Chaos (Carl Grimes)

Abuelo

      The five of them were all different. Three black men, one white man, and one person who looked like a typical dumbass Latin criminal. All he was missing was a rat tail.
      "Who the hell are you?" Daryl asked, pointing the crossbow at them.
      "Who the hell are you?"
      "He's bleeding out, we gotta get back!" Rick yelled before he started ordering Maggie to do something.
      "Come on out of here. Slow and steady." Daryl said and we switched places. He got in front of me and I got on the other side of Rick.
      "What happened to him?" The dumbass asked.
      "He got bit."
      "Bit?" He repeated taking a gun out. T-Dog threatened him with his gun. They backed down.
      The guy even held the gun like a dumbass. But he was smart. Two versus one was not gonna work out in his favor.
      "Whoa, whoa, whoa easy now. Nobody needs yo get hurt." Daryl reassured them.
      Glenn pushed past them and looked through the room they were in. "You got medical supplies?"
      "Wow, where do you think you're going?"
      "You don't see a man bleeding. What do you think he's doing?" I asked pulling a knife out.
     The walkers started to push on the door more. The prisoners as tough as they thought they were and looked, they quickly backed away from the door.
      "Who the hell are you people anyway?"
      "Don't look like no rescue team."
      Rick started to pick up Hershel. "If a rescue team's what you waiting for, don't."
      Glenn rolled a table towards them and they put Hershel down on the table. "Come on we gotta go! Now! Come on, I need a hand here!" He yelled and I went over to the doors with T-Dog.
      "Open the door."
      "Are you crazy! Don't open that." One of the other prisoners said.
      "We got this!" He opened one door and I killed the three walkers that came in with ease. He shot the last two.
       With the way clear, we started running towards the way back to our cell block. We left Hershel's leg in there with the prisoners.
       That could be a warning to them not to fuck with us. We followed the orange paint Glenn put on there. Rick shouting our directions still. Just in case.
      Daryl, T-Dog, and I cleared a way for us go. We weren't stopping at any circumstances.
      "Stop, stop!" Rick said slowing down.
      Okay I was wrong.
      I see why we wanted to stop. Between all the running and the whispered shouting and the groaning of walkers we didn't hear the prisoners going behind us. Following us.
      "Follow the flashlight! Come on. Let's go!"
      "Go, go, go, go, go, go!" Rick said and we ran faster trying to get a good lead ahead so they won't follow us.
      "He's losing too much blood."
      "Open the door. It's Hershel!"
       "Carl please!" I yelled and the door swung open.
        Everyone came in the cell block, Carl closed it quickly behind us then came up to me.
      "Are you hurt? Is it just Hershel that got hurt?" He grabbed my face looking for scratches and what not.
      "I'm fine. Go in there. They need help. Please. I'm not ready to go in there yet." He nodded and followed his dad and my parents went down to the actual cells. T-Dog, Daryl, and I waited for the prisoners.
      I hid my knives in my belt and I waited sitting on the table. T hid in the corner and Daryl hid in the back where there was basically a actual cage there.
      All five of them came in and stopped when they saw me sitting there. The dumbass Latin man was the leader.
      Go fucking figure.
      "Far enough boys."
      "Cell block C. Cell four, that's mine. Let me in."
      "Considering how scared y'all are of the walkers I assume - and correct me if I'm wrong - you haven't been in there for a long time."
      "You have a mouth on you for a little girl." He said still standing on the stairs.
      "I've been told." I shrugged and pulled a knife out cleaning it with my shirt.
      "What you got going on in there?"
      "Nothing that concerns you really."
      "You seem like a good kid. Just let us in. We just want to talk to the men in there."
      "Not gonna happen."
      "You're getting me frustrated. Just let us in."
       "No."
      "I'm asking one last time politely the next time it won't be so polite."
       "Dude, she's a little girl. Chill. Let's go somewhere. We're free now." The biggest one of them reasoned.
      "You should listen to him."
      "Yeah, and I gotta check on my old lady." I looked up from my knife. The man who said it was one of the black men and he was bald. He reminded me of one of the prisoners I saw when I visited my grandfather.
      He looked like a decent enough guy.
      I'm so sorry what's going to happen when he finds out that they're dead.
      "Group of civilians breaking into a prison you've got no business being in, got me thinking they ain't no place for us to go!"
      "I mean. You could always find out. You got enough weapons to do so. Have fun."
      "I told you that was my last time asking nicely. We going in there!" He said taking the gun out and pointing it at me.
      "You ain't going in there!" T-Dog said coming out the corner with his gun drawn.
      "Hey, this is my house, my rules, I go where I damn please."
       "Judging from where you was at. This wasn't your house for a long time." Daryl said pointing his crossbow at them.
      "Thomas let's just go."
      "Yeah you should listen to them. They actually sound like they make sense."
      "You need to shut up!"
      "You're yelling at a child."
       "Let me in my cell."
      "There ain't nothing for you here, why don't you go back to your own sandbox?"
      Rick came out the rooms and stood in front of me."Hey, hey, hey! Everyone relax, there's no need for this!"
      "How many of you are in there?"
      "Too many for you to handle."
      "You guys rob a bank or something? Why don't you take him to a hospital?"
      "How long have you been locked in that cafeteria?"
      "Going on like ten months."
      "A riot broke out. Never seen anything like it."
      "Attica on speed, man."
      "Even heard about dudes going cannibal, dying, coming back to life? Crazy."
       "One guard looked out for us , locked us up in the cafeteria, told us to sit tight, threw me this piece, said he'd be right back."
      "And that was two hundred ninety two days ago."
      "Two hundred ninety four by my calculations."
      "Shut up!"
      "We were thinking that the army or the national guard should be showing up any day now."
      "This is no army."
       There was a wave of looks of defeat when they heard that. These men who spent most of the apocalypse hiding and still having hope just got it all stripped away. They're probably the people who held into having hope the longest.
      "What do you mean?"
      "There's no government, no hospitals, no police. It's all gone." Rick stated calmly and again. A wave of shock went through all their faces. No matter how hard they tried to hide it.
      "For real?"
      "Serious?"
      "What about my moms?"
      "My kids, my old lady. Yo, you got a cell phone or something so we can call our families?"
      Abuelo. Could that have happen to him? Could he be experiencing what these prisoners are experiencing right now?
      Getting hope teared out from his chest?
      I quickly went back to the other half of the group. Lori and Carol was trying their best to stop the bleeding. Beth was watching them from outside the cell, tears in her eyes. Glenn was holding Maggie tight as they watched. Carl was with Kali on the far side of the cells.
       I quickly climbed the stairs. I didn't want to see Hershel yet. Not until he stopped bleeding all over the place. I don't know how Beth and Maggie can watch.
      "Who's out there? What did you guys find?"
      "Five prisoners out there. They've been locked up in the cafeteria for ten months. Ten months they survived by hiding." I told him and he stayed silent watching Kali play in one of the cells.
      "Can you imagine that?" I asked looking over at him. "Waiting for ten months to come save you. To see your family then a group of people come and say nothings left."
      "You're thinking of your grandfather."
       "Is that a question or a statement?"
       "A statement. You're also thinking of Hershel and now you're thinking you're gonna lose the both of them."
      "Why do you have to read my mind?"
       "I've been at your side for months. I learned how to read it during those months."
      "I hate it."
      "You love me." He said kissing the side of my head, holding me close.
      "I don't want to see him yet. I can't see him like that. I don't want it to be like Dale again." I mumbled and he pulled it closer.
      "Nothing is going to happen. He's going to make it. I'll make sure that he's going to make it even if it's the last thing I do."
      "No. Not the last thing. You're not going anywhere either." I looked up at him and he smiled.
      "I'm not going anywhere." He said kissing my face before getting up. "I'll go check on how it's going."
      "No no. I should do it. Stop being scared and just make sure everything is okay."
      "You sure?"
      "Yes." I said before going down the stairs and into the room. Beth, Maggie, and Glenn were gone so it was just Lori and Carol.
      "It has to stop eventually right? It slowed down quite a bit already." Lori said before looking up at me. She offered a small smile and I smiled right back.
      "If we can get him through this.." Carol started before Lori nudged her and made a gesture towards my direction.
      "When we get through this." Lori corrected giving her a look.
      Carol looked over at me. "He's gonna need crutches. Or a peg leg."
      "I'll make a note of that. Is there anything you guys right now?" I asked still hiding around the corner so I wouldn't see Hershel just them.
      "Right now, we could use some antibiotics. Pain killers, some sterile gauze. There's gotta be an infirmary here."
      "It's there one, we'll find it." Carol reassured her looking from the baby bump to her eyes.
      "I'll try to find a map. Track out a route. The fastest way there and alternative routes and a bunch of them. I don't want this to happen again."
      "I doubt it."
      "So do I. I'm just preparing for the worst." I said before walking away from them.
     Carl was still at the top of the staircase with Kali and Maggie but those people are not who I needed right now.
      I ducked into the rest of my family's cell where Glenn was staring at the wall. Thinking.
      "It's not your fault. You drawing those arrows on the wall got us back here faster." I said making him look at me.
      "I know that. I'm just thinking about other things."
      "Like how he's not going to make it? You don't think he's going to make it?"
      He got up shaking his head. "No, no. That's not what I said or implied." He pulled me close to him, pulling the loose strands of hair away from my face.
      "It's going to happen. I know it is."
      "It's Hershel. That man is stronger then any of us know. He went from the lowest point of his life to telling off Shane for how he talked to you. He's going to make it. When he makes it the first thing he's going to want to see is you and Kali and Maggie and Beth. Do you understand?"
      "Glenn it's okay if he does go."
      "He's gonna make it and gonna walk around here like nothing ever happened. Do you understand?"
      "Can you promise me that?"
      "I promise you." He held out his pinky and I wrapped mines around his. He kissed the pinkies then kissed the top of my head.
      I walked out of there as Carl was coming down the stairs. "We can sit in the other room if you don't feel comfortable."
      "Just for a little bit. Who's got Kali?"
      "Maggie. She's walking around upstairs with her playing nurses and doctors. You know it's her favorite game."
      "Only because of Hershel."
      "She'll play it with Hershel again."
      "How are you so hopeful?" I asked before he unlocked the door.
      "Because I want to see you smile. I always tried my hardest to make you smile. That's always been my goal since I first met you." He said before kissing my cheek.
     "Carl, you're gonna be the death of me." I said before heading to one of the tables.
      We sat next to each other in silence for a while. It would be broken by the occasional loud giggle from Kali before she would stop. She would hopefully grow out that habit the longer we're here. I simply adored her laugh.
      T-Dog and Rick soon came back holding a boxes of food. We quickly jumped off the table and offered to help.
      "Food's here!" T-Dog shouted as they put the boxes down. "What you got?"
      "Canned beef, canned corn, canned cans'. There's a lot more where this came from!" T said dropping the box down.
      "We could start organizing it. Go get the rest." I said getting the cans out the boxes.
      "You wanna wait till after? They might come back here." Rick said looking over at me.
      "They moving in?"
       "No but we giving them weapons so they could live next door."
      "Including the one with the dumb mustache?"
      "Did you always insult all the man you don't like? Or is it a habit because of our situation now?"
      "A habit I picked up when I was born." I flashed him a smile and I saw the tiniest one back.
      "You two organize. We'll be back with the prisoners. We gonna give them weapons and a new place to stay."
      "You trust it?"
       "We got the keys and they don't. If they try anything stupid, they will die. It's a test more then anything."
      "Yes sir."