Alright! For once, a prompt update! Go me!
In this chapter, Jamie gets her nerve back- she realizes that she can survive without Daryl, and helps Carl in a time when he's close to losing hope. They work with Enid and Glenn to aid in Maggie's rescue, and run into trouble trying to help Holly and her family. Amidst the carnage, Jamie struggles to come to terms with the fact that she may lose Carl.
They abandoned the bike about a mile away Alexandra, after they'd run out of gas and it'd become too tedious to walk it.
They emerged from the treeline, peering at the walls, only to see bedlam. The church tower had fallen, taking a section of the wall with it. Walkers poured into the gaps, filling the streets, swarming the entire place.
Carl froze for a moment, horrified.
Jamie took him by the arm, pulling him back into the trees. "Everyone is fine. We have to believe they got inside the houses-"
"And if they didn't?" Carl demanded, looking worried.
"Stop thinking like that, goddammit!" Jamie shoved him slightly. "You have to get a grip!"
"You're telling me to get a grip!? You just spent the last half hour crying!"
"Yeah, I did, and I fucking realized something. Crying and freaking out isn't going to do jack shit for us. The fact that my Dad, or your Dad, is alive or not- doesn't mean anything right now. We're here- we're alive. We don't need our parents to make sure we're okay. We can survive- but we can't act like kids. So get your shit together- we have to move."
Carl ran a grimy hand through his hair, taking a breath. "We need to regroup with the others..."
"There. See that?" she pointed. Green balloons floated up from the other end of the horizon, about two miles through the woods. "That's somebody. We'll start there. Everything is gonna be alright- and even if it isn't, we're still alive." Jamie grabbed her crossbow from where she'd set it down, slinging it over her shoulder. "C'mon."
Carl nodded slightly, reaching out to take her dirt covered hand in his own. They ducked back into the tree line, running into the forest, towards the balloons.
Five minutes later, they stumbled into a small clearing.
Glenn whirled, surprised to see the two teens joining his ranks.
"Jamie? Carl?"
"Enid." Carl sagged forward, relieved, and Enid stepped forward, embracing him. Jamie nodded coolly to Enid as the girl looked over Carl's shoulder. She didn't know Enid well, but her being alive raised Carl's spirits- she was grateful for that.
"What are you two doing out here?" Glenn asked, confused.
"Looking for Enid." Carl supplied happily, pulling back. He smiled at the girl- he was glad to know she was okay.
Glenn frowned, noting the crossbow on Jamie's back. "Your Dad?"
Jamie shook her head. "I dunno. And right now, it doesn't matter."
Glenn frowned, looking concerned for a moment, before he nodded.
"Alright. See that platform up there? Maggie- she's trapped up there. The walkers are narrowing out by the church, we'll wait a few more seconds and make a run for it. Understand?"
Jamie nodded. "Sounds like a plan." she cast a glance over at Carl, who gave her a reassuring smile and nodded, reaching over to give her hand a slight squeeze. They were doing this.
They all waited in the treeline, leaning forward, watching the walkers intently.
"Now." Glenn spoke, darting forward, only tossing a half-glance over his shoulder to make sure they were with him. They charged.
The church was small, but they ransacked the place- searching every bible, under every pew. They gathered a few weapons they had, before they were huddling, planning.
Enid stopped, staring at the writing on the wall.
'Faith without works is dead.'
"You said that the only way you lose people is by running." she turned, blue eyes imploring Glenn. "Who were those people to you?"
Glenn looked over at her for a moment, surprised, before he spoke, brown eyes sincere. "My parents. A man named Dale- a woman named Andrea. A girl named Beth, and a guy named Tyreese. Who were they to you?"
Enid swallowed. "My parents."
Her eyes darted over to Carl, who froze for a moment, before he spoke. "My mother. and a guy named Shane."
Carl looked over at Jamie, who bit her lip. "My parents. My little sister- my older brother."
Enid looked confused. "But Daryl..."
Jamie smiled sadly, shaking her head. "He was the one who found me. He's my family now."
Enid nodded, understanding, and Jamie stared at the ground, uncomfortable. She didn't want anyone's sympathy- anyone's pity.
Glenn broke the uncomfortable silence. "You three should stay here."
"Fuck that." Jamie spoke up, sounding like Daryl, as she met Glenn's eyes. "We're gettin' Maggie back."
Glenn looked over, surprised, to see all the teenagers holding his gaze seriously. Carl nodded. "We're coming with you."
"None of you have to do this..." Glenn's voice was softer, now, slightly afraid. "You all know we might not make it back..."
Enid gave him a lop-sided grin, fingertip stroking the side of her mother's knife gently. "We're just gonna follow you anyways."
Glenn nodded, smiling slightly. He was both honored and terrified to have the teens willing to help him- it'd make his plan a lot easier- but at the same time, it weighed heavily on him that one of the kids might die due to his mistake.
"We'll rush the platform- Enid, you'll help Maggie over the wall. I'll distract the walkers and lead them away. Carl, Jamie, you'll backup Enid and cover her while she's climbing, make sure nothing gets too close. Understand?"
the teens nodded. For a moment, the church was silent, save for the sound of guns cocking and bullets being loaded into the chambers.
"Let's go."
Rick had known his son was gone. He'd realized it from the beginning- but he'd also realized that there was nothing he could do for it. He and Jamie were most likely together- they were smart kids, raised in the apocalypse- they'd keep their wits about them. That was what he told himself, anyways, because like it or not, he couldn't even entertain the possibility of sending out a search party for them even Alexandria was buried this deep in walkers.
And once the wall fell, well, he actually was a little grateful that the kids were most likely outside it. They'd watch each others backs- they couldn't have gotten too far from home, and were most likely watching from within the woods. As long as they watched one another's backs and stayed together, they were probably safer outside than in here.
Plus, it made the situation here that much easier to handle. He had more attention to devote to Holly, more time to spend keeping Sam calm and reassuring Ron that everything would be alright. Smeared with entrails, they'd planned on making it out through the hole in the wall and heading for the quarry. Rick had just handed Judith to Gabriel, with the promise to protect her at all costs, when things went to hell.
They were nearing the hole, about to clear the wall altogether, when Sam began to cry.
Rick looked around frantically, praying the walkers didn't hear him.
A moment later, one of the dead swooped down and took a chunk out of the boy's throat.
They pounded down the pavement, towards the guard tower. It was shaking on weakened supports, and Maggie screamed for Glenn as he ran in to opposite direction, firing off his gun and shouting, drawing the walkers away. Carl and Jamie took position beneath the tower, flashing blades and arrows keeping the walkers off until Enid had climbed high enough for her to be out of danger as they made their way over to Glenn.
the man was nearly cornered when sniper fire rained down from above, protecting him. Glenn ran for the gate to let Abraham and their newest arrivals in-
Jamie felt something like hope swell within her chest at the thought that her father might be back. A blood curdling scream tore her out of any hopeful thoughts, though, and Carl took off running towards the sound. She ran alongside him, of course, to find one of the undead tearing a piece of flesh from Sam's neck.
The boy- draped in entrail-smeared sheets, let out another frantic scream as the flesh was torn away, revealing ivory bone and glossy muscle beneath.
Jamie didn't think- she pulled the trigger, and her arrow sailed through the attacking walker's head, sending it to the ground in a heap.
But the blood had already been smelled- they converged on the boy, tearing him to shreds. He screamed the whole time, tears shining in the moonlight as they streamed down his face, blood making grotesque love to the pavement as it pooled at his feet...
Holly let go of Rick's hand, instead gripping onto Sam's one remaining hand with two, pulling frantically, as though clinging to him would save him from his fate- bleeding out on the pavement, being devoured while he was still alive.
"Holly!" Carl hissed, voice a frantic whisper. He tucked his pistol into his waistband, looping his arms through her elbow, trying to drag her away. His eyes were wide- Sam's screams were still echoing around the blood pulsing in his ears, but there was nothing they could do for the boy- they had to go.
Holly screamed. Like moths to a flame, they descended on her, teeth ripping, tearing, blossoming from wounds, parting the flesh as she screamed...
She abandoned Sam's hand entirely, clinging to Carl for all she was worth, inadvertently dragging him towards the feeding walkers as she went down. Carl strained against her hold, but she had a death-grip on him.
Amidst the carnage, Rick's hatchet descended on the delicate wrist one, twice, before with a sickening thud the appendage hit the ground, and Carl was left staring for a brief moment, horrified.
A gun cocked, Ron snarled, aiming the weapon at Rick. There was the sound of metal penetrating flesh mixed with the cacophony of a gunshot, before Carl was on the ground and Ron laid, writing in a mess of his own blood, and walkers descended upon him, as well.
A walker took a step towards Carl. She took two strides and swung the unloaded crossbow, the metal making sharp contact with the thing's temple, downing it.
Blood droplets littered the pavement, and rick fell to his knees beside his son, gathering the boy into his arms.
"Dad?" Carl asked, voice barely above a whisper, before he fell silent.
Everything from there was a blur of gore- muscles burning ass she swung the crossbow, bludgeoning down walkers to make a path as Rick sprinted towards the infirmary, Carl dead weight in his arms. the crimson splattered on his face, the empty eye socket, the way the buzzing of those fluorescent lights in the infirmary sounded like flies gathering to a corpse.
The gunshots outside mingled into a deadly rhythm with the moans of the undead- nearly everyone who could fight was out fighting.
She simply clung to a limp hand and sat beside the bed, unaware of the tears streaming down her face. How could she fight when she'd have to leave him behind? Nearly everyone was already outside- Rick, Michonne- they'd all left him. She couldn't leave him here, alone, bloodied. He'd want someone here when he woke up- if he woke up.
The crackling of a blazing fire and the increasing amount of gunshots outside fell on deaf ears as she puled her knees to her chest, struggling to breathe around her own quiet sobs, clutching the larger hand within her own.
He'd wake up soon, for her. He had to. She didn't think she could keep living in a world without him.
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