Stay By Me // Carl Grimes

Chapter 32

We all sat around the small fire, warming up from the cold morning air. I kept my arms tight around me, keeping all the body heat I had inside of me. Carl offered me his jacket, but I declined. He needed to keep warm also. Plus, it was my fault. I left my jacket back at the house. Which reminded me.

"So, what did happen at the house, Rick?" I asked. He looked up at me. His eye still looked really swollen, and honestly, he looked ill, and weak. "Some men, they came to the house, and started searching the place. I snuck into the bathroom, where I strangled one of them. I  managed to escape, but I knew they saw me."

He stood up. "I'm going to go check the traps." Rick said. "Can I come with?" Carl asked. "Well how else are you going to learn? All of you should come." He said, kicking dirt over the fire to put it out.

We walked through the woods, and checked the first trap. A cottontail got caught in it. He was decent size I would say. "Perfect." Rick said. He bent down, and unattached the rabbit from the trap, throwing it into his bag.

Rick began explaining to Carl and Michonne about how the trap works, but I zoned there voices out. I heard something, or someone. And whatever it was, they're near.

Then we heard a scream.

I bolted towards the sound. Carl yelled my name behind me, along with Rick. The screaming continued. I saw through the trees a man getting surrounded by maybe fifteen walkers. Carl grabbed my arms. "We have to help him!" I said. Carl still restrained me and pulled me back behind a tree. "We can't, Sam." I fell down to my knees. "We could've helped." I said. Carl took my face in his hands. "It's alright, Sam." He reassured me, wiping a tear away from my cheek.

Michonne pulled us both up. "We've got to go." She said. We ran out of the woods away from the walkers that were now chasing us. Carl's hand held mine tightly, making sure he would never let me go. We ran back onto a dirt path, and continued down it.

Rick put his hand out to stop us. In front of us was a huge pile of walkers, feasting on some long gone person. We all pulled out our weapons, and took them down one by one. Once they all were down, we continued our run down the path, escaping the heard of walker coming after us..

"Are you okay?" Carl asked me. I kept my head low, and answered by nodding. His hand stil held tight to mine. His thumb rubbed up and down on my thumb, as if to keep me calm, which worked very well, surprisingly.

We soon found an abandoned car by the side of the road, with no walkers around it accept for the one that looked almost as if they had melted into the ground. Michonne took her katana out, and stabbed it in the head. Rick searched through the car, making sure no walkers were hiding out in it. "Seems safe to me." He said.

"We should camp out here for the night." Michonne suggested. I looked over at Carl. He nodded in agreement with Michonne. "We'll be safe here." He looked over at me and smiled. "Are you sure we'll be safe?" I asked. He nodded again. "I'm sure."

-

Carl and I sat in the broken down car while Michonne and Rick sat out in front, making sure walkers weren't around. I had my head rested on Carl's lap, and he ran his soft fingers through my hair, that I had never put back up into a bun. "What happened back there? Carl asked me. I looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Back in the woods, when we heard that man scream. You ran after him. Why?" He asked. I turned my head back down, looking straight at the back of the drivers seat. "I was scared. The scream sounded familiar, like it was Tyreese or Daryl. I thought they were being attacked. And when I saw the man I just..." I sighed. "I'm done seeing people die, Carl. I'm done. I wanted to help that man. I just wanted to help."

I sat upright so I was eye to eye with him. "I can't do this anymore Carl." I whined. He rubbed his hand on my cheek. "Yes you can, Sam. You're strong and your brave. You've been through so much to the point where-" He stopped mid sentence when a banging began on the window. I jumped around and saw two crazy eyed men looking through the car window.

Carl grabbed my hand tightly. "Who are they?" I asked, panic filling my voice. The short, obese man slammed the butt of his knife into the window shattering it. He reached through and unlocked the door,  and flung it open. The other one reached in and grabbed my by the hair. "Aren't you a pretty one?"He said in maybe the most disgusting voice I have ever heard. "And what long hair you have!"

I looked up at the car, and saw the short one pulling Carl out by his jacket. He threw Carl on the ground , then climbed over him, putting the knife to his neck. "Let him go!" I yelled, but the man ignored me. "Wait wait wait, hold on a second." I heard an awfully familiar voice come from the other side of the car. "These people are good." The man said to the one holding a gun to Rick's head.

"Daryl." The grey haired man began. "These people killed Lou. They killed one of ours." He said. I got distracted when I heard a voice whisper my name from my right. "Sam?" I looked over to my right.

Ryan.

"Let them go!" Ryan yelled. I struggled against the man holding me back, but he pressed the knife closer to my neck, threatening to slit it at any moment. "Not you too, Ryan." The grey haired man said. "You can't hurt these people. They didn't mean anything they did, I swear." The grey haired man sighed. "That's it. Take them both out." Two men walked over to Ryan, and two went over to Daryl. They began throwing hits at both of them, knocking both Ryan and Daryl to the ground.

The man hpldig me back threw me down to the gorund, making me hit my cheekbone on the side of the rocky dirt road. He flipped me over, and straddled my body. He kept the knife against my knife. I started crying. I grabed both his hands and pushed them back with all I could, but he was stronger, and soon had me pinned. "You think you're tough huh?" He said. He slapped me across the face.

And that threw me over the edge.

I pulled my leg out from under him, and gutted him right in the stomach. He tumbled on his side, dropping his knife. I grabbed it before he coukd, and sat over him, holding my knee in his stomach. "Your sick!" I yelled before stabbing him in the chest repeatedly. "You're just like him." I whispered over and over to him as I continued thrashing into his chest, and stomach.

I snapped my head over when I heard Carl cry out. "Let me go!" He yelled. I stood up, and walked over to the short man. He looked back at me, then let go of Carl immediately.

"Please-" He began but stopped when I grabbed him by the shoulder, and thrusted the knife straight jnto his abdomen. "You're just like him!" I yelled. I stabbed him again, and twisted the knife inside of him. "You're no different!" I yelled as he fell to the ground, crying out in pain. I fell to my knees, and continued slashing him like I was with the last guy. "You're sick. Just like my father, you're sick!" Then I took my knife, and stabbed it right into his wrist and pulled up. His bones became visible right away, and I felt the blade riding against them, scratching them as I pulled up.

He didn't scream, he just laid there crying hysterically. "Do you know what it feels like?" I yelled out loud. I went to his neck, and slit it, just like that. I brought my hands to his neck, and behan strangling him, even though I knew he was already dead. But I didn't stop until Carl grabbed my arms and pulled me back. "Sam, stop! He's dead. I'm okay!" He said to me, but I struggled against him. "He's sick!" I yelled out. "He deserves this! He ruined me! He ruined me!"  Carl wrapped his arms around me, holding me closed to his chest. "He's gone, Sam. He's gone." He repeated into my ear, calming me by the second.

I finally crashed. I hit my breaking point. I fell back into Carl and began flat out crying. Carl just held my head, and gently rubbed it over and over,  comforting me as best as he could at that moment. "Everything will be okay." He said. "I'm okay. You're okay. We all are okay. The danger is gone." I pulled away from Carl, and looked down at my hands. They were stained red with the mens blood. No spot on my hands, up to my elbows didn't have blood on them. I looked up at everyone, who stared at me with wild eyes.

Like I was the monster.