TWENTY-SIX: the good of the bad

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The small figure is barreling towards me at one hundred miles per hour, her soft brown hair blowing behind her.

"FInn! Dad!" I hear my sister yell.

Claire rams into me, knocking me back a bit. Her arms tightly wrap around my waist and latch together behind my back. She squeezes me tighter and tighter. My tears of sadness turn into tears of joy as I throw my arms around my sister. I squeeze her tightly as if I will never let go. "Oh my god Claire. I love you so much." I whisper into her ear.

She giggles through her tears, "I love you too"

All of a sudden, I feel my dad's strong arms wrap around us from behind me, squeezing both me and my sister. I can feel his tears hit my neck and soak my shirt as his neck nuzzles into the crook of mine.

His arms are like a boa constrictor, they just get tighter and tighter until he eventually lifts us both up and spins us around. All three of us laugh as he sets us down. "Claire, I- I'm so happy we finally found you. I love you so much." he whispers.

My dad eventually lets go of the two of us and turns to Carol who has been watching us from behind, crying as well and gives her a big hug. "Thank you so much for keeping her safe" I hear him say.

Carol wipes her tears with the back of her hand. "No problem" she giggles.

I look over my shoulder at Carl who's holding Judith at the moment. He gives me a quick nod and the kindest smile I have ever seen him wear. I wipe my tears and laugh at the boy, giving him a small smile in return.

"So I see you and Carl still like each other" Claire whispers.

"Oh shut up asshole" I yell and give her a playful shove, "and anyway I want to know how you got here before I say anything about myself."

My sister's playful smile quickly disappears and is replaced by a more grimm and solemn look. "What's wrong?" I ask my sister as I pull her to the side.

Her eyes brim with tears as she looks up into my eyes. "I just miss you so much Finn. You have no idea."

I smile and pat my sister on the shoulder, "I missed you too. We both did" I say nodding towards my dad.

My dad notices me looking at him and leaves his conversation with Carol to walk towards us. "What's up Claire?" he asks kneeling down to her level.

Claire looks away, "I missed you all so much. I wanted to find you so bad. I didn't think I ever would again."

My dad wipes a tear from his eye and wraps his arms around my sister, "Well we're here now."

He leads my sister back towards the rest of the group, leaving me behind. I stay back for a little just looking at my group.. It's crazy how close we have become over all this time. I have been through hell and back with these once strangers and now here we are embracing each other like we've known each other our whole lives. I was worried when my dad first asked us to join this random group but it turns out to be the best decision of my life. Apocalypse or not, I don't know what my life would be like without these people. They're my family now and we are stuck with each other whether we like it or not.

I hear the crunching of leaves next to me and it snaps me out of my daze. I turn my head to see Carl with his stupid sheriff's hat approaching me. "What are you thinking about?" he asks as he stops next to me.

"Just how crazy it is that we all came from different places, different situations but here we all are in the middle of an apocalypse." I say.

Carl lets out a chuckle and smiles. "I guess that is true" he responds.

I nod, "I think the apocalypse was the best thing that's ever happened to me. I mean I've lost people, many people but gained so many more family members."

Carl looks out to our group talking in a huddle and nods, "I think it's the best thing that's happened to me too. I mean I got Judith, I found my dad again, I found all these people, and last but not least, I found you Finn"

I blush at his words and look down at my feet. I feel Carl's hand lightly graze mine and it makes my skin tingle. I slowly inch my hand into his as he does the same. He squeezes my hand and I turn to face him. He smiles and I feel my cheeks go red.

"Hey! Finn gets your ass over here!" I hear my dad yell.

I literally jump when I hear my dad's loud voice boom through the trees. I turn towards the group to see that luckily no one was looking at us, at least anymore. I just hope that my dad didn't see me and Carl as I make my way toward the group.

"What were you doing over there?" my dad asks.

"I know what she was doing" Glenn winks.

This comment sends Claire into a fit of laughter. She doubles over holding her stomach as she just laughs harder and harder. My face starts to burn again and I notice Carl's face is also a shade of bright red.

"What does that mean?" I hear my dad say next to me.

"Oh nothing" Carol winks as she nudges Glenn in the side with her elbow. My dad just nods and Claire finally stops laughing after I kick her in the back of the leg.

"Hey!" she yells.

"Whoops" I say shrugging my shoulders.

Before Clare has time to get revenge Rick walks through our little huddle to get a better view of the billowing smoke. "I don't know if the fire is still burning" Rick exclaims.

"It is" Carol and Claire say at the same time. I give Claire a look of confusion but she doesn't acknowledge me. She's too busy looking behind her at Carol.

"Yeah," Rick continues, "We need to go"

"Yeah but where?" my dad asks.

Rick turns back to look at my dad, "Somewhere far from there."

" I couldn't agree more" I add as I reposition my machete in my pants.

The group then starts walking past the old house and back onto the train tracks. I walk alongside my sister, right in front of my dad and Carol as we walk past one of the terrible "Terminus: Sanctuary for all" signs. I shudder at the memories that come flooding in. Sometimes the apocolypse brings out the best in people like me and my group but in other cases it turns people into monsters. The people at Terminus were even worse than the literal monsters that came back from the dead, they were bloodthirsty people that were literally insane. I just hope wherever we go next is a lot better than that.










XXX

heyyyyyy ;)

so i changes the story cover once again. that's fun. Also i know not a lot of people read this story but i have just so much fun writing it so thank you if you have gotten this far!

finally, i loved writing this chapter but the next one will have more action, i promise.

𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚'𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐱.   carl grimesWhere stories live. Discover now