Chapter 28- The Barn

Carl's POV-

Mentions of Self Harm

I woke up the next morning to a sharp pain in my arm. I shot up wincing as an awful stinging sensation. "You okay?" my dad asked concern lacing his voice. I jumped at his voice. "Yeah, I'm all good." I said after a minute. He gave me a weird look before exiting the tent. "That was close." I whispered to myself. I placed my hands on the ground and began pushing myself up. The stinging sensation returned causing me to jump up. I didn't expect it to hurt this bad. I thought as I exited the tent. I got a little dizzy as I walked out of the tent. It was cloudy and it looked like it was gonna

I decided that I was finally going to eat something. With the blood loss from yesterday and the fact that i have barely eaten in a week i felt like i was gonna fall over. I walked over to Daryl and just kinda stood there awkwardly. "You need something kid?" he asked doing that side glance thing he does. (If any of you guys are Daryl fangirls/fanboys you know exactly what I'm talking about.) I don't know why but ever sense me and Axel started dating I've felt really awkward with Daryl. "Umm.." I trailed off. "Spit it out kid. I ain't got all day." he said.

I took a deep breathe feeling nervous of some reason. "Do you have any food?" I asked quietly. He was silent for a moment before a slight smile made it's way onto his face. He pulled out a can of beans and split it between the two of us. We sat down on some rocks around the make shift fire pit. It was really quiet between the two of us. And against my better judgement I decided to ask him about my concerns. "Hey." I said to catch his attention. "What?" he asked. "So I know we were never that close. But like is me dating Axel like okay. I mean-" he cut me off. "Look Carl." he stopped for a minute.

"I think your a really good kid. And...." he stopped once again. Jeez and he was telling me to spit it out. "And out of everyone he could be with... I'm glad it's you." he said the last part quietly. "Did Daryl just complement someone?" Carol said sarcastically laughing a bit. "Shut up." he said smiling a bit. "How a bit are you doing?" Carol asked. I looked at her confused. I didn't think she knew about mine and Axel's realation ship. "Beth told me that you too were dating." Carol said smiling a bit. I grimiced a little at the mention of her.

"Hey stop being like that! It ain't her fault." Daryl snapped. "Well then who's fault was it? Huh!?" I yelled getting angry. How could he defend her? I thought amazed. His son was lying in a tent half dead. All the sudden it started pouring. "There's a barn!" Daryl yelled. I helped him get Carl and we ran towards it. When we got there, there was a few walkers, but nothing we couldn't handle. I sat myself down in a corner with Axel's head in my lap. I ran my fingers through his hair. God I love him. "I just need you to come back to me." I whispered as silent sobs racked my shoulder's.

Daryl's POV-

"He's gonna be okay." Carol said. "Yeah. I know he's always been a fighter." I said holding back tears. "I used to feel bad for the kids who had to grow up in this. Now I know I got it wrong. It's much easier to get used to it then to have to let go of everything before." he said. We all just shared a series of nods. "I'm gonna go talk to Tanner." I said and stood up walking towards her and Beth. "Hey Beth, can I talk to Tanner for a minute?" I asked. "Yeah sure." she said and got up.

Things had been awkward with us ever sense we got her back. It's because we kissed.When it was just her and me on the road we kissed.(A/N- Please keep in mind that in my story Beth is 22.) I turned around quickly not wanting to miss my chance. "Hey talk later?" I asked. A small smile made it's way onto her face as she whispered a quick sure and then walked away. Tanner gave me a knowing look. "So what's that about?" she said with a teasing smile. "Nothing." I said not being able to help the blush that spread to my cheeks. Damn I'm a 34 year old man and I can't even stop myself from blushing.

"How are you doing?" I asked her getting a bit more serious. "I'm okay. I know he'll pull through." she said with a bright smile. Sadly I was to stupid to see through her lies and just excepted it. "Let me know if you need anything." I said. "I will." she said and I took that at that. I started to walk over to Beth when there was banging on the barn door. "Walkers!" Rick yelled and we all ran to the doors. Carl ran next to me. I noticed he winced when he hit the door. I wonder what that was about, I thought.

We continued to push up against the doors for a while before the banging finally stopped. Everybody layed down and I slowly drifted to sleep. I thought I saw someone walking around it looked like they were looking for something. Although who knows, I was halfway asleep after all.

Carl's POV-

!TW!

Everybody finally went to sleep. Although for some reason I couldn't. I felt like I needed to do it again. I sat there for a few minitues thinking that the need would subside, but it didn't. It simply grew stronger. I decided to look for my dads bag. It should be in there after all. I slowly got up trying not to make any noise. I stepped carefully in between each person. Hoping and praying that no one would wake up. After about five minutes I finally found his bag. I unzipped quietly knowing that the slightest noise could wake these people up.

As I dug through the bag I saw tons of stuff, but not what I was looking for. I went through the bag over and over again. Time after time. I felt like I needed it. I craved the feeling of the tiny blade sliding across my wrist. But to my dismay it was not there. I made my way back to Axel and layed down next to him. I turned on my side and gripped onto his hand. "I love you." I whispered quietly. It didn't take me long to fall asleep after that but once I did it was filled with awful dreams.

Axel's POV-

"Carl!" I kept screaming over and over again. It was like no one could hear me. And it didn't help that this horrid dream was on loop in my head. I wanted so despretaly to go into the dark void on the other side of the bright white room. To end this terrible nightmare. But I knew I couldn't. I couldn't leave Carl no matter how bad it hurt me. So I'd just keep holding on till I woke up. That easy right?

A/N-

Hey lovies! Thanks so much for reading. Alexandria will be coming up shortly. There will be sneak peaks of the next few chapter up tomorrow on my insta if you'd like to go check that up. The account information is listed in the chapter Social. Anyways, I realized that I haven't formally introduced myself so if anyone actaully cares let me know and I'll post a chapter about myself. Until next time! Have a good day/night : )