The Wolf You Feed
Chapter 30
** I know I had a few reviewers asking for more of Carl and Enid. There is some sexual content between those two characters in this chapter so if that's not your thing feel free to skip to the end or wait for the next update. **
"We have the house to ourselves tonight," Carl said, pulling a bottle of wine out that he had managed to keep hidden behind his back as he and Enid slipped away from the group that had gathered around the fire after the play was finished. "It's only half full," he added, tilting the darkly tinted bottle to the side to try and gauge how much liquid was still left sloshing around inside.
Enid reached for the bottle. The cork had already been removed, then stuffed halfway back in by whoever the wine belonged to. She gripped the swollen cork between her fingers and pulled it back out, holding it under her nose so she could breathe in the smell of it. Wine was like coffee, it always smelled a hundred times better than it tasted. After smelling the cork Enid tossed it away into a nearby bush and lifted the bottle to her lips.
Enid and Carl were not expressly forbidden to drink. At Rowan's house they were often given a glass of wine or beer along with everyone else if there was wine or beer to be had. But this bottle of wine was stolen, which made drinking it feel more exciting and even a little dangerous. There wasn't much mischief to be had in Alexandria. There was no school to be skipped and neither Carl nor Enid would have thought of trying to get out of the shared work that everyone in town took part in. So the two rebelious young people took advantage of the few opportunites they had for a thrill, and on this rapidly cooling late summer evening that meant drinking a few glasses of wine that did not belong to them.
Carl watched Enid tip the bottle up. She yanked the bottom of the bottle up too quickly and was hit with a large gush of fluid that she struggled to swallow. A tiny dribble of the dark red liquid ran from the corner of her mouth and streaked down to the line of her jaw. Carl reached over, wiping the wine away with the tip of his finger and then putting that same finger into his mouth. He sucked the wine off his skin. It was sweeter and less sour tasting than he expected. Enid took another sip from the bottle, being more careful this time to keep from spilling the wine down the front of her.
After the play, Enid had not taken time to change from her costume. She had simply borrowed one of Rowan's large scarves and wrapped it around her shoulders to keep herself from getting too cold. As she lifted the bottle the shall slipped from her shoulders, exposing her collar bone and the bare flesh of her shoulder. The costume was nothing more than a thin cotton bedsheet and some tulle that Enid and Rowan had dip died and then cut or ripped up into peices. Carl wasn't sure it they had made it specifically as a costume for the play or if Rowan had made it just to wear on a normal day. He had seen the woman in outfits that were equally as strange looking as the one Enid had on, though they hadn't seemed quite so provocative when Rowan was wearing them. Carl wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because Rowan had a slimmer body with less curves or maybe the dress just looked sexier on Enid because he found her attractive while Rowan was more like an aunt or a second mother to him. Either way his eyes were locked on the exposed flesh of the girl standing next to him.
Since the dress was backless, Enid wasn't wearing a bra. The night was cool and her hard nipples were visible through the thin fabric of the costume. The long airy skirt was slit up the side to make it easier for her to dance. The way she was standing caused the slit to fall open, revealing her long leg from the ankle almost all the way up to the full curve of her hip.
"It's not too bad," Enid remarked, glancing at the label on the wine bottle before passing it back to Carl. He tipped the bottle back, taking a few deep swallows. He enjoyed the effects of alcohol more than the taste and found drinking it as quickly as possible best served his purposes. As he lowered the bottle, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and smearing the fake beard that he forgot Rowan had painted on his face, Carl felt a chill shiver up his spine. Despite not hearing a single suspcious noise Carl suddenly had the very distinct feeling that he and Enid were being watched. And he while he didn't like the idea of anyone watching Enid at anytime or for any reason, he liked the idea of her being looked at even less with most of her body exposed.
The same feeling had come over Carl earlier that day in the woods. Moose had started growling, his teeth bared and the hair on his back standing on end. But when Carl went to investigate all he found was a dead walker that someone had already bashed in the head of. He didn't want to overreact again. So instead of verbalizing his sudden fears, Carl wrapped an arm around Enid's waist and started coralling the girl back towards their house.
By the time they got home, the half full wine bottle was empty. Enid was already starting to get giggly, which was always a welcome change from her usual quiet and serious demeanor. Thoughts of locking up all the doors and windows on the lower floor floated though Carl's mind, made fresh by the unsettling sensations he had out in the street. But once the front door had slapped shut behind them, Enid reached behind her neck and untied the knotted lengths of fabric that were holding the front of her costume up. A little wiggle of her hips and the entire ensemble was pooled up on the floor near her feet, leaving her only in a wispy pair of underpants and the tennis shoes she had stuffed her bare feet into for the walk back into town from Rowan's trailer.
All the grand ideas Carl had of securing the house flew from his mind as he filled his hands up with Enid's hair. She smelled like smoke from the bonfire and tasted like the wine they had just finished drinking. With her in his arms, Carl walked backwards away from the door. He was heading for the bedroom he and Enid shared on the upper level of the house. They only made it as far as the stairs before Enid's hands were down his pants and both their faces were covered in the paint from Carl's fake beard.
Their kisses quickly became rougher and more urgent with need. Carl shoved his boxers down with his pants, letting them tangle up around his ankles since he was in too much of a hurry to kick off his socks and shoes. The carpet of the stair above the one he was perched on rubbed roughly into his lower back, but he ignored the slight discomfort. Enid shoved her panties down, kicking only one shoe off in the process. This left her clothed in one dirty tennis shoe with her lacy underpants dangling from her ankle. She climbed into Carl's lap, bumping her knees on the steps in her hurry to have her urges satisfied. A huffing grunt of pain gave way to a low moan of pleasure as she forgot her probably bruised now knee and sunk down onto the part of Carl that had been hard and ready for her since he had seen her dancing with Aaron in front of the bonfire with her dress flaring out around her.
Their lovemaking was as it always was, intense and over too quickly since neither of them had the patience or self control to take their time and draw out the act to make the pleasure last longer. The empty house filled up with their moans and squeaks, the sounds not having to be muffled with a hand or a pillow since for once they weren't worried about being heard by Carl's father or stepmother. Carl finished first, coming undone by the sight and feel of her breasts pressing into his face. He took a moment to compose himself, taking a few deep gasps of air and trying to calm his heaving chest.
Their bodies shifted awkwardly in the small space as Carl maneuvered himself so Enid was the one sitting on the steps and he was hovering over her. Kissing down her body he pushed her legs open and slipped a finger inside her. The slick feeling of his fluids mixed with hers might have been enough to bring his manhood back to life if he hadn't already had more alcohol to drink than he was used to. Instead he used his mouth and fingers on her until she was making the little high pitched noises that he knew meant she was now as happy as he was.
Carl placed a gentle kiss on the inside of Enid's thigh before he relaxed onto her, resting his head against her stomach. The stairs were not the most comfortable place to unwind but he was too exhausted to move at the present moment. The boy was torn between suggesting a long hot shower, the kind that could only be had when his father wasn't around to pound on the door and tell them to stop wasting water, and just sliding into bed next to Enid's soft warmth and worrying about cleaning up his dirty body and face in the morning.
Enid's hand stroked over his head, her fingers twining into his hair. Then suddenly her entire body went tense. Her leg came up, smashing into the underside of Carl's chin and making him taste the hot tang of blood as he bit down on his own tounge. Before he even had the chance to ask her what was wrong, Enid let out a bloodcurldling scream.
"What's wrong," Carl gasped, turning towards the girl, "Did I hurt you?" His fear of hurting her had gradually eased over time, but it was still a constant worry in the back of his mind. Enid seemed so soft and fragile. He was always a little nervous that he would hurt the insides of her if he rammed into her too hard or pushed in too far. But as he turned he saw that Enid's gaze was fixed not upon him but on the open front door behind him.
"No," she gasped, covering her naked breasts with her hands, "Someone was standing there in the doorway watching us." Enid pointed, taking a step backwards up the stairs, her eyes already scanning for anything that could be used as a weapon.
"Who was it?," Carl asked. He raked his pants and boxers back up, fastening the button but leaving the zipper undone in his haste. Most of the guns were upstairs and Michonne's sword was still out by the bonfire somewhere. Carl grabbed the folded up umbrella stroller that was leaning against the wall by the front door and held it up in the air like a bat.
"I don't know," Enid gasped, "they were standing in the shadows like a total fucking creep." Whoever it was had gotten one hell of a show. It made her sick to think someone had been watching her in her most intimate private moments, but her fear and disgust were rapidly giving way to anger. "I'm going upstairs to get my gun," she announced. Carl stopped to nod at her before he took another step closer to the open door.
Holding the stroller up, Carl took a deep breath and then charged out onto the front porch, swinging it like a golf club. But the porch was empty. Enid appeared in the doorway a few moments later, clothed in a bathrobe she hadn't taken the time to tie shut and holding a loaded handgun. There was nothing staring back at them except a few muddy bootprints on the front porch. These at least confirmed that Enid had not seen only a shadow or a trick of the eye in the dark. Someone had opened the front door. Someone had been watching them. And Carl gussed that someone was most likely still watching them. The sick nasty pervert was probably hiding somewhere nearby.
"You fucking pervert," Carl hollered, "when I catch you I am going to beat yer ass into the ground." Enid would have giggled again if she wasn't still so freaked out. Carl had been spending so much time with Daryl he was starting to sound like him.
"What's going on here?"
The voice came from further down the street and was filled with concern. A few seconds later Deanna and her husband were hurrying down the walkway towards the house.
"You see anyone run away from here?," Carl asked. "Just a minute or two ago," he added. Both Deanna and her husband shook their heads. "He musta headed around the back of the house then," Carl declared as he prepared to charge after the mystery stalker. Reg put a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder to keep him from taking off.
"What's going on here?," Reg asked again.
"Me and Carl were inside on the steps...," Enid explained as she yanked her robe shut, tying the belt in a knot. "We were kissing," she said, deciding that Deanna and Reg didn't really need or want to know the details of what she and Carl were actually doing, "... and when I looked up some creep was standing in the open doorway just staring at us."
"Did you recognize him?," Reg asked. Enid shook her head.
"It was dark and the light was shining in from the streetlight behind him," she explained, "all I saw was a person standing there, I couldn't see his face. I think he might have even been wearing something over his face, like a ski mask or something. I dont' know, it was just too creepy." Enid shivered, grateful that Carl slung his arm around her without her having to ask.
Reg and Deanna exchanged worried glances. It was obvious from their half dressed and disheveled appearance that Carl and Enid had been doing a lot more than kissing on the steps inside their house. And if someone had been watching that, they were clearly dealing with a local pervert at the very least, or at the worst there was a possibly dangerous masked stranger running around inside the walls of Alexandria.
Reg climbed the steps and took a look at the muddy bootprints the unwelcome visitor had left behind. He hoped there was some simple explanation for what happened. Maybe someone came by not knowing anyone was home and then panicked once he or she got caught looking at something they shouldn't have been looking at. Reg doubted it, but he always liked to think the best of people.
"I think for tonight you two kids should get your things and come sleep at our house," Reg told the frightened young couple, "We can speak to your father in the morning and see what he wants to do about it... Or maybe Rowan's husband can take a look at the bootprints and figure out who they belong to." Reg wasn't sure if finding the owner of a few muddy prints was in Daryl's skill set, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. Reg knew the man was skilled at tracking animals and had even given Spencer a few lessons. Tracking a person couldn't be too much harder than tracking a deer.
Carl nodded at the suggestion, not really so eager anymore for him and Enid to spend the night alone in an empty house. Reg and Deanna waited near the bottom of the porch steps while the younger couple hurried back inside the house to gather their things. They reappeared a few minutes later, dressed in pajamas and armed to the teeth on top of their bedtime clothes. Enid had a long tshirt and a pair a plaid cotton pants on, with both a handgun and a knife strapped to her waist. Carl was dressed simliarly, with a gun holster slung over his shoulder and a hunting knife in his hands. Both their faces had been scrubbed clean of smeared makeup. Reg smiled, unsure now if he was taking two scared kids back to sleep at his house or if he had just suceeded in hiring his own personal bodyguards.
