𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐔𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 - 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘐𝘐

3: Lost II

Lost
Part 2

Carl crouched beside Gareth's body. He'd already taken Girl's gun and knives back from him, packing them into her backpack.

Now he was sifting through Gareth's pockets, trying to find the other things he'd taken from her.

He was getting frustrated with his lack of results, groaning inwardly as he sat back on his heels in defeat.

Carl was frustrated at a lot of things. And he was angry too.

Sure Gareth was dead, but so was Bob. He'd gone with Sasha at his side, and Carl was hoping to whatever was listening that he'd been at least somewhat peaceful.

Then there was Girl. She was Carl's only friend. And she was family. She'd saved Daryl's life, and she'd saved his life on a couple occasions too. She was fiercely loyal and she didn't deserve what had happened to her.

Before Bob had died, he'd told Rick about what Gareth had done to Girl. Carl had eavesdropped at the door, desperate to know if there was any chance that his friend was alive.

He was appalled by what he'd heard. It shattered him, knowing that she'd been subjected to all that and then she'd still run off to try and warn them all.

But she hadn't made it.

This fact was wearing down on the group. They'd lost two people, not counting Daryl and Carol. On top of that, no one knew how they were gonna break the news to Daryl when he got back. Girl was gone, most likely eaten alive by Gareth. Rick claimed he'd found her body, but was waiting for Daryl to be sure. Carl had seen no body to bury thus far, no clear sign that she wasn't roaming around as a walker. So he decided that his father was just mistaken.

But Rick insisted that he'd found her.

But it wasn't proof enough she was dead, not for Carl.

That also meant Carl wouldn't believe it was proof enough that she wasn't alive.

"Hey, you okay?"

Carl turned to look at Glenn sitting down beside him.

He shrugged, sliding away from Gareth's body, leaning his back against a pew.

"No luck?" Glenn asked, gesturing towards Gareth.

"No," Carl mumbled, "I just- when we find Girl, I want to have all her things."

"What else are you missing?" Glenn asked, choosing to ignore Carl's sad optimism for now.

"Just some pictures. They were super important to her. I never saw them, but I knew she had them, I used to see her looking at them at night," Carl explained.

"Huh. Mind if I give it a shot?" Glenn asked.

Carl shrugged, not really caring if Glenn took over. He wanted the photos found. He didn't care how.

Glenn inched towards Gareth, almost gagging as he dug around in his pockets. The man was barely cold. It felt- wrong. But one thought of Girl reminded him that this man didn't really deserve his courtesy.

"I asked her what the pictures were once," Carl spoke, "she told me that she didn't know the people in them. She found them in a house and they made her feel weird so she kept them."

"She didn't even know the people?" Glenn asked as he searched a few more pockets.

"No, but I get it. It's a reminder of before. She doesn't remember any of it, so I guess anything is better than nothing," Carl said sadly.

Glenn nodded, continuing to dig in Gareth's pockets. It took a few more moments before his fingers met the corner of a piece of thick paper, no doubt the photos Carl had been looking for.

"Hey, here we go," Glenn said, pulling the papers out. He looked down at them, sitting in his hand. He didn't know what he'd expected, but it almost wasn't this.

The photos were in decent condition, and they showed the exact last thing he expected to see. One showed himself making pizzas, a girl at his side, the other showed the same girl and her family, standing together and smiling.

No part of Glenn had anticipated to actually be holding a picture of himself before the end of the world ever again.

Looking closer at the girl in the pictures, Glenn noticed how deathly similar she was to Girl. If he was being honest, he'd thought Girl looked uncomfortably familiar when he first met her. But they had also met in a darkened train car, where he had been silently hoping for a familiar face for days.

Girl had looked like someone he knew. His first thought had been her, the girl in these photos, but he'd chalked this up to plain old fantasy.

He missed her, sure, she was one of his closest friends. He'd been barely a day past 19 when the world had ended. She had been half a week away from 17. They'd met in high school, when they were both taking the same calculus class.

The picture in question was from a year after they met, they'd been 16 and 18 and her brother had invited him over on his birthday. They'd been enlisted to make pizzas since they were what he called "experts".

The real story was that they'd been working at Pa Paul's Pizza for a few months and no one had stopped poking fun at them for it.

She became the little sister that Glenn no longer had.

And now she was gone.

It pulled at his heart, but he tried not to dwell on it too much. He knew it would only make him upset.

The only one he'd confided in was Maggie. He'd told her when he'd almost mistaken Girl for her. Maggie had told him that he would always see good in things, even if it wasn't really there, and that she loved him for it. She told him that his guess might be right, none of them really knew who Girl was, so there was always a chance.

Glenn had only shaken his head, telling Maggie that the idea had only been a passing fancy. They weren't the same. He was just seeing what he wanted to see.

Of course, Maggie knew all about her. The two had spent extensive time talking about the old world, not knowing what else to discuss. They had started flirting like school children, talking about their favorite color and favorite kind of ice cream.

Maggie had shared about her high school and college days, as well as the names of some of her friends, who she insisted were probably long dead.

But Glenn always held out hope.

He wanted so badly to believe that the girl was okay somewhere.

Glenn looked away from the photo, realizing he'd been staring too long. He passed the picture to Carl, feeling sad to see it go, but knowing that it was in good hands.

Carl accepted both pictures, looking at Glenn curiosly, not yet understanding why he'd stared so long.

When Carl finally saw the pictures that had been a mystery to him for so long, his jaw dropped.

"That's- that's you!"

"Yeah, it was," Glenn said vaguely.

"And- who is that?" Carl asked pointing at the girl beside him.

"That's Susie."