The Ruined Path (Carl Grimes Gay Fanfiction)

Checkmate

(It's here at last! Just so you know, this chapter is pretty violent - so a warning before you read. Not that it'll stop any of you from enjoying it.)

-Riley-

Shit...

Someone's inside... Someone else has just come in with us...

"Carl," I whisper to the young, and perhaps only surviving Grimes. He is stood, almost paralyzed in the living room, just a single corridor away from entrance - his hands gripped the handle of his pistol with all his force, turning his knuckles white. 

"Carl!" I whisper again, much sharper in tone, finally capturing his attention.

"Get under the table," I instructed, motioning to the oaken dining table in the centre of the room. Carl gave me a confused glance, which would have probably translated a 'what the hell are you talking about?!' were it not for the circumstances. 

A loud thud echoing throughout the lodge reminded him that now was not the time for a disagreement, and Carl reluctantly yet swiftly obliged. 

I walked over to the large grandfather clock in the corner of the living room and stood behind it, forcing myself into the corner with my gun clutched firmly in front of my face. 

The trail of loud footsteps edged closer and closer, until a horrifically familiar voice echoed out.

"Riley! Carl! I know you two are here!" 

Simon... 

"The door's been opened, you two! This little game of hide-and-seek you've got going here... It isn't gonna last!"

I swallowed hard as the door to the living room creaked open, and prepared myself to spin around and shoot, hoping to end the sick freak's life.

But he fired first - a warning shot that shattered the chandelier hanging from the ceiling - and the sudden shattering of the silence was enough to cause me to jolt, and I knocked the grandfather clock in the process.

The rattling sound of wood as the grandfather clock shook was only a quiet one, but it did not coincide with the shattering glass of the chandelier, and was painfully obvious as it echoed against the silence. 

"Ah, there we are," Simon grinned, raising his pistol to fire at the clock. It was bulky, but the bullet would easily smash through the thin wood...

...and through me too.

Carl had no gun, rendering him powerless to do anything, and as soon as I revealed myself from behind the clock I would be shot and killed, so attempting to fire a shot would prove futile too. 

Shit...

"Checkmate," Simon smirked, summing up the situation in a single, menacing word. 

I breathed deeply as I heard the click of Simon loading his pistol, and in the knowledge that I was essentially dicing with death, I knew that any strategy was a good one.

I summoned all my strength and delivered as powerful a shove as I could muster against the large grandfather clock. 

I had never believed in God before, but something must have certainly been watching out for me at that moment; to my success, the clock tumbled down toward Simon.

The villain that was the pull of a trigger from ending my life found his focus shattered, and he stopped aiming down the sights of his pistol to dodge the tumbling ornament.