𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚'𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐱. carl grimes

TWENTY-SEVEN: shut up glenn

It's dark out now and we finally set up camp in the middle of the woods. We had been walking almost nonstop for a while before we found the place we are sitting at. The walking has been tough on all of us, especially because we know that we have a lot more walking to do.

I feel Claire's head rest against my shoulder and I wrap my arm around her side, pulling her closer. I adjust myself so that i'm in a more comfortable position against the tree me and Claire are leaning against and lay my on top of my sisters. I stare into the fire in front of us and see that beyond it Carl is smiling at me. I give him a small smile and he gets up to sit next to me.

"Hey" he whispers.

"Hey" I whisper back, trying not to wake Claire. "Where's Judith?" I ask.

"She's with my dad" he says nodding his head to our right. I glance that way to see Rick laying in the group with baby Judith on top of him.

"That's cute" I whisper.

I can see Carl smile through the corner of my eye. "Yeah, I guess so" he whispers.

"So..." I whisper awkwardly

"How's Claire?" the boy blurts.

I smile a bit. "Good I guess. I just hate that I have no idea what she went through out there, that I couldn't protect her" I explain.

"I understand but I'm sure Carol and Tyreese kept her safe." he whispers.

"Yeah I know. I just wish she didn't have to endure this. She's just so young."

Carl nods, "I wish Judith got to grow up normally like you and I did. Both her and Claire deserve to have the childhood all of us had."

I nod and the both of us just stare off into the fire, not knowing what to say. After a while I feel myself start to drift off and I lay my head onto the boy's shoulder like Claire is doing on mine. I feel the boy's arm wrap around me and then I peacefully fall asleep for the first time in a while.

I follow the rest of the group down a trail in the woods, on hand place firmly on my new machete and my eyes focused on the forest around us.

I hear the snap of a stick next to the trail and I turn my head along with the rest of the group. I hear the sound of multiple guns being loaded and me without a gun, pulls my machete in ready to attack mode.

"We surrender!"  my dad exclaims with his hands held up as he walks into the clearing.

I release a sigh of relief and let my machete fall to my side. I nudge my dad as he walks past me to join Rick and whisper, "You scared the hell out of me, asshole."

"That's what I do best." my dad whisper back, hitting me in the face with a dead squirrel.

"Keep close" Rick whistled at us as he lead us down the narrow path.

"Excuse me" I smiled at Michonne as I slipped past her to get to the boy a couple people ahead of me.

I squeezed myself next to the boy and matched his pace. "What's up Sheriff?" I ask.

Carl turns his head to look at me and gives me a quick smile, "Not much Trashmouth. How about you?"

"Oh just the usual, walking and trying to find people who might've been stalking us last night." I respond jokingly.