dromomania |carl grimes|

29

DEATH IS FOREVER

Recovery is a bit easier after you've had to do it so many times, the same exercises just on different parts of your body. Enid went back to Hilltop the day after I met her. She never really elaborated on anything Rick and Maggie had told her, Carl wouldn't hear anything about her.

The second she left he acted as if she didn't exist, I had a lot of questions and yet I received no answers. The only way I could get some answers would be if I went to Hilltop but last I knew, they hated Alexandria.

I feel on edge around the two of them now, knowing that at any moment I could be asked to leave everything I've built for my life here.

"Alora! Up, up, up," I can hear Rowan call through the house, I truly regret giving him a key. I can't remember if Sainte or I gave him the key but regardless, it was a mistake.

I grumble and get out of bed, looking at my still busted-up wrist. I walk into the bathroom and lift the back of my shirt up to analyze my scar. It was a purplish scar that trailed far, it looked like a blown-out tattoo when it reached my shoulderblade.

I hear the floor creak a few feet over, I glance over to see Carl standing there. I didn't hear him come in and I don't think he has a key. His flannel was clean for once, he didn't smell as bad as he usually does meaning this wasn't some spontaneous show-up.

"Hey, I thought you were going to sleep the day away," He chuckles leaning on the doorframe, I make eye contact with him and shrug.

"You okay?" He asks taking a step towards me.

"I'm fine, Carl, I don't need a babysitter to wake me up either."

He huffs and shakes his head, "What did Enid say that made you hate me?"

I narrow my eyes, "I don't hate you, Carl, don't say shit like that."

"I don't know, you seem very distant."

A break comes for me when I hear Rowan's heavy feet running up the stairs.

"I promise that I'm just fine, Carl," I tell him.

Rowan skids to a stop feeling the tension as thick as mud in the air. "Hey guys," He chirps.

Carl nods towards him as an acknowledgment. That's something he does a lot, I think he gets it from his dad. My mom would tell me that I have the tendency to nod with my head to show directions, Daryl called it the 'Indian nod.' I think I heard Glenn tell him that might be racist but Daryl clicked it off like he usually does.

"So, y'know how Tara went on that run like two weeks ago, she said she found video games for us!" Rowan grins.

"Don't forget to mention the music," Sainte calls out from downstairs.

Sainte must have let Carl in if she's awake. I really have been sleeping in too late if she's even awake before me.

A loud banging comes from downstairs, Sainte mutters a swear and comes thundering up the stairs.

"Negan! Negan!" She yips as she scurries into her room, into a 'panic bunker' that Rowan helped her build. He made sure there was enough room for all of us, he called it the 'Row Run Room.'

Rowan slid into Sainte's room and disappeared from our view. It was a false back in the back of Sainte's closet but you had to walk to the opposite side of the closet, which was 6x3, to get around the boxes in front of the door labeled as moving boxes but in reality were full of bricks.

The banging continued from downstairs, I could tell they were going to break down our door despite it being unlocked solely to show that they had the power.

I scamper down the steps despite Carl's protest, I yank open the door, it wasn't Negan. It wasn't one of his men, it was some man I had never seen before.

I feel the tension waver in the air as Carl appears at my side and a sigh of relief drops from Carl.

"Holy shit, Siddiq. It has been a while, what's up, why are you here?" Carl asks.

"Enid came back and told us-," Carl cuts this man off, "I don't give a fuck what she said, why are you here?"

I kiss my lips and walk back from the door since Carl wants to be like this. I plop on the couch and peer from over the back.

"Jesus, Carl. We found a kid, a girl. Younger than you guys but you know we don't have the supplies to accommodate another body," I hear Siddiq speak a bit more hushed.

"Not another fucking spy, I swear to God," I bark out.

"Alora, chill, you just had a bad run-in."

I shake my head while Carl follows Siddiq outside. Outside there's a horse calvary basically, on the dappled gray one sits a younger girl wrapped in a brownish blanket, not many of her attributes are visible from the porch but Carl goes further out where his dad is.

Siddiq was right though, this girl was around our age but a bit younger. I shovel my boots on and hold my arms close to keep the heat close.

I trot up next to Carl and look this girl up and down, she looks weak and beaten from what I can see.

Michonne helps this girl down, her eyes meet mine. I freeze, I feel like I'm looking into my own eyes. Her eyes were sunken in but forest green and her cheeks were lightly sprinkled with freckles, less prominent than mine. Her skin was fairer than mine by a long shot, it looked like she had been locked up for years and just found sunlight.

The girl had long brown hair, thick and looked like it was matted in certain sections like she needed a good haircut. She was skinny and didn't have much figure, it looked like malnutrition did it in on her body.

Maggie joins the commotion and puts her hand on this girl's shoulder which she flinches, the girl still hasn't broken eye contact with me. She's not challenging me, instead she's curious.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Maggie says, backing up from the girl.

Carl looks at the girl and then back to me.

"Alora, she kinda looks like y-," I cut Carl off by shoving him back.

"Finley, you fucking died. Why the hell are you here?" I snap at her.

"Alora?"