𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚'𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐱. carl grimes

THIRTY-FIVE: ew atlanta

I slowly open my eyes, my grogginess fading by the second. I lift my head from Carl's shoulder to look around the small fire truck cabin to see everyone was asleep except for Glenn and Maggie. I carefully unhook my arm from Carl's trying my best not wake him up. Before I turn around I linger for a second, watching Carl. He looked so peaceful when he slept. It was cute the way his head was laying against Michonne's shoulder, his face all smushed, and his arms wrapped tighter around Judith who was surprisingly asleep as well. With a smile on my face I slowly turn my body to face the front of the truck. I lean forward and squeeze the front half of my body in between the two front seats. As I do this the tall buildings in the distance catch my eye. "Is that?" I whisper.

Maggie turns her head back to face me, giving me a smile. "Atlanta? Yeah" she answers.

I watch as the city slowly grows closer and closer, it's tall buildings reaching up to the sky. "You know, it's nice to see a city. Especially after living out in the middle of nowhere for so long" I whisper contently.

Glenn doesn't take his eyes off the road in front of him as he responds with, "I never really did like Atlanta, even before the millions of walkers took over"

I let out a small chuckle, "I've never been" I then gained back at Claire who was peacefully asleep, laying on Carl. "Neither has Claire. We never really traveled much after my parents spilt" I add.

I look back over at Maggie to see an apologetic smile form in her face as Glenn cracks another joke, "Well, you're not missing much kiddo. I lived in Atlanta for a couple years and I hated it"

I lean forward a little more. "Oh really?" I ask, prying for more information.

Glenn lets out another small chuckle. "When I was little my parents and I live super close to the city for my dad's work for a couple years before he got fired" Glenn answers, taking a pause before continuing, "I don't know, I guess i'm okay with the city itself. It just holds bad memories."

I give Glenn a sympathetic smile, letting him know I was sorry for prying the information out of him. Maggie reaches her hand over and lays it on Glenn's thigh as he continues to drive. This immediately makes me think of Carl. I turn my head around to see him still sound asleep.

"You really like him, don't you?" Maggie says from behind me, startling me. I whip my head around as the familiar reddish tint returns to my face. I quickly wipe the large smile that I didn't notice was there before off my face to end up just staring at Maggie, not knowing what to say. "Finn, you don't have to be embarrassed about it. It's cute" Maggie kindly whispers with a wink.

"Cute?" Glenn exclaims before making gagging noises.

I slam my palm into Glenn's shoulder to try to get him to stop. "What the hell, Glenn!" I yell a little too loudly.

I hear rustling behind me and out of instinct I quickly whip my head around. When I look back though all I find is both Carl and Michonne waking up. Carl brings his free hand up to his eyes and rubs them as a worried Michonne asks, "What's going on?"

"Oh nothing" I lie before shooting a death glare at Glenn and Maggie.

Michonne lets out a small chuckle before she catches a glance at the city in front of us through the window next to her. "Looks like we're close" she announces.

I nod my head at Michonne before sitting back into my spot next to Carl. As my back flips onto the hard cushion I feel Carl's arm wrap around my shoulder. "You know, this is where Glenn found my dad" he mumbles into my ear.

"Really? Here?" I ask, confused on why Glenn hadn't mentioned it before. I knew the story about how Glenn found Rick but for some reason I never knew it was here.