The
Wall Fourteen
“This isn’t right, Rick! You can’t
do this! This is not you, man.” Glenn yelled, his voice echoing in the
underground facility.
“Don’t you see, Glenn? This research
will help us all. To be able to save those who have already been turned? How
can we not act on that? The vaccine didn’t work, all it did was accelerate the
change. But this…this is different.” Rick pointed his gun at Glenn, preventing
him from reaching her. Maggie lay strapped to an exam table, her baby crying in
the adjacent crib.
“I won’t let you do this. You can’t
have my daughter!” Glenn screamed as he rushed towards Rick. The two wrestled
for the gun and fell to the floor.
“Glenn, don’t make me kill you!”
Rick roared as he kneed Glenn in the ribs.
“Please stop! Please…my baby! My
baby!” Maggie cried helpless to stop them from killing each other. She couldn’t
understand how their group got to this point. They were so close until founding
this city. A disagreement in how to run it caused this fracture that Maggie
feared would never heal. Now, after weeks of being experimented on Maggie could
feel the change start. Her body was dying but all she cared about was her
family.
Her eyes began to blur and it became
difficult to breath. The sounds of her baby’s cries and her husband’s struggle
pierced her failing brain. “Glenn, save them. Please…save them.”
Rick was knocked unconscious no
longer able to keep up with the younger man. Glenn pointed the gun at his head.
How could he do this to them? They were a family, how could he? Maggie’s voice
stopped him. She was turning and he would have to end her. The facility around
them was on fire, the Dead Heads accomplished their mission of stopping the
experiments but for how long.
Even if Rick died someone like Betty
“the Bitch” Patterson will just take his place. Rick can still be reasoned
with, Glenn thought he wasn’t too far gone. He dragged Rick’s unconscious body
outside the room, leaving him in the hall for his people to find. Glenn could
hear their boots on the staircase. He turned back to the inferno and his dead
wife. Maggie clawed at him as he walked closer; the love of his life looking at
him with dead eyes. In the crib, their baby girl Beth cried for her mother.
“Glenn!” Carl yelled as he ran from
the hole made in the floor that lead to the sewer system. “We need to go! Now!”
Carl grabbed Beth and wrapped her in a blanket. The smoke began to choke him.
“You go, keep her safe…please.
They’ll be looking for her.” The fire raged behind him.
“No, no. Don’t do this. She’ll need
you, come with me.” Carl pleaded.
“No, she’ll have you to protect her.
Go Carl. I want to be with my wife.” Glenn’s eyes never left her face as he
spoke and Carl knew he couldn’t convince him. He started back for the opening
in the floor. He had to get Beth out of here before they realized she was still
alive.
Glenn smoothed back Maggie’s hair.
He lowered his face to meet hers, she tried to bite him. “Maggie, I love you so
much. Our daughters will be safe, we’ll watch over them together. I love you.”
He kissed her cold forehead and squeezed the trigger, blowing her brains out
the side of her head. Glen cried as he lifted the gun to his temple. The fire
lapped at his heels but he couldn’t feel it; he was numb. Her face was the last
thing he saw, he squeezed her hand and felt the ring there as he pulled the
trigger and everything went black.
Carl woke
up on the sofa in the safe house. The dream lingering in his mind as he rose to
meet the day. It took their group two exhausting days to cross the lower
quadrants of New Charleston to get here in one piece. Much of the food and
water stock piles were gone, ransacked by looters. The weapons cache didn’t
fare much better; only a few guns and ammo were left, stored in secret
compartments in the bathroom.
Carl
watched Marla as she slept on the loveseat unsure if he should tell her what
really happened to her parents or her sister; a sister she has never known of for
both their safety. Marla didn’t even know her mom was pregnant again. Beth is
about two years old now and living in secret outside the Walls of New
Charleston.
“Carl,
when should we get underway?” Daryl asked him wide awake since taking the early
morning watch. Carl checked his watch, it’s just about 4AM; the sun had yet to
peek over the horizon.
“Give them
another 30 minutes, then we set off.” The group was fatigued and it wouldn’t do
any good to start the long trek to the inner wall exhausted. Hank and his
daughter both lay on the floor on a mattress. Trinity sprawled across an
armchair. Daryl nodded and went back to his post. Carl fought off sleeping
again and instead went upstairs to an empty room with a wooded desk and chair.
He pulled out his journal; well-worn leather and many creases with yellowing
pages and a leather strap to close it. He smiled as if getting a visit from an
old friend.
He started
journaling when their original group was still on the road as a way to get his
thoughts out and reflect on what this new life is about. Now in his late
thirties he found that journaling is also a great way to document Dead Head
strategies and maneuvers. Carl wrote about what happened at the outer wall,
Trinity’s confession, and the status of Safe House 11.
Before
returning the journal to its place in his inner pocket, Carl flipped to an
earlier entry involving Maggie and Glen’s deaths then Marla walked in. Carl quickly
closed the journal.
“Couldn’t
sleep?” Marla asked. She pulled her hoodie tighter against the chill of the
early morning air.
“I’m
normally up at this time. You?” Carl asked.
“Nightmare.
I just…can’t believe this is really happening. I thought that life of running
and hiding was finally over.” Marla sat on the twin cot against the far wall.
“That life
would never be over, Marla, not as long as there are walkers. You can’t let
your guard down, ever. That’s what people in New Charleston are guilty of.
Forgetting the world they live in.”
“Or just
wanting to relive the world they lost. There’s nothing wrong with wanting a
normal life Carl. Growing up and only having to worry about grades and boys and
clothes.” Marla fantasied.
“But you
didn’t live that life. You have no memories of that kind of life.” Carl scolded
her and immediately regretted it when he saw that fanciful look fade from her
eyes. Marla wanted that life, one she would never have. It just doesn’t exist
anymore.
“Why do
you think I read so much? I’m not stupid Carl, I know that world is gone but do
you always have to remind people how messed up this world really is?” Her voice
cracked with emotion.
“I’m
sorry. I didn’t mean to…” Now was the perfect time to tell Marla the truth and
in knowing what he knows perhaps she’ll understand. “Marla, I need to tell you
about something. A secret that I’ve been keeping for a while now, even from you
only for your safety.”
Marla
leaned in, Carl has always been an introverted leader. Cool under pressure,
decisive but aloof almost to the point of being perceived as emotionless. He
doesn’t impart secrets to just anyone, only those in his inner circle.
“It’s
about Beth.”
“My aunt?
What secret do you have about her?” Marla was confused.
“No not
your aunt. Your sister. Two years ago, your mom gave birth to a baby girl they
named Beth, shortly after that your parents died. I took Beth outside the wall
to live and be safe. She’s the key.” Carl was vague but could see Marla was
trying to let everything sink in.
“Where is
she? Who has her?” Marla stood up.
“She’s
with Michonne.”
To
continue….
