Found Book One

Pudding

"I found some things but that house was really bare," I say. I pull some cans a bag of cereal out of my bag.

"Well you aren't going to the houses down the road by yourself that's too far for me to hear you if something happens," Carl says.

I let out a chuckle, "Really Carl. I was out there for an entire year taking care of more than just myself." He shakes his head again.

"Well as far as I know you and my dad are the only things I have left," I nod.

We walk down the leaf covered road, I bite back a smile as Carl's pinky brushes against the back of my hand.

I lace my fingers with his, "This house looks big," he says.

I nod as he leads me over to the home. He leans down and pulls a lawn lamp out of the ground. I walk up the steps and stand by the door.

I smile when he runs up the porch steps and across the porch. Carl slams his shoulder into the wooden door.

I laugh as he falls back down onto the porch. "Shit," he groans, my ribs hurt. I squeal as he grabs my ankle he yanks me down.

I land beside him on my back still laughing. "That was the smartest thing I've ever seen anyone do," I say between giggles.

He chuckles lightly, "I did it to impress you," he says looking to the ceiling of the porch.

I turn my head to him, "Why do you think you need to impress me?" I ask. He looks over at me.

"I mean you're beautiful, why wouldn't I try to impress you?" he questions. I sit up letting my hair fall in my face to cover the redness on my ears and cheeks.

I push my red locks out of the way and stand up. Carl stands as well, "I'm sorry," he says. I look up at him.

"I shouldn't have said anything," he says his cheeks reddening as well.

I stand on my toes and kiss his cheek. "You have nothing to be sorry for," I whisper taking the lamp from his hand.

I jam the spiked end into the lock, the door swings open with a creak. We both move toward the stairs.

Carl opens the bathroom door and opens the medicine cabinet. He passes me a bottle of Advil and an inhaler.

I shove the inhaler into my pocket and put the Advil in my bag. He places some more things in his bag and I walk out and into the next open door.

"It's going to get cold soon so try to find warm clothes," Carl says from the hallway, I open the wardrobe and pull out a gree sweater with large buttons.

I walk back out of the room to see Carl open the other bedroom door. A walker slams against it and Carl tries to slam it shut again.

The dead one's arm gets caught in the door. The bone snaps and dark brown blood sprays from its limb.

I rush over and pull out my knife. The door flies open Carl gets knocked to the ground.

The walker stumbles toward me, I grab his shirt and hold him at arm's length. Growls fall from its rotted lips as it tries to eat my flesh.

Carl yanks it back into the room. It falls on top of Carl. I grab his arm and pull him toward the door.

The walker grabs his foot as I yank him out the door. It pulls of Carl's shoe as he scrambles into the hall.

I slam the door with my foot before falling back onto the floor beside Carl. His hand is still attached to mine as we catch our breath on the dusty carpet.

"We should check the kitchen," he says, slowly standing up.

I look around the raided kitchen from the doorway. A smile pulls at the corners of my lips as I spot two huge cans of pudding.

"Carl look," I say pointing to the top shelf. He looks up to where I'm pointing.

"Come here," he says pushing a chair up to the counter. He holds out his hand and I take it as I step up into the chair.

I stretch up onto my toes but I still can't reach.

I kick the objects off the counter and climb onto the marble surface. I grab one of the cans and drop it down to Carl.

He laughs and holds it in the air like the holy grail. I hop down with the other can.

"Hey, I bet you can't eat a whole can by yourself," he challenges with a smirk.

I smile too, "You think you can out pudding me!" I yell running up the stairs with the can opener and some spoons.

He laughs and follows me, we go into walker free bedroom and climb out the window.

I sit on the edge of the roof with my legs dangling down, I quickly open my can and start eating the amazing chocolate goo.

Carl starts with little complaint about me starting sooner, "How did you end up on your own?" he asks wiping some pudding from his chin.

I sigh and eat another spoonful, "It was just me, my friend, my brother and mom at first. Then we met some people on the way, it went bad pretty quickly after that. Me and my friend Myra, we got separated from them," I mumble and continue with the pudding.

"Wait you had a brother?" Carl asks, "Yeah I did," I say smiling fondly at the memories of him. "He looked like our mom, everyone in our family said that they didn't know where I came from," I mutter.

"He and my mom got taken by this guy named Negan," I whisper eating another bite of pudding.

"It wasn't your fault," he says turning towards me slightly. He presses his chocolatey lips to mine.

I let out a yelp and catch the giant can of pudding before it slides off my lap. "Seriously you almost made me lose my pudding!" I yell pushing him away from me.

"Sorry," he mumbles with a very unconvincing smirk. I roll my eyes and look down at my progress.

Carl jumps down from the roof and lands on the browning grass, I follow suit, he offers his hand to me.

I take it and stand up with a smile, "We need to find me a new shoe," he says as we exit the yard with our bags.

I nod looking down at our feet, mine clad in black boots with neon green laces and his in a navy blue sock and a hiking boot.

"I think there are some shoes left by the back door at the house," I say placing my pudding can on the ground.