𝙘𝙧𝙮 𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙮¹ ━ 𝙩𝙬𝙙

iii.

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Night had fallen and Paola, Glenn and T-Dog had bundled into Carol's car, the wounded man groaning at every bump they went over.

Paola stretched up in her seat to look over the dash. In her lap, she held her backpack, her small fingers grazed over the collection of badges she'd managed to accumulate. Glenn always made sure to bring her one back when he found one whilst on the run. She wished she could go back to the early days of atlanta.

The ride eventually came to a halt as glenn found the farm, the lights were on and it was like a beacon of hope in the world they had learned to live in now. Slipping out of the car, Paola swings her backpack over her shoulders before running around to the over side to intertwine Glenn's hand before walking to the Greene's porch.

On the steps were droplets of blood. Carl's blood. It lost Paola's breath, the idea that her friend was inside that house hurt, or even worse, dying.

"So do we ring the bell? it looks like people live here." Glenn asks, looking over at T-Dog over Paola's head.

"We're past this kind of stuff, aren't we?" T-Dog rolls his eyes and makes his way up the steps, "having to be considerate."

Paola looks up at Glenn, her doe eyes tired with bags weighing them down, "we're guests, shouldn't we be polite?"

The pizza delivery boy bites the inside of his cheek, "come on, monkey." He picks her up and she rests her head on his shoulder, hoping to finally sleep on his arms.

"Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?" The woman from earlier asks, her horse and baseball bat gone, she looked calmer, more approachable.

"Uh, hi. Yes, we closed it." Glenn stumbles over his words, still as mesmerised by the woman as he was before. "Did the latch and everything."

The woman leans forward on her chair, her brow furrowed with a slight smirk on her lips. Glenn continues, "hello, nice to see you again. We met before, briefly."

Paola lifts her head and smiles sleepily at the woman, her small hand raised in a wave, "you're the cool lady with the horse."

The woman's smirk turned to a genuine smile at the young girls description, she swear she felt her heart melt a little. Glenn's face turned a dusty pink when he saw her smile, Paola was most definitely going to be his wingman.

"Look, we came to help. There anything we can do?" T-Dog barely gets out as he grunts in pain. "It's not a bite. I cut myself pretty bad though." The man explains as her green eyes trail over his injured arm.

"We'll have it looked at. I'll tell them you're here." She says, moving closer to the trio

Glenn stutters and struggles to bring out Merle's pills, "we have some painkillers and some antibiotics. I already gave him some, if Carl needs any."

"Come on inside, I'll make you something to eat." The woman opens the door for them, allowing them inside the house.

Before eating, Maggie took them to see Carl. The boy was on the bed, a patch on his stomach and his eyes closed. Rick and Lori could barely move their eyes away from their son to look at their friends. Glenn and T-Dog offer their condolences before moving out of the room.

"Can I go see him?" Paola asks Glenn, tapping a rhythm in his shoulder.

"Later, okay? He just needs to get a bit better first and you need something to eat." Glenn replies, he wanted to give Rick and Lori as much time with carl as they needed. He knew he would want that if it were Paola.

She sticks her pinky in his face, wiggling it around, "promise?"

"Promise." Glenn wraps their pinkies together and he hoped that he was able to keep this one, Carl was a strong kid, he knew that.

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After eating, Shane made it back with what they needed to operate on Carl, only without Otis, the man who had accidentally shot Carl and was apart of the Greene family.

Paola and Glenn sat with Maggie as the woman cried at the table, tears pouring from her eyes.

"I've know Otis since I was kid." Maggie's broke as she played with her hands, hesitantly looking up, "he's run this farm since before my mother died."

"Who else? Who'd you lose?" Glenn asked, moving from his spot on the counter to the refrigerator. Maggie quietly sobs, "you told me I had to make it okay some how. That's what you've been trying to do right? Which ones?"

Maggie stays silent, trying to catch her breath as another sob works its way up her throat.

Then Paola reached forward, cupping Maggie's hands with her own, "I lost my mama and papa a while ago, and it's the worst thing that's ever happened to me." Paola spoke with a lisp, it was the first time she was openly talking about her parents since the CDC. "But i believe that if they're always in your heart then they're never really gone, because they're just living through you."

Paola's eyes were red and puffy now and her nose was tipped pink trying to hold back tears for Maggie. The woman smiles thankfully at her, squeezing their hands together, "thank you." She says, her voice breaking again.

Maggie stands up from her seat and move over to Glenn, answering his question, "stepmother." She points to a woman's picture on the fridge. Paola's chair scrapes as she pushes out to stand with them. "Stepbrother."

Paola and Glenn watch as she breathes heavily, the only thing filling the silence was the clock ticking every second passed. Maggie continued to breakdown in front of them, and the little girl wrapped her arms around the womans middle, hoping that the hug would be enough to comfort her. Glenn watched with a sad smile, overlooking but not joining.

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