The light shines down on a dimly lit stage, and Rick, Carl, and Shane walked out to greet everyone.
Rick: Good evening everyone, it's great to have you all here.
Carl: It's been great having you all read, follow, favorite, and review this story!
Shane: unfortunately the author, Solareon won't be able to join us tonight.
Both Carl and Rick stare at Shane for a second.
Rick:...Shane?
Shane: Yeah, brother?
Rick: Where is Solareon?
Shane: Same place, as Glenn, brother. Same place as Glenn.
Carl: That doesn't make me feel any better.
Shane: And it shouldn't.
Carl and Rick:...
Just then Daryl walked out on stage, and glares at everyone.
Rick: What the hell are you doing here?
The redneck sighs deeply, and rubes the back of his neck.
Daryl: I'm here to announce that solareon is planning on writing another AU story.
Rick, Carl, and Shane: WHAT?!
Daryl glares at them for hurting his ear drums with their scream.
Daryl: Don't worry, he's not planning to do it any time soon.
The three sigh in relief. Solareon already had enough stories not to update, they didn't want theirs joining the list.
Carl: So what's it about?
Grunting, Daryl pulls out a small piece of paper out of his pocket.
Daryl: The Marauders, a what if AU that follows Daryl and Merle joining up with Joe's group of marauders at the beginning of the series instead of Rick's group.
Shane: Damn...you guys would of been way more fucked up.
Daryl: Yeah, tell me about it. I don't even wanna be in this, but Solareon's making me. And I can't even say shit since season 5 ain't even starting till the end of the year.
Rick and Carl pat Daryl on the back, trying to cheer him up, but Shane just shrugs.
Shane: Man, stop bitching. I'm still waiting for my solo fic "Clear" to get an update. Solareon posted 3 chapters then gave up on it.
Daryl: Shit, and I thought I had it bad still waiting for a sequel to my fic "Come Home."
Rick and Carl: Anyone Remember crossroads? We're still waiting for an update! At least you got to finish your story!
Daryl: Yeah, but now Andrea's pissed caused she's waiting to be in another story. And Solareon's slow on updates.
Carl: Don't you guys think we're getting a bit of topic?
Behind the stage, Solareon is duck taped to to a chair and stuck sitting next to Glenn, who is giving the author the saddest eyes in the world, but Solareon just shrugged. Wasn't like anything could help them at this point.
Shane: Yeah, you right, buddy. Rick, would you do the honors. You are the main character after all.
Carl: Tell that to season 4.
Daryl and Carl high five each other at the zinger.
Rick: Anyway, thank you to all of the reviewers to "City Life." All of you keep Solareon writing, and us in work in the off seasons. But also a big thank you to reviews who have been here since forever.
Carl: And thank you guys for still shipping me with Beth! SuperNeos2, the captain of the Greemes ship. Bvadams and TheEightFoldPath, who are great first mates on the ship, and anyone else who ships it!
Rick: What about the Richonne fans?
Carl: Dad, your shippers are going rabbit! All of mine keep hooking Beth up with this guy!
The teen points to Daryl and glares at the much older man.
Daryl: Hey, don't look at me! I'm just happy when I'm not getting paired with my own brother.
Shane, Rick, and Carl: EW!
Daryl: Tell me about it.
Andrea, Michonne, Beth, and Lilly then walks out on the stage.
Andrea: Will you jackasses start the damn fic already!
Beth: Yeah, you guys get enough screen time already.
Shane: Woman, I'm dead in the show!
Andrea: Cry me a river.
Shane: At least you have the comics! I'm dead in that too!
Lilly: Boo hoo, at least your tv counter part didn't screw the governor!
Andrea: Fucking writers.
Lilly: My video game self is MIA, my comic self is IMA, and my novel self is screwing with continuity!
Beth: I'm kidnapped and may or may not be being eaten by cannibals.
At that moment Solareon runs out on the stage and slams Glenn's body onto the stage.
Solareon: ENOUGH!
The room goes silent.
Solareon: Alright, let me show you crazy people how it done!
Author's Notes: Sorry for that whole mess, anyway, this is the end of the first Arc of City Life, don't worry, that doesn't mean the story is over, it just means we are moving on to the next story Arc. Which I will tell you about at the end of the chapter. Anyway, thank you all for reviewing, following, and favoriteing my story. Also, sorry for the grammar. I know I'm horrible at it haha. Thank you all, and I love you all. So lets start the story!
Chapter 9: I'm not the one
"Please don't wake me up." Carl whispered lowly to himself.
He really didn't understand his feelings for Beth, he really wanted to, but maybe he was still too young. He wanted to think that in a way he was still trying to understand them himself.
Just as Beth's lips were gracing his own, Carl finally closed his eyes and slowly went to meet Beth's lips with his own. It was only when he felt the softness of her lips about to fully press on his that she pulled away suddenly and jumped back.
"I'm so, so sorry, Carl." Beth said realizing that she had almost kissed the boy. "I didn't, I mean, I wasn't…" Beth stuttered with her words as she tried to articulate her thoughts.
Meanwhile Carl was slowly picking himself, as well as his pride, up from the ground. He looked at Beth, hurt clearly displayed in his eyes and confusion all over his face.
"I don't understand." Carl really didn't. He felt like his emotions were being played with like a yo-yo. He stepped closer to her, but Beth just backed farther away from him, hands held up in apology
She mumbled out a sadden "I'm sorry." Then she ran straight out of the Grimes apartment and didn't look back even once.
To say Carl felt slated would be an understatement. He fell on his ass and looked blankly up at the ceiling, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
After a couple of self-loathing minutes, Carl finally got up on his feet again, and went to walk out of the apartment. He didn't want to be there anymore. He just couldn't.
Carl stumbled out of the house, trying to compose himself better, but nothing was falling into place.
The city of Atlanta was rich with the feelings of the holidays. Everything was decorated to the limit, from every holiday you could think of. Snow was slowly falling around the city, frosting everything in a white blanket.
Carl walked through the snowy streets, aimlessly, not really having a destination in mind, he just wanted to get some air and be away from everything that the apartment reminded him of.
It was so surreal to think that someone he had only known for a couple months had made such an impact on him, and now he was raddling his brain to try and figure out why she had pulled away when they were about to kiss.
His wondering had taken him through the the highs and lows of Atlanta, but he had found himself at the one place that he hadn't been in a long time.
"Sophia." Carl muttered to himself.
He found himself looking from the outside at her apartment. He hadn't been there in a while, and even when he had, it had only been to pick her up before school with his group.
"My group." Carl chuckled to himself at the thought.
A couple of months ago he wouldn't even believe that he would have his own group that he led, even if it was only just a couple of hyperactive nut jobs.
For whatever reason he felt like seeing Sophia, maybe it was just because he wanted someone to talk to, or because he felt obligated to see the girl he had promised to protect after hearing what her father had done to her family, but without even realizing it, he had found himself knocking on her door.
After a couple of moment of waiting, the door to the apartment was opened, but instead of seeing the face of Sophia's mother, he saw Merle freaking Dixon instead.
"Ay, how about a hug for your ol pal Merle?" The man said to him a wide grin.
Carl backed away a little bit. "I think I'll pass."
Merle shrugged his shoulders, cracking his neck. "Suit ya self, boy." He said causally. "So, what can ol Merle do for ya."
"I, uh, was looking to see if Sophia was home." Carl answered.
The adult stared down at Carl for a moment, then laughed and patted him on the back hard, knocking him over. He then picked up Carl by the hoodie and carried the kid inside the house.
"Oh, God, put me the hell down!" Carl shouted, struggling to break out of Merle's grip.
"Boy, ya ain't going nowhere, so jus enjoy the damn ride." Merle replied.
Carl silently wondered if this could count as kidnapping.
Merle carried him into the living room of the apartment, and Carl was met with another strange sight,
There watching the movie "Beauty and the beast" was Sophia and Daryl freaking Dixon!
'Well this just got freaking weird' He thought to himself.
Daryl was dead asleep with Sophia in his arms, the girl noticed Carl's presence and quietly slipped out of the man's arms and walked over to Carl.
She hugged Carl firmly, something she had been doing a lot lately, she then gestured to go upstairs and the teen followed behind her, all the while keeping track of that Merle had his eyes on him.
He followed her all the way to her room, passing by her mother with a happy wave, and closed the door behind them.
"You visited me!" Sophia exclaimed happily. She hopped onto her bed and wrapped her arms around her doll. The Dixon brothers had been teaching her never be ashamed of the things that made her happy, and her doll made her happy. It was a gift from Eliza after all.
Carl shrugged, hoping that his smile didn't display the sadness he was feeling inside.
It did though.
"What's wrong?" Sophia asked.
"Um, it's nothing." Carl replied looking away. "So how has it been since, ya know…"
Sophia hugged her doll closer. "Its been okay." She smiled a little. "The Dixon brothers have been coming over as much as they could."
"Really?" Carl was surprised; he didn't think the Dixons were that type of people. "What they do here?"
"Well, Merle fixed up my mom's car, and Daryl always talking with me and playing." Sophia chuckled to herself. "It's just nice having them around I guess."
Carl smiled at Sophia, it was good to see her happy. She deserved to be.
"Well, I guess I should get going." Carl motioned to the door. It was nice seeing Sophia, but his mind was still plagued with other thoughts.
Sophia jumped off of her bed, holding onto her doll with her left hand and grabbed Carl's wrist with the other. "Wait!" She says holding on tighter. "You don't have to go, Carl."
Sophia looked at him with those puppy dog eyes of hers, and Carl cringed. He attempted to make up something on the spot, but Sophia cut him off with a guilt trip fast.
"Eliza, Clem and Duck are coming over! Don't you wanna see your friends?" She said in a tone that could tug at the heartstrings of the toughest man.
After a second of mentally debating, Carl just caved, sighing he plopped down onto the ground and let his head lay against a wall near Sophia's door. "Sure, I'll stay for a bit.
Sophia cheered "YAY!"
Carl couldn't help the warm feeling he felt by making his friend happy. At least one of them should be today…
Just as he was wallowing in self-pity, the door to Sophia room was kicked open and smashed him in the face and the world went black.
Now Carl wasn't sure how much time passed, in fact he wasn't even sure what had happened. One second he was smiling at Sophia, the next…well that was the problem, his world had been cut off.
When he had finally come to, Carl's vision was blurred; he saw shapes and heard sounds but couldn't really make out anything. Then after a quick minute of rubbing his eyes, Carl finally was able to make out the shapes of his 'friends' all staring at him.
"What happened?" He groaned.
Duck of course answered first. "Eliza knocked you out with the door."
"Then I laughed about it." Eliza added.
Clementine gave her a stern look, but the girl just shrugged. "Dumbass shouldn't have been sitting near the door! He knows how I operate."
Carl muttered some choice words under his breath then stood up on shaky legs, Sophia went to help him up, but he held his hand out indicating he was fine.
After getting up, the kids talked about their holiday plans, none of which Carl was able to focus on, well except Eliza's plans, but only because he wanted to make sure she wasn't going to try to kill him.
Time passed, and they started doing other things like playing with the game system Duck had brought with him, or being tortured by Eliza after she had lost one too many games to be able to tame her temper.
Then Merle had brought up Pizza for them and quickly disappeared.
It was then that Carl learned never get in the way Eliza or Duck when they want pizza.
He was sure he should get his bitten arm tested for some type of rabies or something after he attempted to take the last slice.
Finally, at one point during the night, everyone had fallen asleep.
Duck was sleeping in the pizza box; Clementine was sleeping on one the giant stuffed dolls that the Dixon brothers had bought her, and Eliza was snuggled up close to Sophia with her arms wrapped protectively around the girl.
Carl would have taken a black mail picture, but he was sure there was nothing in the world that could black mail Eliza into not killing him if she found out said picture existed in the world.
The teenager quietly snuck out of the room, closing the door gently behind him. He tip toed down the stairs and saw Sophia's mom talking to Daryl and Merle.
They were sitting at the counter in the kitchen, and they looked like they were having a good conversation, judging by Merle's animated body gestures, Darryl's small smirk and Carol's quiet laughter.
Carl thought about maybe trying to see what they were talking about, but opted out of it. He wasn't one of those nosey kids. Besides, he had to get out of there.
He snuck passed the adults and made his way out of the apartment. Once he was back outside he was instantly hit with a wave of cold air, which he didn't even mind. The cold never bothered him anyway.
It was nice seeing Sophia again, but he didn't want to spend too much time over there. He really needed someone to talk to about what he was feeling, and he didn't want to burden the girl with his stupid problems.
He needed to talk to someone wise, someone older…like his dad.
That was it! He needed his dad!
Carl thought about where his dad would be…
Well it was a Friday night, and his dad didn't go on dates, and Uncle Shane wasn't home either. He knew he wasn't since their fridge was pretty well stocked.
That means they had to be at Larry's pub.
With a destination in mind, Carl sprinted to go find the only male role models he had.
Now Larry had been around the block. Seen it all and done it all, twice even! But tonight was just plain weird. First, those two damn country boys had stationed themselves at his bar stools and started drinking like fishes, not surprising really.
Then the damn one that had been trying to date his daughter had ordered a shit load of pizzas to the bar! He then had to watch as this sorry sap Asian kid came in with pizzas then started to cry at the sight of him. Then the damn kid booked it out of the bar, and left the pizzas.
And just when he thought his night was done being odd, a damn kid showed up in his bar, where the hell was the security for fucks sake?!
"Kid, I don't care what kind of excuse you tried and feed me. You ain't eighteen." Larry says as he cleans a glass and eyeballs the kid.
Carl rolls his eyes at the old man, which wasn't a smart idea.
Larry throws near Carl's feet, smashing it into pieces a making the teen jump.
"Respect your elders, kid." Larry growls, picking up another glass and began to clean it.
"Yes, Sir." Carl nervously replies. "I was actually just looking for my dad and I think he's here."
Larry glared at the kid. "Boy, if you say I'm your father, you're gonna lose an eye."
Carl gulped loudly and held his hands up. "No, no, no! I'm looking for my dad, ya know Rick Grimes! Ya know, his brother is Shane Walsh!"
Now Larry recognized the kid. He remembered seeing him at that fancy ass Thanksgiving party Lilly had dragged him to. "Yeah, now I remember you're little snot ass. How ya been, kid?"
"I, uh, been good…" Carl shrugged. "Ya know, been doing stuff…thin-"
Larry through another glass bottle at Carl, but the teen dogged it.
"DAD!" Lilly screamed. "Stop throwing shit at kids again! I'm tired of writing apology letters to their parents!"
Lilly then walked over to Carl and dragged him away from her father.
"Let me guess, you're looking for your dad and the jackass." Lilly stated.
Carl nodded his head.
The woman pointed towards Rick and Shane, who were both at bar stools, clearly drunk.
Sighing, Carl thanked Lilly and went over to see his role models for advice.
"Hey, Dad?" Carl asked trying to get his father's attention.
"Coral!" Rick slurred, embracing his son in a tight hug. "Coral! What you doing now here?"
And his dad was drunk.
"Uncle Shane?" The desperation in his voice was clear as day.
Shane just picked his head up from the counter and slurred. "Alright, alright, alright!" Then passed out.
'I hate my life.' Carl thought to himself. He turned back to his dad, and opted for trying to find some advice in the drunken man. "Dad, Beth's back and I need your help."
"Beth's back?!" Rick shouted happily. "That's great! It feels like she's been gone since forever!" He then lowered his voice to a whisper. "Was she kidnapped?"
Carl sighed this was going to be hard. "No dad, she wasn't kidnapped."
Rick drunkenly nodded, chuckling to himself about something. He then wrapped his arm around Carl and started to give his manly advice. "My boy, don't marry young, ya should be doing stuff and thaaaaangs!"
"Dad. I don't wanna get married; I just need help with Beth!" Carl replied.
"You mean that girl you're in love with?" Rick asked taking a large gulp of beer.
Carl's face to beat red, and he started to sweat, he wasn't expecting that from his dad. "I'm not in love with her!" Carl retorted. "I just, um, I just-"
Shane had picked that exact moment to rise from his drunken coma and point towards Carl. "Boy ya love that girl like I love my duckling Lilly!" He roared pointing towards Larry's daughter.
Lilly's returning gesture was a dirty rag thrown onto Shane's face.
"AHA!" Shane screamed in terror. "I'm blind!"
Larry silenced him by throwing a chair at the man.
Rick turned back to his son and patted to stool next to him that Shane had just been sitting in.
The teen was going to sigh again, but he was sure it would become a drinking game in the bar if a Grimes sighed one more time.
"Son," Rick began putting his arm around Carl, still drunk as hell mind you. "If ya got feelings for this girl, go and get her!"
"But, dad-"Carl was cut off by Rick.
"Coral, I know you care about her." He slurred.
Carl was about to argue, but then stopped. Why was he arguing with his dad? He did care about Beth. He did! That's why he wanted to kiss her. That's why he always wanted to be around her…and that's why he hated when she was gone.
Everything made sense now.
"I gotta go, dad." Carl hopped off the bar stool, stepping on his uncle's back as he did so. "I'll see ya at home!"
The teen then raced out of the bar at top speed.
Silenced returned to the bar for a couple of quick seconds till Rick said something that would of made Carl do a double take back if he heard.
"Shane am I drunk or was Coral just here?" Rick asked trying to steady the spinning world.
"Yer drunk, brother." Shane drunkenly muttered. "And I'm a sexy bitch!"
It was at that moment Rick the choice to sober up. "Lilly, I'm need sobering up please!" He shouted loudly.
One hour later
Rick and Shane limped out of the Caul family torture, I mean sobering up room, both a little bruised and beaten, but mostly sober.
"The hell, Rick?!" Shane questioned holding his side. "I would or rather stayed drunk!"
Rick ignored Shane, and started to make his way to the exit of the bar, he needed to find Carl. He had brief flashes of his conversation with his son, and he needed to actually give him real advice.
He knew his son cared about Beth, but love? He wasn't sure on that. Hell he wasn't even sure of if love existed these days. He needed to warn his son not to rush into anything like he did with his mother, but in kinder words.
Just as he was about to get to the door and open it, the door was gently opened and he came face to face with Michonne.
Rick stopped dead in his tracks, and just stood there. Everything that had been in his mind was now gone.
"Hey, Grimes." Michonne said, trying to sound casual, but coming off as awkward.
Now Rick likes to think that if he wasn't still a little drunk, he would of greeted her back and walked away, he likes to think that he wouldn't of wanted answers to why they couldn't even give dating a chance, and he likes to think he would of just not attempted to talk with her.
But like many things in this world, it doesn't matter what you think, it matters what you do.
"Can we talk, Michonne?" Rick asks liquid courage still deep in his veins.
Michonne looked like she was going to argue, but then Lilly chimed in last minute.
"Good, you two talk!" She shouts to them across the bar. "I need talk with Shane too."
Without chance to argue, Lilly then crossed the bar and kicked out Rick, Michonne, and even her father.
"Hey, I'm run this damn bar!" Larry hollered at the lock door. "It's my name on the freaking sign! I'm Larry for fucks sake!"
All that was heard was a muffled "I love you daddy."
Larry grumbled some things that one should never repeat, and stalked off.
"Guess that just leaves us." Michonne says, looking less than pleased to be forced into a conversation she wasn't looking on having.
"Why can't we work?" Rick asks suddenly. "I need to know, you owe me that."
Michonne chuckles to herself. "Owe you? Grimes, I don't owe you anything."
"Then why lead me on?" Rick replied, losing a bit of his cool. "Why even bother with all that flirting if it wasn't going anywhere?
Now she was getting aggravated, she hated someone questioning her. "Listen I just wasn't looking for that kind of relationship."
"What the hell does that mean?" Rick asked voice elevating.
"Rick!" Michonne yelled, using his first name for what felt like for the first time. "We barley know each other! You're a detective, I'm Internal Affairs! Your ex-wife is still in the picture-"
Rick cut her right off. "She's not in the picture anymore! She left, she's not here, she's-"
Now it was Michonne's turn to cut him off. "She's pregnant Rick." Michonne replies, emotions getting the best of her. "She's pregnant with your second child, and that's another thing, you have a son, and I…"
Michonne's voice trailed off when she felt tears dripping down her cheek. How long had she been crying?
Rick saw this and went to embrace her, but Michonne pushed him away physically, like she was trying to do emotionally.
"Rick, please." She begged. "Just let go, cause it's not going to work. I'm damaged goods and you need to find someone better for you."
He went to touch her again, but she just stepped back, and walked away from Rick.
He would like to think if he were sober, he would have chased after her and made something work between them…
Rick turned around, and saw Shane now staring back at him, only his brother/best friend didn't have his normal cocky smirk on his face; instead, it was a more somber expression.
"Shane?" He asked, trying his best to hold down his own broken feelings.
"Lilly... Ah, shit man." Shane says sighing and rubbing his head. "Lilly re-enlisted with the Air force."
Rick was about to reply, but Shane continued.
"And she thinks it's better if we don't see each other anymore, so no one gets hurt." He finished
He was about to say something, but Shane cut him off again.
"I'm sorry about Michonne, brother." Shane said.
Rick nodes his head sadly. "I'm sorry about Lilly."
They don't say anything else after that. They just walked away from the Larry's pub and back to the apartment.
Running all the way to Beth's apartment had really taken a lot out of Carl, he was sweaty, tired, and felt just too dirty, but he needed to talk with her.
He knocked on the door loudly, and the face that greeted him was Maggie's, who cringed when she saw Carl.
"I'm guessing she told you." He says noticing her facial expression.
Maggie nods her head, and mouths "I'm sorry" She then called Beth's name and left the door open for her.
A minute later, Beth appeared in the doorframe, eyes red and hair a mess. When she saw Carl, she went to escape back into the house, but the held onto her hand so she couldn't disappear on him again.
"I like you, Beth!" Carl says to her holding onto her hand tightly. "I like you, I've liked for longer than I can remember!"
Beth stops fighting; she walks over to Carl and hugs the younger boy close.
They hug each other firmly, and Carl thinks everything is okay, that things will be better than they were before, but like always, he's wrong.
"Carl, I'm sorry, but I have a boyfriend." Beth tearfully admits to him.
The world had gone silent for Carl at that moment, no sounds of the city, no sound humming from the inside of Beth's apartment, and he couldn't even hear his own heartbeat. All he heard was soft ringing in his ear.
The teen let go of Beth, and began shuffling away from her, but the girl grabbed him and kissed his cheek, waking him up to the world.
"I care about you, Carl. I do!" She cries to him. "But it's just not, we're just not gonna work like that."
She saw the torment in the teen's eyes as he battled his own emotions, and finally she said that words that she thought would help him, but crushed him instead.
"We can still be friends."
Carl looked up at her, hurt displayed in his eyes, but a fake smile on his face. "Yeah, we can try." He lied to her.
She went to hug him again, but Carl slipped out of her reach. "I think I should get home, my dad might get worried."
He turned around so he couldn't see the hurt expression on her face, and so she couldn't see his own. "Just keep walking…don't look back." He said to himself as he let Beth's apartment.
The two and a half men reached the apartment all at the same time, each of them with broken and emotionally beaten down by the night.
They didn't ask what happened, didn't ask to share their feelings or anything like that. They just silently walked into the apartment, and took a seat on the couch.
Rick on one side, Carl in the middle, and Shane on the other.
No one said a word for the rest of the night. They all just sat there, together in their own personal hell.
The holidays had come and gone, the Grimes had attempted to celebrate it, but weren't really in the mood. They ignored the holiday really and just kept going about their day.
Instead, they had opted for throwing themselves into their own person work.
Rick had worked with Shane with studying case files around homicide, trying to just get themselves ready for their first case, whenever that was. Meanwhile, Carl thrown himself into his school working, spending his days studying.
It had felt like their lives had been consumed with filler, and now they were trying to get back on topic with what mattered. They had come to Atlanta for a fresh start, not to become depressed.
Soon things had gone back to normal…or whatever normal was.
Rick had gone into work, actually happy to be away from boring case files and everything else. The captain had told him that today he and Shane would be assigned their first case, so he was happy for the distraction.
Getting Carl to go to school wasn't hard, the teen didn't want to be around the apartment, because it reminded him too much of Beth.
Rick hating feeling powerless to help his son, but he knew it was just something teens had to go through, hell he was an adult going through relationship problems.
Just as him and Shane were walking up the steps to the station, they cached Merle and Daryl walked out.
"Ay, Dixon brothers," Shane greeted, shaking Merle's hand and nodding at Daryl. "How you folks doing today."
"Well, I'm shipping out." Merle says, gesturing to the military uniform he was wearing. "Leave is over, and its time I get back to."
Then Daryl said. "And I'm heading back to SVU, I helped ya'll thumb suckers enough."
Rick chuckled, to himself, and patted both Dixons on the back then walked passed them.
"Nice meeting ya, Merle," Shane said bidding the man goodbye, he clapped Daryl on the back, and the gruff man just grunted and walked passed him.
They made their way to the Captain's office and stopped at Amy's office so she could announce their presence.
"Captain Horvath, Detective Grimes and Detective Walsh are here to see you." Amy says politely.
The intercom buzzes and Captain Horvath answered "Send them right in."
Amy smiled at the men then gestured for them to go inside the office.
They walked into the Captain office, and they noticed the mood of the room was different. Normally Captain Horvath had a very warm feel to his office, but today it felt troubled.
"Morning, Grimes, Walsh." The Captain greeted. "I'm not going to waste your time here today on any none sense. You two will be assigned the Marauders case."
"Marauders?" Rick questioned crossing his arms. "Ain't that the gang that was in the war with the Saviors?"
Shane and he had been studying old cases and those two gang names had popped up the most.
"Indeed." The Captain said. "But, we've all but lost trace of the Saviors, we thought we we're on to some figure called "Negan" but nothing ever came of it, so the case was dubbed a cold case."
"So what's about this Marauders case?" Shane asked.
"Your suspects name are Dave and Tony, they operate out of some bar down town." Captain Horvath said to Rick and Shane. "Just remember, boys, they're easy on the trigger, so be careful."
"And what about the Negan guy?" Rick asked.
The Captain just shook his head. "As far as our records show, that name is just a myth."
The two men nodded at The Captain the drove off to the bar in question.
Carl never thought he'd be happy to be back in school, but damn it to hell he was!
Avoiding Beth the whole holiday had been torture, and since they lived in the same apartment complex, it had been even harder to avoid her. However, he did it though!"
School seemed easier than before; Mr. Everett even said he might one-day graduate College! That was an improvement from saying he would be lucky to work at a prison. Or was that Eliza who said that to him? …Sounded like Eliza.
"Sup, Grimes." Eliza said as she greeted Carl with a punch to the shoulder.
Carl grumbled, but didn't protest, he was actually glad to be around his friends. "Hey, Eliza. Where's the group?"
Eliza laughed then shook her head. "Grimes, they're all in class." She gestures to the clock in the hall.
"Then why aren't you?" He asks, not even noticing that he was technically late for his next class.
The Latino girl shrugged "I'm skipping. Me and my family are going out so I'm busting out of here early, so I gotta jet before the warden finds out."
Carl raised his eyebrow at her, wondering why she sounded like she was about to escape from prison. "What happens when Clementine or Sophia find out?"
Eliza turned a little pale, remembering that Clementine's death grip hugs, and Sophia's puppy dog eyes. She then turned on her heel away from Carl and sprinted away.
"And people say I'm weird." Carl said as he watched Eliza run away.
"You are weird, you're talking to yourself. That's weird." Somone said from behind him.
Carl turned around and came literally face to face with a familiar, yet strange looking blonde girl.
"Nice to see you again, Carl Grimes." The girl said to him, stepping even close into his personal space.
Carl backed up a little, and laughed nervously "Um, do we know each other."
The girl smiled at him, but for some reason Carl didn't feel any more at ease. "We met at that Thanksgiving party a couple months back."
A light bulb went off in Carl's head and then he remembered the girl.
"Yeah, you we're The Governor's daughter!" He said remembering.
"Actually, he's the Mayor, not governor." The girl corrected.
Carl rubbed at the back of his head, he never was good with titles. "Yeah, that. So, uh what are you doing here?"
"My dad thought that my sister and I should to try public school, and we ended up here." The girl answered. "So are you going to show me around?"
"Wait, what?" Carl said confused. "Why me?"
The girl stepped closer to Carl, and the teen backed away again, but soon felt himself hitting the back of his locker. He was trapped.
'WHY HAVE YOU BETAYED ME LOCKER?!" He questioned mentally.
He could have sworn the locker was doing this as revenge for him hitting his head against it so many times.
"Listen, um, could you back away a little bit." Carl asked getting uncomfortable by how close the girl was to him.
"Why?" The girl said getting even closer to him.
"Cause, because I, uh, um, would like you to, uh, to, please." He stuttered out as her face only an inch from his.
"Do you even remember my name?" The girl asked getting extremely close to Carl.
Carl shook his head, unable to answer at the moment.
The girl leaned in to Carl until their lips were practically touching each other's. "It's Lizzie Samuels."
She then pulled away fast and skipped away.
Carl then collapsed onto the floor and bashed his head against his locker. "What the hell was that?!" He asked himself.
The two detectives found the bar easy enough; ironically, it had been a bar only a couple of blocks down the street from Larry's pub.
They walked into the musky, dirty place, and found a couple of men hanging out by the stools.
"Ay there, officers, what can I do for you?" One of the men said to him.
"We're looking for two guys named Dave and Tony." Shane says stepping forward, shotgun in hand.
Rick then joined Shane, holding his hand on his holster. "Our Captain would like a word with them.
The fat one of the group snorted loudly. "That ain't happening."
"And why the hell is that?" Shane questioned.
"Well, I tell you why." The man who greeted them said. "I'm Dave." He said pointing to himself. "And that lard ass over there is Tony." He pointed to the fat one of the group.
"And we're not looking to go anywhere today." Tony chimed in. It was then that the two detectives noticed that Tony had a shotgun of his own in his lap.
Dave hopped over the counter and poured himself a shot, then downed it on one gulp. "So, you fella's ever been to Nebraska?" He asked with an evil smirk on his face.
Just as Dave had said Nebraska his hand had went under the counter for a pistol, but Rick had already taken out his revolver and fired a shot into the man's brains before he could even aim it at him.
Tony had raised his shotgun at Rick, but Shane had fired two shells of his own shotgun right into the man's gut, then Rick finished him off with a bullet to the head.
"Anyone else want to try something?" Rick growled to the other men, holding them all at gunpoint.
The other men all held their hands up and got on their knees.
Rick and Shane began to lower their weapons, but then a shot rang, and the whole room began to fire off their weapons.
As the firefight continued, a security camera off in the corner of the room zoomed in on the two detectives, recording the entire thing.
Author's Notes: Well, that's it for now. The First Arc has ending and I'm hoping you all enjoyed the ride. The next arc will be "Second Chances" Arc. The story is only going to get darker from here, but I'm hoping I can keep some of the humor in it as well. But we'll just see. Anyway, thank you all for being on this ride with me. Like always, Review and tell me how you feel about everything! And if you get bored waiting for me to finally update, check out some of my older stories. If not, check out the stories from SuperNeos2, Bvadams, or TheEightFoldPath. I'm fans of their stories and I think they deserve more hits!
Till next time,
Solareon