waiting for the light that never comes »» #wattys2018

24

ALEXANDRIA

Karen smiled as she saw Carol treat Tyreese's arm. Carol was able to put medicine on it and wrap it again.

"There. You should be okay." Carol assured as Tyreese smiled.

"Thanks, Carol. And thank you, Karen. If you hadn't have took my arm off, I would be like those walkers." He said as Karen nodded.

"Anything for family." Karen said as Tyreese smiled at her. Karen slowly hugged Tyreese, being careful not to touch his arm. Tyreese chuckled softly before she pulled away and he ruffled her hair.

"You remind me a lot of when Sasha was your age, she always had my back and she never left me behind. You have just that in you." Tyreese said as Karen smiled.

"Well, thanks, Ty." Carl came over to his girlfriend and Tyreese before tapping her shoulder.

"Hey." Karen looked up and smiled before standing and wrapping her arms around Carl's neck.

"Hey, you alright?" She asked as they both pulled away and Carl nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. There's this guy outside. His name's Aaron. He said that he's from this town called Alexandria. We're all going to check it out tomorrow." Carl said as Karen nodded. Rick called for Carl and he excused himself from Karen and walked off.

"So...you and Carl, huh?" Tyreese asked as Karen faced him to see him smirking. Karen rolled her eyes before she sat down.

"Yeah. We're a thing." She said as she looked down at her lap.

"I can see you love him a lot." Tyreese said as Karen nodded. "Do you ever regret it?"

Karen's eyes went wide as she heard the question before she shook her head.

"Never. I'm actually grateful that we're together. There's never a day that goes by that I regret being with Carl. I love him too much to think that." Tyreese smiled before he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You made the right choice, Karen. He really seems like a nice guy for you." Karen smiled before she hugged him one last time and walked away towards her sleeping area.

"Karen?" Karen turned around and saw Maggie approach her sorrowfully which kind of worried Karen. Ever since Beth, Maggie won't eat, sleep, drink, or anything. She doesn't even joke like she use to.

"Yes?"

"I want to know. You were last to see Beth. What were her last words before she died?" Karen remembered what Beth said. It was going to be hard for her to speak it, too.

"Beth...she talked about everyone. How she missed everyone. She also talked about Carl and I. She said if Carl and I got married, she wanted to be either a bride of honor or a bridesmaid along with you, Sasha, Carol, Rosita. And I actually planned on doing that. I...I miss her so much, Maggie." Karen said as tears erupted from her eyes. Maggie began to cry to and she took the strength in her to hug Karen tightly.

"Thank you, Karen." Maggie said as she cried into Karen's shoulder. Karen nodded before she sniffled.

"Come on, Maggie. We got a big day ahead of us tomorrow." Karen said as Maggie pulled away and nodded. Maggie then took her spot back next to Glenn before Karen smiled.

She saw how happy Glenn and Maggie are together and it brightened Karen's mood a lot more. If Maggie or anybody else is happy, she's happy.

She then laid down and fell asleep, thinking about the group's hopeful new haven.

~

"Here we are." The guy, Aaron, said as Rick stopped the car and the RV right behind them. Rick was the first to get out of the car, then it followed with everyone else.

They approached the gates with caution, their weapons held high and ready. Karen looked around the area and then gasped as she saw a girl appear from inside an abandoned house.

The moment Karen looked away for a second, the girl was gone. Karen thought it was all in her imagination and shook it off. The gates finally opened and out stepped Aaron, his boyfriend, Eric, and a guy.

"Welcome to Alexandria." The guy said as Rick nodded.

"Good to be here." The guy nodded before he held out his hand.

"Aiden."

"Rick." They both shook hands before Nicholas motioned for everyone to follow him. When Karen walked through the gates, she saw a beautiful neighborhood. It was quiet, but it felt more like before. Before the apocalypse, before everyone started dying.

Karen smiled at the sight, feeling like she was right back at home again. But the feeling sort of went away when the gates closed.

"Okay, let's get things straight. I'm in charge on runs, dry runs, and supply runs. The big boss is my mother, Deanna. You try and cross both of us or one of us, you're kicked out. Got it?" Everyone acknowledged before Aiden nodded.

"Now, hand over your weapons."