Another Grave

After watching as they pulled that guy; Randall out of the car, Daryl had taken notice of me. He quietly made his way toward me and told me I should go back into the tent. With one last glance at the group, I did as he said. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what was going on anymore.

It's always just one problem after another isn't it? We get rid of the Walkers, Carol's arm got cut off, but apparently she still might die, and now . . . I struggled a way to word Randall's appearance. Why was he blindfolded? Why is he even here? Hershel doesn't want us here, but now other people can be here?

I laid myself in the sleeping bag, my mind racing with all my questions and thought. I was sure I wouldn't fall asleep, but after a while, I did.

I woke up in a jolt, having heard a noise. Looking around after sitting up, I saw that it was only Daryl, unzipping the tent to get out. He glanced at me briefly and left the tent, leaving it unzipped.

Is he still mad at me?

Getting out of the sleeping bag, I saw my knife sheath placed beside my backpack. I stared at it, wondering if I should put it on. I hadn't worn it the last few days, and the Walkers were taken care of, so I decided to leave it.

"Toby, come get some food," Lori summoned me over to the fire when I crawled out of the tent. I was really hungry so I obeyed, though I was still hesitant. She didn't seem to take any notice of my reservation as she handed me a paper plate with fried eggs on it. Carl was sitting with his own plate close by her.

I couldn't help but look over to him and our eyes met. I tore my eyes away from him as Lori passed me a fork, but I saw out of the corner of my eye that he was still looking at me.

I was about to go back to sit by the tent, I turned with the intention to do so, but then I saw Guillermo. I paused for a brief moment, then looked around to see Daryl was nowhere in sight. Guillermo was just sitting, leaning against a tree staring at his plate. After a moment or two, I went over to him and sat down.

I swallowed nervously, not sure if it was what I wanted to do. I wasn't even sure why I did it, all this guy ever did was freak everyone out.

He looked at me in surprise, I returned his stare.

"You, uh . . ." I struggled to find words for my question. "You here?"

He stared, taking his time before he gave a very slow nod, "I'm here."

I nodded, so far it looked like he remembered me from yesterday, he didn't look as if he was going to lash out or anything. That was a good sign.

"I'm going to try and stay here."

"That's good," I said quietly.

"Maybe."

As we ate in silence, I noticed how quickly the rest of them ate and left, most of them to the house. Though I never saw Rick or Shane. And I hadn't seen Daryl since he was in the tent. Hershel and his family were inside I guessed, they never ate with us outside.

Even long after we ate, neither me nor Guillermo said a word. It was just complete and utter silence. Oddly enough, it wasn't awkward, I didn't feel as if I was forced to say anything or respond to anything he said. We glanced at each other once or twice, but still said nothing. It felt peaceful.

A while after we finished eating I saw Maggie walk out of the house. I watched her for a moment, feeling sad and nervous, I'd really liked Maggie before, but we still hadn't talked since she was searching me for ticks. There was a part of me hoping she wouldn't talk to me so I could just pretend it never happened, another part of me wanted the opposite.

I bit my lip before standing up and walking after her. I remembered the last time I'd followed her, it didn't go well. She didn't see me but I saw her with Glenn. Would I see the same thing again? Maybe I can stop it?

Since that night I'd taken occasional glances at Glenn, looking for any hint of him acting out of character. He always seemed nice to everybody, I didn't understand why he would want to hurt Maggie.

I sped up my pace a little to catch up with her. I felt really nervous and it took a couple tries before I could say anything.

"Hi," I forced out.

Maggie stopped abruptly and turned to me.

"Toby, hey." She looked surprised, but not displeased. "I was just gonna tend the horses, want to come?"

"Can I?" It was my turn to be surprised, I wasn't expecting any kind of invitation, especially so quick.

"Sure, come on. You can help me out."

"She cried?" I echoed, grinning slightly.

"Like a baby. She cried and cried." Maggie laughed, "we didn't understand it, she loved the horses, spent hours here, sometimes just braiding and brushing their hair. But as soon as we put her in the saddle, she freaked."

I was helping Maggie sweep some of the hay around the stable so it wasn't so messy. She was recounting some old memories of riding. At that moment, she was telling me about Beth's first time.

"Turns out it wasn't the riding, it was the height of it. Beth's always had a fear of heights, I just didn't think riding would count."

"Is she still scared?"

"Of heights or riding?"

"Ridin'."

She gave a slight shrug as she shoveled some fresh hay into the pile, "She's come a long way since she was nine, though lately, she hasn't been bothered."

"Do you always clean the stables?"

"Sometimes. Jimmy does it too. Beth we don't really ask because she takes forever and usually doesn't finish the job. Patricia takes care of the chickens. Guillermo did it once before."

"Guillermo?" I repeated, surprised at his name turning up.

"Yeah, the other day. He was asking Daddy for some chores, he wanted to keep busy. I don't blame him."

I thought her words over, "is that why we're doin' this now?"

She sighed, "yeah . . . could've waited, it wasn't too bad in here. Just needed to not think about some things for a bit."

"You look sad."

She paused in her actions for a moment, not looking at me.

"We're all a little sad," she finally said. "It's been a sad few days."

I thought about all the time spent here, the time at the CDC, on the road, and the school. Then I thought about Merle, about the camp. I thought about meeting Shane and looking for Daddy on the highway.

"Few months." I corrected. Has it really been that long? "Has it been months? Since . . . everything?"

She had a sad look in her eyes, she'd been looking sad since we got to the stables, but then I could see it much more clearly than before. As if it was out in the open. Maggie opened her mouth to answer.

"Maggie!"

Maggie and I both turned our heads, Lori ran into the stables.

"Lori, what's up?"

Lori hesitated, briefly glancing at me. I could easily tell it wasn't something I was supposed to hear.

"I need you back at the house. I have to get back to Beth, please be quick."

Maggie nodded, "sure thing. I'll be right there."

Then Lori ran back to the house. I held in a sigh of disappointment, it was nice being alone with Maggie, away from everyone else and everything else.. I heard Maggie sigh too.

She took the broom from me and placed it against the wall. She went over to one of the horses she tied up near the entrance and directed it back to it's stable. Once it was locked in, she motioned me to follow and we left.

Maggie had a solemn look on her face, "Well, let's go. I'll go see what's going on, get you some water and a snack if you want."

As we walked back to the house, I caught Maggie glancing at me every so often.

"What's wrong with Beth?"

"She's just . . . just a little shocked that's all. She'll be fine, she just needs some time."

Last night, I'd only heard whispers of Beth and Carol. Since then, this was the first I'd heard of Beth, though I had no idea what was happening with Carol.

"Is Carol going to die?"

She kept her eyes on me for a few moments as we walked, she still had that sad expression, "I don't know. Don't concern yourself with that, all right?"

I nodded, not saying anything more as we reached the house. We passed through the livingroom, those who were in it had obviously been talking about something I, or both of us weren't supposed to hear, because as soon as they saw us, their jaws were shut tight.

Shane, Rick, T-Dog, Glenn, and Hershel were there. My eyes met Shane's and he gave a small wave.

We went into the kitchen and Maggie told me to sit down before she went to check on her sister. I sat there in silence for several minutes, much longer then Maggie said she'd be gone for.

When she came back, her eyes and cheeks were red, it was obvious she'd been crying. I pretended not to notice as she avoided my eyes and went to the counter. I heard her cutting something but I remained quiet. A few moments later she moved over to the sink and I saw two small plates on the counter with some cut up fruit on them. She filled a glass with water and placed it in front of me, then did the same with one of the plates. She filled another glass before picking up the second plate.

"I'm going to go sit with Beth, help yourself to anything." Then she left.

As I started eating, I heard the front door open and close a few times, I wondered if that meant whatever meeting they had was over. I ate most of the peach first, taking some sips of water every so often.

I paused any move I was making and stared at my plate, thinking for a moment. I needed to pee, I wondered if I should go outside. She said help yourself, have to assume that includes the bathroom, right?

After debating for a little bit, I stood and walked out of the kitchen. When I reached the bathroom, the door was shut, I leaned my ear toward it and heard some movement inside. Someone was using it, I almost waited but I thought that would be weird. And I didn't want to be seen. I wasn't sure why, I just felt like if I could avoid anyone at the moment, that would be best.

I was sure I remembered someone saying there was a bathroom upstairs. I turned away down the hall and headed for the stairs. The higher I got on the staircase, the more I heard.

At first, the noise was hard to make out, but soon enough I'd recognised it. It was Carol's sobbing, but with her sobs there were words.

Reaching the hallway of the second floor of the house, I listened carefully, trying to decipher the words erupting from Carol's sobs.

"Please . . . Please. Do it."

I followed the voice, confused. Who is she talking too?

Carol continued sobbing and what sounded like begging.

"I want . . . don't let me . . . I just wanna be with my baby."

Carol's door was half closed. I stared at it, thinking about what to do.

"I won't. I won't be one of those things."

There was definitely someone there. I didn't want to do it, at the time, I felt like I knew I shouldn't but there was some kind of pull, maybe it was just curiosity. No matter what it was, I couldn't stop myself from reaching out and pushing the door open.

My eyes widened at what I was seeing. Shane was standing beside Carol's bed, with his gun pointed to her head, the very gun I'd shot from so many times. Carol was lying in bed sobbing, she was leaning toward Shane, grasping onto his shirt as she begged. My eyes went to her other arm, or lack of arm. It was heavily bandaged but there was still lots of blood.

Aside from the slight flush of her face from crying, Carol looked pale. There were dark, very dark, circles under her eyes. Even her lips seemed to have lost colour. All I could think of when looking at her was Jim. Arm or not, Carol looked like she had the fever, she already looked like a Walker.

"Please . . . kill me . . ."

I looked at Shane, his hand was shaking, very slightly. He was looking down at Carol so I couldn't see much of his expression, but it was easy to tell he didn't want to do it.

"Do it."

I was so sure he wouldn't, from the shaking, to the hesitation. I was waiting for him to lower the gun.

But he didn't. I flinched as he pulled the trigger. Due to Carol leaning forward and clutching his shirt she fell sideways off the bed.

Shane didn't move, his expression was odd, I couldn't interpret it, he just stared down at her body.

Hearing footsteps from downstairs, I knew the others, even the ones outside had heard the gunshot. Their steps were loud and hurried, when it sounded like they were coming up the stairs Shane finally lifted his head to look to the doorway.

His eyes widened as they met mine, his lips parted as if about to say something, but nothing came out. He looked down to Carol's body then back to me, as if just putting it together that I'd seen what happened.

Rick bursted into the room passed me, I could hear others behind me but I didn't turn to see who else was there.

"What happened?"

"What the hell did you do?!"

Several people were yelling these kinds of questions, it went on for a few moments. He switched his gaze from everyone to Carol's body.

"Toby," Rick said as he noticed me. "What are you doing in here?"

"She turned," Shane spoke aloud, his voice steady. Rick's attention was drawn away from me to Shane.

"What? Carol?"

"I came in here to check on how she was doing." Shane explained, looking down at her body and beginning to step away from it. "She was dead, she turned."

T-Dog was suddenly beside me, "no way! I was up here like half hour ago . . . no . . . FUCK!"

"She was a Walker?" Rick clarified.

Shane nodded.

"I can't believe this. I thought . . . I thought she'd push through." Rick put a hand to his head, looking solemn.

"I really didn't want to spend the day digging another fucking grave," T-Dog muttered.

"Wait, wait. Hold on. Toby?" I turned around to see Dale standing behind me, "Were you here? Did you see what happened?

I nodded.

It was easy to tell that Dale was looking for a different answer than the one Shane gave. The way he was looking at me looked as if the answer I'd give him meant life or death.

I looked over at Shane, who wasn't looking at me. In fact it looked as if he was going to great lengths to look everywhere but at me

"You can tell me," he urged. "Did Carol . . . Did Carol turn?"

I turned away from Shane, who was still avoiding my gaze. I looked Dale in the eyes, keeping my stare as steady possible as I kept my face blank of expression.

"Yes."

I know Carol is a fan favourite so I'll just apologize. I know I might lose some readers for this but me and Rasha007 planned this a while back. I hope you guys don't hate me too much for this and you'll continue reading (please no flames, I know it sucks when you're favourite character dies). There's still a lot of good things to come. well not necessarily good for the group, but good for the story.

I kind of wanted to give Carol a death that was close to her comic one, but it didn't exactly fit.

And I'm sorry for the delay, I had this done saturday but I had my flight home and the day was exhausting. And since I got home I've been in a lot of pain, I think my wisdom teeth are coming in :(

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