Chapter 3 ~ Maddy's POV
"Carl, I need to get out of here, now," I whisper, noticing Sam's questioning look.
"You guys can't just leave, there's obviously something happening!" Sam whispers loudly.
I plead to Carl, and he looks to me and grabs hold of my hand and leads me silently down a passage and out into the courtyard. He turns to me and looks at me, "Maddy, what's wrong?" he asks, concerned.
I shake my head and stare at my hands which were shaking uncontrollably. I look back up at Carl and I just remember how much I trust him.
"Maddy, what do you need?" he asks.
"Water," I manage to say, suddenly collapsing to the ground because my legs grew too weak.
He comes back with a cup of water and gives it to me, but my hands shake so hard that some of it spills so he grabs it and pours some of the water into my mouth. At first I find it hard to swallow, but I force it down. After I finish all of the water my body starts to calm down, but I still feel a bit nauseous and shaky.
"I'm guessing you had another attack?" Carl says, turning my head to face him, I nod in reply. "Do you know the reason for it this time? Is there anything I can do to help?"
I nod in reply again, but instead of explaining I force myself into Carl, burying my face into his shoulder. At first he feels taken by surprise, tensed and awkward but then he finally relaxes and hugs me back. I hug him tighter and start to cry a little, mostly because of the pain that rips at my heart.
I lift my head to face him and I notice how extremely close we are, "The g-guy back there, killed my group, brother and sister. Took some supplies, he's not safe," I manage to say, feeling another tear slide down my grubby cheek, it pauses at my chin and then falls, splashing somewhere on myself. I realised that that was the first time I hugged Carl properly, it felt good, reassuring and strong. I didn't get these attacks after the apocalypse, they started well before. Panic attacks were common with me, usually they happen for no reason but this one definitely had one.
The memories made me feel even sicker and I look to Carl, his eyes widen in alarm. "We have to tell my dad," he finally says, letting go of me and proceeded to stand up.
He grabs my hand and helps me stand, "C'mon, quickly," he whispers as we make our way back through the passage and into the hall. The whole crowd is still standing there and I see the jet-black haired guy talking to Rick. "Carl…" I say, and point to the boy.
Carl's POV
I follow Maddy's pointed finger in the direction it was pointed and spot the boy with my father, in deep conversation. I suddenly realise that Rick could be accepting his request so I run full pelt towards them, reaching them just in time as I hear my father ask him the second question.
"One, and if you're going to ask why it was a friend of mine, he got bit," the boy said.
"He- he's lying," I say, a little out of breath.
"What are you talking about? You know this boy?" Rick says and I see the alarm spread across the boy's face.
"Maddy, she-she told me that he murdered her survival group for her supplies," I say, and I feel something light touch my shoulder. Maddy stands next to me, inspecting the boy and his eyes grow even wider. Guilty, definitely guilty.
Maddy looks to me and nods her head, confirming her suspicion. She then looks to Rick and his face grows into disbelief.
"Look, kid, I am so-so sorry, but my little sister needed food. She was suffering from lack of healthy, nutritious food! I couldn't let her die after everyone else in my family did!" he protests.
"Huh? If that's true, WHERE IS YOUR SISTER?" Maddy shouts, and I notice the anger swell up inside.
"SHE'S DEAD," he shouts back, wiping tears from his now red eyes.
"You could have asked, you didn't have to kill everyone in my group! I had brothers and sisters too! They died because of you!" she shouts back at him, running away, and pushing people as she ran out of frustration. She barrels head first into Daryl, he scoops her up and chucks her over his shoulder.
"Put me down! DARYL PUT ME DOWN!" she shouts, hitting Daryl's back, hard.
I notice Daryl looking to me, and he gestures me to follow. I follow Daryl and a screaming Maddy to an un-used cell, there he places her inside and tells me that I could be the only one to comfort her properly, so I agreed and went in. By the time I entered she had curled herself into a ball on the bottom bunk. I hear her sobbing underneath the blankets. I sit myself beside the lump and stroke her hair that had been left out of the sheets.
"Maddy, it'll be fine. I'm sure my father will make the right decision," my memories flash back to the first time I had said that to her, and he did which made me even surer about it.
"Carl, I'm scared. Not just scared more like…Terrified. I hate this new world; I wish I died when I had the chance! I wish that guy killed me before killing my entire family; do you know how much I have to suffer each day? Waking up and remembering that whoever I care about might die today just like everyone else?" Maddy says, sitting up, with her head out of the sheets. "I wake up every morning to check if you're still alive Carl! Chelsea and Sam too, even little Judith! I dread the days when you have to go on a supply run without me because there's always a chance that something bad will go wrong, like it always does! Then you would be dead and I just can't handle another death in my life, Carl!"
I look at Maddy, her hair a mess. Red puffed up eyes and a trembling lip. I instantly pull her into a hug, we hug longer than before and she started to settle down. "Maddy, don't worry, if I ever leave I'll always come back, I promise," I say, in a soothing, gentle voice.
"Carl, please don't say you will promise that because if you do die, you would have broken a promise to me and that would make it even more dreadful," she mumbles. I lean against the wall and she lays her head in my lap, I twirl my fingers through her hair and wonder about the spill she had just shouted to me. Did she really care that much for me? I would have never thought anyone else besides my parents could ever feel so much for me, is this the kind of feelings I had for her?
"I know how you feel, too. My best friend Sophia died, we met on the first day everything turned nasty. I remember that she became lost and we searched for her for days. We found her later as a walker. Dale, T-dog, Andrea, Shane, Amy and more, all people I knew died as well; I even killed two of them, Shane and someone else... I've lost family, maybe not as much as yours but she meant everything to me. Lori, my mother died giving birth to Judith here, we were trapped and surrounded by walkers so we hid in a room. The only person that had any chance of helping my mother at that moment was Maggie, but she died anyway. I was the one who put her out, and she told me to stay strong. Now every single time I look at Judith she always reminds me of my mom, and if I ever lose Judith I think I would die myself," I say, letting out my feelings to a girl I only just met over 3 weeks ago.
I never talk about my feelings to anyone, I always keep them bottled up inside, and I never, ever talk about the death of my mother or the way I feel about Judith. Why was I saying it now?
"Carl…I'm so sorry, you must think I'm pathetic for whining about myself when I never realised how much pain you've been through…" Maddy says, facing me.
"It's fine, everyone has been through pain, and I'm sure it's not going to end yet…" I stare down at Maddy, while she stares at me. It happened all so quickly but she sat up, faced me and I gently held her while pulling her in for a kiss, our lips brushed for a moment and then the kiss deepened and we both pulled back.
"Are you guys okay?" Chelsea says as she enters the room, sitting down near us.
"Holy crap Mads, are you okay?" Sam asks, giving her a friendly hug.
She looked at him and smiled, "Yes, everything's okay,"
To be honest, I haven't known her for that long, but I can tell when she is lying, or when she is unhappy and this is one of those times. Before the other two interrupted us, it had felt absolutely amazing to kiss Maddy. Her lips felt amazing, like they belonged to me, and fitted perfectly with mine. Through all this time of loss and pain I've always wanted someone to comfort me.
When the other two were deep in discussion Maddy quickly grinned and winked at me, I felt my cheeks blush but I realised we had just kissed! I don't need to try and hide my feelings for her anymore.
I winked back and she giggled quietly. All the happiness, love and awesome feelings I felt were soon drained away as the jet-black haired guy waltzed into the room, staring directly at Maddy.
A/N; Hope you enjoyed this chapter, hope you liked the romance but don't start thinking that this will be a sappy, romantic fanfiction because I actually want it to have a story and I really hate non-realistic romance where two characters instantly fall in love, you'll find out more of that in the next chapter! Remember, reviews ARE MUCH appreciated ;-) Thanks x