“Good idea, let’s go.” We rushed towards the room down the hallway. Going outside might've been a huge mistake. After all, we had no idea how many walkers could been waiting for us.
As soon as we both made it inside I slammed the door shut and locked it. I motioned to Carl to help me push a heavy dresser in front of the door. The minute the dresser was blocking it, we heard a symphony of moans and growls accompanied by the sound of impacts against the wooden door.
Carl and I backed away from it, trying to keep as quiet as possible; almost as if we could just pretend we weren’t even here.
“Don’t panic.” I whispered to him. He was clutching onto my side with both arms.
Eventually, the pounding and moaning subsided, leaving us a little more relaxed and giving us time to see where we had locked ourselves into. I noticed it must’ve been a girl’s room, judging by the ruffles of the curtains and flowery bedspread. The walls were painted a pale yellow which gave the room a delicate feel to it. There was a cabinet on the right of the bed, full of porcelain dolls. Each of their fragile faces seemed to peer at me. I drew closer to the dolls when I spotted something that seemed out of place. Examining them up close, I noticed that one of the dolls was facing backwards. I carefully opened the glass door and reached in to turn it around…
But when I did I almost dropped it. The doll looked like a friggin’ walker! Its left eye was gone, its once white face was now grey and peeling, the hair was in clumps, and its beautiful dress in rags; but the creepiest part was its mouth. Before it had been mutilated, the lips were red and full, like the dolls surrounding it. Now the lips looked as if they had rotted away, showing teeth.
“What. The. Fuck.” I said under my breath, setting the doll back the way it was.
I shut the glass door and shuddered. Someone must’ve done that to it because that was certainly not normal. Whoever had done that certainly wasn’t normal, either.
I treaded back to the bed and sat down next to Carl. He hadn’t taken his eyes off of the door. Now the only sound that emanated from it was an occasional bump or two by passing walkers.
“Is dad okay?” Carl turned to me.
“Of course he is. He’s a strong survivor. Don’t even think like that.” I replied.
Personally, I didn’t care much about how Rick was. But in that moment, Carl needed me and I had to tell him the truth. I was positive Rick was still alive out there.
“You’re right,” Carl said with a newfound confidence, “he’s fine.”
“Yep, and once this is over, everyone will come find us and it’ll all be okay, okay?”
He nodded before lying down in the bed. I joined him and stared at the ceiling.
“Why did you and Shane break up?” Carl suddenly asked me.
My entire body went numb. He had never brought up our relationship before. I didn’t even think he had noticed our break up before the world went to hell. I waited a couple of minutes, trying to search for the right answer.
“Well… ummm… he told me that he thought it would be safer if we weren’t together.” I answered truthfully.
“Why?”
“He was a police officer. He had put away lots of men who he said could’ve found me if they wanted revenge on him.”
“But dad never did that to mom and me.”
“Yeah… I know.”
We lay there without speaking for a few minutes until Carl admitted,
“I wish you two had stayed together.”
I bit my lip, trying not to cry. “Me too…”
After that, Carl went quiet and after a while longer I heard him breathing softly, indicating that he had fallen asleep. I was exhausted as well but was too afraid to sleep; there was no sign out there telling me that the walkers had left or would come back. I tried my hardest not to shut my eyes. I thought about what Carl had said, wondered why he had brought up something that happened nearly four months ago, and ended up drifting off into a dreamless sleep right next to him.
Click for The End
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