Hey! I hope you enjoy this family bonding experience of Carl and Rick Grimes!

I would love responses from you all since this is my first The Walking Dead fanfic!

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Song of the chapter is...

Goner by Twenty One Pilots

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Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of it's characters. (...I want a Carl...)

Without anymore delay!


TWD

I Won't Say I'm Afraid - Part I

TWD


"When I said hide if you meet any trouble, I didn't mean to climb a tree. If anything, that just wastes the time you have to escape." Rick scolded Carl as he helped Carl back to the camp. Carl's arm was slung around Rick's neck so Carl wouldn't put pressure on his possibly sprained ankle.

"Well I got away didn't I? And it's not my fault I couldn't fight off the walkers. I didn't have my gun on me." Carl said struggling to keep up with Rick's irritated pace.

"Not my fault you left it behind. You know better than to check the snares without proper protection. Surely you could've used something lying around to take down the walkers." Rick said.

"It's no big deal, dad. The walkers are dead or undead or whatever they are now-I don't really care." Carl said wincing when his dad's grip around him got tighter.

"It is a big deal, Carl. When you didn't come back after an hour passed, I went to look for you. When you saw me, you immediately shouted for me to help. Not only did you tell me where you were, but also every other walker nearby." Rick muttered. It was as if he realized how loud he was being himself. "Thanks to you, we have to find a new place to camp for the night. The sun's already setting too."

"I'm sorry." Carl apologized.

"I know you are." Rick accepted the apology. "I may seem fearless too you but when I heard your screams my heart dropped and I thought I might've lost you."

"Well you showed the walkers what for." Carl beamed proudly.

"That's because nobody messes with your-" Rick began.

"Stop." Carl interrupted his dad.

"What?" Rick asked innocently.

"We are not ruining the moment by acting out a scene from the 'Lion King'." Carl rolled his eyes.

"Well, Simba, next time you decide to hide in trees just make sure to have a back-up plan to get down. We don't have enough man power to take care of your injuries from falling out of trees." Rick smirked messing up Carl's hair.

"Shut up." Carl rolled his eyes.

"Why? You scared to admit your old man saved your ass?" Rick teased Carl.

"Whatever. I'm not scared of anything!" Carl said.

"Carl, I'm your dad. I've seen you scared. You were almost crying when I found you." Rick pointed out.

"Dad, those were tears of joy. I was getting tired of waiting." Carl said again. Clearly his pride is rising up again. "I'm brave. I'm fearless. I'll do whatever it takes to survive."

"You don't have to be fearless to be brave. You can be fearless and reckless, or you can be cautious and brave. There's a difference." Rick was getting tired of the debates with Carl everyday.

"I can take care of myself!" Carl shoved himself away from Rick. He limped a few feet ahead of his dad.

"You may have a sprained ankle, Carl. Last time I checked, that's not taking care of yourself. At all." Rick said speeding up his pace in case Carl topples over.

"We'll it could've been much worse." Grunted Carl. He didn't acknowledge his dad's presence next to him.

"Oh yeah? You'll be sore for the next several weeks and I'll be stuck watching both of our backs even more because you didn't think. You always get into trouble in the worst ways!" Rick flinched. That came out harsher than he meant it too, but Rick was sick of the attitude.

Rick and Carl made it to the camp. Daryl and Michonne looked up with relieved eyes but both of them studied the small family's auras. They stayed clear of the argument.

"Well think of it like this; it does hurt and it will for weeks, but I'm not dead. I'll still have a fighting chance to stay alive while I heal. So if it means anything to you, I'd rather face the painful recovery than be buried six feet under." Carl said coldly. "And if it causes you so much trouble than don't watch my back. Like I said before, I can take care of myself." With that, Carl limped away to be alone on the other side of the camp.

Rick sighed and sat down next to Michonne. He stared at the fire and rubbed his hand over his face.

"When did Carl become so rebellious?" Rick muttered too himself.

"It's just what teens go through." Michonne said not looking at Rick.

"Yeah, he'll grow out of it. He's got to establish his role and place as a man. I guess you could say that him being territorial and needing to show his dominance is a good thing." Daryl said with a smile.

"How?" Rick asked."Carl doing this is the last thing we need. It's gonna get him or us killed one of these days."

Carl wasn't sitting too far away and could undoubtedly hear them. He flinched at his dad's words.

"Well maybe it's not the same for you but I enjoy seeing him grow up. I used to hate dealing with snot nosed punks that got smart with everything that blinked, but now it's the only normalcy we have left." Daryl explained. "He's maturing and he's getting stronger. Rick, you're boy is just growing up." Daryl finished patting Rick on the shoulder.

"I'm just worried about him." Rick sighed and saw Carl field stripping his gun. "He's growing up too fast."

"Don't be one of those parents." Daryl teased.

"I think it's time we settled for the night." Michonne said standing up. Carl looked up and nodded. "Rick and I will keep watch first."

"Sounds about right." Daryl agreed.

Rick flashed his eyes to Carl. He seemed to have found a comfy spot to rest. Carl leaned back against an abandoned car and shut his eyes.

TWD


Rick gravitated near Carl as he kept watch. He wasn't extremely near him but close enough to see his chest rising and falling. If Rick had a choice, he'd let Carl sleep for a week because his appearance just screamed exhaustion. It's a wonder how he hasn't gotten sick yet or collapsed from fatigue.

Rick's thoughts wandered off to the darkest areas of his mind. What is it exactly that he's looking for. Sure he wants safety but after he has a secure place that is absolute, what is his next goal? Finding a cure? Wiping out the walkers? Play the waiting game? Why are they even running? Slowly Rick was losing hope. Lori's dead. Judith is MIA. Carl gives off the impression that he doesn't need Rick anymore. He's just waiting for the last of his sanity to go.

A hand grabbed Rick's shoulder from behind. Rick jumped, pulled out his gun, and aimed at the intruder. It was Michonne.

"Hey." She said sitting down next to him. Rick sighed and put away the gun.

"We have signals for a reason." Rick muttered.

"Sue me." She said with a small grin.

"Did you see something?" Rick asked looking around.

"If I did, you would've known by now. I just want to talk." Michonne whispered.

"About what?" Rick questioned.

"About Carl." Michonne answered."I've seen the way you've been watching him tonight. You're eyes are expressing many things right now."

Rick just gave her a look that was somewhat worried.

"I'm good at reading people. Don't worry, Carl probably doesn't even know." Michonne reassured Rick.

"Carl could've been killed today. I can't afford to lose him." Rick admitted. Michonne nodded.

"I know and Carl underUstands that too, but don't you think he feels the same way?" Michonne said.

"Well yeah-" Rick was cut off.

"Then if Carl feels that way, isn't it only natural that he tries to be more reliable so he can protect you?" Michonne continued. The two watched Carl stir in his sleep. His hair covered half of his face. Rick couldn't help but softly chuckle. "There's a boy still in there, Rick. A frightened boy who only looks to his father on what to do but never asks out loud."

"Why does he fight me? Why the constant attitude?" Rick asks.

"I don't think it's you he's mad at. It's more like he's struggling with himself. He's irritated when he drags you into saving him or if he loses somebody. He's mad that he can't be more like you." Michonne whispers.

Rick stares at his son. Carl was shivering from the night's crisp air.

Rick reaches into his backpack and takes out a few blankets. Rick silently walks towards his only son. Carl looked so small and helpless. Rick crouched down on the balls of his feet in front of Carl.

Rick folded one of the blankets into a thick square and placed it under Carl's wounded ankle. The other blanket was placed around Carl. Rick rustled up Carl's hair before heading back to Michonne.

"...anks...ad.." Carl's voice was drowsy, but Rick understood what his child said.

Rick turned around to find his son asleep again.

"Don't sweat it, kiddo." Rick missed things as simple as protecting his boy from the chilly nights and the spider in his room. Rick once again went back to sit with Michonne.

"I wonder if it'll ever stop." Rick pondered.

"What?" Michonne asked. She was watching a firefly drift up to the sky.

"The disease that creates the walkers. I wonder if there will be a day where it just vanishes or where we will be immune to the virus even after we die. When will we be able to call this world 'home' again? Will we even be alive when that day comes?" Rick just kept going on and on. His thoughts were getting deeper by the second.

"I guess time will tell. We will just have to wait and see." Michonne says laying back on her elbows.

The two grew quiet and just listened to the wildlife. Everything is calm. The sky is crystal clear. Rick could see the stars and the moon was full.

"I wonder what happened to the astronauts when the epidemic broke out. I wonder if they're still up there now." Rick said.

"I wonder if you need sleep." Michonne joked.

"Haha, perhaps you're right. How long have we-" Rick was interrupted by an earsplitting scream of pain and misery coming from his only son. Carl.

Rick's head whipped towards Carl. Rick's face became pale. Carl wasn't in danger of walkers but the sight of Carl's body thrashing around made Rick bolt towards his boy.

TWD


I'm so obsessed with this show now thanks to my brother! I haven't watched season 5 yet but I just finished season 4 on Netflix.

I can't find many walking dead fanfics about Carl and his dad. I like the family bonding and rescuing kind of stories I guess? I don't know. But yeah.

This is my first TWD fanfic so please tell me your thoughts and tips. I'm willing to take story prompts and requests!

I will hopefully have the second part of this story up soon!

Carl Poppa!