Stay Alive ~ Carl Grimes

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Kaylie's POV

It had been eight weeks now. We camped out in the woods that had property wire on one side. Rick had me and Carl's tent right next to his. I said it was for safety while Carl thought it was so he could keep an eye on us. He asked me to be his committed girlfriend, which angered Rick.

I decided to give him the chance, like what's the worse that could happen now?

I got up an hour till sunrise and crawled out of the tent for my shift.

"Hey Maggie, go get some sleep. If Judith needs anything, I'll get it."

Maggie smiled at me. "Thanks Kaylie, I really don't know what I would do without you." She gave me one last hug before she left.

I sat on edge responding to every noise. Nothing ever happened. Occasionally a walker would wander by, but that was rare.

Ten minutes later, I heard a crunch on the crisp, fall leaves. I jumped down from my perch, grabbing my knife. I walked down the trail to the pond. Finally. A walker eating some carcus. I put my hair up into a quick bun and ran over to the other side.

I fiddled with my knife, till I got a good grip on it and slammed it down into it's head.

For a weird reason, it felt good. I haven't even got to kill a walker with Carl around. Every time I said I got it, he already took care of it, but I loved him for that.

I stood up cleaning my knife in the pond. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey Carl, I told you I had this shift. You don't have to get up for me." I laughed.

I found it silly for someone to care so much about me.

"And don't be mad a killed a walker." I said as I turned around.

I stepped back with shock and fell into the pond.

"Kaylie, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" Jack said.

Jack had gone to school with me and he lived down the street from me. He was a good friend.

"Kaylie? What the fuck?" Carl yelled as he sprinted over and put his hand out.

I grabbed it and he pulled me out. He was incredible strong. He went in for a hug, but I stopped him.

"Carl I'm soaking wet don't-" He hugged me anyways.

"So what the hell happened?" Carl asked staring at Jack curiously.

"This is Jack, we went to school together." Jack put his knife away and stuck his hand out. Carl shook it.

"Carl Grimes."

"Well we have to get back, it's my shift. It was really nice seeing that you're alive Jack." Carl took my hand pulling me back to the camp.

"Wait! You guys livin' at a camp or what?" Jack said loudly.

"Yeah, we moved out here a few months ago. We keep moving around, instead of waiting for a place to go bad."

Jack nervously asked, "Do you have room for one more? My crew got eaten alive yesterday.. I'm on my own now."

"Most likely yes, but you're going to have to talk to my dad first." Carl answered.

We walked back to camp and found Rick looking at Jack with curious eyes.

"Dad." Carl called. "This is Jack one of Kaylie's friends. He needs a place to stay."

Rick had a great poker face. "Okay, Jack come with me."

Carl's POV

I wrapped my arms around her fragile waist. She was so damn skinny. I felt responsible for not being able to get her enough food a day. But she never complains.

"Your shift is over.. right?" I asked her.

"Ya.. why?"

I smirked. "I was thinking, why don't we just spend some time outside the camp?" I saw her face light up.

"That would be great.. I love you so much, Carl." She whispered.

"I love you for the rest of my life and beyond. And maybe later we could find a spot alone and-"

"Grimes, don't get to ahead of yourself, you're not that lucky." She laughed.

I never wanted to let her go. Then Judith started crying and she slipped out of my grip to take care of her.

I walked back to the center of camp and saw Jack standing there.

"Hey, Carl, right? Where can I leave my bag for now?" He asked me.

"Uh, you can leave them in my tent for now, that's cool." I led him to my tent and went in.

He placed his bags down and was about to leave, but something stopped him. He picked up Kaylie's hairbrush.

"Does she sleep in here?" He asked with a weird tone in his voice.

"Yeah, we share this tent." He nodded his head and left. Weird guy.

Kaylie's POV

I sung Judith to sleep and gave her Beth. Jack lingered around the camp.

"Jack, over here!" I got his attention.

"Looks like I'm stayin'! Come take a walk with me and show me our grounds."

I ran out by the pond and Jack followed.

"Well, this is usually can be your post if it's your shift. And straight down to the big tent is sort of the infirmary."

Jack sat down. "Nice place you guys got here." I followed his lead and sat.

"It never last long enough." I told him. Jack played with a rock in his hands.

"Hey, you know how to skip rocks officially?" He chuckled.

In 4th grade for our school camping trip, I tried skipping a rock and it hit him right in his groin area.

"Ms. Kelly thought I tried hitting you on purpose!" I laughed.

It felt good to think about the good times there was before we turned to killers and the ones being hunted.

"I really miss those times." He huffed.

I grabbed a rock and tried skipping it. It just sank it the middle of the pond. Jack laughed.

"You gotta flick your wrist." He grabbed my hand and slowly went through the motions. Awkward much?

I tried it on my own but still didn't get it. "So is Daniel here? I gotta see him!"

I felt my eyes starting to get wet.

"Woah, what's wrong?"

"Daniel was alive...But he wasn't my brother anymore. All of this got to his head. Honestly, I think he went insane." Jack looked at me apologeticly.

"At least I'm not the only one."

"What?" I said shocked.

"Lucy, she went crazy. She didn't even give a shit about me. How could my own sister do that after our parents were eaten?"

"No, no Lucy couldn't have." Lucy was Jack's only sister and she was 18. She was a responsible girl and never left anyone behind.

"Well, she gone now. But I've learned to forget and move on. I decided if she didn't give a damn about me, why should I?"

"That's exactly how it was with Daniel. But of course, I still had hope." Jack smiled.

"You always have hope, Kaylie. I knew you would be alive. Lets get back in camp, I'm starvin'."