Reviews:
Bucket Hat— I'm glad you think so. I've missed writing Negan, so it was fun to have him back!
Notes:
Sorry for the delay on this one!
-Carl-
"And you really think Rhys and Negan are a good match?"
Judith was sat on the end of Carl's bed, kicking her feet nervously as she watched him get ready for their mission to the boarder.
Carl smirked, shrugging as he pressed the last three bullets he had into his father's colt python before pushing it into the leather holster on his hip.
"I know Rhys is smart enough to know not to kill Negan," Carl answered his sister's question. "And I think Negan's smart enough not to piss Rhys off."
Judith hmmed like she wasn't too sure.
"You worried about him?" Carl asked.
"Both of them," Judith admitted. "Worried about you and mom, too. Mikey. Carol and Daryl... Sasha and the others. A Whisperer shows up at our gates right after we've spent the last few days fighting off horde after horde and tells us Alpha just happens to want a meeting now... when everyone's all exhausted?"
"We'll all keep each other safe," Carl told her, taking the hat off her head and putting it on his own.
"Don't lose that," she tutted.
"Hey," Carl said. "I've been keeping it safe just as long as I've been keeping you safe."
He walked over to his closet, kneeling to pull out a dust-covered box from the back. Inside, he found a worn brown jacket with a stained fur collar. He put it on.
Judith accompanied him out of their house and down to the gates where her brother, her mom, Mikey, Daryl, Carol, Sasha and a handful of soldiers left for the border.
Between the ten of them, they barely had energy enough for one. The walk to the border was long and treacherous terrain, and by the time they made it the moon was high above in the cloudy night sky.
It was the same spot where they had mounted the heads. Alpha had made sure of it.
Carl tried not to look at Enid's spike, and in his effort to look away, he caught Carol staring at Henry's.
"Weapons," Mikey said, dropping his machete into the grass.
They all began to begrudgingly toss their weapons to the ground.
Daryl walked over to Carol and asked if she was alright.
"I need a minute," she said, unclipping her knife and throwing it down.
He nodded, stepping away.
Michonne came up to Carl, slipping a hand around the back of his neck and squeezing gently, like she was aware of all the tension he was holding there.
"Worried about Rhys?"
"I am," he said.
"He'll hold his own."
"That's never why I'm worried about him."
The corner of Michonne's mouth twitched into a frown, but then they heard growls from across the border.
A large cluster of the dead was approaching from the night's swirling mist. They stopped a few feet away. Five figures kept walking.
Carl recognised the infinity symbol on her belt buckle and the white-antler-handled hunting knife next to it before Alpha even removed her mask; when she did, her face was stern and frightening, with dark swirls of black dirt around her steely eyes.
"There was one rule between our people... one law..." she said louder than Carl had heard her. "Stay where you are. Yet you disobey."
"The fire would have destroyed your land," Daryl explained.
She snorted. "It is fire's nature to burn. We have no conflict with nature."
"It could have wiped out one of our communities," Michonne called sharply. "We were not gonna sit back and let that happen. You can understand that. We crossed one time."
"Three times," Alpha breathed heavily. "During the fire, you walked my land... and during the winter storm, you walked my land. During your search along the river, you and the man with the metal arm walked my land. That's three times. We are always watching. What'd I tell you 'bout crossin' my border? You have to be punished."
She stepped closer on the other side of the border line. Her breaths were more like gasps. Her dark eyes were wide and wet with tears that made no sense. There was a passion in her drying tone that was fierce and terrifying.
The whisperers reached for their weapons.
Sasha kicked her axe up, catching it before anyone else could move.
"But," Alpha said abruptly, eyeing her dangerously, "I consider context. There will be no bloodshed this time."
"If not blood..." Carl croaked, "What do you want?"
"Land," Alpha snapped at him suddenly, her stare almost making him take a step back that he would have regretted. "The creek that winds into the valley... that is your new southern border. We will mark the new border to the north."
"That will cut off our hunting grounds," Carol complained. "We don't have to stand here and listen to this—"
"Carol," Michonne barked.
Alpha snaked her way closer to the border, tilting her head and craning her neck toward Carol. "To this... what?"
"To this bullshit," Carol spat.
Daryl marched over to Carol, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. "That's it, c'mon, we're done. Let's go."
"We're not," Alpha sighed, holding up a finger so pale she may as well have been dead. She pointed to Carol with it. "Not until this one lowers her eyes to my feet."
"It doesn't have to go this way," Mikey hissed.
"Oh, but it does," Alpha retorted, her head bobbing back and forth like a serpent waiting to strike.
"We can talk," Mikey argued. "Find a way to live together without any more blood!"
"That is what I offer..." Alpha said, "...once she looks to my feet."
Carol took a few steps closer, staring Alpha down.
Alpha whispered. "You should fear me..."
"I don't." Carol's voice was cold. "I look at you, and I feel nothing at all."
"Is that right?" Alpha asked. "The blonde boy... he screamed your name just before we took his head."
Fast as lightning, Carol whipped out a small revolver and pulled the trigger. Michonne was fast enough to snatch her wrist down so the bullet only struck the dirt by Alpha's feet.
Sasha wrestled the gun from her while Daryl pulled Carol back.
Michonne stood straight and unthreatening and held her hands up to Alpha, who looked almost amused.
"I apologise for my friend... we have not slept. And you know what she lost."
Alpha's head snapped to one side to stare over Michonne at Carol. "I forgive you... mother to mother."
Then she stepped closer, yanking one of the stakes from the dirt.
"This is my land now... you betta run."
And they did.
Into the woods they ran.
They ran as far as they could.
As fast as they could.
When they couldn't any longer...
...they hit the dirt.
"Are we across the border?" Michonne panted, hands against her knees, looking behind her into the swallowing darkness of the trees.
Carl nodded, sliding his back down bark until he was on the forest floor. "Passed the old hospital road back there..."
Sasha bobbed her head, chest heaving. "That means we're good."
Michonne nodded, taking a few minutes to catch her breath, the same as the others. Then she was staring daggers at Carol.
Carol, standing closest to the direction they came from, rolled her eyes, strutting off past Daryl to join where Sasha had taken watch by the edge of camp. Daryl was helping Mikey get a fire going after pulling a small kettle from his pack.
Carl wiped at the sweat coating his neck with his jacket sleeve.
Michonne chuckled at him, crouching down.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Nothin'," she said, giving him a subdued smile. "Suits you."
"Don't know how he wore it in this heat."
She smirked at him. "In style."
After Daryl made tea and everyone had caught their breath, Michonne stood. Carl watched her walk over to Carol. She tried saying something that Carl didn't hear, but he managed to catch what Carol said back.
"The bitch has to die."
When Carol walked off towards the edge of camp, Daryl wandered over to Michonne. Carl joined them then.
"She ain't been the same since she got off that boat," Daryl told them. "I don't know... maybe she's better off on it. Found 'sum peace, you know?"
Carl glared at him. "Rhys was on that same boat. Think he should get back on it?"
Daryl looked sad. "No. But Rhys ain't Carol."
"They're both one of us," Carl said like the difference didn't matter.
Michonne nodded along with him. "And Carol still belongs with us."
"She ain't sleeping, either," Daryl told them. "She's out all night looking for them."
"Wouldn't you be?" Michonne asked. "If you lost what she lost, wouldn't you?"
"Sasha lost Tara and Enid," Daryl said, looking over at where she was quietly crouched by the fire, calmly sharpening her axe. "Rhys lost his brother."
"They've got people holding them up still," Carl gave his answer to where he knew Daryl was taking this. "If Carol takes longer to realise she does too, then that's okay."
There was a loud bang. A ringing in Carl's ears.
"Gunshot!" Michonne yelled, pulling Carl and Daryl down.
They waited in the sticks and leaves, and when there were no more shots, they ran after the sound.
They found Carol stood in a small opening of trees, a smoking revolver in her hand that she was pointing it in every direction.
Sasha had reached her first.
"What happened!?" She barked.
"Whisperers," Carol hissed, pointing. "Three of them."
"Walkies on," Michonne called out, pointing people in different directions. "Split up. North. West. We'll take east. Capture! Do not kill."
"Just got off the radio with Sasha," Michonne told Carl, Daryl, and Carol, after an hour of stumbling around in the dark searching and finding no sign of the Whisperers Carol saw. "They're heading back to the creek now. You boys found anything?"
Daryl only shook his head, so Carl figured it was his job to say it.
"No traces, tracks, nothin'... no sign of them anywhere."
Michonne looked at Carol, whom Carl had just watched take a not-so-subtle pill from a small, orange bottle in her pocket. He could recognise caffeine pills when he saw them.
"You sure you saw three," Michonne asked her.
"Yeah, I'm sure."
"Carol..." Michonne eyes danced to us quickly before going back to her. "How long have you been taking those pills?"
Carl figured he wasn't the only that could see.
"Since I got back," Carol snapped. "It's fine. They're like coffee."
Everyone was looking at her.
She glared back. "We can't stay out here!"
"All right," Daryl finally spoke. "We'll meet up with the others and find a place with walls... hole up for a little while."
"Sleep would do us all good," Carl said.
They met back up with Sasha, Mikey, Laura, and the others before finding somewhere to take shelter.
BARNETT ACAD_MY
HOME OF THE FIGHTING FOXHOUNDS
The school was a wreck— letters hanging off the sign they passed on the way into the courtyard.
The entrance door was stiff. Carl's foot barely budged it.
Daryl flung a rock through a window, and they got in that way.
The halls were paved like stone with graded papers. Wires hung from the ceiling panels like dormant snakes. There was a clock on the wall with no hands.
Carl winced at the stench of water rot.
Mikey held his hand over his nose, pointing his flashlight up at the dying ceiling's guts.
The ground floor was clear, and Daryl got the party set up large classroom that connected two hallways on either side. Michonne told everyone to get a little rest while they searched the east side of the building.
She led Carl further into another hall, stopping when they were far enough away that no one would hear them.
"She's not okay," Michonne whispered. It didn't feel like she was scared of someone hearing; more that she didn't want to admit her doubts of Carol.
"We'll be back by morning," Carl told her, tilting his head and frowning.
Michonne bit her lip, watching him with a face that said she wasn't sure.
"Is Rhys ever...?"
"He's not."
Michonne nodded. "I know Daryl's right... Rhys isn't Carol."
"But?"
"But he can't be Rhys either... not after everything he lost."
Carl looked blank. "What are you saying?"
"Make sure the Rhys you're seeing is the one that got off the boat, not the one that got on it. I made that mistake with Carol by bringing her with us... we almost broke the peace."
"But we didn't," Carl reminded her. "And we're all still here."
There was a crash in a supply closet to their left. The door swung open. They pointed their weapons. Mikey stumbled out holding a mop.
They both sighed, lowering the sword and python.
"Sorry," Mikey hissed, catching another mop as it fell at him.
"What were you doing in there?" Michonne asked, a slight scowl on her face.
"Peeing," he said slowly. "Jeez Louise."
Michonne shook her head, strolling down the dark hall with her sword out. "You two should get some rest. I'll find Sasha and finish the sweep."
Back the way they came, Mikey and Carl sat down against the wall opposite Carol, who had found a quieter classroom a few doors down from the others.
She pressed her back uncomfortably against her own wall, rolling her head 'till her neck clicked.
"Here to tell me some learn-a-lesson story about your dad, too?" she asked.
Carl's eye narrowed in confusion. "Huh?"
"Nothing, doesn't matter," Carol sighed. "Just Daryl trying to fix shit."
"I'm not looking to fix shit," Carl told her simply.
Some shit you can't fix. Carl hated learning that lesson, but he often found himself learning it over and over. He refused to do it in a classroom— the irony too great, even for him.
"Me neither," Mikey said. He paused. He opened his mouth again. "But..."
"Can it," Carol said.
"You just reminded me of something my dad used to say, that's all."
Carol didn't engage, taking her pill bottle out and swallowing the second to last one.
Mikey went on anyway. Carl watched him out the corner of his eye.
"Sometimes fixing things is how we break them."
Carl and Carol both looked at him funny.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Carl asked.
Mikey frowned, like he just realised something. "I dunno."
"Doesn't mean anything," Carol told them, standing up and walking out.
Carl shook his head. "Nice one."
"Sounded better in Latin," Mikey admitted.
Carl took out a pill bottle of his own then, placing it on the floor by his boot. Then he took out another and put it beside the last.
Mikey looked at him him in the least nosey way he could— which for Mikey, was still pretty nosey. He swallowed.
"It's not like that," Carl said earnestly. "First one's for my headaches."
He popped the first pill and washed it down with a sip from his canteen.
"And the second?" Mikey asked.
"Dante prescribed it for my nightmares."
"You mentioned those."
"Yeah, been getting worse since the fair."
Mikey smiled at him in a sad sort of way.
"Have—" Carl hesitated, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden. "Have you, erm– have you had nightmares?"
Mikey shook his head. "Not sure if I should feel guilty about that..."
"I'd take guilty over this."
"I'm sorry," Mikey said sadly.
Carl snorted, shoving his friend's shoulder, taking his second pill before leaning back and propping his hat over his face. "Get some shut-eye, Em."
"You should fear me."
"I don't."
BANG
"Shit, kid, lighten up..."
"This is definitely your kid!"
"At least cry a little..."
THWACK
"We can still come back... we're not too far gone."
SHIK
"You are not safe... no matter how many people are around."
"It only takes one second..."
"ONE SECOND, AND IT'S OVER."
"We used to help people. We saved people!"
"I already made you a promise."
SHUNK
"You would have killed me right there, wouldn't you? You little psycho."
"You don't scare easy, do you. What? Got nothing smart to say now, you little shi—"
SCHLUCK
"No one else has to die!"
"Two men!"
"I THINK YOU SHOULD JUMP OUT THAT WINDOW TO SAVE ME THE TROUBLE OF KILLING YOU."
"Something my mom used to say..."
"I've been through things, too."
"MAY MY MERCY PREVAIL OVER MY WRATH."
"Is it everything you hoped it'd be?"
"It's always blue in pictures..."
"I SUPPOSE THINGS AIN'T EVER AS PRETTY IN THE REAL WORLD."
"People keep killing us..."
"SO WHAT'S THE SOLUTION?"
"You should fear me..."
BANG
Carl jolted awake, drenched in sweat, banging his head against Mikey's since they'd managed to fall asleep with them pressed together.
Carl stared up at him as Mikey clambered to his feet, trying to blink the exhaustion and fear away. "What's happening?"
"Gunshots!" Mikey squawked, grabbing his machete before helping Carl to his feet.
The shots came from the gymnasium.
They all found Carol surrounded by dead walkers.
"The whisperers," she muttered. "I saw one... I shot them."