The Way Things Are (A Rarl Fanfiction)

Chapter Seven

Carl had never been so scared in his life. Even when his mom was giving birth to Judith in the prison. Or even when he shot Shane's walker. Most of the group was gone.

They were trying to divert the giant hoard of walkers that had piled up in the quarry. There were hundreds of them. They had no choice. Eventually they would have gotten out and go straight for Alexandria. There were more walkers than you could imagine. All of them snapping and biting, waiting hungrily for a taste of flesh. Worst of all was that most of the group was gone. Rick, Michonne, Daryl, Glenn, Sasha, and Abraham were just a few that had gone. Some of the local people from Alexandria went as well.

Carl knew they would be okay. They always were, but they had never faced this many walkers before. If even the slightest thing went wrong, Alexandria would be surrounded. That many walkers at once could take down part of the wall. Then they would all be screwed.

Carl was worried about Ron, too. It had been a while since they had talked. It hurt Carl. They had been together. A couple. Given each other parts of themselves they could never get back. Carl stopped to think for a moment. Enid had gone over the wall, he had lost Ron, and most of the people he loved were outside the walls risking their lives to protect this place. Carl wished he could've gone out and helped protect Alexandria, but he stayed back to watch Judith and keep an eye on the place.

As long as everything with the walkers went okay it should've been good. Wrong. After the group had been gone for only a few hours diverting the walker hoard, a delivery truck crashed into the church stationed right outside the wall. The horn on the truck got stuck and blared out into the open. They had no way to stop it. Once the horn was heard the people of Alexandria knew what would happen. The herd of walkers that the other group was diverting would come for them.

When the truck hit the building people started climbing over the walls and killing. People were dressed in rags covered in blood. The truck had been used as a diversion, so an enemy could attack. That's all they did. Kill. All of the attackers had the letter "w", in some form, written on their foreheads. Some of the letters were burned, some were cut, and some were drew in blood. They looked starving and wild. They killed everything in their path, ripping the people of Alexandria apart. Screams filled the air.

When Carl first saw one of them, a Wolf, he would later find out they were called, he ran. Right back to his house to protect Judith. She was his number one priority, no matter what. She was all he had left when his dad was gone. Ron didn't seem to want to be anything that Carl had left, but he was worried about Ron nonetheless. Judith was all that mattered right now.

When Carl entered the house he heard a noise. Carl crept through his house quietly. He heard the back doorknob turn and click. When he turned the last corner, his gun up, he almost shot. Almost. It was Enid. She had came back... At the worst time possible. After a few words of consolation that Enid was safe, Carl went upstairs and checked on Judith, who was fine. Carl and Enid sat back to back in the living room, keeping watch. They could hear the screams of the dying people outside.

One scream in particular stuck out to Carl. "Help me. Help me, please!" The voice rang out over the other sounds of death. Carl knew the voice as well as he knew his own. It was Ron's. Before he knew it, Carl was up and out the front door.

What Carl saw outside sickened him. A Wolf had been chasing Ron down the street. The Wolf had his knife out, ready to gut Ron like a fish. Ron ran onward towards Carl, pumping his legs and breathing hard. The Wolf was hot on Ron's tail. Carl lifted his gun and took aim at the Wolf. He pulled the trigger. Blood spattered the road where the Wolf was standing. His body was bleeding out on the cold pavement.

"Come inside, Ron! Stay with us!" Carl yelled to his lover. Ron looked at Carl and shook his head.

"I don't need you to protect me!" Ron yelled, then he ran off down the street towards home.  Carl, hurt, turned around and hurried back into the house. Enid was gone. She had left a note saying she had gone back out over the wall. Enid was all over the place. Carl didn't really think about Enid. She was gone. She wanted to go, so she went. Carl couldn't have stopped her. His main focus now was protecting Judith, but he couldn't stop thinking about Ron. Carl hoped Ron would make it home okay.

Ron ran straight home. He walked in just in time to see his mother stabbing a Wolf in the head. Jessie looked up at Ron, blood all over her face and body, and just cried. Jessie had kept Sam safe and now Ron was home. That was good. She led Ron up to where Sam was hiding and put him there. They hid until the attack was done. They were safe and all together. That was good enough for Jessie.

After the attack, the horn was finally shut off. The people of Alexandria didn't know how the sound would effect the people who were out herding the walkers. They just knew it would be bad. A horn like that could be heard for miles in the open. After a grueling period of waiting, most of the group that was outside herding the walkers came back. Most arrived back home, except for Rick, Glenn and the few people they lost. Rick and Glenn didn't come home, but they were the only ones who had not actually been seen being killed. So, they could still be alive. At least they all hoped so.

It was just as bad as they all had expected. Half of the walkers had broken off because of the sound of the horn. They were heading towards Alexandria. The other half of the herd had been drawn away by Sasha and Abraham. Rick had left the main group to try and divert the group of walkers that were heading straight for Alexandria. That plan failed and after a little while longer, Rick showed up... With hundreds of walkers on his tail. A whole herd. He could be heard screaming for the people on duty to open the gate from across town. They let him in and the walkers piled around Alexandria, stacking on top of each other like dominos. The people lured them around the walls, so they were evenly spread out around Alexandria and not condensed in one spot. The walls would hold and they were safe for now. Safe, but surrounded by hundreds of the undead.