Chapter I

This story begins on a warm Saturday afternoon in the safe zone of Alexandria.

Carl Grimes is sitting on a chair swing on their home's front porch with his eight-month old sister, Judith in his arms.

The young hardened survivor was attempting to sooth the baby to sleep as it was time for her mid-day nap. Carl had been trying for nearly two hours, although he loved and adored his baby sister; she could be a handful.

The teen thought it would never happen until he heard a light snore. Carl looks down and finally the little girl was asleep. Carl mentally cheered, he then carefully stood and turned to see Michonne standing there.

"Let me take her, you go relax for a bit" stated the dark-skinned beauty with a kind smile.

Carl gingerly handed Judith to Michonne. The teen descended the front steps and out on to the street. He could hardly believe it had already been a week since those psychotic wolves attacked.

The town had begun to pick itself up although the deaths were terrible Carl felt that the Alexandrians finally got the wake up call they needed.

Carl's father was Rick Grimes, he was originally a Sheriff Deputy in their quaint little hometown in King's County but after the outbreak almost three years ago Rick had become the undisputed leader of their extended family of survivors.

Carl stopped walking for a moment to look up he saw Glenn, Maggie,Aaron and Daryl looking over a map of the area. He inched closer and hid behind Nicholas' white van so that he could hear now a few years ago Carl would've felt ashamed of himself for purposely eavesdropping but now he learned from the aftermath of the outbreak that information can easily mean the difference between life and death.

As he listened he heard Glenn state

"We've almost picked clean every place for three miles around I think we need to expand our range"

Aaron was the next to speak.

"Well we could try a few miles South"

"That would take us back past Terminus, or what's left of it" Daryl said.

"No further...here, I remember when we were scouting with Aden and Spencer before I saw some untouched buildings"

Aaron said pointing to the map.

"I recognize that area...that's King's County." Glenn responded wistfully as if remembering simpler days.

Carl's ears perked up when heard them mention King's County. Glenn seemed like he was considering it and then nodded his head.

"Let's do it if we stay off of highways we should be able to avoid the clogged passes" Glenn said "If we leave first thing in the morning we can be back by dusk."

Aaron and Daryl nodded their agreement.

"Be careful out there Glenn if you get yourself killed you're in huge trouble" Maggie stated with a hint of worry in her voice before stalking away, she stopped as she passed Carl's hiding place.

"Hey Carl" intoned Maggie still looking the opposite way.

The teen managed not to jump with an impressive show of willpower

"I know you heard everything,don't worry you're not in trouble" Maggie continued "I want you to promise me something...make sure Glenn comes home I've nearly lost him twice already."

Carl nodded with unbridled youthful determination in his bright blue eyes

"Even if I have to drag him back" Maggie smirked still facing the other way "Don't worry about Deanna or your father I'll handle them."

with that Maggie walked away.

Carl waited before heading home with even more respect for Maggie.

The next morning came quickly enough Carl woke at dawn and quietly got out of bed. The leader's son went through his morning routine swiftly and quickly shuffled down the stairs and out of the door.

He approaches the main gate just in time to see Daryl, Glenn and Aaron preparing to leave all three were doing final checks and Rick was there as well to give final approval. The good thing was all four were facing the other direction.

The daring youth took his chance and silently slipped into the back of Nicholas' white van and hid himself well and hid under a water-proof tarp. He only had to wait a short time before heard all of the van's doors slam closed and soon they were off.

As the morning wore on the typical southern summer heat hit with a vengeance and the boy was soon roasting in the van but he endured it but if it took too much longer he'd have to reveal himself just to breathe. Another fifteen minutes and he felt the van come to a stop.

He then heard Glenn speak up

"Okay let's make this quick and thorough" with that declaration Carl knew they had arrived and it was safe to make his presence known.

The young survivor threw the tarp off and proceeded crawl to the back doors, opened them quietly and put on his best calm and confident mask and casually stroll out. We walked until he was about three feet behind the three scavengers before speaking

"Man, it's been a long time since I've been here." Carl said casually with a smirk.

When Glenn heard his voice his head whipped around so fast he heard his neck crack.

"Carl, what are you doing here?"

The teen's smirk morphed into a mischievous grin

"I may have overheard you mention King's County yesterday and decided to tag along"

Glenn looked at him and then peered at Aaron who had dumbfounded expression on his face.

Daryl just had a smirk and Glenn noticed

"Y-your not surprised" the former pizza-guy asked.

"I knew he was there the whole time." the huntsman replied as if this was a common occurrence.

Carl had suspected Daryl was aware of his presence.

"And you couldn't of said anything because?" Aaron stated still a tad stunned.

Daryl merely shrugged before replying

"Carl's been out here with us since the beginning, he can handle himself despite what you and Rick say."

Carl added another note

"Also Glenn this my hometown, like I would pass up the chance to come back here"

The veteran scavenger sighed and then smiled

"Fine, Rambo let's go"

Meanwhile back in Alexandria Rick had noticed Carl's absence.

He walked out the house with Judith in his arms he noticed Michonne sitting on the front porch steps.

"Michonne, have you seen Carl?"

The samurai looked up at him as he took a seat next to her.

"Yeah, saw him this morning...he sneaked into the back of the van"

Rick paled and sighed "Why would he want to do that?"

"Maybe to send a message to his father that he is more capable than he seems to think" came the voice of Maggie walking towards them.

"You knew?" inquired the gruff constable.

"Yeah saw him listening in while Glenn, Daryl and Aaron were discussing new scavenging spots." Maggie stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Rick try to remember your boy has been out there with us from the start, have some faith he can take care of himself just fine."

Rick sighed again

"He's in for a lecture when he gets back."

Back in King's County the four survivors cautiously make their way down the deserted main street.

"Aaron which buildings did you say looked untouched" asked Carl as he continued to scan for walkers.

The curly-haired scavenger looked around and spotted the structures

"Over there" he said pointing towards a large three-story building which gave Carl the strongest sense of dejavu.

It only took him a few seconds to recall the memory. When realized where they where he couldn't help but laugh. The three older survivors gave him questioning gaze fortunately the teen noticed their glances.

"The one building that we glossed over the first time through would have to be my old school"

Glenn's eyes widened a bit.

"This is your school?"

Carl nodded before moving forward. He reached down pulled a knife from his ever present thigh mounted holster. He used its hilt to bang on the door. All four waited a few minutes but nothing happened.

Daryl walked up to stand beside Carl and nodded to him giving him the all clear. Carl pushed the door open with the huntsman at his side; Glenn and Aaron bringing up the rear.

As they made their way down the school's main hall. Carl saw something that made a small sad smile cross is face. He saw the old chalk eraser machines sitting on the counter between two doors both lead to the library.

"I used to hate getting this job" the teen muttered "The dust always made me sneeze."

Then out of the blue Carl actually sneeze

"Ah-choo!" He shook his head "UGH, even thinking about it makes me sneeze"

Aaron and Glenn chuckle. They moved further down the hall and starting looking through classrooms Glenn pairs with Carl to search Room 5 while Aaron and Daryl took the library.

Carl remembered Room 5 this was his classroom before the outbreak, he could almost see phantom memories of his old classmates. As the two shifted through the room Carl came up to his old desk.

The first thing he noticed was how small it was

"I cannot believe I used to fit in this" he said astonished at the difference two and a half years makes. Glenn smiled at his younger companion, he now understood why Carl had wanted to tag along he wanted to relive his memories of a much happier and much simpler life.

Carl crouched down and opened his old desk, inside the desk was a disaster area

"I was never a very neat kid"

He then looked up and saw the cork board he walked up to it.

The board had colorful hand-cut paper letters that read "WEEK'S BESTS!"

Glenn came up next to Carl

"Your picture is on this board...Best Friends...Carl S. Grimes and Leo E. Valdez; Who is Leo Valdez?"

Glenn noticed Carl's eyes turn sad

"Leo...h-he was my best friend, he and I were inseparable, he was always small for his age so the other kids used to pick on him...especially since he was a foster kid, I would always stand up for him"

Carl sniffled

"I really miss him, him and his stupid jokes"

They then heard a voice with a light Latino accent.

"What's with all the was talk, Car-lito"

[Hey guys I'm back, please R&R I worked very hard on this Chapter 2 is already started]