Bitter & Sweet (A Carl Grimes Fanfiction)

15

Carl had been in the middle of guessing the girls name when the door opened. With the ever growing boredom that came with confinement, and his insatiable curiosity, he had casually suggested the game to her. She had given him that ghost-like smile at his suggestion and he'd carefully constructed the outline of the game, feigning nonchalance all the while. He'd gone through the alphabet three times already, losing his vigilant mask of indifference as his excitement grew with every affirmative nod. They hadn't finished, but he'd already gotten 'Sam' out of it.

He could pretty much guess the rest of her name, but he liked interacting with her too much to end the game already. Gareth's unwelcome entrance was pretty much a one hit kill to their small measure of happiness. Carl stiffened and tossed an alarmed look at the girl; she appeared calm and far more collected than him. He really admired that about her.

Drawing strength from her again, he steeled himself. Gareth ambled over to them, grin forming, and then widening, as he eyed their new position next to one another. "Well, isn't this cute." He was holding a blanket in his arms that Carl wondered at, but, otherwise, found suspicious. Nothing Gareth did ever came from good intentions. It's probably loaded with fleas, or poison ivy, or something. Carl watched the man carefully, very aware of his own limitations, but refusing to let his fear rule him.

Gareth stopped short of either of them, appraising their current position. After some deliberation, but with amusement, he spoke, "Carl, my man, looks like you've got some moves after all. Seems you got yourself a girlfriend, didn't think you had it in you." Carl answered, narrowing his eyes accusingly, "She was hurt." Perplexed, Gareth studied the girl, looking for meaning in Carl's words. He spotted the bandage and replied with a flippant, "Oh." He shrugged nonchalantly, angering Carl, "Forgot all about that. That one was pretty deep, huh?" Carl's mounting anger made him bold, "What do you want?"

"Reign in that hostility kid, I just came to drop this off," he waved the blanket around, "It's pretty damn cold out there and while I was freezing my ass off, I thought of you guys. Two brat popsicles would be such a waste." Carl's mouth moved before his brain caught up with it, "There's only one, unless you're going to pull a second one out of your ass. In which case, you can keep it." The girl snorted, covering her mouth behind her hand. It made Carl giddy. He'd actually gotten her to laugh. Gareth was less amused, "Hey, smartass, I get that you want to look all cool in front of your new girlfriend, but remember... I can make you scream in front of her if you don't watch that mouth of yours."

The threat should have sobered Carl up, but it didn't. He couldn't keep the sarcasm from leaking out as he said, "Got it, boss." The girl shot him a look. She was warning him not to press Gareth any further. Carl wasn't ready to back down. He rolled his eyes, huffed in annoyance, and then gave her his best rebellious teenage shrug – the one that irritated his father to no end. That strange giddiness that came with talking back to Gareth was still there, darkly encouraging him to get under the man's skin no matter what. Maybe I'm losing it. Ever since Gareth had tried to trick him into eating a member of his group, ever since he'd punished the girl for stopping him, he'd felt something hateful forming in the pit of his stomach.

Each time he saw Gareth, it seemed to grow stronger. He was still scared of the man, but that part of his brain battled with his overwhelming sense of hate. Gareth spoke through gritted teeth, "I'm not playing around kid." Carl brought his hand up to his forehead in a salute, "Whatever you say...boss." He'd sufficiently pissed off Gareth enough to push the man to violence. Tossing aside the blanket, Gareth, shaking with barely controlled rage, approached Carl. Instinctively, Carl pressed his back against the cage, trying to put distance between him and the dangerous man he'd stupidly taunted. "You've gotten pretty fucking cocky, kid." Placing his hands on either side of the kennel's roof he continued, "Is it the girl? The cage? Gotten a sense of security have you? I think you're feeling too comfortable Carl; a pretty girl who has your back, a barrier between you and me... that's all an illusion, kid."

It took Carl a moment to grasp the reason why he was suddenly on his side, body twisted unnaturally, and limbs entangled. At the end of his speech, Gareth had gripped the rungs of the kennel, and quicker than Carl could compute, had shoved it onto its side. It had been unexpected and, without any time to prepare, he'd landed hard, even biting his tongue in the process. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth. The giddiness was gone. I screwed up, I seriously screwed up. The kennel door was wrenched open, falling flat against the cement floor with a 'clang'. Before he could get his wits about him, Carl was being pulled roughly through the opening.

His body dragged painfully over the metal; he hissed as his hip was clipped by the kennels frame. Gareth was over top of him, gripping his hair and left wrist. Carl was brought to his feet long enough to be tossed down again. He slammed against the floor hard enough to knock the breath out of him. Gareth was back on him in seconds, dragging him to his feet by his button up. "You know I really was just going to cut the blanket in two, give you each half and go." His mouth twisted into an ugly sneer, "Now, though, now I think I'll stay and play a while."

Carl was shoved backwards. He tripped over his own feet and landed heavily on his butt. Gaining some composure, he scrambled to get to his feet before Gareth could do it for him. He had backed up only a step before he was pushed down again. This time, he didn't try to get up. He had something else in mind. As he expected, Gareth lifted him up again. He pushed Carl against the wall, "How you feeling now kid? Still cocky?" Carl grinned, spitting the blood that had been pooling in his mouth onto Gareth's face.

Gareth roared, slamming him into the wall over and over again. When Carl could barely stay conscious, Gareth released his hold. Gracelessly, Carl slid down the wall before plopping down on his already sore behind. For good measure, Gareth kicked him in the stomach. Carl grunted and doubled over. Breathing heavily, Gareth brushed back his sweaty hair, "Fucking smart mouth kid." He kicked Carl twice more until he was satisfied that he'd done enough damage. Carl didn't move, he was conscious, but he kept his eyes shut. Thinking he'd passed out, Gareth stormed away, "If you aren't dead by the time I come back, I just might kill you, kid. But I'll do you a favor and cool my head before I decide."

The door closed heavily behind him. Groaning, he pulled himself up into a sitting position. He hurt like hell, but things had gone better than he expected. In his anger, Gareth had even left him out of the cage. Carl smiled as he ran his fingers over the small pocket knife he'd managed to get off of Gareth. He'd been too busy slamming Carl into the wall to notice the sleight of hand. He snorted, dumbass.