Take My Hand: Walking Dead Fanfic

Chapter 24-Memories

Chapter 24

•Joslyn•

It worked. My plan worked. I had gotten away from the group without having to deal with all the drama of goodbyes and Carl...

Carl.

I sat up in the branch as I thought. He wanted to care for me, but I wouldn't let him. The last partial piece of strength to keep trying was just ripped out by his dad, and he was left with a hole in his heart torn where care should have been.

I took my bag and hung it around myself, it slipping down my arm as it barely touched the ground. I wasn't that high up, my feet dangled off the side of the branch and I could jump down from it. My knees were suddenly on top of the branch and my waist was dragged down, sucked to the ground by hands that grasped my waist. My feet were firmly placed to the mud encrusted floor as I turned toward my "savior".

"What the hell was that?"
Carl screamed to me.

Were you hurt?! Are you okay?! Why didn't you at least say goodbye or something...

Imagination and reality are two different stories.

"I had walkers on me! What was I suppos-"
"Pull your gun out! The sound didn't matter what mattered was-"

A walker entered the opening behind leaves and Carl's hand came on my stomach, pushing my back to the tree. As he shot it, two more appeared, and for every one he would try to kill, they just multiplied.

"Run...RUN!"

I shuffled back, running into the deep woods and Carl was right on my ass, following. I ran to an old shed, not consulting him about it, knowing he would follow. I stood behind it, my hands shaking up against the wall and each breath I took was heavy. Carl came, standing in front of me and panted as he held his knees in the palms of his hands, bending over to get air back to his lungs.

"They're gone."

He spat into the grass, wiping his bottom lip with the back of his hand. I peered my head around the corner, twisting my body and adjusting, seeing just an empty forest.

Empty.

No walkers. No people...just quiet sounds of winds and bugs making odd calls. Carl looked around, then eyed the shed, disappointed and angry at the same time.

He pulled open the faint, banged screen door as he walked in the shed.

Two days.

I already have someone who hates me, and, this time, I was sure of it.

•Carl•

She lost the group. She made me get lost.

That's only because you didn't want to lose her.

In the shed, the door closed behind me, only to open a second later and Joslyn's foot clicked against the chipped and invisible floor. There was stuff everywhere. There were shovels and rakes, an old wheel, uselessly going along with everything else in the shed; tools handing from nails plunged into the wall.

I swallowed. She came out so far. Why would she run?

"You didn't want me to find you...did you."

I asked not facing her. I heard the floor creak, feeling the air getting humid and I could tell by the sounds that she had stood straight and she made herself stiff.

"I didn't think you would want to come and find me."

It was as if she came and dumped this whole thing on me.

"I didn't find you. You practically found me. I took you in. I convinced the group...I saved you."

I was looking at her intensely. Ever since I had turned, I saw a different girl standing before me. She wasn't the same girl who needed help, she was claiming she would be just fine on her own.

"I didn't ask you to..."

She lead herself to this one. I let out a sarcastic chuckle, crossing my arms as I stepped closer, my heavy steps leaving noise to echo.

"Ask me?! I knew you needed help. You didn't need to ask. Let me tell you, pretty girl, when you're out on your own, you'll wish you were still here."

"When."
She replied.
"What?"
"When. You said when I'm gone. What, your dad make a plan to get rid of me?! Because if he did, you sure as hell wouldn't care."

She did hear.

I licked my lips, my teeth molding into them as they squeezed tight, wanting to hold in my words.

I do care.

"Like you ever did-"
"I DO CARE! If I didn't, I wouldn't have stayed so long. I went because you wanted me to."

Her words drowned me, filling me with sorrow and hate for myself. It just kept coming, and I don't know why. My heart said one thing, but my memories and knowledge said another.

"I care about everything. I cared about Judith, my family-I can still remember when my birthday is!"
"I meant me!"

Her hands gripped my face, me thinking that she was going to slam my skull against the wall. Instead, they sat on there as pink came to my lips, only for a moment, though. I had no time to even experience it.

"That's how much I care..."

She headed towards the door, her head hanging down. I wasnt sure if it were out of embarrassment, or if she was disappointed in herself for showing how she truly felt.

Probably because she doesn't know how you feel, dumbass.

"Blue Eyes."

She finished. Her hand was the last thing I saw before slipping out the door. Her eyes melted to mine when she said that, her hair glistened like shining gold.

I didn't know how I felt, but it wasn't about me.

She never really finished her story.

A thought came to me, seeing Joslyn go back to the tree branch. Maybe she had an untold story, maybe she just needed to tell it, and someone needed to listen and care.

This'll be a bit hard.

I went back to the kiss. I smiled, quickly closing my eyes. Her hands felt warm, her fingers smooth as they traced my cheeks, her lips pulling even better.

It's memories like that that can get you to really know a person.

I pulled open the door, heading to her, standing under the tree. I looked up to her, only seeing her back and her hair falling down in front of her face.

Help.