Endure and Survive (Sequel to How We Live Now)

Chapter 14

"Hey," a familiar voice said.

I turned to see Daryl coming toward us.

"Hey, back," I said.

"The two of you good?" he asked.

"Yeah. Hey, Daryl, look what I got," Carl said.

He held up the picture frame and smiled proudly. Daryl looked at it and nodded.

"You get that from that place over there?" he asked.

"Yeah," he said.

"That's why you wanted to come?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah...I'll tell my dad about it, okay?" he said, looking at the both of us.

"I was never gonna say anything," I said.

"Yeah. You should be the one to tell your old man that," Daryl said.

"Thanks, guys," he said.

"Where were you?" I asked Daryl.

"Just scoping out the place. I saw you guys come out just as I was making my way over here," he said.

"Hey, Carl, why don't you lead us to the baby store," I said.

"Okay. Follow me," he said.

I let him take a few strides in front of us before I started to question Daryl.

"You find anything worth mentioning?" I asked as we followed Carl.

"The way we came in, is the only way in or out of this place. This guy really locked it down," he said.

"Rick said that he had a son. Have you seen any sign of him at all?" I asked.

"No," he said.

Making sure that there was no way of Carl hearing it, he lowered his voice when he told me the next thing.

"I think he may have lost him," he said.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Think about it. His kid ain't nowhere to be found. He's paranoid to say the least. Plus if his kid was around, don't you think we would have seen him hanging around his dad?" he asked.

I looked over at Carl. He was always around Rick. Even if he wasn't right next to him, he was always close by. If the man that Rick knew had lost his son somehow, it would make sense for him to act the way he was.

"If that's the case, I hope it's not as bad as I'm thinking it was," I said a little softly.

"It's always bad in this world," he said.

I looked over at him. He was right. Ugly circumstances was all we ever saw in this world.

"Guys! We're here," Carl called, shifting my attention back to him.

He was a few feet in front of us now.

"Alright. Coming, bud," I said.

"Come on. He wants to get a crib for Judith," I said nudging Daryl in the arm.

I looked back and noticed Carl was gone.

"Shit. I should have told him to wait for us. We don't know if the place is clear. Let's go," I said.

We both took off running to get to him as quick as we could.

When we got to the front door, I wasted no time in checking around me. All I knew was that I needed to know if Carl was okay or not.