𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚'𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐱. carl grimes

THIRTY-FOUR: i call shotgun

"Never have I ever peed my pants after the age of 10" Claire announces the the group. I slowly lower a finger before looking around to see the only other person who lowered their finger was Michonne.

"You both are liars!" I exclaim at Carl and Claire, pointing between the two of them.

"What can I say, some of us can actually control our bladders" Carl jokes in a mocking tone.

"Oh my god, Carl you have to hear this" Claire excitedly exclaims as she props herself up, away from the spot she was previously laying in my lap. "When Finn was eleven we were at some fair and we went into the haunted house, right?" she explains, laughing to hard to even get most of the words out.

"Claire! Shut up!" I yell at my sister, trying my hardest to clamp my hand over her mouth.

Claire moves away from me by scooting closer to Carl, laughing to hard to finish her story. I feel my face go red as Carl glances at me with a malicious looking smile. He couldn't wait to embarrass me with this story. Just as Claire's laughing had died down and she was about to finish the story, a frantic knocking comes from the giant doors in the other side of the church.

Michonne immediately hops onto her feet while me and Carl give each other suspicious glances. Neither of us get up until we hear none other than Gabriel yell from outside the door, "Help! Let me in!"

The frantic knocking continues to echo through the empty church as I rush over to the table holding my machete. I swiftly pick it up as Carl and Michonne rush over to try to pry the door open. I rush over to the two of them trying my hardest to rip the wooden board nailed to the door off. Just as I was about to call for Claire to help us I hear her call out, "Move out of the way!" I quickly hop away from the door to watch Claire bring an axe into the board. The wood splinters with the force of the axe. Claire quickly pulls the axe out of the board before bringing it back down onto the wood. With each blow the wood splinters more and more until it finally break in two.

I take a step back, machete in ready position, as Claire and Michonne pry open the door. The door swings open to reveal a panicked Gabriel running through the doorway followed by dozens of walkers. Claire and Gabriel run back to join Carl, Judith, and I. Carl tried his hardest to shoot the nearest walkers one handed but fails due to the baby in his hands. The walkers continue to file into the church as the rest of us quickly back peddle towards the other end, the nearest walkers only a couple feet away, their rotting hands reaching out to us. One of the walkers gets dangerously close to Claire so I stab my machete deep into its head. I quickly pull out the machete, blood spitting out of the wound and onto my clothes.

"The rectory! Come on!" Gabriel yells as he runs into the small room we thought we was in before. The rest of us quickly follow him inside, walkers only a couple steps behind us. Once we make it in, Michonne slams the door behind her and leans against it, stopping the walkers from busting down the door. Gabriel quickly takes Michonne's place against the door, allowing a couple hands to poke through the small opening in the door. I quickly looks around to find something to barricade the door  to find a chair sitting against the wall. I quickly grab the chair and frantically place it against the door before slowly taking a couple steps back. The chair wouldn't hold the door on its own.

"You three! Take the baby and go!" Gabriel cries at us three kids, nodding his head at the small hole in the floor I hadn't noticed before. Carl, with Judith in his hands quickly crawls down under the floor, muffling the baby's cries. Once the two of them have made it a reasonable distance I allow Claire to go next.

"No way! I'm not going without you!" Claire yells at me, her body halfway through the hole.

I quickly shake my head at my sister, "I'll be right behind you, I promise." I then take my hands and push her head down the hole. Once Claire gets out of the way I hop into the hole, my feet hitting cold dirt. I look back at Michonne and Gabriel holding the door closed to receive a, "Go!" from the both of them. Ignoring my instinct to stay back and help, I bend over onto all fours and crawl away from the hole. I quickly crawl my way through the cobweb filled crawl space before finally reaching the outside. I squeeze my way out onto the dirt to feel a couple pair of hands quickly pull me up.