"Coral!" the sound of his father mispronouncing his name for the millionth time rang out in the atmosphere around the boy, making the omega shoot up from his spot on the cold hard ground. About 10 walkers were walking right up to their small camp deep in the woods, and a couple were just five feet from Carl.
The boy quickly grabbed his gun and shot at the heads of the ones closest to him, his silencer making good work of keeping the sound from drawing walkers from all directions. The rest of the group was grabbing anything of importance and value while Carl continued to shoot at the walkers that were too close for comfort. It was amazing; a few years ago it took Carl two hours to become fully awake, and now here he was shooting walkers with dead on accuracy, having just woken up from a very deep sleep less than 20 seconds ago.
"Carl, lets go!" Michonne hollered at him from a few feet behind, important luggage in one hand and sword in the other. Carl shot the Walker that somehow was able to make it within a five foot range of him before turning on his heals and running with the rest of the group.
Things had been like this since the apocalypse started. It started out differently though; when it first started, his father had recently gotten shot by another alpha that was trying to kidnap an omega, so he was stuck in a hospital bed and presumed dead when the apocalypse hit. When the walkers started chewing on everyone and turning them into the undead, his mother packed up their suitcases and they both went to go find Shane, they ended up in the city after that. They were promised a safe haven with shelter, food, and medicine, but all they found was more rot and ruin. After a happy ending to the beginning of the apocalypse where Rick was reunited with his wife and son, Rick was appointed group leader, since he was the strongest and smartest out of all of them.
His mother was a beta, and his father was an alpha, and Carl presented as an omega shortly after he turned 11. Sounds young, but in the old days before society became more advanced with school, government, and technology, omegas were given and married off to Alphas after they presented as an omega no matter how young they were. Because they could make babies as soon as they hit their first heat, and thats what powerful alphas wanted. Back then, omegas were like slaves, they had no rights and would often be punished if they refused to have sex with their husbands. It used to be completely legal to rape an omega as long as they were their alpha's property. It was only considered assault if an alpha was attacking an omega that did not exclusively, and legally, belong to them.
Omegas were considered weak, and for a good reason. Omegas were not known to ever overpower an alpha, or even a beta. They were seen as pathetic bodies that weren't capable of gaining muscle mass or an excessive amount of weight, they couldn't even speak over the voice of an alpha when they were talking because their biology made them insecure and timid.
Luckily for Carl's time as a young child, he grew up in a time period where marrying off freshly presented omegas was very illegal, and not only considered child abuse but also sex trafficking. Any family that tried to sell their omega child was given a sentence of 30 years in prison, and they wouldn't even be given a trial, they would just go straight to jail. If an alpha were to ever rape an omega, they would be given 20 years in prison and they would have to be monitored by a specialist in omega protective services for the rest of their life. They would never again have any privacy, and they would have a restraining order to any and every omega within a mile radius to them. Meaning they would often have to find themselves living in a special placement home offered by the government, or live out in the country where almost no omegas lived.
Carl was lucky to have grown up in a time where parents loved and respected their children enough to protect them from Alpha's that meant them harm. His father had always been very protective of him, sometimes even over protective. Even before Carl presented as an omega, his father would never let him sleep over in houses with alpha's, or with friends who had an alpha for a parent. His mother was protective too, and she would never let Carl walk to school by himself, nor would she ever let him stay after school with a teacher who was an alpha for tutoring.
Carl had always thought his parents were over bearing, annoying, and often embarrassing.
That is until one summer when Carl had just turned 11 and woke up at 3 am one morning feeling very ill, and then the pain hit. His father had smelled his scent immediately, but was unaffected by it's naturally hypnotic odor due to the fact that he was blood related to Carl. Shane however, was not. Shane was Carl's godfather, who had been his fathers best friend since high school. He had been spending the night the morning that Carl started his first heat, and was instinctually drawn to the room for reasons other than the painful screams and whimpers that Carl couldn't hold back.
His father had quickly wrestled his 15 year best friend, and partner in the police force, to the ground of Carls bedroom just before he violently threw him out of the house. His mother had gone to Carl's side as soon as they both entered the room to protect him, gently shushing his pained wines with soft and comforting words. She had told him everything was going to be okay, that it was normal to feel pain, and it would pass after some time.
Those were the worst 4 days of his life. After that however, his heats were never as painful. Every now and then he would have a particularly painful heat after a long and stressful six months, but more often than not, the pain that comes from his heat would be relatively tolerable.
Suppressants were used to shield an omega's scent until it was more like a soft cologne, rather than a powerful odor that could knock out any alpha around them. They couldn't hide the scent completely, so all that would be left was a barely there smell that was socially classified as "just smelling good," instead of the old "tramp stamp" that the smell used to represent back before omega rights went to court. Carl took them every day after his first heat, his mother had gone to the drug store just a few hours after that first morning to get them. Alpha's could still smell him 30 feet away if they really tried, but more or less the scent would be soft and only noticeable to those standing within a couple feet away.
Nowadays though, Carl was forced to OD on suppressants every day. It wasn't enough to mask his scent with just the recommended dosage, that much was clear if what happened last year was anything to go by.
Omega's were now very rare, since they were biologically too weak to survive in the world as it is now, which was full of the dead and corrupted by survival. They would either be eaten due to not being strong enough to fight off the walkers, or they would often be raped and left for dead.
Carl almost learned the hard way what that was like.
Last year after they were forced out of a prison that they were using for shelter and sanctuary, their group got separated. It wasn't so bad at first, a walker here, a thuggish survivor there, and there may have been some emotional instability towards his father on Carl's part for a bit, but it more or less wasn't so bad.
And then the claimers stumbled upon them, drawn in by a scent that they had been craving to smell since the last omega they raped and murdered.
There had been at least six of them that Carl remembered, and with their guns they overpowered their small group in seconds. Michonne had been with them at the time, and Daryl was apparently traveling with the claimers, unknowing to their demonic and inhumane ways. The leader was able to beat Carl's father up while another one kept Michonne at gun point. Daryl was in the middle of getting beaten to death by three of their men when Carl was forced out of where he was hiding in the backseat of their trunk.
A fat man was the one who apparently had first dibs on him, because as soon as he was dragged out of the truck he was forced to the ground where the fat smelly man climbed on top of him. Carl could still remember every second that he tried to fight against that man. He still remembered the weight of 200 lbs on his lower half, the sadistic smirk and laugh, the rotted ugly teeth, and the putrid smell of armpit. He remembered feeling helpless, and like every other omega that was forced to the ground on the daily by thirsty alphas. He thought that was it, that he would finally be treated like every other omega that was unlucky enough to cross paths with the wrong alpha. He was scared terrified, couldn't stop screaming, and was nearly brought to tears purely from panic.
His father had gotten to him in time, and Carl would never forget the image of his dad biting the leader of the claimer's throat out. Nor would he ever be able to escape the memory of his father slashing his almost rapist from his gut to his heart while watching the life leave his terrified eyes. The man had begged for his life, but his father was merciless to anyone who dared touch Carl.
Carl knew now how far his father would go to protect him. It was scary actually, how protective his father could be, and how angry he could get at anyone who tried to touch his son. But it was also very comforting, that his dad would do anything to protect him, would always be there to save him. Always had, and always would.
If only the omega's that had suffered every day had a father like Carl's, then maybe they wouldn't be nearly extinct.
Back before the apocalypse, omega's weren't supposed to take more than the recommended dosage of suppressants, or they might suffer horrible side effects. It can cause them to go sterile, slip into depression, cause uncontrollable mood swings, and often force them to demonstrate physical aggression. It would also force them to endure stronger, longer, and more painful heats due to them being suppressed for more than the normal 6 month cycle. This would often cause death due to the heat being so painful that they slip into a coma where the body would shut down after a few weeks from exhaustion.
Which was why Carl had only started taking more than the recommended dose after that one night when the claimers almost took advantage of him. It took three times the recommended dosage before his scent was almost completely masked. Unfortunately the suppressants couldn't conceal his unnaturally powerful scent without Carl being fatally overdosed from medication, so Rick would have to scent him by dressing him in his clothes until all that he could smell was his own alpha scent.
Stupid hormones. Carl hated how inconvenient they were. The more stressed out he was, then the stronger his scent, and since Carl was an omega living in a world of the undead where people had to kill other people in order to survive, and one bullet would often mean the difference between life or death, he was very very stressed out.
It had been almost over a year and a half since his last heat.
His father would often tease Carl about it when the mood was light and they were feeling particularly happy for no reason at all other than the fact they hadn't had trouble for more than a few hours. Carl would always blush and hiss angrily at his father to shut up about his second gender, but everyone else in the group would chuckle at the expense of a little of Carls dignity. They all loved him and did it lightly though, and Carl knew that.
He was the only Omega in their group of 13 people, everyone else was either an alpha or a beta. They hadn't seen another omega in a couple years now, but nobody brought up the implications unless they were trying to get it through Carl's thick skull that sometimes the boy would need their protection.
Their group consisted of Maggie and Glenn, who were happily married and both beta's. Then there was also Carl, of course, his father Rick and his mother Lori, and also his little sister Judith. There was Daryl, who was an alpha and their designated hunter and tracker. Shane was still around protecting everyone as second in command of their group right below Rick, and they also had just met Michonne, Tara, Rosita, Abraham, and Eugene. Tara and Eugene were beta's and the other three were alphas. Female alphas were supposed to be rare as well, but here they were with 2 in the group, how funny. They sure were an exotic little family.
After running in the woods for a few minutes, his group finally made it back to the road, panting and out of breath. They each grabbed their water bottles and took a few controlled drinks, that was all they would be able to drink until afternoon.
Carl was disgustingly out of breath, and he resisted the urge to bend over and put his head between his knees. He refused to show weakness, he would not be a liability, he would not allow his biology to make him the weak link in the group. He would stand up tall with his chin up and his chest out, and catch his breath like every other person in his group.
They started walking on their continued rout towards Washington after a minute of catching their breath. The silence was only disturbed by the occasional walker, or a not so quiet coo from a certain 2 year old that was being passed around from person to person every half hour. Until Rick walked up beside Carl and handed the 16 year old his suppressants.
Carl looked down at the 3 blue capsules with disinterest, he hated those things with a burning passion, but he knew he needed to take them. Sometimes he would instinctually struggle against taking the pills because of his biology not liking the fact that his heat was being forcibly suppressed, it wasn't behavior Carl could control if he was overly stressed, depressed, and/or tired. Times like that, his father would have to order someone to hold Carl down while he forced him to swallow the pills. They couldn't risk any alpha smelling him, nor could they risk his heat coming on at this point.
It had been too long since Carl had his heat, he had already skipped at least 2 already, and who knows what would happen if he didn't take his pills one day and his heat came along. They doubted he would die, though he would go through hell, but they couldn't risk attracting every alpha within a 20 mile radius. Omega heats were so powerful that the only way an alpha can resist is if they are forcibly removed from the viscidity, or are unconscious. And that's just normal heats, they couldn't imagine how powerful Carl's heat would be after going through the rollercoaster of emotion, and mood swings, and suppressed biology for so long. His scent was already abnormally potent as it was.
Due to the fact that Omega's were practically extinct now, suppressants weren't hard to find, which was very lucky for Carl.
He took the pills from his father's hands and swallowed them down with a little bit of his water.
His mother rubbed his shoulders affectionately as he put his water bottle away again. She couldn't imagine what Carl's body was going through, she could only offer as much comfort as she could, knowing that was what Carl's biology craved. Omegas couldn't handle life without comfort, or compassion, or without being loved by at least one person in the world. They would slip into a depression after a while and die. It was just how their bodies worked, it was unavoidable.
His mother always worried about him due to that fact, and she tried to protect him from that by showering him in affection and telling him she loved him every time they spoke. She even scolded his father when the man doesn't give him enough attention. However attention was not Carl's main concern and though he instinctually loved the affection his mother gave him, he hated how overbearing she could be. They lived in a world where they had to kill to live, to scavenge for even a little bit of food, they had to keep one eye opened while they slept for fear of someone attacking them, or for fear of the undead sneaking up on them. They lived in a world were it was survival of the fittest, dog eat dog. Carl's first priority was survival, staying alive, keeping the group safe, and to just keep on keeping on. He couldn't care less if his father forgot to hug him a few times.
But a mother was a mother, and Carl knew he and his sister took priority over all those things in Lori's eyes.
"We have about 50 more miles to go," Shane said as he glanced down at the map, "We should be there in the next couple weeks."
"We need to stop at the next town," Rick responded lightly, "Gather some supplies." Shane knew what he was talking about. He was just as protective of Carl as Rick and Lori, and would also keep track of how many represents Carl had left. None of them would allow his supply to fall below 2 bottles, and at the moment he was down to 2 and a half. He needed to take 3 every day and there was no telling what kind of obstacles they could possibly come across.
Carl hated that he forced his family to go through such stress, and that would often trigger the depression that constantly tried to over take him. He knew it was just his biology though, and did everything he could to ignore the temptation to think about things like how much of a liability he was to the barely surviving group.
Shane nodded, "Yes, I'm aware. The next town is just a couple miles up, I'm sure we can find some stores there with food and water." The group was hopeful, and Shane's optimistic attitude was motivation enough to keep everyone walking at a constant pace.
They all kept their guns on them as they walked, the people on the outer edge of their formation watching the woods around them for any trouble.
Carl dreamed of a safe place to live, a place where they would be separated from the rest of the world, where they could raise Judith and go to bed every night without having to keep watch. A safe place where Carl could have his heat and release the built up tension. He needed to have his heat some times soon or it would be too late. He was sure his father and the others knew that. He could tell by the way his father twitched and flinched every time he caught sight of his son, as if the he was painfully aware of the danger his son was slipping into every day that went by and was starting to get rather desperate for an answer to the problem.
And then one day they were presented with an answer.
It started out just after they went through the town and gathered all the supplies they could, restocking on suppressants and gathering all the snacks they could find.
Unfortunately that only consisted of a few granola bars and an expired bag of twizzlers. There was no water anywhere to be seen which caused the group to become very anxious. They all only had what was left of their personal water bottles and the few snacks that they had left.
That is until about an hour after walking from the town they came across at least 30 sealed water bottles right in the middle of the road.
Totally not suspicious at all. Nope.
They refused to drink it for fear that they were drugged, poisoned, or contaminated by something. They didn't know who put them there, or why, and they weren't willing to allow themselves to fall in a trap. So they left the water where it was despite their desire to drink till their mouths didn't remember what dry was, and started camp in the woods a few miles away from the pile. It was a barn that looked safe enough, and had walls and a roof to protect them from the storm that hit. They locked the barn doors and settled in for the night with Daryl on guard duty.
Carl always had to sleep very close to his father, who was still afraid that the alphas in the group might try to hurt him, but Carl didn't mind. His teenage brain told him he should be embarrassed by this, but his Omega wanted nothing more than to be surrounded by people that loved him. He felt like a child in need of a teddy bear as he held Judith in his arms and laid down between his mother and father, but he didn't care. His parents comforted the omega in him and soothed the nerves that came with the over dosage of the suppressants, and that was all that mattered to him.
He was sleeping fine that night until he was awoken by the sound of loud, hungry moans. Judith was crying in his arms were they both lay in the hey stack, and the storm was still going strong. The thunder was loud but even in the darkness he could see the entire group attempting to keep the doors of the barn closed. They appeared to be struggling to keep it closed and in a panic that Carl didn't know he could feel, he put Judith down next to him and ran over to help them all hold it closed. He knew if the walkers made it inside, they were all dead. There had to be at least 50 of them outside and there was no way they would be able to kill them all without someone dying.
He wasn't sure how they were able to keep up the stamina to keep the doors of the barn closed, but by early morning the walkers had lost interest and had wondered off in search of an easier meal. Only a few people were able to sleep again that night.
It was the next day during Daryl's hunt for food when they come across a stranger.
Daryl had cornered him against a tree with his crossbow aimed, and ready to fire, as Rick ran up to them. The man was about 30 and had raised his hands in surrender, telling them he meant no harm. But the man blew his cover and revealed that he knew about the group, so Rick and Daryl forced him to return to the barn with them.
Shane and Lori were obviously upset that Rick made the call to take the stranger back to the rest of the group where Carl and Judith were, but Rick assured them that they weren't in any danger.
They held the stranger at gun point as they interrogated him about why he had been fallowing them, where he came from, who he was with, all those good questions. Judith started winning at the tense atmosphere that the interrogation and the stress from the group members created, and Carl started rocking her to keep her from crying. They couldn't risk any walkers close by hearing her.
Carl shushed her as best as he could, but he knew that she was hungry and upset, and she was going to start screaming soon.
Then the stranger pointed to his bag, saying he had baby food in it.
Quickly and with curiosity, Rick opened the man's pack and not only checked for weapons, but also the food that he apparently had.
The pack was loaded with food and water, which Rick confiscated just before he pulled out the jar of what looked like apple sauce.
After forcing the stranger to take the first bite to make sure it wasn't poisoned, and after the stranger pleaded with him to believe that he would never hurt an innocent child, Rick felt it was safe to give it to Carl to feed Judith. They were all relieved when she enjoyed the food and stayed quiet.
"I have a sanctuary, called Alexandria." The stranger said when they were all free from the danger of Judith attracting walkers, "we have food, supplies, water, houses and walls. Look in the side pocket of my bag," the stranger seemed very nervous to be under the intimidating glares of 6 alphas with very deadly looking weapons all aimed at him. Rick did as the man said in curiosity and opened the side pocket, pulling out the many photos that were stored in there. They were all of the giant steel walls that protected Alexandria.
"Sorry about the quality, it's really hard to find a good camera nowadays." The stranger said, it was almost amusing to see an alpha so afraid of the people around him. If Carl wasn't so suspicious about the turn of events, he would have been able to laugh at the man's pale face. "Nobody is getting through those walls, your family would be safe there."
Rick examined the photos but didn't release the stranger from his intimidating alpha glare as he contemplated the man's proposal.
But Carl was shocked when his father refused the help.
Everyone's eyes widened when their leader turned the offer down, and they were quick to argue with Rick.
"Rick," Shane said, "My man, you know I'm with you." The man rubbed his bald head, "But we should at least check this place out, see what's going on there."
"Rick, think of your son," Lori said angrily, aware that her husband was very stubborn, "He can't last much longer on those pills."
"If anything, we can go just to raid their pantry." Daryl suggested.
Rick was still skeptical, after everything they went through in Woodbury, and in Terminus, he couldn't imagine just walking up to the front door of a strange new town.
"Well if there rises a problem," Maggie said, "you could always burn the place down like every other place we've run across. Your really good at that."
Rick looked at Maggie, obviously about to argue that he doesn't set every place on fire, but he just laughed softly when reality hit him.
He looked at his son where he sat in the hey feeding his sister, knowing they wouldn't last much longer at this rate.
And that's how they ended up at the front door of Alexandria.
Rick gave Carl a sniff before humming to himself and removing his shirt, handing it to his son. "Put this on, we don't know these people." His dad had nothing else on other than a plain white undershirt now, and the soft bite of oncoming winter made Carl feel bad, but he did as he was told and slipped it on. His Dad gave him another whiff and nodded while his mother put an arm around his shoulders just as the doors to the town opened.
They were greeted by an old lady, and by the way she smelled, they knew she was a beta. Her red hair was straight and ran passed her shoulders, but her smile was the prettiest thing about her. She looked kind enough as she walked right up to the group and shook their hands, introducing herself as the President of the town.
Her son walked up behind her and offered them all a just as welcoming smile. He had clean shiny teeth and was obviously an alpha, but he made no move to assert dominance over anyone.
"Hello, my name's Spencer." He said introducing himself, "Welcome to Alexandria, we have already prepared two houses for you, and I would be happy to personally escort you to them." He waved his hand for then to fallow, but Rick stopped him.
"Hold on," he said, his voice gruff, and his beard making him look a hell of a lot more intimidating, "we want to look around first."
Spencer looked slightly taken aback at the distrust that Rick showed, and everyone in the group wondered how long he had been safe behind the walls. But Spencer nodded, obliging to their request for a tour.
His father purposely kept Carl in the center of their group formation as they walked along the streets of Alexandria, taking in the sights. There were families taking their children for walks and older kids were playing and having fun together around every corner.
It took a good amount of stalking the place before Rick was satisfied that there weren't any hidden bear traps and allowed them all to be escorted to their houses.
One house ended up housing 7 of their 13 people, including the Grimes family plus Shane, Maggie, and Glenn. Everyone else stayed in the second house, and they each had their own beds, but they did have to discuss who would be sleeping in the same room with who.
They were all able to take showers, and no matter how suspicious they were of the town, they couldn't help but feel like they were in heaven when the hot water came out of the shower heads.
It took them weeks before they felt safe enough to stop assigning people to watch duty every night. And a few more weeks before the Grimes family was comfortable enough to take Carl off the pills.
All Alphas had been forced to vacate the premises and stay in a temporary house on the farthest end of the town. The president was shocked when Rick told her that his son was an omega, but she promised him she would take every measure available to help protect the boy through the heat cycle, and that's what she did. Rick was grateful that she was so understanding to their predicament, acknowledging the heavy fact that Carl had been on an overdose of suppressants for a year now. She had been amazed alone by the fact that an omega had survived all this time, and even more amazed that he was still alive after going so long on 3x the recommended dosage. She vowed that they wouldn't come across any trouble while taking care if their son when they took him off the pills.
Carl had been beyond afraid to stop taking the pills, he knew he was really in for it now. Everyone in their group, besides his father, who was a beta stayed in the house with Carl for the week and a half that he went through his first heat in over 36 months. They protected the house from any alpha that had the bravery to step foot anywhere near their house, and took turns trying to comfort the omega in the boy.
Carl had slipped in and out of consciousness for the entire 10 days that he was in heat, and the only thing he could remember from the ordeal was screaming from how bad it hurt. He remembered the pain, oh boy the pain, it had been worse than he had even imagined. He honestly thought he was going to die just from the pain. Every time he fell asleep, his father would wake him up after a few hours to make sure he didn't slip into a coma. A full 36 months of stress, anger, depression, and suppressed gender biology came pouring out of him in those ten days and made his life a living hell.
It was an agonizing experience that he was happy to be rid of the morning he woke up with a significantly less amount of pain. Just a day after that, all the alphas were able to go back to their original homes and the alphas in their group were able to come back.
Carl was then put on the normal dosage an omega is supposed to take and his emotional state went back to normal. It was refreshing to not feel an overload of anger, and to have a more consistent mood. He no longer felt a heavy pressure in his chest trying to get out, and he no longer had to worry about hiding his scent too much.
It was over. His heat was over with, and they were all safe from it for at least another 6 months.
But that doesn't mean he was free from omega discrimination though.
There was only about 3 other kids his age around Alexandria and 2 of them were alphas. They hadn't seen an omega in years, and boys being teenage alpha boys, they had asked Carl if he wanted to mess around with them.
Obviously Carl had violently refused, telling them to fuck off and punching one of them in the face when they tried to grab him. After that though, they treated him badly, not taking rejection well. They were horny teenage boys who wanted to play with the opposite gender, and the only girl in town that wasn't a small child or an ugly old woman was Enid. A beta that refused to talk to anyone.
Carl paid them no attention, and stayed careful not to be alone anywhere that they could be, instead staying with his mother and sister when everyone else in the house was on a supply run.
Life proceeded softly from then on, or at least as soft as the apocalypse would allow, and they eventually warmed up to their new home, feeling very safe in it.
Carl even started going to class with some of the tutors that had survived, relearning math and practicing his English. His father said it was important that he get an edgucation so that when the apocalypse blows over, if it blows over, he can start his life the way he should have.
Shane even started teaching him how to fight, saying that he needed to know more than just how to shoot a gun. Carl was an excellent shot, but everyone knew he was still very weak physically.
Carl was once again angry at his second gender. There is always an obstacle. Omegas were physically incapable of gaining too much muscle mass, or even too much weight. Once they hit a certain weight, they stopped gaining, and they couldn't get any stronger than their biology would allow them. So Carl would never be stronger than any alpha, not even a beta. It just wasn't in his genes and it was hopeless to try.
So Shane had to teach him how to fight without muscle, teaching him pressure points, defense, and strategy.
"A man can be stronger and bigger than you, but if you are smarter than them, you can get away." His godfather instructed just before he taught Carl how to get out of an attackers grip if they were to grab his arm. It was so basic and yet Carl had to practice it a few times before he was able to get out of Shane's almost painful grip on his wrist.
After a long few months of training with Shane in the safety of Alexandria, he was able to get out of most of Shane's attacks. He was even able to spar with him and win a couple times.
But it wasn't for a few weeks after he perfected it with Shane, did these techniques come in handy.
His father, Shane, and most of the people in the house were out on a supply run, and against his mother's better judgement she took Judith and left Carl alone in the house to visit a new friend that she made. They had felt safe in their home for a long time now, and Lori was comfortable enough with the community to leave Carl alone for a few hours.
But apparently someone in the community couldn't handle the trust given to them.
Ron, the son of the friend his mom went to visit, snuck into the house just an hour after Lori left.
He was one of the teenagers that had been bullying him for the months that Carl had been there, and the one that Carl had to strike in order to get away from his advances that time when he made Carl an offer for sex.
Carl didn't notice him in the house, and at the time he had been in the kitchen trying to make himself a sandwich when Ron grabbed him from behind and shoved him face first into the fridge.
Carl had screamed and thrashed, all the defense techniques that Shane taught him flew from his mind for a moment and he forgot what he had been taught. It was so different than sparring with Shane. This was real. This was a real attacker that was unbuckling his belt and trying to get his pants down.
The omega in him had wanted to submit to the alpha, and Carl couldn't stop screaming for help. He knew that there was no one in the house to protect him, and he was literally about to get raped if he didn't help himself. It was that realization that forced the defenses that Shane taught him to suddenly rush back to the front of his brain.
He shoved his hips backward with all the energy he could muster, forcing Ron to take a step back and creating just enough space for him to get out of the alphas grasp. Carl ran, but he hadn't even made it to the front door when Ron grabbed him by the shoulders, but this time Carl didn't hesitate. He swung his left arm up and over Ron's outreached arms, breaking the hold he had on his slim shoulders, and then used the leverage to elbow the other kid in the face. Just like Shane taught him.
He ran out of the house with a very angry alpha running after him until he caught sight of Abraham. Carl ran up to him in relief and told the redheaded Alpha what was going on.
All Abraham had to do was turn around and glare at the teen that pursued Carl and the kid stopped in horror, his nose bleeding profusely down his pale face. Ron tried to run away and pretend the event never happened, but Abraham grabbed him by the back of his shirt and walked him to his mother's house.
Ron's mother Jessie, a gorgeous looking blond woman, and Lori both shot up from their spots sipping tea and eating cookies with Judith when Abraham walked in the door with Ron firmly gripped in his hand. Carl fallowed in shyly behind the redheaded Alpha and looked at his mother's worried and horrified face.
"This kid was trying to attack Carl." Abraham sealed Ron's fate.
"What?!" Jessie yelled angrily at her son. Abraham shoved Ron forward and Jessie hissed at the older man angrily. Her son may be in trouble, but that didn't mean she would allow him to shove her son around like that. Her eyes were drawn to the boys bloody nose and she looked up at Abraham accusingly.
"Don't look at me like that, he was like that already." Abraham said as Lori ran up to her son to check him over.
"Sorry, that was me," Carl apologized to Jessie, "had to get away, you know?"
Jessie couldn't be mad at Carl; no kidding he would defend himself. She turned her angry eyes on Ron and started yelling at him to go to his room and that she would talk to him later.
"I'm so sorry, Carl." She said hugging the boy in apology when Ron went upstairs. "I had no idea he was capable of that, I'll keep him far away from you from now on," she promised as Lori thanked Abraham for helping. The man nodded and left.
Lori looked at her son in concern and shock. "Tell us what happened." She said, knowing it was important for both parents to hear the story before anything else happened.
Carl explained. Telling them that he was alone in the house making a sandwich when Ron snuck up from behind and attacked him. He apologized again to Jessie for busting Ron's nose, not because he regretted doing it, but because he actually liked Jessie and didn't want her to hate him for making Ron bleed.
She assured him it was fine and if the story was true then Ron had it coming and deserved it.
Lori hugged her son again, proud and relieved that he was okay. "Wait until your father hears about this." It was shocking, horrifying, and liberating to hear about her omega son fighting off an alpha that meant him harm. She couldn't imagine what she would have done if Carl hadn't been able to get away, she knew that she wouldn't have returned for at least another hour or two, and her husband wasn't due back until later. How would things have turned out if Shane hadn't taught Carl those moves? She was afraid to think about the answer, but the conclusion jumped to the front of her head anyway. Images of going home to a broken and bloody body laying unconscious on her kitchen floor flashed across her mind and she couldn't help but hug Carl closer.
Carl huffed, knowing he would never be left alone again.
His father was angry at Ron to say the least. But Jessie begged him to let this one go, telling him that there was no excuse for what Ron tried to do, but what else could they expect.
"Rick please, he's only a boy and he doesn't remember how to control himself around omegas." She pleaded for forgiveness on Ron's behave. She didn't want the Grimes family to press charges on her boy, nor did she want them to have any hostility and possibly attack him in the future.
A few hours after she had a talk with Rick about Ron's behavior, she brought her son over to their house.
Rick answered the door and growled when he caught sight of Ron standing a few feet behind Jessie.
The woman greeted him carefully. "Hi, I believe my son has something to say to Carl about how he acted this afternoon." Her tone was stiff and motherly, and if Ron's expression was anything to go by, Jessie had given him a good talking to.
Rick decided that the number of Alphas and betas currently in the house was enough to protect Carl from a teenager, and agreed to allow Ron to apologize.
"Carl!" He called into the house, "Come here for a minute." He turned back to the blond and her son and nodded for them to come inside. They did and soon the hall was packed with the Grimes family- minus Judith- and Shane.
Ron looked up at Carl and glared.
Shane whistled loudly in appreciation at the sight of a giant purple and blue bruise on Ron's nose, he had already been filled in to what happened and was containing his own anger, "Damn Carl, you got him good." Shane praised proudly.
Jessie smacked her son in the back of the head when he didn't immediately start talking.
Ron's eyes rolled but then he made eye contact with Carl, "I'm sorry, Carl. What I tried to do was horrible, immature, and ill judged. I hope you can forgive me." Short and sweet, his mother nodded in satisfaction.
Carl expected to feel fear when he saw Ron's face, but he wasn't scared at all, and he was unsure why. He nodded when he realised they were all waiting to see how he would respond, "Yeah, okay." Was all he said.
Jessie nodded again and grabbed the back of her son's shirt, escorting him out the door to leave.
Rick stopped them though.
"Hey kid," he said.
Ron turned around and looked up at the very tall, very strong, and very intimidating alpha in slight fear as he caught sight of the pure anger in the man's eyes.
"How old are you?" Rick asked.
"Rick?" Jessie started to ask, but Rick put a hand out to assure her he wasn't going to hurt her son. She stayed put in respect, trusting Rick wasn't going to touch him.
"16." Ron said tentatively, suddenly aware that his mother wasn't going to get him out of this talk.
Rick nodded. "You know back before the apocalypse, people your age who committed crimes like the one you tried to commit were treated like adults in the eyes of the government police force, and were given the same treatment in prison. Do you wanna know what happened to the last creep who tried to touch my boy?"
Ron slowly shook his head no, fear creeping up heavy in his throat. Maybe attacking Carl wasn't such a good idea...
"I bit his fucking throat out." Rick said in Ron's face. "I cut him deep from his gut all the way up to his heart. I watched the life leave his eyes, with pleasure, as I stabbed him in the chest repeatedly."
Ron looked horrified as Rick continued. Jessie stared at Rick with a new found perspective as he threatened her son.
"So I'm going to tell you now." Rick's tone was gentle, but Ron knew he was putting a large amount of rage in his words. "I will treat you like an adult, and I will not hesitate to fucking kill you if you go near my son again. I don't care how young or old you are." With that, Rick walked back into the house and shut the door.
Jessie was old enough and wise enough to see that while on the road before they met Alexandria, Rick had seen and done a lot of things. Had killed people. Had watched people die. And was very capable of killing again.
Purely out of fear, she grabbed hold of Ron's arm and pulled him down the street to their house.
Ron had pissed himself.