Undead

Jocelyn. (337)

MADISON'S POV.

I practically drag Kai out the door and away from the church.
"Maddie, you can't avoid Michonne. You live with her."
I shake my head. "I'm not avoiding her, I just plan not not having the inevitably awkward conversation with her for as long as possible."
"Ah, yeah Mads, that's called avoiding."

He pulls me back towards him and catches me, resting his hands on both of my shoulders.
"What's going on in that head of yours? What just happened in there?"

I open my mouth to answer but before I do I hear another voice approaching.
"Mads! What the hell was that?" Carl tries to keep his voice on the down low.
I wait until he's right next to us before I answer. Kai's hands slip from my shoulders. In fact, he doesn't touch me at all. Was the tension between Carl and I this morning that obvious?

"Carl, I had to do something in there."
Kai scratches the back of his head and rocks back and forth on his feet.
"I should leave." He begins to turn and I catch him by his hand.
"No, wait!"
"Mads...when we get home, this is gonna be a mess. Michonne doesn't take this lightly."
"Yeah, I got that when she burned holes in the back of my head with her freaky ass glare."
He rolls his eyes.
"Maddie, I'm gonna meet you back at the house." Kai awkwardly backs away and turns for the house.

Carl raises a brow. "You didn't talk to him about our conversation this morning?" He groans.
"I didn't really get the chance."
"Oh yeah, that's right. You were busy causing world war three with Michonne."
I sigh in frustration. "Look Carl, it's not something I wanted to do to upset anyone, I just really think that they're good people. Good people deserve chances. We got one, why can't they?"
He slowly nods, looking at the ground.

I wait a few seconds, debating if I should tell him what Kai told me this morning. I suppose he'll find out anyway.
"Judith and Kara wants them to stay." I inform him.
His head snaps up and he blinks twice before answering, as if in shock.
"What?"
I nod. "Yeah, they wanted them to be saved. They see good and maybe I'm grasping at straws here because I want them to be right but I just have this feeling in my gut-"
He grabs my arm reassuringly. "Then you were right. I can't argue with that you said back there. We're trying to build a community but we can't do that without trusting people."

I smile in thanks before wrapping my arms around him. "I'm sorry for snapping at you this morning. I guess I just didn't want you to be right because I love having Kai around but you're her father and maybe him hanging around is distracting her from you but he is family too."

His arms mimic mine as they wind around my waist, pulling me close.
"I know that Mads. He's family to me which is why it's awkward but I can't help how I feel."
I squeeze him tighter. "I'll talk to him this evening."

I pull away but keep one hand on his shoulder as we start to walk back to the house. The sky is a dark, wintery gray which matches the weather perfectly as the cold nips away at any exposed skin. The wind ruffles my hair and whips it around my face. I have to tuck it behind my ears several times to contain it. Carl uses one of his hands to steady his shaking hat as it threatens to fly away.

"Are you going to vote?" He asks, breaking the comfortable silence.
I nod. "Yeah, I'll go back after we've collected Kara and Jude from school."
I notice the way he stares at the ground and the way his shoulders slump forward. He looks tired and his usual smile doesn't light up his face, it's nowhere to be seen, instead a frown creases his forehead.
"You...You seem tense Carl. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah. Fine."

I stop walking and use the grip I have on his shoulder to pull him to a halt.
"What are you not telling me? There's something wrong."
His eye refuses to meet mine.
He shrugs. "It's not... I mean, ... I think the reason why I was angry about you and Kai this morning was because I'm missing that with Jenna." He explains.
"What?"