Enid had heard from whispers around town that Carl and Ron had been bitten. She doubted that they were, since they never left the walls alone. And even if they went along with an adult, unlike Enid herself. And all of the supply runs have been done by the adults in the past few weeks.
Something was up, and she had to find out what it was.
Alone, she made her way to the infirmary. Denise was right inside, organizing supplies.
"Hello?" Denise called out. "Oh, it's only you." Denise seemed relieved by this fact. "Is anything wrong? Do you need any help?" She asked, looking over Enid to make sure she wasn't injured.
"No, no. I'm perfectly fine." Enid shook her head. "Is, uh, is Ron and Carl here?"
"They're in that room over there." Denise pointed to the room adjacent to them. "Do you want to see them?"
"Yeah, if that's alright."
"Uh, yeah. But not for long! I have to keep watch on them."
Enid nodded in response, turning to knock on the door. She waited a moment before opening it, finding both of the boys laying on their back in hospital beds.
"What the hell happened to you two?" Enid laughed. "There's no way you two were bitten."
"Well-" Carl stuttered.
"Hickeys?" Enid laughed harder, trying her best to be quiet about it. "Are those hickeys that they bandaged up on your neck?"
"Uh...well… yeah." Carl massaged the back of his neck with his hand.
"Oh my god. I can't believe this."
"How do you know?" Ron asked. "We told nobody we're...you know, together." He gave Carl a nervous look.
"Well, it isn't hard to tell. You two are attached at the hip." She continued to laugh. "And the hickeys? I'm surprised that no one else knows what they really are, where they came from."
Both boys just sat there in embarrassment, looking anywhere but Enid.
"You have to tell them. This is going too far."
"But-"
"Come on, it's pretty frickin' funny. But your parents are freaking out. This can only go so far."
"...She's right." Ron piped up, looking over to Carl. "This can only go so far."
"I-I mean-" Carl stuttered, trying to find the words to say. "...Yeah. Yeah, it has."
"So, who's going to tell?"
At that moment, the door to the infirmary opened and Rick, Michonne, and Jessie walked in.
"How's my baby?!" Jessie called, barging in the room without asking. She cupped Ron's face in her hands, making Ron blush and get flustered about the whole situation. Rick came in right behind, doing the same to Carl.
"How have they been doing?" Michonne asked Denise, startled by everyone coming in all of a sudden.
"Th-The bites have gotten darker." She didn't want to admit she didn't know what that meant. "So I bandaged them and cleaned the wounds. They're showing no signs of being bitten, so… I can't explain that."
Rick and Jessie gave her a confused look.
"But if they aren't bitten, then...what happened?"
A silence fell over the room.
Enid couldn't help but laugh.
Everyone turned to look at her.
"What's so funny? They could be hurt!" Jessie scolded the girl, holding Ron closer to her chest.
"I don't know how to say this." She kept on laughing. "Ron? Carl?"
"Uhm…" Carl instantly got beet red. "We...We weren't bitten."
Everyone looked at him all confused.
"It's just...We did these," Ron pointed to their bandaged necks, carefully peeling off of the annoying bandages. "We did these to ourselves. Like, to each other. Yeah." He himself was beet red, now, looking at anywhere but everyone's faces.
The room went quiet, the gears turning in the adults' heads.
"Oh." Jessie and Rick said at the same time.
"Then...you're fine?" Jessie asked, embarrassed.
"I'm fine!" Ron squeaked, getting up out of the bed. "Now can we go home?"
"Dad?" Carl poked at his dad's arm. Rick looked shocked. "Can we go home?"
Both parents nodded. Denise looked ashamed. Enid wouldn't stop laughing. Daryl and Carol were looking in from outside and couldn't stop laughing themselves. This whole mess was finally over but Carl and Ron had a feeling they would never live this down.