Take My Hand: Walking Dead Fanfic

Chapter 34-Psych

Chapter 34

•Joslyn•

I could feel my eyes starting to water. I stepped back, watching the whole scene from behind the tree.

I looked to see as Rick, Maggie, Michonne, and Daryl sat as the rest of the other group surrounded them. The rest of the group stood up instead of Rick as he pointed his gun at Missy, the closest one to him.

"Hey, buddy."

I turned my head to see Manny call to him, grabbing Carl's arm as he pulled him up. Something was different about Carl, I could tell. I assumed that he was the one who made all the noises as I saw a dead, gutted walker lying on the ground.

He looked so...separate from the group.

"Maybe we are nothing, if we have nothing to live for. Maybe we really...just have to live for ourselves."

Those were my words. At first he didn't take them, but now he was engraving them on his tongue.

He didn't care about himself, yet for other people.

He didn't get that love back.

I guess he needed to create his own, and keep it all.

"I wouldn't pull that trigger if I were you."

Carl stood with a gun to his head and he still looked like he didn't care. But, this was for him...he had to have something planned.

"See, I think you can see right here that this is your son. That girl right there is my daughter. If you were to pull that trigger..."

As Manny was giving a speech to Rick, Rick began to lower his gun, listening very carefully to everything being explained to him.

"Well, a kid for a kid."

"Go ahead, dad."
Carl whispered.

Rick licked his lips, eyeing the rest of the group to put their guns down, yet Manny's kept them up and aimed.

"What do you want from us?!"
Rick asked firmly, being careful with the words he used as he watched Carl's neck being suffocated, and his head being tested.

"Well, see, we just don't like finding threats, even if you ain't one."

"What do you want us to do?!"

Daryl jumped into the conversation, his body looking the way that it should for him to deserve his nickname, yet his tone of voice and eyes were like a little kid as they stared to fear.

"Well, we just want you to leave."
"Well, alright."
Rick spoke in an understanding way.

Manny started to laugh as Rick spoke. The rest of Manny's group gave each other looks of greed as they smirked.

"No, not just yet."

Rick's lips parted as his mouth hung open, being confused at what Manny just said.

"No, not just yet; without giving us your supplies."

I swallowed, knowing that with Carl being so different, and Rick looking so weak, this would not end well.

"No!"

Michonne.

She got right to the point with things, and this was a fifty-fifty shot of who this would end badly for.

"Oh, really?"
Manny spoke, his eyebrows raised. Michonne nodded as their conversation of right and wrong continued for a while.

"Well, sweet, look around you? I'm pretty sure bullets go through bones. So, what are you gonna do?"

Michonne's right hand reached behind her, grasping the handle of her katana. The rest of the group followed, Rick aiming his gun back to Missy, and the rest pulling their guns and knives out. Rick's gun was pointed up, keeping the barrel aligned with Missy as he tried standing up, succeeding at a point. They each stared into eyes of the ones they faced, the whole scene being very big.

Is this what we teach ourselves?

Carl took his gun out, yet he did not stare at his "opponent", yet he didn't have a choice, really. His face looked to the group, the big scene as an arm strangled his neck and a gun pointed to his head. His hand slid his gun out subtlety, not making it noticeable.

He was smarter than he gave himself credit for.

Manny smiled, laughing sarcastically.

"Are you threatenin' us?... Hear that, fellas...they're threathenin' us..."

Manny's elbow tug tighter into Carl's neck, and he cocked his gun back, digging the gun to his temple.

"NO!"

I came out just enough so that everyone could turn to look at me and I stood there, shallow outside the woods as I slowly looked up. My knees trembled as I caught eyes with every single one of them, lastly staring at Carl and holding the glance for a while.

"D-don't hurt them...I know them."

"You know them?"
Manny questioned.

I stuttered, shaking my head yes as i worried what this situation would turn out like.

"Y-yes..."

"Do you know these people?!"
Carl's raspy voice shook under Manny's arm.

I said nothing.

"Tell me! Do you know them?! You told me everything else, dammit...why'd you leave?!"

Manny smiled. It wasn't a nice one though. I think be saw the opportunity, and he took it. He leaned down, speaking directly to Carl.

"Now see, I think I can answer that. See that boy right there?"

Manny nudged his hand with his gun grasped between his fingers, motioning to Aaron.

"She left to see him. When she saw him, she gave him the biggest hug you'd ever seen. But you, well, she can't hug you now."

The whole time Manny was saying this, Carl's eyes beamed at me, never breaking focus.

"She left for him. She didn't stay because he was so much more important. He don't care. But you, you cared too much.

"She doesn't love you."

Carl's elbow jutted back into Manny's stomach, causing him to lean over. Carl shot him in the stomach, causing Manny to fall over, then he stood over him, blowing another bullet right to the skull. By the time he turned around to face the group, Aaron, Missy, and Andrew were already on the ground, surrounded by a pool of blood.

I looked from this huge scene to a whole other one. I licked my lips as I stepped out farther from the woods, and Carl looked sad, yet disappointed.

Michonne and Maggie ran to me as Michonne kept asking me questions. I smiled and nodded at most of them.

I blocked them out, seeing Rick and Daryl head to Carl, who still never broke his focus.

Does Carl still love you?
Does he still care?
Is he even Carl anymore?

Carl was now filled with lies, and so was I.

"She doesn't love you anymore."

That wasn't true. Yet, all these lies were just a big psych, a big change that would not end up so well.