Calamity || Glenn Rhee [2]

21

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE » STRANGER
"Because we're family."

♔

The gunshot cracked loudly through the air, the bullet missing the cans situated on the fence by mere inches. Carl sighed heavily, slowly lowering the gun back down to his side.

"You're getting better," I assured him. He raised his eyebrows, glancing up at me with accusing eyes, as if I was lying to him – which I wasn't. Since he'd lost his eye the night the walls fell, Jade and I had been helping him learn how to shoot a gun with impacted sight, though it was proving to be a bit more difficult than all of us seemed to have anticipated. "You are," I promised.

He blew out a huff of air shoving the gun back in my hand as he began to head pass me. "I don't want it anymore."

"Carl–"

"I said I don't want it," he bit back, turning his back to me and stalking away in the direction of the houses.

"Carl, wait!" I called out after him, but he didn't turn around. "Carl!"

I let out a sigh of defeat, deciding against following him, knowing he most likely just needed some space. The amount of people that had started treating him so differently now because of his eye must be suffocating. The injury had taken a huge toll on Carl, as it would anybody, and I knew he was finding it difficult readjusting to life. He had his better days, and his not so great ones – today was the latter.

"Poor kid," Jade breathed out heavily, moving to collect some of the fallen cans from the grass.

"He'll bounce back," I assured her, sliding the gun back in it's holster. "He always does."

Jade smiled softly, turning to face me. "He's a really tough kid."

"Tougher than any of us," I added, moving over to help her pick up the rest of the cans. The two of us spent a few minutes quietly finishing clearing up the rest of the mess, before beginning to head back to our houses.

A while after we'd gotten the walls rebuilt, spare houses were given to some of the couples and bigger families. It was quite a relief – not that I didn't enjoy living with Rick and the others, it was just nice for Glenn and I to have our own space – especially after some of the decisions we'd made together.

"So, how's the baby making going?"

I took a sharp intake of breath, turning to face Jade, despite the small blush I could feel flaring up on my cheeks, skin growing warm. "It's, uh, it's going okay."

"Do you think you could be pregnant yet?" She questioned, struggling to disguise the excited smile forming on her lips.

"No idea," I admitted with a shrug. "I haven't had any signs whatsoever. We're just going to keep trying."