Carl gripped the pillow tighter in his hands as he watched it play out in his mind. He could do it and it would be done. Everyone would move on from this. That was all there was to it. If they wanted to survive, they had to get past this.
"Carl?" Carol's voice broke him from his thoughts as he eased his grip on the pillow and turned to face the woman. Her brow was furrowed as she stole a glance at the pillow and back to Carl.
"Just got an extra pillow. Thought he might want it." Carl mumbled his words as he set the pillow down next to Daryl.
Carol smiled weakly. "I'm sure he'd appreciate the thought."
Carl turned on his heels and left the cell, shaking his head. He didn't even hear Carol come into the cellblock much less the cell. Was he seriously thinking about killing Daryl? Furthermore, would he have gone through with his plan had Carol not shown up? Daryl had never done anything wrong towards him. If anything, he was the one guy who would take his side when everyone else was against him. Daryl wanted the Governor dead just as much as him.
Something needed to be done though.
Carl literally bumped into Maggie on the way out of the cellblock as their shoulders collided in passing.
"Carl—what's going on?" Maggie stopped to face him but Carl kept going.
"I'm going to take watch." Carl shot back at her.
Maggie shrugged to herself before she walked towards Daryl's cell to find Carol. She found the older woman tossing an extra pillow onto the top bunk before she stepped into the small area.
"Any idea what that was all about?" Maggie clarified, "Carl. I'm guessing he must have been in here. He seemed like he was upset or something."
"Did he leave?" Carol looked back to her.
"Yeah, he said he was going to take watch. Is something wrong?" Maggie tried to examine the look on Carol's face but she couldn't quite read it. She glanced down at Daryl but she didn't see anything noticeably different about him.
"I think he was planning something. He was in here alone and he was holding that pillow." Carol gestured to the pillow she had just moved.
Maggie's face fell. "You don't think he'd try and kill Daryl…?"
"I'm thinking he was about to try. He seemed startled by my presence." Carol folded her arms.
"We have to tell Rick or someone." Maggie was already backing up to retreat to C Block but Carol grabbed her arm to stop her.
"We can't tell Rick. He has enough on his plate as it is. We'll just have to keep an eye out and make sure Carl doesn't try anything," Carol explained.
"Rick needs to talk to him and get him under control then. This is Daryl's life we're talking about. And if you really think Carl was even thinking about it…" Maggie let her words fall flat as she heard someone else enter into the cellblock. She and Carol dropped the conversation like that, a bit of a tension settling between the two as Carol turned her attention to Daryl and started to sponge him down again with a washcloth. Maggie unconsciously folded her arms in front of her chest and tried to ease up on the glare that was settling across her face.
Glenn's head popped around the corner and as he met eyes with Maggie he smiled. Some of the tension slowly ebbed away once Maggie realized how childish Glenn seemed before completely showing himself and walking into the doorway.
"Man… If Daryl only knew how much we all keep popping in here like this…" Glenn smiled. "Carl didn't stay too long?"
The mentioning of Carl's name had Carol and Maggie meeting eyes again as the short internal war lived on. But Maggie broke:
"Carol said she found him in here alone holding a pillow and staring at Daryl. Like he was in a trance. He didn't notice when she came in."
"Wait, what?" Glenn shook his head. "You guys think Carl was going to kill Daryl?"
"I wouldn't put it past him with the way he's been acting lately," Maggie retorted.
"This has to stay between us. No telling Rick," Carol reminded them. "That man has enough problems as it is."
Glenn looked to Daryl then to Maggie as if waiting for a confirmation. Maggie could only shrug.
"Rick," Karen reached out an arm and gently pulled him back to face her. "Is something going on? You keep disappearing on us and it has some of us concerned."
Rick turned around to completely face the woman head on as he rested his hands on his hips. "Nothing to worry about. You just pass that along."
"Is it Philip? Is he back? Has someone run into him?" Karen pried.
"Karen…" Rick glanced down at the ground and sighed, grabbing Karen by her arms and looking her straight in the eyes. "There's nothing to worry about. Nothing that concerns anyone here, okay? Everything's fine."
He backed off once she gave him a small nod. He still figured it best to not let on about Daryl's current state. If people were worried about the older folks dying in their sleep, they didn't need to worry about a fever killing someone in the group and coming back. Even though everything was under control people would find a way to take it way out of proportion. He just needed everyone to keep a level head. And that included himself.
Rick left the cellblock that contained the Woodbury civilians and figured he'd go check up on Daryl's situation, see if he maybe woke up at the very least. But he stopped when he saw Sasha heading back towards C Block.
"Weren't you on watch?" Rick held out his arm to stop her from walking past him. Maybe he was wrong but he'd been trying to keep up with everything as best as he could.
"Yeah, Carl came up and said he'd take over. Figured I wouldn't argue." Sasha studied his face. "Is everything okay?"
Rick rubbed the back of his neck. He was already getting the sense that something wasn't okay. Something must be going on with Carl again. "Everything's fine. Thanks."
He figured he'd wait to speak to Carl after checking in on Daryl. He quickened his pace the more his mind started to carry onward but he was only met with confusion when he came face to face with almost everyone lingering around Daryl's cell: Hershel, Carol, Maggie, and Glenn.
"What's going on? Is he okay?" Rick stared back at everyone before stealing a peek into the cell to find Daryl still unconscious, exactly how he had seen him last.
The looks that passed between the small group didn't go unnoticed by Rick. He could pick up on the stress. Without anyone even saying a word, his heart started racing.
"Nobody wants to be the one to say it so I'll say it…" Hershel adjusted the crutches under his arms after stealing a glance from his daughter and Carol. "We think there's a problem with Carl."
"Problem? What kind of problem?" Rick tilted his head as he waited for the explanation.
"You need to talk to him." Glenn spoke up. "He was gonna try and smother Daryl."
Rick's expression hardened as he took in Glenn's words. "This true?" Carol and Maggie vaguely nodded while Hershel and Glenn lowered their gaze to the floor. It wasn't exactly what he was expecting to hear and about Carl nonetheless. He turned on his heels, each stride he took wider than the previous before he reached the door out of the cellblock. He had just made it out the door when he heard Carol calling his name.
"Rick, I'm sorry. I didn't want this to be brought up to you. I know you're going through a lot right now… But Carl," Carol paused as she tried to find the words. "That boy needs guidance. And if he doesn't get set straight I'm afraid we'll have more on our hands to deal with than just the Governor returning."
"I'll set him straight." Rick remained stern but Carol slightly frowned.
"You can't just yell at him. It'll go right over his head."
"You have any suggestions?" Rick placed his hands back on his hips.
"Maybe have someone else—"
Rick cut her off, "I'll handle it myself." He brushed past the woman and headed for the door that led outside. He was well aware that he'd need to try and cool off some before approaching his son. He couldn't help but feel an uncontrollable rage wash over him. His own son was plotting to kill Daryl? And for what?
He kicked the door open to vent some of his frustration as it slammed shut behind him once he stepped foot outside. He cursed Shane and all the actions that man had performed in front of his boy. He cursed knowing that Carl had been the one to shoot his own mother. But worst of all, he cursed himself for not pulling his act together sooner to prevent Carl from traveling down a road he wasn't sure he'd be able to pull him back from.
