He went with his dad, trying to help. He knew his parents were unhappy, and with everything he heard his dad say about his mom, Carl wanted to distance himself from the "whore."
The four lived together under the same roof, but it wasn't like it was before. Before his dad got shot, before the world ended. Before Shane.
His last happy memory was celebrating what they thought was shelter at the CDC. He winced when he tried the wine, preferring to stick with soda pop. They were all happy and laughing. Miss Jacqui was wonderful and caring. Later he tried to use the pillow to cover his ears. They thought he was asleep. He heard the giggles and the urges for each other to be quiet, and eventually moans and "I love yous."
The same noises he heard that one night by the side of the road when he feigned sleep in the car and Uncle Shane and his mom were in the grass.
Then the next morning everything changed. They didn't have a home anymore. His mom was crying and his uncle had scratches on his neck. Miss Jacqui was gone. They had nothing. Sophia went missing, and when he was looking for her with his dad and Uncle Shane he was transfixed when he saw the deer. It was so peaceful. The only sound was the crunch of the leaves under his feet as he walked closer to the animal.
Sophia coming out of the barn haunted him to this day. His dad changed. Shane changed. His mom was always scared. Daryl told them the story about Randal and his group.
Then night that still makes him wake up and cry. He saw Uncle Shane point his gun at his dad. He heard "broken woman…weak boy." And the words he'll never forget. "They got over you once, they'll do it again."
He closed his eyes when his dad moved closer. Carl didn't see what happened, but Uncle Shane was lying on the ground and his dad was crying over him.
Carol and Glenn were the ones to yell at his dad when he said that they're all infected. That's when people began to lose faith and trust in his father. He saw his mother walk over to try to comfort his dad. She wrapped her arms around him, standing as close as possible. While they were talking she started to back away, then he watched as she bent over, almost throwing up. He reached his arm out to try to help, and she pushed him away.
Since that night he saw the tension between his parents. He would hear his mom cry during the night and thought he should go sit with her. But when he saw how his dad was acting, he decided not to.
He felt safe at the prison. He liked sharing a cell with his dad, although it was as far away from his mom's cell as possible.
After listening to his dad, she deserved to be shunned.
He became close to his father. They'd go on runs together, and he would think it was almost a game to see how angry his mom would be when they'd come back after a week or so, when she didn't know they had left.
Carl would see his mother try to talk to his dad, but he'd always walk away. Meals together in the prison cafeteria would be just the two sitting together, and it was obvious that Lori wanted to join her family. She'd end up sitting by herself, slowly pushing the food around her plate while wiping away tears.
The noises he heard that one night at the CDC he overheard again from different cells at the prison. Maggie and Glenn, Carol and Hershel, and Beth and Daryl.
His mom would try every day to talk to her boy, but he wanted nothing to do with her. Just the way his father did. Hershel told him to respect his mother, and he'd tell Rick to make things right before its too late, but the words fell on deaf ears.
When his dad left again he was gone for days before coming back missing his hand. Lori tried to help but he refused to be in the same room with her.
The day came when Lori was in the infirmary, screaming in pain. Carl ran to the cell he shared with his father, and found him with his head down and his body shaking with sobs. He sat on the bunk and asked his dad why he hates his mom so much.
Rick didn't respond, just sat in the cell.
They were separated for weeks after the prison fell. He watched as his dad talked to someone nobody could see. When they found brief shelter in a home the two of them settled down for the night, he heard his father talking to someone. Carl hopped out of bed and ran to the family room, just to see his father, on his knees and deeply crying, speaking into a telephone receiver.
He heard the words "I should have said it. But I love you."
After they ran for their lives when the animals at Terminus fell, they saw Carol, someone they thought they lost. She helped them escape.
The grey haired beauty smiled and said "come with me."
They walked over an hour through the woods and followed Carol to a hunter's cabin, hidden by camouflage and tree leaves. The door opened and Michonne, Tyreese, Sasha and Lori stepped out, holding Judith.
All the hard feelings he had for his mother were long gone when he saw the woman he thought was dead. He ran to her arms, holding her tightly, and cried. Lori hugged her son tightly, her face streaked with tears. That was the first time he held his sister. He saw his parents embrace, and the first time his father hold his mother's baby.
The house was nice. Lori told her son that it was something she and her dad once did…drive around new developments and think that someday they'll have a home like that. The four would have dinner together, but it wasn't the same. He thought his parents would get back together after they found each other again after the escaped the cannibals, but it didn't happen. Carl interacted with Judy, clapping along with her mom when she said her first words. His dad wasn't around.
He wasn't surprised when his parents chose different bedrooms. Rick let Lori take the master bedroom since she'd have Judy's crib. But even when Judy moved into her own room, Rick still stayed in his own room.
At night he'd hear his mom cry in her room. The first night he heard it Carl told his dad, who said he'd take care of it. The boy listened closely, but Rick never left his room. He never went to comfort Lori.
Carl and his mom were clapping when Judy took his first steps. His dad wasn't there, as usual. The neighborhood was shaken recently with the deaths of Reg and Pete. He had a hunch that his father would be with the woman he was always looking at. He ran to the Andersons, and sure enough, he saw his father and the blonde kissing in the garage. The noise he made interrupted the two, and Rick had to chase his son back to his home.
"You hate mom so much. She cries all the time because of you. Shane scared her. I heard her tell Carol that he raped her at the CDC. Judy's walking. I left the house because she was crying because you weren't there and you're kissing Jessie. If you hate mom that much just divorce her. I don't want you to be my father anymore."
The words hit Rick hard. He treasured his boy.
Lori was holding her son's hand, praying he would wake up. Her somewhat husband had joined her in the room. Just like when Rick was in his coma, two of the members of the family sat together over another, grieving what could be an insurmountable loss.
"Baby boy…I'm so sorry. Please wake up. I know you can't hear me, but right now I need to pretend you can. Please wake up."
He watched as Lori cried deep tears, begging Carl to squeeze her hand. He heard the same words when he was in the hospital. The two parents sat together over their son, wanting to show him the world.
He went with his dad, trying to help. He knew his parents were unhappy. Maybe if they got to the Hilltop they'd be happy again. Maggie was sick, and he wanted to help.
The man was terrifying. He called the boy a future serial killer. He looked at his dad, who was shaking with fear. He was swinging a bat that was covered in barbed wire. Carl looked around and saw the members of the people who became his family over the past two years. Maggie was crying for Glenn. She was in agony and needed her husband. Sasha, Rosita, Eugene, were crying.
Abe was on his knees, sitting straight up in defiance. Aaron, Daryl and Michonne were watching in fear.
The man started swinging the bat. Carl heard some screaming and saw Abe's head explode. Rick put his hand over his face and started crying.
The last thing he remembered was the man taunting Rosita before Daryl jumped up and punched him in the face.
He nodded to a group of his men and they threw Daryl into the back of a truck. The man continued, "I said I would shut that shit down…no exceptions!"
He motioned to the man named Simon and said, "Cut the boy's other eye out and feed it to his father."
Doctor Carson treated both eyes. He cleaned the wounds the best he could.
The medicine burned when it first entered his veins, but soon the pain killer took over his body and he heard his father's voice right before he lost his grip on his consciousness.
"We don't have the resources like we used to, but we have to do everything to avoid infection. A piece of gauze over an open eye socket won't do anything."
"What do you suggest?" Rick asked.
The last thing Carl remembered was the good doctor saying something about sewing the skin together. His right eyelash was gone, a result of Ron's bullet. Doctor Carson could pinch the skin together over the socket. Although it was ripped from Simon's knife, his left eyelash could be repaired and then sewn shut.
"Hey bud."
He heard his father's voice.
"Where's mom? I want my mom." Carl stated, coming out of a twilight sleep and terrified that he couldn't see.
After a car ride back to the Alexandria Safe Zone, Aaron helped Carl out of the car and walked with him until he reached the safety of his mother's arms.