To Be With You | Carl Grimes [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 21: I Miss You

We spent about an hour at the abandoned grocery store that we had just cleaned up from walkers. We scavenged everything that was left, which was not much. But it was enough to keep us going. I said absolutely nothing since Carol spoke to me while she was cleaning my minor injury. Tyreese kept giving me worried glances, but I acted as if I didn't see them.

We were back on the trail to this so called sanctuary. The two sisters were holding hands, walking along the trail with Carol and Judith next to them. Tyreese was walking next to me, and I couldn't tell him to leave me alone. Tyreese was a nice guy, I liked him a lot, but he didn't know when to quit. Why couldn't he see that I wanted to be by myself?

"How's your shoulder?" He asked me, breaking the silence between us.

"Fine." I said simply, keeping my eyes on the trail ahead of me.

"Your arm?"

"Fine." I repeated in the same tone.

"W-"

"Tyreese," I snapped, cutting him off. It wasn't intentional, but I just had to say it. "I get that you want to help me, and I appreciate it, really. But I just need time alone for awhile, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." Tyreese said and he quieted. I couldn't help but feel bad.

He then walked over to the others, leaving me alone in the back. A pang hit me in the chest, but I ignored it. This is what I asked for, I shouldn't complain. So I stayed quiet in the back, looking down at the leaves that crunched under my feet as I trudged forward.

Some time past. I'm not sure how long we were out here, but I know that it was over an hour. The only good thing about following this trail was that it was less hot than it was when we were traveling through the woods.

"I spy with my little eye . . . something tall and green." Mika said.

"A tree." Lizzie said, bored. "Mika, there's no point in playing this game. All there is are trees."

She had a point. The two girls were trying to waste time by playing games, but there wasn't much to play around here.

"I'm bored." Mika stated.

"We all are, Mika." said Tyreese. "We just have to keep going."

"How long is it gonna take to get to Terminus?" Lizzie asked.

"Hopefully soon." Carol replied, patting Judith's head of hair with her hand.

Judith was awake, her wide eyes wandering around. She must have found trees truly fascinating because that was all there was to look at. Then her eyes landed on me. She tilted her head at me, as if she was trying to figure me out.

Then she gave me a smile, her small teeth showing. I found the corners of my mouth rising. I hadn't noticed how cute she was until this moment. Her blue sparkly eyes stared into mine, and that's when I noticed they looked almost exactly like Carl's.

I glanced to see if anyone was looking, and then I covered my eyes with my hands. I waited about two seconds and then I moved my hands away, making a funny face at Judith as I said quietly, "Peek-a-boo."

I expected her to stare at me with no emotion, no grin or nothing. But what she did surprised me, and made my smile grow bigger. She laughed. Judith's eyes scrunched together as her mouth opened showing her still growing baby teeth, and she laughed. It was the cutest laugh I've ever heard, and for the first time in a long time, I laughed too.

***

It was getting dark out, and we were still on the trail. While we were walking, Carol and Tyreese discussed where we were going to stay for the night.