like real people do | c.g [#wattys2019]

G U N S

I SMILE MY BIGGEST SMILE since the outbreak, seeing my best friend up on his feet, walking around as soon as I wake up. After I restrain myself from hugging him so tightly that he needs to go back to bed, we meet Lori and start feeding the pigeons.

"Don't look so worried." He tells her. I still haven't been able to wipe the stupid grin off my face.

"It's my job."

"No, it's not. You're a housewife." I try to hide my chuckle and fail miserably, earning myself a fake glare from Lori.

"Yeah, punk? You see my house around here?" She asks, throwing bird food at him. We keep feeding them in a comfortable silence and I notice for the first time that he's taller than me by about five inches... God, I knew I was short, but not that short.

"They don't have a mother." He comments.

"She's probably somewhere else..." Lori dismisses.

"Maybe she got eaten. Everything's food for something else." He shrugs seeing Lori's shocked face.

Honestly, she's choosing to pretend that we don't understand or see what's going on, and that's only gonna end badly. Carl understands that the world's different, we had to accept that, just like any other grown up did. The sooner she realizes that, the better for her. She shakes it out and keeps feeding the birds, the only talking after that being mindless small talk.

Lori tells us she has to go somewhere and leaves us to wander around the farm. I bring him over to the trees to show him the damage I made. He looks even more eager to learn how to throw knives and grabs me by the hand, bringing me over to the RV to wait for practice. I have my doubts about Lori letting us, but he probably knows this already so I keep quiet.

We lean against the talking about random stuff, like how that one cloud reminds us of something the kid sitting next to a friend in third grade did or something, when Shane walks by.

"Hey, nice lid, man! How's it going?" He asks.

"We wanna learn how to shoot, too. Will you teach us?" He asks Shane, speaking for both of us. I still have a few doubts about Shane, but he's taking it better than I would if I went through what he did.

"Man... That's up to your parents." He says.

"Can you ask them? They'll listen to you." Lori hasn't been so strict on me, since she can kind of tell I can take care of myself, not saying that Carl can't, but she really doesn't seem to want him even near a gun since the accident.

"We'll see, okay?" He look at us, and I smile slightly at him as if to say thank you. Carl seems to be really sad about it, though. "Hey. Let me see what you got there." Carl reluctantly lifts his shirt to show a gun, which I honestly had no idea he had, and Shane is quick to call Lori over.

"How the hell did this happen?" She mutters walking away from us and towards Dale, Rick and Shane.

"How did you get that?" I ask him, not harshly, and not patronizingly.

"I took it from the RV without Dale noticing." He mutters. I smile slightly.

"First of all, that's sneaky and smart, so congratulations. Second of all, can't believe you didn't ask me to help. And third of all, sorry to break it to you, but you're in deep trouble." I say looking at Lori. She seems livid. He buries his face in his hands, sighing. "Seriously, though, what were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I want to learn how to shoot." His voice comes out muffled by his hands.

"He's not mature enough for a gun!" He does something I really didn't expect though, he gets up and talks to his mother.

"I'm not gonna play with it, mom. It's not a toy. I'm sorry I disappointed you but I wanna look for Sophia and I wanna defend our camp, and I can't do that without a gun."

"Shane's the best instructor I know, I've seen him teach kids younger than Carl." Rick supports him, making me grin. Lori moves towards Carl, grabbing his face.

"You will take this seriously, and you will behave responsibly. And if I hear from anyone that you're not living up to their expectations-" Rick cuts her off.

"He's not gonna let you down." Carl nods.

I get up as they go start going outside and catch up to them as Rick starts lecturing him. "If we're gonna do this, you listen to Shane. Alright? Be careful. That goes for both of you." He looks at me.

We get into the car and I'm buzzing with excitement. They line us all up, giving each of us a gun and a few bottles for practice, showing us how they work and how to stand and hold them properly first. Carl and I stand next to each other, shooting at the other's target occasionally to piss them off. Rick looks at us disapprovingly a few times, but I can see him trying not to smile.

"You said you wouldn't play around." He tells us.

We stick to shooting our own targets after that. Lori stands behind us looking slightly mad, but I shrug it off. It can't be that bad if she hasn't said anything.

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We get back to the farm, Carl only talking about how well he did. I smile at his excitement here and there, but stick to nodding and agreeing with him, when he says that one particular shot was amazing and telling him it looked like it belonged in an action movie, which makes him grin. He pulls me towards the trees and asks if I really could teach him to throw the knives.

"Of course, I promised I would. Tomorrow, when we have the time meet me by the trees. I'll have the knives and I'll teach you." He hugs me with force I didn't know he had and I hug him right back.

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hi!

honestly, this episode is so dramatic for everyone else bUT THE KIDS. i s2g... thank you for reading, please vote if you enjoyed and comment if you think carsey's being cute af.

goodbye,
-angryfeminist