9.
A/N: Thanks for all the feedback on the last chapter and the birthday wishes. :D Onwards!
Carl couldn't tell when the sound of the walkers went away he was just grateful when they were drawn off by something else and they were out of immediate danger.
When he realised there was silence, he slowly sat up, looking out the window and seeing nothing moving. He moved his head slightly, checked the next area was clear and continued until he was certain that all the walkers that had been out there were gone.
He let out a sigh of relief. Judith was still content but he knew she needed feeding. If not now, then very soon and all her formula was in the trunk.
"Daryl?" Carl whispered, shaking the man gently. Daryl showed no sign of waking so Carl resigned himself to being alone for now. No walkers were in sight so Carl slipped from the car and stepped outside, slightly nervous. He opened the trunk and grabbed the bag of Judith's things, putting it in the foot well where he'd been sat before he headed out to the bus.
He looked around the bus, saw traces of blood and some broken windows but no one was there. He wondered what had happened to them all. They clearly had managed to leave as there was nothing left that made him believe they'd all been attacked.
Sighing with frustration, Carl headed back to the car. He made up a bottle for Judith, fed it to her as she sat on his lap while he perched on the edge of the seat next to Daryl's legs.
He thought about trying a bit harder to wake Daryl up once Judith went back to sleep, but that wouldn't be for a while. Judith would need some human contact for a while before she would be willing to sleep again. She wasn't used to just being left alone and Carl was concerned she might caused a fuss if he didn't fuss over her for a while.
Carl couldn't help but wonder if anyone from the bus had made it, and if they had, why they'd left them. Surely it would have been worth checking before they abandoned them out here.
With Judith fed, he sat her down in the foot well and sat opposite her, playing with his infant sister to amuse her for a while.
oOo
Karen, Sasha and Tyresse gathered outside the front of the small house they'd gathered everyone into.
"I gotta go back," Tyresse said.
"That's crazy!" Karen told him.
"You'll never make it."
"We can't leave them there," Tyresse insisted.
"The walkers were all around that car," Sasha reminded him.
"I know. But when Peter got dragged down, he screamed up a storm." Tyresse reminded them in a hushed voice. "He's bound to have drawn most of them away."
"Ty, you can't go back. You won't make it out alive."
"I don't want to be cruel, but we know one of them didn't make. We all saw the blood. Whoever it was, you have to think about who's left. How will you manage to bring them back?"
"It doesn't matter. I've gotta try. I won't be able to look any of them people in the face again if I can't tell them I tried my hardest."
Sasha nodded sadly, knew nothing she said would make a difference.
oOo
Carl heard a slight gasping breath and he looked up to Daryl.
He expected the man to be awake but was disappointed to see him still resting. Still unmoving.
Carl turned his attention back to Judith again but was disturbed again moment s later by another rasping breath. Still certain it wasn't Daryl, Carl looked slowly to the window, waiting to see the walker that had emerged from the trees and been drawn by the blood.
He could see none and was about to dismiss the whole thing when he heard another breath and felt the chair in front of him shudder slightly.
That was when he realised. Realised that the noise was coming from in front of him.
Carol.
Carol had turned.
Judith wriggled in his arms, made a small sound and he heard Carol snarl at the noise. He pushed himself against the seat as much as he could, knew if she reached in the back for him and Judith he'd had to run and he'd have to leave Daryl behind.
Carol thrashed around a bit in the front, like she knew there was something living close by but she couldn't find it. And he watched as she pulled herself out of the window in her bid to get free.
He huddled his sister closer to him as he watched Carol stand up and start to walk away, her head hanging in a ghastly way due to the amount of flesh that had been eaten from her neck.
He was glad she kept her back to him. Glad he never had to be confronted with what she'd look like now.
