Tour Guide ➣ Carl Grimes

22. Fallen Trees and Soft Okays

On the ground not far in front of the path they walked on, Hannah noticed a spot of shimmery blue within the woodland foliage. It was buried beneath vines and twigs, but the color was just bright enough to reflect the sun off of its material.

"Hey, wait," she called out, running from behind Carl toward the hidden object. Carl was startled by her voice, quickly looking to see what she might be running from. When he found nothing of concern, he turned to see Hannah bent over a pile of leaves and twigs.

"It's a balloon," Hannah spoke softly, pulling the full piece of blue material out of the ground. Its helium was long gone by now, lost through the many holes that were punctured into its surface. Hannah let her hand run along the tattered ribbon connected to the bottom of the balloon. Pulling it out farther from the ground, she found that there was a paper attached loosely to the string. She stood from her spot on the ground, feeling Carl's presence close behind her.

"What's it say?" He asks, looking over her shoulder.

Immediately as she pulled it out of the plastic wrap it was sealed in, Hannah knew the paper was soaked. It was limp and damp in her hands as she tried to read the smudged letters that were left on the page.

"I don't know," She sighed, disappointed, "It's all gone."

With that, Carl began moving forward, waving her over with his hand.

"I don't think it's all that old," Hannah said as she came from behind him, adapting to his quick pace. "I mean, we can't really read what they said, but at least they said something, right?"

Carl looked over to Hannah, slowing his pace slightly, "What do you mean?"

"It's a good thing, Carl. It means there're people out there." Hannah said.

"We knew that. We saw it, Hannah," Carl stopped walking, "People died. You got hurt. Just because there are people out here doesn't mean they're good."

There was a pain on Carl's face. His eyebrows were furrowed just slightly, and his lips were tight. Hannah didn't know what to say.

"Just means we're not alone then," She spoke after a beat, continuing to walk, "Whatever that means."

---

The bark was digging into her clothed back as Hannah leaned against a fallen tree, not wanting to walk any farther. Carl was standing not far in front of her, leaning over his bag, pulling out the comics he had brought. As Hannah sat, she flipped the paper over and over again, trying to read what was written. All of the letters were smudged, and incomprehensible, but their spacing was clear. Hannah could see when a word started, when it stopped, and when a new sentence began, but she couldn't understand what any of it said. The whole thing frustrated her. She knew Carl was right before, about them knowing there were others, but she didn't want to believe they were all bad. If someone was trying to reach out, she wanted to know why.

"Hey," Carl breathed out as he sat down next to Hannah, comic book in hand.

"Hey," Hannah said without looking up from the paper.

"Did you find anything?" Carl asked.

"No, it's totally ruined."

Carl only hummed in response.

"But I still think it means something. I mean if they wrote something and took the time to send the balloon out, it had to be important. Right?" Hannah continued.

Carl didn't say anything before gently grabbing the paper from her hands, careful not to damage the fragile thing. Hannah watched him place it to his side before looking back over at her.