speaker lady said to stay indoors.
Suddenly, the sound of the door creaking echoed throughout the small bathroom, all the noise from outside flooding in for only a second before the slam that signified the door closing. She quickly pulled her feet up, hugging her knees as the child breathed heavily, right outside her stall. She couldn't determine whether it was male or female. She knew it was a child, only because of their sneakers, much too small to belong to a grown-up. The sound of a deep, shaky sigh filled the air, and the kid sat down, finally starting to catch their breath. The little girl did her best to breathe as quietly as possible, afraid of what might happen if she made a sound.
A small voice breaks the silence.
"You can come out if you want."
It was another little girl. She could tell by her voice. She was hesitant to do as she said, especially because girls at school always teased her. But curiosity eventually got the best of her, and she stood from the toilet, slowly opening the stall door and peeking out.
The girl she was looking at was taller than her, but not by much, and seemed to be around her age. Maybe 10 or 11. She had short, dirty blonde hair, pushed back with a headband. She had green eyes, pale skin, and a small amount of freckles.
The two girls looked at each other with caution, the shorter one still only peering through a small crack in the door.
"I saw your feet," the little blonde admitted. "I knew you must be scared. I'm scared... We could be scared together."
The girl thought it made sense, considering she was, in fact, quite afraid. She opened the door a bit more, stepping out slowly.
"My name's Sophia," she said. "What's yours?" The girl considered whether or not she should give her name up, but quickly decided that it was probably okay. She swallowed, forcing herself to speak.
"Ellie," she finally responded. The blonde, Sophia, nodded.
"Nice to meet you..."
For a while, they sat in silence, not breathing a single word to each other. While Sophia was looking the other way, Ellie studied her. She had been crying, for sure, but who wasn't? It was a shitty situation, a shituation, if you will.
Ellie was a quiet, little girl, but her thoughts were always loud. Her mind was always racing, and right now, all she could think about was her family. They lived right across the street, so why hadn't her mother found her yet? The need to escape and go home sent her blood rushing through her veins. She began to fidget, feeling more and more anxious with every passing second.
"What's wrong, Ellie?" Ellie almost rolled her eyes. Everything was wrong.
"I have to get home to my family," she whispered, looking up at the window, the perfect size for her to for through, but far too high up for either of the girls to reach. It had to be twice Ellie's height. "I live right across the street. I could run straight home if I could just get out." When Ellie looked at Sophia again, she was staring at the window. She seemed to be thinking about something.
"What if you got on my shoulders?" She suggested. Ellie pondered this. Sophia was just a bit taller than her.
"Ow! Stop, that hurts!" Sophia complained as Ellie climbed onto her shoulders.
"Well, quit moving!" she snapped, finally settling comfortably. "Okay. Can you stand?"
"Probably not, with that attitude." Ellie huffed.
"I'm sorry. Can you just try?" Sophia's knees wobbled as she attempted to stand and push Ellie's weight up to the window. She was rising, but very slowly. "Come on, you can do it, you're getting there," Ellie encouraged, almost able to touch the ledge with her fingertips. Inch by inch, she continued rising, and Ellie reached up, grabbing the ledge and holding on to lessen some of the weight.
"I got the ledge!" Sophia was silent. "Sophia...?"
"You're so heavy," she groaned. Ellie exhaled in relief.
"It's okay, you're doing great, just keep going, almost there." Ellie was at the point now where she could start to climb. She pushed the window open, reaching her arms through and holding herself up. Sofia was standing upright now, exhausted and panting. Ellie struggled to pull herself through the window on her own, kicking her feet to try to catch the wall. Sofia noticed her struggling and used her arms to push her feet, sending her through the window, where she began to climb out. Rolling out into the grass, she got up and dusted herself off, looking around to make sure there were still no monsters. She couldn't see any around this part of the school, but she could hear them, which meant they weren't far.
"I'll be right back! Stay here!" she yelled down to Sophia, running off in the direction of her home.
Ellie's feet had never moved so fast. She was never good at running, but today, she didn't even have to try. As she rounded the corner, coming around the back of the school, she realized she was right about there being monsters nearby. There was only one, but Ellie knew better than to think that meant she was safe. She was about to turn around and make a run for it, but something stopped her.
Something absolutely stomach-turning.
"NO!" she screamed, clutching her stomach and drawing the attention of the monster. But she was only focused on her mother, completely ripped open and torn apart. The monsters had gotten her.
Suddenly, without warning, Ellie vomited everywhere, all over the ground in front of her. She wiped her mouth, scanning the ground. Her younger brother, Jamie, was nowhere to be found.
Ellie sunk to her knees, defeated. Tears blurred her vision, making it hard to see. As she blinked, and her vision cleared, her eyes landed on a kitchen knife on the ground, just a few feet away from her. She could tell, just by looking at it, it was from her own house, and she knew her mother must have grabbed it to protect herself. The more she stared at it, the angrier she got, and it didn't take much before she grabbed it, throwing it at the monster coming at her in pure anger and hatred. She was surprised to see that it lodged itself directly into the monster's skull, dropping it instantly. She stared at it wide-eyed, as it was now on the ground, dead. As she got a good look at it, now, she noticed for the first time, it looked like swiss cheese. It had gunshot wounds all over it, everywhere but its head. Putting two and two together, she realized the only way to kill them was by going for the brain.
Looking at her mother one last time with sorrow, and a little bit of anger, she realized that if the virus was spreading through bites, that meant that her mother would rise up and become one of the dead. This feeling was so unsettling, Ellie didn't even have to think it over before she drove the knife into her mother's skull, preventing her from becoming another monster.
Now feeling numb, unafraid, and like there was no point, she briefly considered ending her own life, which was sad considering Ellie was only 11 years old. But suddenly, she remembered something.
Jamie. She hadn't found him dead, so maybe he wasn't dead. Maybe he got away, maybe someone saved him. He was such a small child, if someone found him wandering around here alone, surely they would help him.
Ellie knew she had to find him, and she knew now, that meant she could not take her own life. Jamie was young, but he was old enough to understand that if mom was gone, Ellie was all he had left. And she knew he was counting on her, she could feel it.
She made a promise, then, to him, that she wouldn't let him down, even though he couldn't hear her. And she had this crazy feeling, he knew.

Minutes later, numb, emotionless, and now, with a purpose, Ellie walked back the way she came. There were still no walkers around that side of the school, and everything was quiet. "Sophia, I'm back!" She called, getting no response. Confused, and a bit worried, Ellie turned around and came face to face with Sophia, falling back onto the ground in surprise. She huffed, getting back up. "Sophia! I told you to stay there!" Ellie was too irritated and in shock right now to have to worry about Sophia's safety. "How'd you even get out?" Sophia looked puzzled.
"I-I don't know..." Ellie's eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean you don't know, you were just-" Looking back down into the bathroom window, Ellie cut herself off with a gasp.
There, on the bathroom floor, right where she had been standing before, Sophia lay lifeless, completely unmoving, limbs spread out. She was laying in such an uncomfortable, unnatural position, it made Ellie's stomach twist and turn.
Turning back around, she saw that Sophia was also still standing next to her, staring down at her lifeless body.
"Ellie... I-Is that me?" she whispered, her lip quivering. Ellie didn't respond. She felt like her brain was drowning in her skull. She knew it wasn't possible to see someone after they've died... She knew it. But no matter how many times she blinked, rubbed her eyes, shook her head, pinched herself. Sophia's ghost never disappeared.
Yep... Life is funny. It's fucking hysterical.