Another Chance ~Carl Grimes Love Story~

Chapter 19 - Bastard

I wake up to the feeling of a hand on my cheek. I flutter open my eyes, seeing a very familiar face. Carl. I smile at him, "Hey," I say groggily. He smiles back at me. "How ya feeling?" 

"Sore as hell," I reply, referring to my ankle for the most part. 

"You think you can walk?" he asks, standing beside my bed. I push myself up to sit. It was a lot easier than I expected it to be. He holds out a hand for me to grab. I take it, putting a lot of my weight on it as he comes up to my side to help me stand. "Here," he says. He hands me a really long stick that looks like it's been cut to make it a cane. 

"Where'd you get this?" I ask both of us slowly moving out of my cell, him still helping me.

"Daryl gave it to me to give you," I just smile.

"Here, you can let go. I've got it." I say, and he slowly unwraps his arm from around my waist. I hobble down the stairs and he follows closely behind. I turn around and look at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing here? Does Hershel know you're in here?" 

He holds up a shirt that he must've been holding the entire time. I just hadn't noticed. "I came to give you this. You know, in case you were feeling better, you should change your clothes. Clean ones, you know? So I brought you a shirt of mine to wear." I feel myself blush a little.

"I don't have any clean dresses?" I ask. He shakes his head no. "I don't think so." 

I smirk at him and take it slowly. "Alright, then. Do you think you could get me a pair of jeans from Beth?" He nods and takes off, going to go find Beth. 

I really don't like the fact that he's in here. He could really get sick. He's already been introduced to it, so maybe certain people just get it and others don't. I walk slowly back up the stairs, going to change my shirt. My entire body doesn't really hurt anymore. I still feel pretty warm and my breathing is going back to normal slowly. I think I'm really getting better. I'm gonna try to see if I can go outside. Get some fresh air. This place is really starting to smell like the dead. It's pretty awful, now that I can actually breathe through  my nose.

Once I'm in my room, I turn my back to face the door of my cell. I unbutton the shirt I'm wearing and let it fall to the ground. I hear something my bed and turn my body only slightly, my arms covering my chest and see Carl standing in the doorway. He had thrown my jeans onto the bed. He trots into my room and comes from behind me, placing his hands on the bare skin of my hips. I feel myself shiver and turn myself slightly so that my face faces his, keeping my body turned to the side. He kisses me once lightly and then again, far deeper than before. I just stand there, my arms over my chest, completely frozen. He pulls away, and I just stare up at him. He smirks and turns around, walking back out of my room and turning behind a wall so I can't see him. 

I stand there for a moment, totally starstruck. I finally snap back into reality, pulling the other shirt across my shoulders and buttoning it up, slipping off my jeans and putting on the clean pair. I get my cane off of my bed and walk out of my room, Carl sitting against the wall. I look at him and he looks up at me, standing and walking down the stairs with me behind him before he stops me. "You wanna go outside or something?" he asks.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I feel fine. My chest is a little tight and I still feel pretty warm, but I think the fresh air will do me some good. Plus, everybody except Judith and Beth have been around infected at this point." 

He nods his head slightly, putting an arm across my shoulders, walking out of the infected room with me. "Hershel's not gonna be too thrilled about this."

***

Feeling the fresh air was amazing. I've been stuck in stuffy disgusting, blood particle filled air for who knows how long. A few days. It just feels so nice to breathe. I didn't even know what I was missing.

Carl and I walked outside slowly until we saw Rick. He smiled at me and kissed my cheek, taking off to go talk with him.

I start my way towards Daryl's car as they pull in and Hershel see's me. "What do you think you're doing?" he asks, stern.

"I thought I'd get some fresh air. I'm feeling pretty good except for my ankle, so I thought 'what harm could it do'? He looks me up and down. He must have noticed that I wasn't as pale as I had been, I'm not coughing and my voice doesn't at all sound like a sick person, so he slowly nods his head once. "How's Glenn?" Tyreese asks. Hershel slowly turns himself around to face him. "He made it through the night." he says. "He's breathin' on his own now, but Maggie and Bob are with him. He seems stable enough for me to get some air."

"Alright," mumbles Tyreese.

"He's a tough son of a bitch," says Daryl. "You're a tough son of a bitch," he says to Hershel. 

"I am," says Hershel, walking away. "What about Carol?" he calls after him. Oh, no. "She up in the A Block with Lizzy?"

"No. Talk to Rick about her. She's okay, just talk to him."

Daryl looks over and see's me standing there. He smiles. "Aye there, big ass kicker! How you feeling?" 

"Pretty good, actually. Thought I'd get some air." I say, smiling at him, leaning on my cane. 

He looks me up and down for a second. "You wearin' Carl's shirt?" I look at him for a moment, nodding my head slightly.

He looks at me and then off to where we can see Carl and Rick. "Okay, then..." he mumbles.

"But I'm feeling great, so that is all that really matters," I say, saying it like he's a little kid, trying to convince him it's no big deal.

He messes up my hair with his hand. "Glad to hear it, kid." He kisses the top of my head and walks away, leaving me to comb through my hair with my fingers. My hair has faded. It really isn't that great of a color, a mix between burgundy and a black-grey. It's weird, but it was bound to fade out eventually. It's getting darker, though. Back to it's original dark brown.

"You headin' out?" I hear Hershel ask. I turn around and walk over to him and Michonne.

"You wanna come?" she asks.

"Hell yeah!" says Hershel. I smile, watching as they get into their car. Michonne leans over the driver's seat and looks at me. "Come on," she says, smiling and motioning her head for me to get in with them. I hop on the back and sit down, hanging onto one of the poles on the side of the jeep, seeing as it doesn't have a ceiling.

We ride off outside of the fence. I smile, taking in the feeling of the wind on my skin once more.

***

When we got into the forest, it was nice. We made cheap chit-chat and just felt okay. Even when we weren't talking, I just felt happy. It was nice to be outside, in the woods, hearing the cicadas, etc. I just felt happy.

While they were burning the walker's bodies, I was just sitting on the jeep's end. By the time they were done and walking back, I stood back up to the sound of Michonne's body hitting the ground. I turned to face the sound, Hershel in front of me and gun pointed at someone. A man. Who I recognized.

Hershel put the gun down slowly and I reached into my pocket, opening my pocket knife.

"You," I say. He just stares at me, gun pointed. I take a step forward. "Emma," says Hershel, putting out a hand to stop me. I take another step, pushing his arm out of the way.

"You.. Bastard." I say, feeling the anger boil inside of me. His gun is practically on my forehead and this point. I feel my veins pumping heat and pure anger.

"You're the bastard that killed my mother." 

I fling my pocket knife at him, and I see it lodge itself in his arm, though his free one comes flying at my head and everything goes black.