Chapter 29
-Carl-
Bullets ricocheted off every surface of the courtyard sending chunks of brick flying through the air. He watched helplessly as Carol huddled behind Axel's corpse. He could hear his father and Michonne returning gunfire in the distance. Maggie ran out to them, taking someone out the guard tower and giving Carol the chance she needed to make a run for real cover. He prayed to god the his aunt still had the sense left to hide in the tall grass.
How could they have let their guard down like this?
The shooting slowed for a moment and Carl heard the crunch of tires rolling up the drive. The tension seemed to build as they all waited quietly and the sound of the approaching vehicle grew louder and louder.
Suddenly, a truck that looked like it had been used for animal control before bathe outbreak tore up the driveway, smashing through the outer gate as it went. They'd spent hours clearing that field, and now it was useless.
It came to a stop ten yards from where his aunt lay crouched in the tall grass. For one horrible moment Carl had thought it was going to hit her, or that the driver would kidnap her and take her back to Woodberry.
Still, the truck sat in the middle of the field idling for what felt like an eternity and Carl held his breath waiting. The silence was finally broken by the scrape of metal on metal as the truck lifted its back gate. Two dozen walkers made there way out the back, meandering slowly towards the place where his aunt lay helplessly.
Forgetting the danger, Carl ran out from where he was hiding slamming against the fence.
"Hey! Over here! Hey! HEY!" he yelled banging on the fence with his small fists. Behind him he heard Maggie resume firing at the Governor and his lackies and from the corner of this eye he saw Carol turn her gun on the crowd of walkers in the truck had released. Still some of them were making their way closer and closer to Caitlyn.
Carl cried out, overcome with fear and frustration. He couldn't bare to lose someone else, and focusing on that he threw himself against the fence again crying out.
"AUNT CAITLYN! RU-"
His scream died in his throat as the bullet threw him backwards against the metal bleachers. His head whipped back against the aluminum steps with a crack, and he saw no more.
-Lexi-
"NOO!"
Dazed and weak as she was the effort of the scream brought stars to her eyes but she didn't care. She dropped to her knees next to Carl, pulling him into her body with a sob. There was blood everywhere, running along the sleek metal of the bleachers and oozing out of his shirt.
Carol was there too she realized and together they were holding the boy tearing at his teeshirt to get a look at the wound. In the background she heard the sound of Rick shouting and cars pulling away, but in her world, in that moment, there was only Carl, only this boy who was the closest thing she'd every had to family, bleeding out in her arms.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," she whispered tears clouding her vision.
"Shh, it's ok it's ok. Lift his head Lexi, so I can get this off him," Carol said in a good attempt at a soothing tone, though underneath it her voice wavered with fear for the boy shed come to care so much for.
She did as she was told giving herself over to the older woman's authority. Carol examined his wound tenderly and then exhaled a breath Lexi hadn't realized she was holding.
"Hit him in the shoulder, it's a through and through. Didn't hit anything important. He'll be ok," Carol said rocking as silent tears of relief flooded down her face. Lexi let out a sob of relief herself and looked up across the field, just in time to see Michonne down the last of the walkers from the van and help a hobbling Caitlyn make her way towards the inner gate.
They were ok. And with that thought Lexi slumped into her second faint of the day, falling against the woman who had stabbed her only hours before. 9