my tears ricochet

Chapter Thirty Nine

Ivy waited until Carl was walking by and grabbed him by the collar and dragged him around the side of the administrative building. One of the older kids had stuck himself to Carl's side like a shadow and she rarely saw them separate but Ivy had been watching all morning for an opportunity.

His hand jumped for a gun that he didn't have anymore. Ivy wasn't the only one striped of carrying a weapon around and she knew he felt that loss. "Relax, it's just me."

Carl's mouth twitched with annoyance, identical to the way Rick could express his own distaste. "What?"

"You still familiar with the tombs?"

He had to be, Ivy thought. Of all people, Carl would know it best. He rolled his eyes and she felt a glimmer of satisfaction sharpen in her chest. "Yeah. I know it."

Carl was the kid would read a book once and would recite paragraphs for hours, driving everyone to the brink of insanity. Whatever glimpse he had seen of the prison map had been enough to track down medical supplies and specific zones to gather up resources like workshops for tools. "Cool. I need you to do me a favour and I'd really like if you didn't mention it to anyone."

There was a reason she hadn't brought Beth along with her. Instead, Ivy had two handguns hidden by her oversized shirt. "What are we looking for?"

"There's a way out of here, right? Sasha and Tyrese came through some blown out wing of this place," Ivy said. That memory was hazy and she tried to shove it away. She had woken up to Daryl stretching her out on a table to survey the damage and try and stitch her side back up. Rick screaming in the background was a strange echo of her own grief, madness mixed with pain. "I want to find it."

"The tunnels are full of walkers."

"I know."

Daryl and Glenn had taken off with a small team for the day and they wouldn't be back until later. She had waited at the gate to say goodbye to Daryl and he had fixed her in place with a hand to her shoulder, making sure she was looking up at his face when he reminded her to stay inside the gate.

He hadn't mentioned her hearing loss to anyone else and she could only assume Bob had been warned to keep his mouth shut. But Daryl had gotten wise to her trick of turning away so she could play naive to his judgement calls.

If he didn't want her leaving through the gate, she would just find a different option. Something without breaking the rules.

"We'll need guns," Carl frowned, clearly thinking about their options. "Shouldn't use 'em down there, but we also shouldn't go without."

Ivy hiked up her shirt some to show what she carried. "Don't tell your dad."

His eyes lit up with plain want and she understood it. It was hard moving backwards. They had survived a long winter by always being on guard against the constant danger. The war between Woodbury and the prison had amplified that tension and suddenly it was over, even if it didn't feel over. Rick wanted Carl to be a kid again but no one could undo what had happened to make him grow up.

Sometimes a person couldn't feel safe unless they held the key in their hands.

"Is it just us?"

"Yeah," Ivy shrugged. "Just need out for a bit."

'Sorry, Daryl,' Ivy thought, following him towards one of the gates that led into the hallways. 'But I need this.'

It felt like stepping back into who she used to be. Ivy took the first walker herself, letting it stumble towards her and stepping sideways, driving the blade clean through the back of the skull. Carl had her covered while she removed the blade and helped take down the second walker.