Daughter of the Fallen

Them Part 2

A few hours later, we were on the road again. I was walking with my parents and Carl.

"Hey, Carl?" I said, looking over at him.

He looked back at me. "Yeah?"

I sighed. "I'm sorry I pushed you away when you mentioned Uncle Tyreese. I was still really hurting."

He put a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay. I get it." He was silent for a long minute. "Do you wanna know how my mom died?"

I looked at him in surprise. "Only if you wanna tell me."

He nodded. "I do. It's time."

"Okay." We slowed down so my parents walked ahead of us.

He took a deep breath. "She, um, she died having Judith."

My eyes softened but I said nothing. I knew he wasn't done.

"It was a c-section. She knew she wouldn't survive. But she wanted Judith to survive. I had to give Maggie my knife so she could cut my mom's stomach open."

I grimaced slightly and Carl looked at the ground but I knew he still wasn't done.

"I shot her after."

My eyes widened a little.

"I had to. I couldn't let her turn. Maggie offered to do it but it had to be me. She was my mom."

I let go of a breath I didn't realize I had been holding. I slowly reached over and held Carl's hand, giving it a squeeze. He smiled weakly.

"Life sucks," he stated.

I nodded. "Yeah. It does. But not always."

He looked over at me and his smile grew a little. His grip on my hand tightened and he nodded, agreeing with me.

I smiled back and we continued walking.

•••

A little later, we were all waiting for Daryl to come back from "looking for water", even though we all knew that wasn't what he was doing. In the middle of our circle was a large group of water bottles.

Daryl came back and Rick handed him the note that had come with the water.

From a friend.

"What else are we gonna do?" Tara asked, voicing our unspoken argument.

"Not this," Rick answered. "We don't know who left it."

"If this is a trap, we already happen to be in it," Eugene countered, staring at the bottles. "But I, for one, would like to believe it is indeed from a friend."

"What if it isn't?" Carol mumbled. "What if they put something in it?"

Suddenly, Eugene stepped forward and grabbed a bottle, opening it.

"Eugene!" Rosita objected.

"What are you doing, dude?" I asked.

"Quality assurance," he answered.

He started to drink and my dad quickly stepped forward and knocked the bottle out of his hand.

There was a moment of silence.

"We can't," Rick reiterated.

We heard thunder rumbling above and it soon started to rain.

For me, shock was quickly replaced by laughter and joy. I pushed my hair back as the water soaked it and I felt all the sweat and blood be washed off my body.