Infection in the air (walking dead fanfic)

(3)Getting used to things

When I woke up, I immediately tried sitting up. I was stopped by a sharp pain in my chest. It felt like someone had stabbed me. I must have cried out because Carl, who was cleaning his gun, looked up at me.

"What?" I snapped at him.

"Nothing. You want painkillers?" He asked me. He was concentrating on his gun now.

"I don't need them. I was fine before Carol started pushing on them." Carl just glared at me for a minute, then he shrugged and continued on his gun. I got off of the bunk bed and left the cell to where Rick and Daryl were having breakfast.

"How're ya feelin kid?" Daryl said as he slid me a plate with some bread and deer meat on it. I only nodded and ate my food. I don't feel like conversation will benefit me right now.

"Daryl, Carl, and I are doing some combat practice later if you wanna come. We'll be outside of the cell block in about half an hour." Rick said. I grunted at him and left to get dressed.

When I put my clothes on, I went out to where the guys were fighting. Carl was fighting Daryl right now, and I quickly noted that they weren't striking very hard on each other. Just enough to feel it. When they were finished, it was my turn to fight Daryl. We were about to start when Carl interrupted.

"Daryl, you might not want to fight her, she's got a-"

"A tendency to win." I said, interrupting Carl. He just glared at me while Daryl and I fought. There was that stare again. God, his eyes just bore into you. I hate it. I was pulled away from my thoughts when he kicked me in my chest. I fell over with a grunt and curled up on the ground. I placed my hand over my broken ribs. Shit. I was bleeding again. I coughed and spat up more blood. My black long sleeve was soaking in blood. Daryl, Carl, and Rick were looking at me.

"I couldn't have hit her that hard." Daryl said, obviously thinking he was responsible for the blood.

"You didn't, she has three broken ribs. I tried telling you." Carl said through gritted teeth. Despite his obvious anger towards me, Carl picked me up and carried me to Carol. He explained what happened and Carol had to take off my shirt to get a better look at it. I looked down at my ribs and saw that one of the bones was sticking out. Carl was sent to get Hershal and when he appeared he popped the bone back into place so it could heal. I was then taken to mine and Carl's cell so i could sleep.

I woke up a few hours later. Carl was sitting on the floor staring at me. I looked at him with the same stare.

"What do you want?" I asked him, trying not to have an attitude.

"I was just wanting to make sure you're okay, God." I didn't know what to say. No one cared for me like that since things went bad.

"I don't need looking after." I said, then realized he was really just concerned for me.

"I mean. Uh, I'm fine, thanks." Carl didn't seem convinced

"Doesn't it hurt?" He asked.

"Not really. I have a high pain tolerance. My mom used to uh, um, she used to..." I awkwardly scratched my neck.

"Hit you?" Carl finished my sentence for me. An understanding look in his eyes.

"Uhm. Ya, that." I responded. "Its not a big deal. My dad let her, so it obviously wasn't that bad, right?" I tried to laugh it off, but Carl didn't. He just looked at me, obviously worried about something.

"It sounds that bad. Jin-" I cut him off before he said he felt bad for me.

"It wasn't. Don't worry about me. I'm not a charity case. Drop it already." I growled at him. I felt sorry immediately after. Carl wasn't trying to piss me off, I just had a bad temper.

"I...I'm sorry. I don't like feeling like a burden. Can we start over?" I said to him. He nodded and we just started joking around. We just sat in the cell talking until dinner. When we went, Daryl gave us a curious look.

"What happened? It looks like for once you two can actually stand each other." He joked. I didn't want to talk about it. Carl and I sat at a table separate from the others, just talking about things like the best way to take a walker's head off. We sat there for a while after we finished dinner.

"So, is there anything important about you I should know?" Carl asked eventually. I sat up a little, he's actually interested in me? Huh, this is new.

"Well, you know about the thing with my mom." I started and he nodded.

"This is gonna sound kind of funny, but if you haven't guessed, I have a bipolar disorder. There's that and the fact that, you need to stop staring at me like that!" I said. He had his intense stare fixed on me again.

"Making you uncomfortable?" He teased. I nodded and we both laughed. I haven't laughed like that, well, ever. It was nice. But he isn't getting through my defenses that fast.