Crestfallen ↬ Carl Grimes (old version)

MIND

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE; MIND

❝And that was the thing about her, she kept on surviving.

With bullet holes in her lungs, and knife marks etched in her back.

She never let things get in her way.

Resilient.

A Fighter.

Not by choice.

But a warrior at heart.❞

 ❝And for once, it felt right.❞

  ➳ 

SMOKE BILLOWED FROM THE WINDOWS IN LARGE WAVES OF HEAT AND FLAME, the blaze of fire licking at the barren walls with a sickening kind of satisfaction as the once called safe haven fell apart in front of my sunken eyes.  The rotten smell of gasoline and death lingered in every nook and cranny of this flaming inferno, tickling the back of my throat and curling up in its familiar place at the bottom of my gut.  A dark form of amusement unfurled in my gut at the thought of watching this place burn until it was nothing but ashes. For there weren't any survivors left to put out this mass of destruction. No more chances for these carnivorous beings to feast on the hopeful and lost. Our job was done, and it was performed well, even with the...minor casualty.

Here I stood, feet heavy, head pounding and brain cloudy as I stared at the crumbling structure in front of me. My hands stayed hidden and empty behind the sleeves of Michonne's now blood layered, gut covered jacket, the faces of the walking corpses around me seeming to gleam with the same amount of amusement and completion I held inside my chest as I watched the scene. I was invisible to them, with or without their insides spread on my wasted clothing.For they had more than enough to feast on, and the flames were enough of a distraction to keep them, and me, at bay.

Why wasn't I running? Why wasn't I using this time wisely and choosing to leave this place of destruction and chaos to reunite with the group that I lost during the pandemonium during the first few seconds of freedom? Maybe it was because of the exhaustion that plagued my bones, or the amount of insanity that still lingered in my veins. Or, most likely, it was due to the fear that crept up my throat every time I thought of the people waiting for me just outside the walls of this ash layered wasteland.

"Hey."

My eyes flicked to my boots, blood caked on the toes, no different than any of the other pairs of shuffling feet that passed by.

"Hey, kid."

I didn't want to look at the Woman behind me. I didn't want to force the words of thanks of out my mouth or lower myself to the point of respect for this woman that took pity on me after watching the separation of me and my group. But I couldn't exactly run away from her either. Not without my knife, which was, at this point, long gone and smothered somewhere in the roots of the building in front of us.

"Kid I don't have time to waste. You're either coming back with me or you're staying here."

With one last inhale of the familiar linger of death, I allow myself to turn on my heel, looking the gray-haired woman straight into her rusted blue eyes with my own tired brown ones and nodding my head.