The Governor's Daughter {Carl Grimes/The Walking Dead}

Chapter Twenty

SURPRISE CHAPTER. BAM.

Special thanks to cdm213 for inspiring me to get a few more parts in before Season 5! Speaking of which, who else is excited for the Dead White and Blue marathon on July 4th?? WITH A PREVIEW OF SEASON 5?? Awesome.

But seriously, cdm213 gave me some pretty epic ideas for a few more chapters. The two of us are working on a One Direction/Walking Dead crossover fanfiction on her account, too, so it'd be cool if you'd go check that out for me(:

Enjoy!!

~Lou

*Kayleigh's Pov*

A few days passed since I bumped into Jai, Ronan, and Christina. As happy as I am to be back with them, I can't stop myself from wondering about Rick and Michonne and Carl. Especially Carl.

Every time I try to think of someone else, I end up thinking of him again. Now I even know that Judith's alive, which is something they don't know and something they gave up on.

But all in all, I can't stop wondering if they're okay. Where they are. If Terminus is really as good a place as we made it out to be.

Speaking of Terminus, I told my comrades about that banner that Carl, Rick, Michonne, and I saw on the train, and we've decided to head there, too. I can only hope that the three of them made it there safely and that they'll still be there when we arrive. The thought of seeing them again and getting to tell them that Judy's okay makes me even happier than being back with my brother and friends does.

"Hey," Christina says to me as Ronan and Jai pull a bit ahead of us.

"Hey," I say back. I was thrilled when I first found her, but then I started remembering how she'd abandoned me. About how she'd cast Carl aside.

"Look, Kay, I think it's time I apologize," she sighs. "You know, about the whole Carl thing."

I almost -- almost -- laugh at that. Instead, I just grunt.

"You seemed to really like him and I wasn't being the supportive friend that I was supposed to be." She pauses and looks over at me, as if asking me if it was okay that she called herself my friend, before continuing, "And to be honest, I left you two alone back there because I thought that you'd be better off away from all of the crap in this world. I didn't want to the two of you to always worry. But most of all, I left you because I wanted him to have a hero moment and save you."

I grunt again, which leads to a scoff. "Are you kidding me?"

"It was cute, you know," she kind of laughs. "You getting all defensive of him that one morning. You wanting me to save him first instead of going for you, one of my best friends."

"Well, gee, maybe I did really like him," I say bitterly. "And you leaving because you wanted him to be the hero isn't a good reason to forget that that happened."

"Do you still?" Christina asks me. "Like him, I mean?"

My face grows a little red. "Duh. Of course I do. And I miss him like crazy, okay?"

"Would Jai approve of a relationship?" she chuckles.

"No, but I wouldn't care about what he thought," I sigh. "Listen, Christi--"

"Do you want us to go to Terminus just so you can see him again? Is that it?"

That question stops me. Thinking about it now, I guess she's right.

"Uh," I respond.

"I'll take that as a yes," she says excitedly. "Ah, amazing. My Kay is finally falling in love."

"Oh, shut up," I say, playfully shoving her.

The two of us laugh then. We haven't laughed together in a long time.

~
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~

"Check it out, guys," Ronan calls Christina and I up about twenty minutes later.

We join him and Jai to find an old, apparently abandoned camp up in the path ahead. A stone circle, filled with charred sticks and ashes, signaling that a fire happened there, is placed in the middle, with animal skins hanging on a stick above the pile of ruins. The bones of some smaller ones like squirrels are cast off by a tree. On the ground lays a single, tattered pillow and a canteen and some stuff like that.

"Jeez," says Christina. "Looks like this person left not too long ago."

"Yeah, this is giving me the creeps," Jai pipes up. "We should go before whoever was here decides it's a good time to come ba--"

He's stopped by a blade being held to the back of his neck. Ronan, Christina, and I spin around to find a girl about fifteen or sixteen standing pretty angrily behind him. This must be the person camped here.

This angry chick has long, wavy brown hair and bright green eyes that seem to intimidate even Christina. She has some noticeable freckles scattered around her dirt-covered face. As for her clothes, they look like she's been wearing them for a while, and they're splattered with dry blood which doesn't exactly give me a pleasant feeling.

She spits off to the side and says, "One more step and this kid dies."

"Woah," says Ronan anxiously. "We're just stumbling through. We really didn't come to take anything, we're just on our way to Terminus--"

Something changes and the new girl's glare softens. "Terminus," she repeats, taking her filthy knife away from my brother's neck.

For a minute, no one says anything or moves until Christina says, "If you don't mind me asking, what's your name?"

She smirks. "Crystal."

"Well, Crys--"

"But I go by something else," Crystal says, cutting me off.

"Which would be?" Ronan asks.

She spits off to the side again before finally saying, "Easy. I go by Guts."

Okay, so it's pretty short, but I needed there to be a cliffhanger here. I needed it to happen.

So. New chapter, new character, and obviously I'm mixing feelings about Christina. Please comment what you think about her now and whether or not you think she's trustworthy(:

And now to the topic of Crystal, aka Guts! (cdm213 came up with her, and I personally think she's brilliant.) What are you guys thinking about Guts??

THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Why do you think she goes by Guts? I'll be extremely impressed if you can guess this!!