AN: After I heard how it ended for comic book Carl, I decided that maybe I should rewrite the show. I could have written this five years ago the first time I watched the episode where Carl died, but I wasn't a fanfic writer back then. Now, here I am.
This first chapter is basically just a flashforward of how Carl should have turned out and what a TV version of Issue 193 would have been. It pretty much is almost similar to what happens in the last scene comic where Carl reads a book to his daughter, except it's my own spin where one of his daughters reads a book about the zombie apocalypse.
10 years had passed since the death of Rick Grimes. He was survived by his second wife, Michonne; their three children - Carl and his wife Enid, Judith, and Rick Jr; his two granddaughters, Tessa and a newly born Georgia; and many other friends and allies. He was put down by his eldest child and cremated to ashes, which were shared between Michonne and all three of their children.
Today, a now 35-year-old Carl and Enid lived in peace in a farm cottage (in a community that was known as the Autumn Ridge Cottages that used to be used as rental houses for honeymooners and vacationers) in a town near Shenandoah National Park once known as Lexington, Virginia (now renamed Richard's Glenn, after Glenn and Rick) with their two daughters, 12-year-old Tess and 10-year-old Georgia, their black cat Toby, and their beagle Scout.
Michonne and RJ (who was a bachelor and 18-years-old) also lived in one of the Autumn Ridge cottages with two foxhounds named Chance and Bandit. 22-year-old Judith and 20-year-old Hershel II did as well with a Saint Bernard named Snoopy and an orange calico named Winnie. Judith and Hershel II were expecting their first child in two months.
Maggie, the current mayor of Richard's Glenn, lived with her second husband, Eduardo, in a farmhouse up the mountain. Jerry and Nabila along with Ezra, Aliyah, and Mariam (who were 17, 16, and 13) also lived in one nearby. Once Ezra was finished with regular school, he was going to train to be a doctor.
Carl and RJ worked as carpenters, Enid was one of the town doctors and medical professionals, Michonne served as a member of the city council, Judith was a bookkeeper at the library, Hershel II served as a member of the town council along with Jerry and Nabila, and Michonne served as lieutenant mayor as Maggie's righthand woman. Ezra, Aliyah, Mariam, Tess, and Georgia all attended school together.
Also in Richard's Glenn were memorial plaques for both Rick and Glenn.
Aaron and Jesus lived together in a community in what was once known as Culpeper (which was where the Hilltop used to be), where Jesus was the mayor. Gracie, Lydia, Magna, Yumiko, Mercer, Juanita, and Adam lived there as well.
Dianne, Barbara, Connie, and Kelly still resided in Alexandria (the area that was once known as the entire city, not just the safe zone neighborhood itself). Pamela was still in jail.
Rosita, Siddiq, Socorro, Eugene, Maxxine, Rosie, Father Gabriel, Cyndie, and Rachel lived in a community that was located in an area that was once known as Charlottesville, where the gardens of Monticello were used as farming areas. They served as council people and had since renamed their community Abrahamville, after Abraham.
Morgan, who left after the war against the Saviors to head west and now resided in a community located in what was once called Los Angeles, sometimes took a couple of trains to come to visit the family and friends of his old, deceased friend.
Negan, on the other hand, had fled to what was once known as New York City after the end of the Trials because once he was released and even once the communities forgave him, he couldn't stand to be in the presence of the people he once terrorized, so he fled to start a new life as a good man. Nobody has heard from him ever since.
All in all, the Coalition now separated since the Trials ended and resided in newly established communities and towns (which were ghost towns during the Trials) near Shenandoah Valley and Washington D.C.
Henry, Tara, Daryl, Carol, and Ezekiel were unfortunately dead.
Although the world they lived in after the Trials (which was what the incident of the apocalypse was referred to) now was safer than it used to be now that a new vaccine was available to those being born today, walkers (now given the scientific term "zombie", which was coined by Eugene Porter two years ago) still existed.
Both of Carl and Enid's daughters were born during the Trials and also during hard times when enemies were attacking their communities. Tessa Lorraine Grimes (called Tess), named after both Carl and Enid's deceased mothers, was born during the war against the Whisperers. Georgia Alexandria Grimes, named after Carl's home state and the place where Carl and Enid found each other, was born two hours before Rick died.
However, neither Tess nor Georgia remembered their grandfather very well as Tess was only two years old when Rick died.
The world was different now, and it was exactly the world that Rick dreamed of rebuilding. Walkers still existed, but the human race had adapted and was able to live with them due to a lot more barriers and gates around communities. It was now possible to travel from New York to Los Angeles since communities of survivors all over the country and the world were rebuilding and adapting, even getting a railroad and a train to work again...which was now the only way one could travel to the other side of the country or to Canada or Mexico.
There was some return to normalcy in this new world - grocery stores, schools, courtrooms, hospitals, dentists, train stations, therapists, banks, vaccines (which was good because people were concerned about diseases like polio and diphtheria making a comeback since those born after the outbreak weren't able to get vaccinated), etc. - but there were, unfortunately, some people who exploited walkers for profit. Some people were starting to take things for granted too soon (especially that organization where they treated walkers like circus animals)...and that scared Carl, Enid, Maggie, Michonne, and other survivors.
Even in a safer world, most people who lived through the Trials don't take anything like luxuries and roofs over their heads for granted anymore. A lot of them were in therapy for PTSD, especially Carl, who still expected danger around every corner.
Enid was going to be home late because she was working a shift at the hospital, but she was hopefully going to be home on time for dinner. Michonne, RJ, Judith, Hershel, Maggie, and Eduardo had arrived to help with dinner, which was going to be steak, green beans, and baked potatoes.
While Carl and Eduardo grilled the steaks he got from the downtown market in the skillet, RJ and Hershel were cutting and seasoning the potatoes from the garden before getting ready to put them in the oven, and Maggie, Michonne, and a heavily pregnant Judith were in the living room snapping the green beans from the garden.
Georgia was sitting on the floor playing with her dolls while Tess (wearing her grandfather's/father's Sheriff's hat) was sitting on the couch with Toby and Scout, reading a book about the trials.
History always fascinated Tess (who Michonne said looked a lot like Carl), and she enjoyed the stories her parents, grandmother, and neighbors told her about what they had lived through during that scary time. That was why Judith gave her The Walking Dead, a book by Jesus Rovia about the Trials from the library, and she had just started page one where Jesus dedicated it to Rick and others.
This book is dedicated to the honor of Maggie Rhee and Cyndie Parker and to the loving memory of Rick Grimes I and King Ezekiel...the leaders of the Alexandria Safe Zone, the Hilltop, the Kingdom, and Oceanside - the four communities near the Potomac that was part of the many communities that helped rebuild civilization after so much hardship. It is also dedicated to those who lost their lives during the Trials and the survivors.
Those words made Tess remember all of the deceased people - family and friends - her parents told her and Georgia about that they never met or don't remember - Grandma Tess, Grandpa Jack, their biological paternal grandmother Lori, Grandpa Rick, Glenn, Sophia, Sasha, Tyreese, Hershel I, Bob, Beth, Abraham, Carol, Daryl, Noah, Andrea, Patrick, Alden, Tara, Denise, Dale, Shane, T-Dog, Merle, Henry, Benjamin, Jacqui, Jimmy, Patricia, Anne/Jadis, Morales, Amy, Jim, Oscar, Axel, Deanna, Olivia, Dr. Carson, Francine, Eric, Jessie, Sam, Tobin, Bruce, the Suttons, and a tiger named Shiva. There was a lot more than that.
But this is not meant to be a scary story. This is meant to be a story about hope.
One day, a long time ago, dead people started coming back to life and biting people, infecting them and letting the wildfire virus spread. Today, we call them zombies or the zombified. Back then, people called them whatever they decided depending on the region or the person - walkers, geeks, lurkers, empties, biters, creepers, roamers, the infected, rotters, rippers, deadheads, growlers, lamebrains, stinkers, floaters, hissers, the passed, the wasted, cold-bodies, and much more.
It originated from a biomedical facility in France (it was probably man-made), and it scared everyone and led to a lot more problems later on - devastation, war, famine, disease, etc. L ife changed and it was the end of the world. One man didn't even figure out what was going on until he woke up from a coma in a hospital.
Everyone was tested and everyone was infected; if they died, they would reanimate as a zombie unless shot or stabbed in the head. If bit, you only had a chance of survival if it was on the arm or the leg because those could be amputated...if you acted fast. If it was on the torso, neck, or head, then you were in big trouble. That's why this time came to be called "the Trials". During this frightening time, and many good people lost themselves along the way, and many children lost their innocence.
They were no longer the people they were before everything went bad, and with no functioning government, people couldn't tell what was good or bad anymore . They only worried about just surviving somehow. There was no time to follow the rules or routines and no time to brush teeth or have sweet dreams.
A great darkness fell across the whole world, pulling everyone into despair. People were sure that nothing would ever get back to normal. Because of that, people became sadder and meaner. Some even used the end of the world to create their own systemic oppression.
Tess then thought about what her mother told her about how she survived all alone in the woods during the trials after her parents were devoured by walkers...and that was when she became cold and distant and did nothing but just survive somehow. She even ended up eating a raw turtle, something she wouldn't have ever imagined doing. Her father once told her that he, Grandma Michonne, Grandpa Rick, Maggie, Daryl, and a few others ate dogs when they were on the road before arriving in Alexandria...another thing they never imagined themselves doing.
Three months later, she and her father met in a community known as Alexandria, where Grandpa Rick would eventually become the leader.
When things were at their darkest...certain people all over the world came along. People who had been hurt by the Trials. But they didn't let them make it sad or hopeless. But during the trials, survivors often switched back and forth between hope and despair.
So many people near Washington D.C. had ideas - Rick and Michonne Grimes, Glenn and Maggie Rhee, Hershel Greene, Deanna and Reg Monroe, Carol and Ezekiel Sutton, Daryl Dixon, Morgan Jones, Cyndie Parker, Paul "Jesus" Rovia, etc. It wasn't just in Washington D.C., but also all over the world. On the other side of the country, Morgan Jones worked with communities on the west coast to rebuild civilization.
Rick Grimes was her grandfather. He died of a walker bite ten years ago; bitten while trying to escape a horde brought to what was once known as the commonwealth by Pamela, who was still in jail. Before her father put him down (he had to do the same thing to his mom when Aunt Judith was born), he was able to hold Georgia for a while as she had just been born at that moment. Tess herself also sat in Grandpa Rick's lap before he died, but she barely remembered it and she didn't quite understand at the time that Grandpa was dying.
In fact, her father actually had to put down both of his parents during the Trials...and he said it was one of the hardest things he had ever done. "I hope my girls never end up in a situation where they would have to do that to me or Enid," she once overheard him tell Aunt Judith when she was seven years old when she was supposed to be asleep. That was also how she found out the harsh truth about how her Aunt Judith came into the world.
They knew that if we stayed together and made friends instead of enemies...we could do anything. Even rebuild the world.
Friends were both made and lost as they moved from state to state and community to community. While friends sadly sometimes became enemies, enemies also became allies. They sometimes had to hurt the bad people to protect their friends. Sometimes, they were scared that they were becoming bad people.
Tess and Georgia heard the stories from their parents. Grandma Michonne once told them about the time she, their father, Grandpa Rick, and their friend Daryl were attacked by these men called the Claimers. One of them tried to rape their father...and Tess was very disturbed when she learned what that word meant. Grandpa Rick had to rip one of their throats out with his own teeth to save him...and then gutted the man who tried to rape her father from his groin to his gullet.
And that wasn't the only incident. Her father told her and Georgia that the first time he ever killed someone (it was actually a zombified person, but still) was when Grandpa Rick's best friend Shane went mad. Grandpa Rick stabbed Shane and then Dad put him down as a zombie.
Tess and Georgia knew a lot of people who killed other people to stay safe, even Mom and Dad and Grandma and Aunt Judith. Even when justified, they still felt guilt. Their father admitted that he always regretted not killing that zombie stuck in the mud since it escaped to kill a man named Dale and he now held remorse for shooting that boy from Woodbury. He told her will also never forget the day Negan bashed in the heads of man named Abraham and Maggie's husband Glenn...and how he almost forced Grandpa Rick to cut off his son's arm afterward.
Tess then looked over toward her father in the kitchen, staring at the eye patch that covered his right eye. He would wear it every time he would work or get out of the house, but he always took it off when he bathed or went to sleep. During an invasion of a herd, Mom's ex-boyfriend (Ron was his name, she thought) tried to kill Grandpa. Fortunately, Grandma was able to stop Ron and stab him through the chest with the katana she had displayed in her living room. Unfortunately, Ron pulled the trigger and the bullet grazed Dad's face, taking his eye out. He was 15 years old when it happened. But that wasn't the only battle scar he had. He also had another gunshot wound scar on his abdomen and a huge scar on the side of his torso from a table saw injury (he lost a kidney to that incident).
She, Georgia, Uncle RJ, and Uncle Hershel didn't have any battle scars, but Dad, Mom, Maggie, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Judith, and a lot of other people she knew who lived through the apocalypse did - many were gunshots, stab wounds, and puncture wounds. Grandpa Rick had a lot of them.
But they never did. And they taught other people how to not let the Trials turn them into bad people.
They traveled far and wide, always bringing their friends with them, and they made each other stronger. They made each other safe. And they taught people how to make friends and use them to make them stronger and safer.
The Trials made people so angry that some of them just wanted to fight or kill and just survive somehow. But they knew this was wrong. They showed each other how to be work together as a team instead. The Trials were dangerous times...and even the strongest didn't survive and many were also left permanently disfigured or disabled.
Tess stopped reading for a moment to look at the urn of Grandpa's ashes that was sitting on the mantle of the fireplace and then back at Grandma Michonne, Maggie, and Aunt Judith...who was pregnant with what was soon going to be her and Georgia's cousin. Her cousin was never going to be able to meet their grandfather and Grandpa Rick will never know his grandson.
But they were able to show us the way. With their teachings, the Trials ended...and life returned to normal. We even have ice cream again! People are happy instead of sad and bitter, and safe instead of scared, and nice instead of angry and bitter. All because some people were strong enough to do what was right. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing...you're there and you're safe because of people like Rick Grimes and Morgan Jones.
Once Tess read the words of the last page, she was brought back to reality when she heard the front door open, revealing her mother, looking exhausted yet happy to see her family.
"Hi, Mom!" Georgia dropped her dolls and then ran up to hug her mother, Tess closing the book and then getting up to do the same thing.
"Hello, girls," greeted Enid as she kissed both of her daughters on their heads before heading to the kitchen to give her husband a kiss.
"Hey, honey. You're right on time. Dinner is almost ready," swooned Carl.
AN: I hope you all enjoyed. Please review :)
The next chapter will start off my entire retelling of Season 9 and afterwards.