Quiet.
That's how I'd describe it.
Terrifying.
Silence is never a good sign.
I was damn near starving when I met him. Little more than a damn kid. Of course, so was I, but that's besides the point.
He was thin, his clothes hanging off of him like they were 2 sizes too big, which they probably were. His face was was covered in dirt, grimy and nasty. His eyes were cold and unforgiving. To any sane person, the sight would have been terrifying. But, my mental health is probably questionable in this new world. He didn't scare me. I could take one look at him and realize that this kid should not have survived as long as he had. There was something incredibly...innocent about him.
The other thing that struck me about this kid...
He's an idiot.
Bang!
Bang!
Two shots rang out in the hot, humid Georgian afternoon.
What kind of an idiot...
That's when I saw him. A kid in a sheriff's hat, shooting at shufflers, no doubt attracting the attention of other shufflers. He was so focused on the few in front of him that he didn't notice the one coming up behind him.
I have 2 choices.
I could let his stupid self die horrendously, or I could save him...
My conscious overrode my grumbling stomach.
I pull out my crossbow, load it and fire at the shuffler behind him. They both go down and now the kid is struggling with a shuffler on top of him with his gun out of reach.
I shake my head and run to him, pulling out my machete and striking the shuffler in the back of his head.
"I had it handled." He grumbled to himself as he stood.
"Oh yeah totally, no weapon, stuck on the ground, terrified, I'm sure you had the situation completely under control," I rolled my eyes, shaking the blood off of my machete.
"You by yourself?" I asked.
He froze, giving me a calculating look, "Yes."
"You're a damn liar, who are you with out here?" I said, seeing right through his lie, "Look. I'm just here to scavenge and I don't want any surprises when I'm doing that."
He continued to give me that look, most people might have seen it and walked away. Dropped the question and moved along.
Fortunately, I am not most people.
He seemed to be having a debate in his head on whether to trust me or not. To be fair, I had saved his life the least he could do was show a little trust.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the look melted before my eyes. His shoulders slumped, he adjusted his hat,looking at the sky, and when he looked at me again, he looked drained. With tired eyes said,
"If you try anything, I will kill you, got it?"
I mock saluted him, "Aye,aye, capitan."
He rolled his eyes, the corners of his mouth twitching like he wanted to smile, and lead me to a house in the community. We went in through the back and made our way to the front of the house where a couch was backed against a door. On this couch laid a very dead looking man.
I looked at the kid again, "Is he dead?"
He shook his head, "That's my dad."
I nodded. Poor kid, no wonder he was out there alone. If his dad was in this state, he might not last much longer.
A thought occurred to me then.
"Hey."
He slowly turned away from his father to look at me.
"What's your name? I realize we never actually introduced ourselves like normal people."
He cracked a smile. Progress on the trusting thing.
"It's Carl. Carl Grimes. My dad is Rick."
"Well, Carl Grimes, it's a pleasure to meet you." I laugh, cracking a smile of my own.
"What about you?" He says, putting his hat on a table and sitting down across the room from his father.
"Terra." I say, sinking the floor in between Carl and Rick, but against a wall.
"No last name?"
"Nope. Just Terra."
"Well, Just Terra, thank you for saving me today."
I smirk, "Something tells me, this won't be the last time I do that."
He makes a face at me, and I laugh.
Rick groans in his comatose state.
"How long he been like this?"
"Couple days."
My stomach grumbles. Carl tosses me a can of...green beans. Yuck.
But, I'm hungry, so I eat the can of disgustingness.
That was the first time I met Carl Grimes.
I left shortly after this conversation. Rick hadn't woken up yet, Carl needed to care for him, and I needed to move along and continue looking for my group. We had gotten separated when a herd came through and I know they're alive, I just have to find them somehow.
I said my goodbyes to Carl Grimes.
It was only a few days later that we saw each other again. I was just running in the woods, away from the shuffler when my foot got caught in one of those rope traps that yanked me up by the feet.
"People actually do this?!" I said in frustration.
My machete fell off my waist before I could grab it. I dropped my pack, too. I tried to reach my ankles which proved to be quite difficult. Eventually, I was able to free myself, landing hard on my back.
That's gonna be sore.
I grabbed my pack and machete and kept moving.
The sun was beginning it's descent, probably about five o'clock, I made my way into a clearing in the woods.
That's when I saw it. A massive herd, probably at least a couple hundred strong. 3 figures ran ahead of the herd 2 adults and a teen.
Of course, the herd that I was running from deciding to reappear from behind me, it was smaller but was quickly catching up.
How did I not hear them?
The group was running right towards me. As soon as I saw the sheriff's hat I knew it was Carl.
"Nope!" I yelled while sprinting past them. They quickly followed my lead running in the same direction. Before we reach the other side, the shuffler catch up to us. Now we are fighting and trying to move forward at the same time.
I'm cutting and chopping with my machete utterly focused at not getting bitten.
Suddenly to my left I hear, "Carl!" I look and see Carl not too far from me desperately shooting at the shufflers, but he is outnumbered and running out of ammunition.
I kick the shuffler in front of me, knocking a group of them to the ground like dominos. I fight my way to Carl who only has a knife with him. When I reach him I get back to back with him.
"You keep contact with me, we're gonna fight our way through this. Got it?" I say breathlessly.
I don't wait for a response and immediately begin pushing towards the woods in front of me.
By the time we get to the cover of the woods we are covered in guts and blood. Immediately, we break into a dead sprint, trying to put as much distance between us and them as possible. Night has almost fallen by the time we stop to breathe.
I look at Carl.
"Do you think they made it?" He whispers so low, I wasn't even sure it was meant for me. He must of lost a lot of people close to him.
"Of course they did. Don't worry, we'll find them." I put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.
When night falls we sit together, backs against a tree, sides touching, listening for the sound of feet coming through the shrubs to find us.
But our ears are met with silence.
SO HOW WAS THAT FOR A FIRST CHAPTER?
Please leave some reviews for me. I've had this story sitting in the back of my mind for awhile now, but never got around to writing it.
Tell me if you want Carl's POV. I'm debating whether or not to include Carl's POV.
See ya next chapter.
~WiseChic~