Sorry for the heart attack I gave you guys... it's what I do. I actually was planning on ending it then and there, but I just couldn't. It wasn't time! Wasn't the right ending, either. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy! ~A.C~

Carl

We were walking, hand in hand to the lake. I couldn't believe Dad would let us loose like this. We were walking, alone, in our swimsuits, to a lake in the middle of the forest. I mean, it wouldn't be so bad if we were under normal circumstances, but this was the zombie apocalypse for Christ's sake! He barely let me go take a shit by myself. We did take a gun and a knife, of course. We could only stay for a little while, but it was better than not going at all. Maybe, Dad was just just noticing the summer coming up, and wanted us to get out of the heat, or just relax for a while. I was stumped! I was still thinking when we reached the lake. I needed to let it go for now. Now, I'm ready to have some fun! Mia started to slowly lower herself into the water. I set the weapons carefully by the shore.

"Wimp!" I shouted as I fully submerged myself.

I resurfaced and met a very angry-looking Mia.

"I am not a wimp!" she protested.

I splashed her with the water and she squealed.

"You'll pay for that, Grimes!" she yelled.

She lunged toward me and tackled me. She wrestled me underwater for a couple of seconds, then I overpowered her.

"Ha! I win." I teased.

"You win? I think not!"

She tried to tackle me again, but I poked her at her sides before she could, which resulted in a fit of hysterics.

"What was that you said before? I think that statement was incorrect."

"Nope, I still win." she laughed.

"Not after this!"

I picked her up and hoisted her onto my shoulder. Even for being thirteen, the apocalypse had made me strong, and had also made being heavy difficult to achieve for Mia. She pounded her fists on my back.

"Let me go!" she shouted.

She wriggled in my grip. She was getting hard to hold.

"Not until you admit that I won."

"Fine," she sighed. "You win!"

"That's more like it."

I shrugged her off my shoulder playfully.

Then, I realized. We were in the shallow end.

She didn't come up after a while, and I looked back. She was unconscious. I swam under and lifted her out of the water. I carried her to the shore and checked for a pulse. It was still there, but it was faint. I didn't know CPR, so I had to get her back, fast. I traveled as fast as a teenage boy carrying a girl could go. After what seemed like forever, I reached the prison. Glenn saw us and let us in.

"What the hell happened?" he asked, frantic.

"We were messing around and she hit her head on something at the bottom. She's alive, but she needs medical attention. Please, get her to Herschel." I explained.

I handed her gently to him and watched him run into the building with my girlfriend.

I am really in some deep shit.