Together

Chapter 32

Carl's POV

I watched in shock as JC plunged her knife into Negan's head.

After she removed it, she got to her feet with a look of triumph on her face.

Suddenly, I saw a Savior somehow struggle to his feet, apparently not dead.

He grabbed his sword and pulled it out of his sheath.

"JC, behind you!" I cried urgently.

She gave me a confused look before turning around.

But it was too late.

The Savior plunged his sword into her stomach, making her gasp sharply.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

After a moment, the blade was removed from her and she crumpled to the ground.

A scream left my mouth and I ran towards the man, stabbing him violently through the eye.

I immediately fell to my knees and grabbed JC, pulling her into my lap, her head resting on my chest.

I pressed my hand over the wound on her stomach. It was bleeding heavily.

I had no idea what to do. I was crying profusely and my breathing was heavy.

She was still conscious. Her hand was tightly gripping my arms as her blood covered my shirt.

"God," I whispered. "We gotta get you back to Denise. She'll know what to do."

I started to pick her up.

"Carl, stop," JC whispered weakly.

I looked at her desperately.

"JC," I told her. "This the only way to save you."

"I won't make it," she said, smiling a little.

After a few moments, I accepted that she was right. She was bleeding too heavily.

I loosened my grip on her so she was laying down a little more, though I kept my arm across her back to support her.

She smiled at me. "Thank you, Carl," she sighed.

She was delirious which didn't surprise me with all the blood she was losing.

"What?" I asked, still crying heavily.

"You gave me my life back again," she chuckled, making me smile through my tears.

"You," she added. "And Enid."

I sighed slightly as I remembered Enid. How was she going to react?

"You take care of her," she told me. "She needs you." She laughed a little. "Whether or not she'll admit it."

I laughed along with her.

"Make sure my group will be okay," she begged. "I'm not asking you to take them in, but make sure they'll be okay. Help them assign a new leader. Teach them how to get along without me."

I nodded. "I will." I willed my voice to be steady, though my excessive crying made that difficult.

"Make sure you get away from home," she told me. "Even if Negan is dead. It's still not safe."

I was about to ask her to explain, but she took a shuddering breath.

"And Carl?" she said, her voice even weaker. "Promise me one more thing."

"What?" I asked.

She took a moment before smiling and saying, "Be a good dad."

Time seemed to stop. Be a good dad? No, there was no way.

Instead of voicing my confusion, I simply nodded.

She smiled from ear to ear. "Then my job here is done. I'm happy, Carl. Now, if it isn't too much trouble, I want to spend my last moments peacefully. No Saviors, no rippers. Just pure silence."

I nodded and she laid her head on my chest and I wrapped my arms around her and pulling her in close, listening to her shaky breathing. I was actually able to succeed in stopping crying. We stayed like that for several minutes.

The tears only came again when she let go of her last breath and was still.

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Author's Note: It was so hard to kill JC. I love her so much and she's my favorite character that I've ever created. I knew that I was going to kill her since the beginning and I've wanted to back out of it so many times but in the end I decided to stick to the plot I originally thought of in my head. JC will forever be loved by me.