4 Years ago

Carl sat back down next to Kyla and handed her a cloth napkin.

She nodded and wiped her eyes and nose. "Sorry for all the blubbering. I'm not usually a crier…."

He shrugged "I cried every day for at least a month when I got here. They didn't know what to do with me, everyone else before and after has been thrilled to be here"

"Until me. Assholes. How did you get him to walk away without having me thrown in jail? Do they have jail here?"

"Yeah, for minor things" he replied "He's not a bad guy, and he feels like shit you're here like this, but he thinks it's his duty. I just reminded him if he couldn't give you a choice, then he owed you a chance to figure out how to live with that."

Kyla turned her head to look at Carl "How old are you?"

Carl smiled "Twenty, I know I sound old. I don't know if being here or being out there aged me more. How old are you?"

"Everyone who survived in the shit sounds old. I'll be twenty in…. five days. How long have you been here?"

"Five years now, four here at the harvest point."

"I guess that explains the G moves, I saw you take out 3 of the wailing without breaking a sweat"

"Nah…...I learned to do that out there with my family. What's a G move?"

"Gangster move. You're kind of a gangster Carl Grimes, taking on the wailing and pompous Colonels on behalf of people in need, immortalized on a brick façade, illustrious tales of your escape attempts….."

"You're the Gangster Kyla….."

"Chen"

"Kyla Chen. Most people are too intimidated to even talk to Okafor, that headbutt was gangster"

"Surviving here when your family is out there? That's really gangster" she felt the tears coming again, she didn't try to stop them "I don't know if I can do that. I don't know if I want to…."

Carl turned to face her "You can Ky, I know your family wants you to stay safe and survive. You're strong enough to do this. I'll help you, okay?"

Kyla looked up and met his gaze, intense and warm. She nodded "Okay. Thanks G…."


Carl walked into Okafor's quarters, surprised to see him surrounded by plants. He was dressed casually, something Carl had never seen. He hadn't given it much thought really; but pictured him perpetually in uniform. He looked up at the ceiling where dozens of dog tags hung from the conduit playing a haunting melody.

"I've never seen you here before" Okafor commented, still sounding every bit the Colonel.

Looking around, Carl asked "What is all this?"

"This is millet" he replied, reverently "isn't exactly millet country, but if I can find the right one, it could change things."

Carl raised his eyebrows "You're going to change things with plants?"

"Millet is a grain crop. I grew up on a farm, I know crops. You have a better idea on how I can change things?"

"People can't leave, they're not free. Maybe you can tackle that, Colonel."

"No one's free, not in this world. But we're alive. You are, and you're not supposed to be."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Okafor turned his back; he'd said too much "Why are you here Carl?"

"Kyla…."

"Did she attack someone else?"

"Besides you?"

"If you count me, that was six people in seven days. She took on a three-man squad in the field, handled two of them thoroughly. If the third hadn't hit her with a taser, she probably would have gotten away."

"Nice of you to tell me that after you have her assigned to me."

"You're not keeping her from leaving, she isn't going to attack you. Why are you here?"

"She needs that knife back. If she doesn't have something to anchor her to her family, she is going to be a problem for you."

"Going to be a problem? Two broken noses, a broken wrist, two black eyes, and five broken fingers…. she already is a problem."

Carl smirked "So your nose is broken?"

Okafor gave him a stern look "She isn't getting a weapon"

"Sounds like she is a weapon…..."

"Point taken, maybe I should try to get her to join the CRM instead of you"

"I'd let your nose heal before you bring that up. Look, the only thing she has to hold onto now is her pain. That knife has been in her family for over a hundred years, and her grandma died for it. Just give it back to her. She needs it, she needs what it means. Please."

Okafor looked at Carl, seeing genuine concern on his face. He moved to his desk and opened a drawer, pulling out a sheathed knife. "I am holding you responsible for this weapon. It stays in her quarters, are we clear?"

Carl accepted the knife "Crystal. I'll make sure she understands."

"Carl" Okafor called, stopping him at the door "I don'twant to keep her here, you either; but its my…."

"Duty?" Carl interrupted "I don't want to hear you preach about power and choice anymore, okay. Look in the mirror, what are you doing with your power? What choices are you making?"

Seething with anger, Okafor spat "I don't have to explain myself to you!"

"No, you don't" Carl replied softly. "Thanks for this; it will help her live with your choice."


Kyla sat at the table in her quarters, staring at an empty journal. Back with the convoy, she journaled all the time. She wondered if her parents would look through her journals, hoping for clues to her whereabouts.

"Oh my God!" She exclaimed, putting her forehead on the table "They're going to find out I lost my virginity to Angelo Harris, in super adolescent detail"

A knock on the door provided a needed distraction. "Who is it?"

"It's Carl"

She opened the door, surprised "Hi…"

"Hi" he replied, smiling "I was hoping I could talk to you. Do you mind if I come in? If you're not busy"

"Hmmmm, let see. I was about to start staring at another wall." She joked, gesturing for him to come in "I managed to get through staring at two of them so far, I try to stare at all four at least once a day."

"You seem like you're in better spirits…."

"Franci brought me a lemon cake for my birthday, and a journal. In one of my hospital blubbering sessions, I talked about my mom making me a lemon cake for my birthday. She remembered…. anyway, it was sweet and made today better"

"Sounds like Franci, I don't think I would have made it without her." Carl reached into his jacket and pulled out her knife "I have something for you too, Happy Birthday Kyla"

Her eyes widened, and she took a sharp breath. With trembling hands, she took the offered knife and held it to her chest. She closed her eyes, but that didn't stop the tears from running down her face "Thank you. Thank you. I need a minute…..um, please sit."

Kyla went into the bathroom and closed the door. She tried to cry quietly, but she was never any good at crying or being quiet. Carl Grimes didn't know it yet, but he had a friend for life.

"Sorry" she smiled shyly as she sat down across from him at her small table "I'm sure I sounded like a wounded water buffalo…."

Carl shook his head and tried to keep a straight face "Sounded like a regular buffalo to me….."

Something about him put her at ease "You got jokes G?"

"I just like seeing you smile"

Kyla blushed, still holding the knife tightly "Truly, thank you – having this back is everything. It hung on the wall in our trailer, and we would all touch it anytime we walked out the door. For luck or prayer or just to be close to my grandmother, we called her Zumu. Even the twins, we would pick them up so they could touch it when they were little. When I turned eighteen, my dad gave it to me. He said Zumu wanted me to have it. Everyone I loved has touched this, it makes me feel like they're with me."

Carl nodded, empathetic "I know how you feel, you don't have to thank me. The catch is that it can't leave your quarters, cool?"

"Yeah, I can do that. So why does Okafor fold whenever you bat your blue eye at him? Can you get my brass knuckles back?"

"Ha!" Carl laughed "No, and if that were the case, I'd have been gone long ago. He feels guilty because I was only fifteen when I got here, he's tried to do what he can for me. Plus, he's afraid of Franci."

"How did you end up here?"

Carl sighed; he liked this girl, probably too much. "I don't talk about it much, just to protect my family if I ever do manage to get home. We were part of a group of communities fighting a group that was forcing us to scavenge for them. It was bad, I got stabbed and picked up by the CRM. How about you?"

"My family traveled with a group, we called ourselves Nomads. On the move, constantly. No stopping, not for anything or anybody. There were about 950 of us last count. There were some people watching us and I started watching them. Turned out to be a CRM recon team and here I am."

"Okafor said you fought them. And would have beat them if they hadn't used a taser?"

"Yep, this Asian chick knows Kung Fu. My grandmother was Sifu – a master at Wing Chun. So is my dad, I started learning super young. She had a martial arts academy in New York and opened one when she retired in Florida."

"That's cool, did your dad teach too?"

"Only me and the twins. He said he couldn't tolerate dealing with white dudes who wanted to be Chuck Norris on a daily basis. He's a Civil Engineer"

Carl looked amused "I was in the Chuck Norris fan club when I was like five or six"

"No!" she laughed with him "Shut up!"

"Yep! Had a laminated card I carried around in my velcro Spiderman wallet."

"Victor Chen would NOT approve. I'm gonna have to ask you to leave, sir"

"So that's a no on the lessons?"

Time flew by as they chatted and laughed. They left her room together, barely making evening mess. Esteban, DeAndre, and Aliya exchanged amused glances and smirks as Carl and Kyla stayed in their own little world all through dinner and drifted off afterward. They ended up on a small platform, set up for access to antennas and satellite dishes, watching the sun go down over the river.

Later, Carl lay awake in bed, unable to shake the image of her smile from his mind. "I'm in trouble," he whispered.


6 Months later

Carl lay on his back in the park, soaking up the sun. It was a furlough day and he and Ky were hanging out in the park. They'd slept together for the first-time last night, and he asked her to be his girlfriend this morning. He was still determined to leave this place, so being with Kyla complicated things. Just the thought of not having her in his life was painful. He was pretty sure he was in love with her, but he wasn't quite ready to say that part out loud.

Kyla sat down next to Carl and placed a bag between them "Hey"

He sat up and smiled "Hey. I was about to send out a search party."

"I thought we should eat something since we missed breakfast" she leaned in for a kiss and whispered, "because of all the SEX…."

Carl put his hand on her neck, holding her in place and prolonging the kiss "We should eat something, because that was most definitely not ALL the sex."

Kyla was surprised to find herself flustered, not her normal state, but something that seemed to occur exclusively when she was around G "Right…food!" She opened the bag and started pulling out containers "I got myself chicken McNuggets…."

"Is there a McDonalds I don't know about?"

"No, but that doesn't mean these aren't McNuggets"

"That's exactly what it means, without McDonalds they're just nuggets"

"Listen…. if you're going to be my boyfriend you need to accept that all nuggets are McNuggets"

"I'm already your boyfriend" Carl reminded her "and that was not in the terms and conditions…. No toenail clipping in bed, turn on the fan in the bathroom, don't read ahead on our comics, and don't lie to me."

Kyla laughed "Baby…. You didn't read the fine print….so much fucking fine print….…."

Carl shook his head and smiled "Do I get McNuggets too?

She pulled out a container and handed it to Carl "Nope, got you something special"

Carl's face lit up "Corndogs! The Corndog guy is here? Did you get mustard and ketchup?"

"Of course, I got mustard and ketchup" Kyla watched with amusement as Carl spread mustard over the entire corndog before dipping it in ketchup. "You are ridiculous"

"Whatever McNugget" Carl took a bite and moaned "Mmmmm I love you"

Kyla snorted "Me or the corndog?"

Mouth full of corndog, Carl met her eyes, disbelieving he'd said it aloud. She bemusedly watched him chew and finally swallow.

"You…I love you Ky."

She was stunned, but didn't hesitate "I love you too G."


Now

Kyla heard the roar of an engine in the distance. She moved closer to the road and climbed a tree to get a better look. Pulling out her binoculars, she spotted the rider. Custom bike, leather vest, and cross bow. "Well…. here goes…."

She scrambled down from the tree and stepped out into the road, hands up.

The rider slowed, scanning the tree line she walked out of before stopping the bike. "Help you with something?"

"Are you Daryl Dixon?"

He moved the cross bow from his back to his lap "Who's asking?"

"My name is Kyla Chen; I'm looking for Rick and Michonne Grimes"

"You ain't from around here, why you looking for them?"

"Carl is alive and I need their help to make sure he stays that way….."


Inspired by Richonne4Life, I want to share a few words about reviews. Writing makes me happy and I hope that sharing spreads that happiness. It takes awhile to write a story, but just a moment to review. Reviews are inspiring, motivating, and make us fanfic writers smile and want to write more. Please review, give the gift of Dopamine!