Ron swayed back and forth idly watching as Michonne pinched the bridge of her nose, both had been looking for carl, nearly all night, with the acceptation of some breaks. it was dawn now, the sun shuns down on the flaccid grass while the leaves burned bright orange and brown. the pair neared the gates, which towered over all of the debris outside of them, visibly surpassing the heights of the houses around. Honestly, this was the first time Ron was able to understand the true safety of his own town, his family hadn't been outside for long and it's not like they wanted to leave again for any reason.

Eugene was the first to see them, he looked surprised to see them this early especially since he'd been dozing off against the metal. Not the greatest idea.

A walker shambled towards Ron who ran up to Michonne and tugged at her vest. She didn't turn, didn't even flinch even after he called her name. The growls of the creature drew closer and closer,clearly it had no trouble catching up to their walking pace.

"M-Miss!" Ron called for the last time. She let out a low growl then gave in and drew her sword. Pushing Ron's head down and swinging at the walker, decapitating it in one swing. It's head fell to the concrete with a sickening thud. The entire time, Ron's eyes were shut tight he was so scared that even Michonne could hear his teeth chattering.

"Hey now, it's ok. You can let go." She whispered in a soothing motherly tone.

He opened his eyes only to find his arms wrapped tightly around Her torso. Frankly, he was just impressed that her turn radius was large enough to kill the bitter.

Steadily, he pulled away and attempted to regain his composure without apologizing, which he felt somewhat bad about. Just another emotion to add to the pile.

Eugene hesitantly opened the gate and gave Michonne a small nod. they continued walking down the streets until they arrived Rick's home to give him the news.

the church doors opened, letting the majority of the town inside, mainly just Rick's group and a few of the supply runners. Enid was sandwiched between the man with the crossbow, who looked rather, captivating and Glenn, who Ron had come to know during school, he had helped teach their geography class. She stared blankly down at her palms. Ron, on the other hand, fiddled with the wood on the bench and watched as Rick and Deanna whispered between each other at the front of the room. Everyone else was silent, some biting their lips and others toying with their hair and clothes.

Rick then cleared his voice.

"Its come to my attention that My son, Carl has gone… missing" Ron hated those words, he hated this church. Not to mention his father making him feel so useless being here, Arriving home the reverend told him how stupid he was for going over the walls with the black lady. He wasn't allowed to go and as usual, his mother sided with her husband. Again he was locked away in his room with Sam but, Like the persistent child Ron was, he insisted on going with the search party. But he was forced to give Sam half of his art supplies so he wouldn't snitch.

His father just reminded him how futile he was. Ron was sick and tired of being cooped up inside the walls. He wanted to do something, BE something more than just a petty hopeless teenager. Now all he could do was listen. The adults wouldn't let him tie his own shoes, much let him holster a gun and go outside the walls. He couldn't even defend himself from one walker, pathetic.

"We're starting a search and I'd like to cover a four-mile radius within the hour. A group of 4 in each direction. We'll start with that."

Enid looked across the rows at Ron and gave a small shrug. He felt her resentment from across the room, and boy was it depressing. Without warning someone grabbed the back of his hoodie and pulled him to the right and right out of the pew. He gave a small squeak upon being dragged against his will away from the crowd. No one really seemed to notice either...

His stomach clenched when the attacker spoke.

"The hell'd I tell you, kid?"

Ron swallowed, looking up at his father's enraged face. His body went into a full panic as he began to shake.

"I asked you a damn question!" Pete bellowed but Ron was too afraid to answer. His father's grip moved from his hoodie down to his arm, the skin began to burn under the fabric.

Pete practically growled, the musky scent of bitter whiskey was the last thing Ron inhaled as Pete shoved his son to the ground.

"Worthless piece of trash, can't even follow a simple direction."

His head hit the gutter while his shirt ripped against the concrete. Pete walked away grumbling incoherent dribble.

At first, Ron hesitated to move. His back was craned in such a way against the curb that it put stress on his spine, along with his head which had begun to spin due to impact.

Tears soon began to fall from his eyes as he cowered close to the gutter. No one could help him. Not Rick, not Jesse, not Carl. For all he knew his friend could've already been digested by the roamers or even worse, he could be out there being tortured by who knows who. Ron couldn't imagine how scared Carl could be...

"H-help... Me..."

The voice vexed him so hard that the tears that had fallen almost immediately stopped.

Carl.

"Carl!" He yelled into the grate, his own voice was the first to echo back.

"R-...Ron.." Carl pleaded back from inside the sewers. At first, he thought the voice was just in his head, telling him what he wanted to hear but the coughs and sputters that Punctuated his last sentence told Ron that The situation at hand was very real.

Ron was so happy, he couldn't think straight. The grate was welded to the curb, there was no possible way of cutting through it. But, There was a manhole in the middle of the street, which he went to pull open. No use, the metal wouldn't budge. There was hardly anything of use for that matter to move the circular slab out of its socket. Then again, his mother did have tools of all sorts in the garage.

He ran as fast as his legs were able to his house, passing many concerned pedestrians.

He bolted into the house, blowing past his mother and brother who asked what he was doing, of course, he didn't have the time to explain, he just had to help his friend.

Ron grabbed a crowbar and a flashlight from the workbench and exited the side door.

Spiriting back he found that most of the people had cleared out of the streets near the manhole. Which gave Ron ample opportunity to pry open the slab and climb inside.

The sewers smelled of rotten dairy, grime caked the concrete walls with a watery substance. There was barely any water pooling at the bottom of the well, nothing more than an inch deep. The ceiling was only oh so high, so, to pass through (disregarding the pipes) he Almost had to crawl. Alas, he turned on the flashlight, shining it in all the cracks where the sunlight didn't touch. In his other hand, he held the crowbar close.

"Carl!" Ron yelled without thinking. For all he knew, there could be walkers or God knows what in these catacombs.

There was no response but a small cough echoing from wall to wall. Closing his eyes and listening close, He was able to pinpoint the sound, it was coming from just ahead.

Ron pushed his hair back behind his ears and moved slowly toward the walked for so long that he thought that he must've reached the middle of Alexandria.

"R...Ron..." Carl coughed, not too far away. Ron rushed to the scene only to find a disturbing site.

The room he entered looked like a basin. The ceilings were raised about five feet from the rest of the tunnels. The room was circular but, not all too wide.

In the middle of it all was his friend, hands hanging from the thick rope. The thing that perplexed Ron the most was the pastel pink dress that Carl was wearing. Lace and all, the outfit looked almost Victorian. The only thing out of place were many wrinkles and stray blood. It looked like the dress had been peeled off a roamer before being put on his friend. The edges were torn, making it so the dress exposed much of Carl's thighs. Ron could visibly see the blood that had trickled down his friend's leg... It made him sick to think that a human being could do this to their own kind, much less a youth. Scattered across the floor were countless amounts of beer cans and bottles. Disgusting...

"Carl, I'll get you out... I can just... I can..." Ron stammered, trying to process it all

His friend looked weary, very obviously tired and fatigued, exhausted from putting up a fight. His face was far too pale. Sweat had caused the brunette's hair to stick to his face.

Ron thought about what he could do to cut the ropes restraining him. The crowbar would be of no use...He soon became angry at feeling as useless as before. In an instant, Ron turned around and kicked on of the many glass bottles into the wall.

It shattered upon impact, sending shards of glass in all directions. He had both a rush of adrenaline and an idea, picking up the largest shard of glass he could find, Ron pounced at the thick restraints.

Carl pleaded that he hurry before his captor came back. But, Ron was cutting the rope as fast as his hands could move, his fingers were beginning to dig deeper into the glass. Not to mention the tension that lingered about was enough to cause their bodies to shake in unison.

The threads were visibly ready to snap at any moment, so Ron slipped his leg in between Carl's so he wouldn't fall, he was far too weak to hold himself up.

Not long after, the strings snapped, freeing his friend's bloody wrists.

Carl began to tear up and cling to Ron's waist. It was scaring him quite a bit that he'd never seen Carl so vulnerable and fragile. The lace around his friend's dress was scratching at his ankles.

Ron pulled him close, attempting to comfort and prevent a panic attack. Soon enough The pair headed for the exit, Ron remembered the majority of the turns he made, all they really needed to do was find a ladder to another manhole cover.

That's when they heard it. A loud 'bang' in the distance.

They both froze, eyes locked into the shadows. Metal on metal. A door has opened, somewhere that they couldn't see. Ron gripped Carl's hand and began leading him quietly to the exit. Water splashed against their feet. Making it harder to go unnoticed. They took a turn and found a ladder, leading up to the manhole cover. Ron climbed up the short ladder and mustered up the strength to push the manhole to the side while Carl looked into the darkness waiting for another noise or sign that would put them in further danger. A cold sweat broke out on his back as he began seeing monsters lurking in the dark, surely it had to be his mind just playing tricks on him.

Ron had only moved the manhole a fourth of the way open when they hear a loud scream

"NOOO!"

the echo bounced throughout the catacombs and Ron pushed as hard as he could to try to open the hatch.

Sounds of water splashing drew closer, distant, then closer again. The duo knew that this man had to be twice the size and strength of them. Ron ushered Carl near the exit. After taking two more turns the roughly the dimly lit cave, the ladder came into view.

"I'll open it, and then you'll go first."

Carl nodded.

Ron pushed with all his might on the slab a slid it over just enough so the crowbar could fit through, then pushing it to the side and moving so carl could climb up first. Ron stood at the bottom of the ladder and looked into the deep tunnel to find a pair of bloodshot eyes nearly fifteen feet from the exit.

"bring me back, my little girl…"

Ron clutched the metal bar and started back, completely frozen, hoping that Carl had made it out safely.

The figure moved closer, stumbling, agonizingly slow.

"Bring her back… give me my baby."

He smiled wickedly as Ron backed toward the ladder. In one swift movement, he whipped around and clung to the metal, climbing to the surface. The figure put an excessive amount of effort into sprinting down the catacomb and grabbing His shoe. By this movement, Ron's entire body was shaking with fear as he Clung to the ladder with all his might and kicking at the person holding onto him.

A hand grabbed him and he looked up to find Carl wearily holding onto the curb and attempting to pull him up and out. The Figure pulled on his ankle with twice the strength until Ron turned and shoved the crowbar into his eye.

Scampering out, panting, Ron moved the hatch over the hole once again and the two boys laid on the asphalt as civilians began to pool around them.

A/N I know about the Wattpad fic Lol, that's me, dont worry. I'll try to update this a bit more bc i love these two so much i just *sniff*... cant even...