HIDEOUT
carl grimes

warning;
much fluff

summary;
carl gets trapped in an abandoned school, searching to find his group again but surprised to find someone else instead

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"Let's go in, be careful guys," Rick declares as he swings open the doors of the building and carefully walks inside. The group trailed behind him, Carl being the last one to enter. A flash light flickered on, Carl soon figuring out it was Glenn's flashlight.

What the group entered was an abandoned school, giving Carl strange memories of what school used to be like. Carl turned on his own flashlight, others doing the same.

The boy trailed the light along a set of lockers, sensing it was a high school. The group continued their way down the front hallway, when suddenly a gasp was heard. Carl jumped slightly before running to where the small shriek came from.

Maggie was the one to gasp, as her light was trailed on a hoard of walkers down the hallway. Soon enough, a dozen or so walkers began to turn towards the humans and stumble towards them.

Once they got close enough, the front of the group began taking them out, but the walkers began to surround them, accidentally separating the group from Carl. Rick screamed at his son to get over to him, but it was no use seeing as walkers began to corner off the boy.

Carl quickly turned backwards, finding a door that he hoped was unlocked. Thankfully it was, and he had no choice but to run through. Carl quickly turned and locked the door from the inside, leaving the walkers to bang onto the door.

He began heavily breathing in relief that he got away, but was scared to find out what happened to his friends and family.

He knew he had to find a different way out, so he turned on his light again and headed down the stairwell.

He finally got to the bottom stairs, trailing his light around to see more gigantic hallways in what he believed was the basement. There were more lockers, and a few classrooms in his peripheral vision. The boy turned his head one way to see a main stairwell from the main level that was boarded up, thankfully.

Carl was interrupted from his thoughts as he heard a sound of footsteps in the distance. He quickly turned his flashlight towards the hallway behind him, noticing no movement. He tiptoed the best he could with his loud boots down the dark and eerie hall, wondering if there were more hoards down here.

He heard another soft sound of a boot hitting a tile, and he grabbed his gun from his holster, holding it up beside his flashlight.

"Drop your gun," he suddenly heard, the voice startling him. He grunted under his breath, reluctantly putting the gun back into his pocket and putting his hands up.

"I'm not gonna hurt you," he stated while pointing his light along the hallway, not being able to find where the voice was coming from.

"I've heard that lie too many times," he heard again, figuring out it was a girl's voice. His eyes widened as he noticed a figure walk out from the shadows of one of the open classrooms. As she finally got into light, he studied the girl.

She walked out steadily with a gun pointed towards him, dark blonde hair trailing down her chest. Her clothes were a bit dirty, but she definitely looked prepared.

There was a bit of silence between the two as they studied each other, before it was broken by the girl.

"How'd you get down here?" She asked cautiously, still not lowering her gun.

"My group came in but we got separated by the hoard of walkers up there," Carl replied. The girl hummed in amusement.

"What?" He asked, confused at her reaction.

"So that's what you call them, huh?" She questions, feeling as though he wasn't too much of a threat and lowered her gun a bit.

"What do you call them then?" Carl asked while crossing his arms, waiting to scoff at her answer.

"Biters," she replies raising her eyebrows.

Carl opened his mouth about to respond, but closed it again, not being able to come up with a witty comment.

"What's your name?" She asks after a bit of silence.

"Carl, yours?"

"Y/N."

Carl nodded in understanding. He was a bit confused of what to do, y/n being the same. She lowered her gun, sensing he wouldn't harm her.

"I need to find my group," Carl added on while stepping forwards a bit.

"I can help you, I know this school like the back of my hand, but we have to wait till morning." She replies while reluctantly placing her gun into her pocket.

"Morning? They could be hurt, I need to find to find them now," he countered while walking past her.

"Trust me, you won't find them, it's too dark down here. You might even run into a stray walker and be done for."

Carl stopped in his tracks, sighing and turning back towards y/n.

"How long have you been here for?" The boy asks, examining the hallway with his light.

"A few months by now," y/n replied. They stood in silence again, but the silence wasn't too bad. Both teens didn't mind it.

"Here, follow me," she ordered while traveling down the long dark hallway. Carl followed, the boy confused as to how she knew her way around in the dark with the little light they had.

The girl finally reached a certain room, and headed inside. Before Carl could get in, they suddenly heard a growling sound. They both knew that sound was not human.

"Quick, get in," she exclaimed, gesturing for Carl to get inside. The boy ran in, and y/n locked it.

"They come around at night sometimes, have no clue where they come from though, can't find them in the daytime down here," y/n explains while shuffling through her backpack.

"Why are you helping me?" Carl asked, in a more sincere way than rude.

Y/N paused, and turned to the confused boy. She sighed, going back to searching through her bag.

"I know what people look like when they're desperate for help, and you seemed like a pretty decent guy." Carl chuckled at her last comment.

"Is this where you normally sleep?" Carl asks, earning a nod from y/n.

"Where do you want me to-"

Carl was interrupted by the girl shushing him, y/n placing a finger to his lips to silence him. The boy was thankful it was too dark for her to see his flushed cheeks.

The moans of the dead started to come from behind the door, making the two back away slowly from it. Y/N quietly sat down, Carl doing the same beside her.

They sat in patient silence for a few minutes, before the sounds stopped. The young girl sighed, shuffling through her bag again.

"Want one?" She suddenly asked, making Carl turn to her to see a granola bar in her hand. He was reluctant, but once she brought out another bar for herself he nodded and muttered a thanks.

"I bet your group is okay," y/n suddenly spoke, interrupting their silent eating. Carl turned to face her, a confused look on his face.

"How would you know?" He asked, the girl turning to look at the lingering stare that was on her.

"Because I know people like you. From what I've heard, your group seems like a smart one."

The boy smiled at her comment, his face visible to the girl, making her smile as well.

"My dad's in our group. So is my little sister," Carl suddenly adds on, making y/n look down in sadness.

"You're extremely lucky then Carl," she quietly states, trying to put the best smile she could on her face. Carl then understood what she meant, and he felt sympathy for her.

"I'm sorry...I didn't know," he muttered, finishing off his snack; the girl shuffled in her spot.

"It's fine. Like you said, you didn't know."

There was more silence, which surprisingly didn't feel awkward.

"I used to have parents. And an older brother. I'm not sure if they're still alive or not." Y/N added on, interrupting the silence.

"I bet you'll find them," Carl reassured, making y/n smile to the ground.

For what felt like hours, the two teens talked about their stories. Where they came from, and how they ended up here.

"After that, I found this big place and stayed here," y/n ended off her story. Carl nodded, laying down on the floor better; she had given him an extra sleeping bag that she had.

"Well, I think we should get some rest, be ready to find your group tomorrow," y/n suggested, Carl nodding in agreement as they both got into their own sleeping bags and shuffled around in them till they found a comfortable spot.

"Goodnight Carl," she spoke softly, her voice barely audible to the sleepy teenager beside her; he could here her flashlight being flickered off.

"G'night y/n," Carl mumbled, chuckling slightly.

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Carl sprung up from his laying down position, cold sweat drenching his forehead making his hair stick uncomfortably on his face. He quickly turned in multiple directions, breathing heavily while confused as to where he was. A light suddenly flickered on, a figure of a girl appearing in front of him.

The boy sighed, remembering where he was and what had just happened.

"You okay? What happened?" Y/N asked sleepily, getting up into a better sitting position.

"Just...nightmare," he explained, hesitating slightly to answer.

"What was it about?" She asked.

"People dying, from walkers. I get that dream a lot."

Y/N's eyebrows furrowed, contemplating on how to comfort him. She was new to comforting, all she knew how to do was fight and make sarcastic remarks.

"Everything will be okay in the end Carl," she spoke softly, moving towards him slightly. The boy simply looked to the floor.

"How can you be so optimistic in this world?" He asked, looking upwards into her light blue eyes. She bit the inside of her cheek, wondering how to answer his question.

"I just try to have hope. The minute I let go of the belief that things will get better is the minute I know they won't."

Her words shocked Carl, making him feel bad for the girl and what she has probably had to go through.

More sounds of walkers came from behind the door, making y/n squeeze her eyes shut, trying to get the sound of their cries out of her head.

Carl must have noticed, as he reached for the girl's hand with his and held it tight. Her eyes slowly opened and looked down to their hands. Y/N looked back up and smiled sympathetically.

She was grateful to have met Carl.

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The girl's eyes slowly opened, the slight brightness of the room giving her some sort of better mood. She turned her head to see Carl in his sleeping bag, but she began to smile as she noticed their hands were still intertwined.

Y/N slowly took her hand out of his, making the boy stir in his sleep for a second before waking up.

"Morning sunshine," y/n sang in her most sweet voice. Carl grinned and let out a sleepy chuckle.

"Shut up," he mumbled playfully while rubbing his eyes and sitting up.

The two soon in the next half hour got ready and headed out of the classroom. They started upstairs to where Carl had come in from, the boy sighing in relief to see a pile of walkers dead on the ground. They spent an hour walking around attempting to find the group, before they finally found them in a classroom on the third floor.

Carl ran up to his father and enveloped him in a hug. Y/N smiled from the back, noticing the lingering stares from Carl's group on her, wondering who she was.

"This is y/n, without her I'd probably be dead," Carl explains while turning to the girl smiling. Y/N smirked embarrassingly while facing the ground.

"Oh, it was really nothing..." she added on in modesty.

"No, it was my son's life, thank you." Rick interjected, making y/n shrug her shoulders. "Do you have a group?"

"No...just me," she answered reluctantly. Rick and the others looked around at each other before turning back to her.

"You can come with us if you'd like, we don't have a camp but we...just escaped from a pretty bad place, so it's okay if you-" Rick started, mentioning Terminus.

"I'd love to," y/n answered excitedly. She hadn't met anybody for a year now, being with a group wouldn't be so bad.

The boy with the sheriffs hat couldn't help but smile at how happy the girl looked. He was glad he had met her.

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a/n: thanks for reading! btw these first two drabbles are old but didnt wanna delete them so here ya go

also that one quote the girl said in this was from ouat if ya didnt notice