Undead

Chaos. (300)

CARL'S POV.

Despite the chaos surrounding us, I stare, locked in place.
I stare at her.

I remember once when I was young I played a game of hide and seek with my mom in our back garden. We had this huge tree in our garden and although I was afraid to climb it, I wanted to win the game.
So, I climbed it.

The longer I was up there, the more comfortable I became with the height.
Mom took far longer than I thought she would to find me and so as the long minutes ticked by I began to doze in and out of consciousness, waiting for her to find me.

I slipped and fell ten feet to the ground, landing on my back. It was as if the impact drew every ounce of oxygen from my lungs. The feeling was painful as I tried desperately to remember how to breathe. To inhale, to exhale...to do anything.

That's how I feel now, trying to remember how to breathe, unable to speak or move and her face bounces around my skull along with any logical reason as to why my dead girlfriend stands right in front of me.

"Madison?" I croak.
She smiles sweetly but she looks different. Tired, thinner, distraught.
"Am I dead?"
She steps closer to me, where I kneel on the ground.
"No." She replies.
Her voice sends chills down my spine.

Negan must have killed me. Maybe I'm hallucinating, that's the only reason why she's here. Her voice sounds just as it used to and I wait for her to speak again to temporarily heal my heart only for it to shatter to pieces again.

"How are you here?"
She walks closer to me until she stands above me.
"Because I'm not dead either."
She offers her hand and I hesitate before taking it. I feel her hand, warm and small in mine.
I look back up at her face in confusion.
"Madison?"

Just a second is all it took for her to be torn from my grasp, just like last time.
A savior tackles Madison to the ground and lifts a knife high in the air ready to plunge deep into her gut.
"NOOO!" The sound leaves my lips.

A deep growl erupts from deep within a dogs chest and it swiftly attacks, sinking it's teeth into the saviors throat. The saviors is thrown off Madison and the dog finishes him off. Blood squirts from his wound in an almost comedic fashion.

Madison winces and holds her side as she gets back to her feet. She struggles and I move closer to her but the dog bounces back before me. It growls at me once I step closer to Madison.
"It's okay Fangs, he's family." She murmurs and the dog turns its attention back to her.
The dog uses his snout to help her to her feet and then fetches her bow like a ball.

"Madison?" A voice calls.
Our heads snap at the familiar voice.
She lifts her head and her lips part in shock.
"Negan." The name falls from her full lips.
"How?" He asks, stepping forward.
The dog barks loudly at him and Negan freezes.
I watch him carefully, he holds his arm in pain and he has a small cut just above his left eyebrow but other then that he seems barely hurt.

"Go! People want you dead and I can't be the one to kill you." Madison warns him.
"I want to-"
"GO! NEGAN!..." she lifts her bow and points at his chest.
"Or I'll let the arrow fly."
Negan nods before turning and running away.

"Madison..." dad whispers from behind us.
He's been standing there this whole time.
She runs to him and embraces him but pulls back quickly.
"We don't have time for this. We need to go, find the others and finish what we started." She says.
We nod.

It takes me a second to gather my thoughts.
"Michonne." Her name is barely even a whisper when I say it but dad hears it.
"Lets go." He announces as Madison pulls his arm over her shoulder, assisting him to walk towards the building in the distance. I hold my ribs with one hand and my gun with the other as we run to the building in front of us.