WASTE • Carl Grimes

Sixteen

2 MONTHS LATER...

I walk down the long highway, the fading sun beaming over my head with multiple grey clouds hovering over it as the cold wind pushes past me, my fingers blue and feet numb.

It's so cold nowadays that whenever I set foot in an empty house, a sudden breeze would hit me and it would feel close to impossible to even walk further into it.

The houses still standing nowadays are anything but warm and cozy. They're cold and empty, making one wish for death upon themselves if they weren't already doing so.

During winter time, I'd always either raid a store for blankets and jackets and find a house to sleep in, but I only ever sleep when I feel like my body is about to shut down on its own.

When I'm not planning on falling asleep, I climb up a tree and rest for a few seconds with a blanket around me as I watch the snow fall from the sky.

Snow has always been my favorite thing in the whole entire world. Snow and rain.

Whenever it would snow or rain, I would rush out of the house and sit in the freezing cold, grinning as I watch rain drops or snowflakes fall out of the sky.

I always found it calming and beautiful, even now, when the world had gone to shit.

I stop walking when I spot a big tree towering over me, a small smile making its way on my lips as I start to climb it until the very top, heart beating in adrenaline.

It really is a blessing that I climbed things in my free time as a child, it's like I somehow knew that I'd need the practice but I really didn't at the same time.

My feet dangle over the part of the tree that I had decided on sitting on for the day, snow slowly starting to coat the beanie I have over my head.

I carefully pull out my gun and blanket out of my backpack and settle down, shutting my eyes for a brief moment before opening them once again, smiling to myself.

I watched as snowflakes fell over me, landing on my red nose and clothes, white now coating almost every tree around me.

Although the view and weather around me are so calming and beautiful, it still sucks.

Because whenever I sit down and try to enjoy whatever is around me, thoughts that I always tend to push away start to rise, ruining everything for me.

And the one thing that I have been pushing away for so so long is the only thing that pops into my head.

Carl.

Is he in Alexandria?

Is he happy there?

Is he alive?

How long has it been since I've last seen him?

You know how some natural disaster hits the earth out of nowhere? Sometimes without any warnings even? That's what it feels like right now.

These questions and emotions that I've been pushing away for the past few weeks, just started to furiously charge at me, without any warnings.

And it all has to do with none other than Carl, the boy who's been haunting my thoughts ever since he left.

Why do I care so much?

I know the answer to that question, and I was about to think it over in my head when a voice suddenly interrupted me.

It isn't one of the many voices residing within my head, but one that resided beneath me.

Someone is there, and they can see me.

••••

Carl's p.o.v

" seriously? " I groan as I turn around to face Michonne who grins wildly at me, to which I cant help but smile and look down at the walker I was about to kill before she did.

Michonne and I come out here everyday and kill a few walkers for fun, but mostly because she wants me to stop overthinking everything.

We slash at each of their throats in the dark woods and proceed to push our weapons into their disgustingly-soft skulls before pushing them down.

It's a way of coping with everything to me now. The rush I get and the fun of putting a walker down makes me forget about everything that's going on in my life.

We've been at this for a few hours now Michonne and I, barely saying any words to one another as we enjoy the silence that comes after killing a walker.

Walker after walker, they all emerge from the depth of the woods, and since its dark, I cannot see them much.

Which makes it much better.

" I'm gonna go a little further, there are barely any here " I inform Michonne as I start to slowly walk further into the woods.

She puts down a walker and pants, her eyebrows drawn together as she looks around us.

" what do you mean? There are a lot over here " she points at the three walkers making their way towards us and I smile, shaking my head.

She seems to get the fact that I simply want to walk further into the woods out of curiosity because her eyebrows go back to their normal form and she smiles.

" be careful " she says before I disappear within the heart of the woods, knife tightly held within my hand as I scan my surroundings, not really seeing much.

I come across a few walkers, shoving my knife into their skulls each time and continuing my walk.

A walker comes over towards me and I push it away before stabbing it in the head, killing it.

As I'm about to walk away from the scene, my feet collide with something in front of them, almost tripping me.

I catch myself before I fall on my face and look down at the object, eyebrows furrowed together as my grip on my knife tightens, my knuckles white as I bend down and stare at it in curiosity.

Realization dawns on me when i see something, something so familiar I thought I was hallucinating.

I'm staring into a pair of dark eyes, their color unknown due to the lack of light around me.

They're being forced open, as if whoever they belong to is fearing for their life due to my presence.

My heart drops and my jaw falls to the ground.

This isn't an object, it's a human being.

" Carl "

And they know my name.

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