How's Carl?

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Carl sits in his room, staring at the blank white wall. 

How could he? 

How could he let the boy who he thought of as a little brother get taken? 

It should of been him. He should of stuck up for him. 

But it only would of caused more deaths. 

The door to his room opens and nails clack against the hardwood floor. 

Carl looks over at the dog that had entered his room. 

His name was Tank, right?

Tank sits a few feet from Carl before spitting a piece of fabric that he had in his mouth onto the floor. 

Carl recognized it to be one of Andrew's more well loved shirts. There was a faded Mickey Mouse printed onto the shirt. 

Tank nudged it as though to question Carl where his master was. 

"Andrew's gone, boy." Carl reaches out and places a hand onto the dog. 

It whimpers, placing a lick onto his hand. 

Growing up, the concept of child abuse was foreign to Carl. His parents sheltered him. 

So when he met Sophia, he just thought that her dad was mean. He thought that Andrew was weird because he didn't like small spaces and sometimes flinched around Shane.

It took a little while for Carl to befriend the youngest boy in the camp. 

He was six when they met and Carl was ten, a four year difference. 

At first, Carl felt bad for the boy. Andrea was always going on runs and he was often dumped on his mother or Amy. The other kids didn't like to play with him. He was 'too little'. But there got to be a time where no one else wanted to play. 

Carl went to the boy and offered to play cards with him. 

The idea of playing seemed to be foreign to the boy. He would constantly ask questions. 'Am I doing this right?' 'Why are we pretending that they're swords?' 'But I don't know if I have that many cards.'

But Carl was patient and taught him how to play. 

And he grew to like the boy. 

And when his sister passed, Carl distracted him with games.

At the CDC, when Andrew slept with them, Carl felt almost as though he was his real brother.

Andrea passed him off to his mother to look after. 

 And when he disappeared with Sophia, Carl lost his little brother.   

He told his mom so. 

'Mom?' Carl looks up at his mother. 'Can you adopt Andrew?' 

His mother looked down at him with confusion. 'What do you mean?'

'I want him to be my brother.' Carl told her firmly. 

His mother let out a small laugh. 'I don't have to be his mother for you to be brothers.' Her voice then turned a little serious. 'I think he could use a big brother when he gets back.' 

And when days passed and Andrew didn't come back, Carl felt like an awful big brother. 

So when he's shot and wakes up at the farm and see's Andrew, he almost blows his stitches as he grabs the boy in a hug. 

And when Andrea passes with the Governor, Carl noticed how broken Andrew was. 

He tried to be there for him and juggle the loss of his mother. 

Don't Leave Me -DISCONTINUED/READ NEWEST CHAPTER-Where stories live. Discover now