~Aaliyah's Pov~

We were walking through the woods. "If we find this man, we're bringing him back right?" I asked. "If he answers the questions we will." He said nodding. I nodded too. "You okay with that?" He asked looking at me. I nodded looking at him. "Yeah, he looked to be in bad shape the last time we saw him." I said nodding. He nodded. "Yeah," He said as we walked. 

We heard a walker and we looked over to see a bunch of sticks with pointy ends and a white bag. On one of the sticks, there was a walker. It was stuck and reaching out for the bag. It was a walker trap. We saw someone walk up to it and i put my hand on my gun. "Don't," Carl said putting his hand on top of mine, Stopping me. 

The man walked up to the walker and stabbed it's head, killing the walker. It was him, the man from the gas station. "Hey." Carl called out to the man, taking his hand off my gun. The man looked over to us. Carl held out his arms, showing him the bag in his right hand. "It was my dad." He said looking at the man. I held my hands out slightly too, Carl didn't want to scare him off. He wants to help him. 

"They were warning shots above your head." Carl said shaking his head. Slowly taking small steps towards this man. We didn't know if he was armed, All we saw was a knife. "He wasn't shooting at you." He said. The man slowly made his way towards us, away from his walker trap. Holding his knife up. "I'm Carl, this is Aaliyah." He said not breaking contact. "Siddiq." The man spoke out. "Food and water." Carl said. "Why?" he asked. "I guess you were talking about something your mom said. About helping people." Carl said as he stopped walking. 

I stopped too, right next to him. He put his arms down and i did too. We both looked at the man, he really did need help. "And my mom told me you gotta do what's right. It's hard to know what that is sometimes but sometimes it's not." He said looking at the man. We both looked at him. He kept looking at us too. Carl walked a bit forward and tossed him the bag. 

He took it and ripped the bag open, reaching for the water first. He drank it. "Thanks." He said. "Glad we found you." Carl said as the man stood up with the can of food and the water bottle. "You two were looking for me?" he asked standing. Carl nodded. "We scavenged the food and some other stuff." Carl said looking at him. "We have a community." i said looking at him. He looked at me, he had a look of shock but a hint of relief too. "I'm gonna ask you a few questions. I need you to answer them honestly okay?" Carl asked. 

The man nodded. "How many walkers have you killed? I know it's hard to keep track but-" the man cut Carl off. "237." He said looking at us. I raised an eyebrow slightly. He keeps track. "Really?" Carl asked surprised, he smiled slightly. "Give or take a couple." He said looking at the walker then back at us. "How many people have you killed?" I asked looking at him. "One." He said. "Why?" Carl asked. "The dead tried to kill him. But they didn't." He said looking at us. 

"You're making walker traps. Is that how you killed so many?" Carl asked. "It's only a part of it. My mom thought- or hoped that killing them would free their souls." he said looking at us. Carl looked at me and i looked at him. This man seemed hopeful.. And he looked like he was telling the truth. "You know? Maybe she was right." He said. We looked back at him. "Doesn't that slow you down? Make things harder for you?" i asked as Carl walked a bit. I followed him. 

"I don't know. You gotta honor your parents. Right?" he asked. "If i was honoring my dad. We wouldn't be talking right now." Carl said. I smiled slightly and so did he. "We definitely wouldn't' brink you back to my community." Carl said. 

~~~

We were making our way back to Alexandria with Siddiq. We were walking and we came across these walkers eating a deer. 3 of them. We bent down and pulled out our knifes. "Okay." Carl said. I looked at him. He looked at me then back at Siddiq. "For your mom." Carl said and walked. He took off his bag and placed it down as we made our way to them. We reached them and killed them. But we saw more coming. One of them had one of those pikes in it. 

Guess the trap didn't work. "Carl." I said. He looked over to me then saw the walkers coming too. "Just go! You don't have to do this!" Siddiq called out. I killed another one and dropped the body. I looked over to see Carl being pinned down by 3 walkers, he was on the deer. My heart stopped and i reached out for my gun and shot them all down. Not hesitating for a second about the gunshots. I knew it would attract more but i didn't care. 

3 walkers turned into 7 in a second. This is what i was afraid of. The walkers dropped dead on top of Carl and i looked at him scared. My heart was racing and it felt like it was about to jump out of my chest. Carl leaned back against the dead deer catching his breath. I put my gun away and Carl stood up. He pushed the walkers off of him and he stood up and stood on one knee looking down. "You okay?" Siddiq asked. Carl stood up completely and i looked at him in shock. 

I couldn't move. I froze looking at him. He looked at me and a tear fell from my eyes. He looked at Siddiq. "Yeah." Carl said and he came to me. He put his hand on my arm and i snapped out of it. I hugged him quickly and he hugged me back. Both of us not caring about the blood. I let out a shaky breath against his shoulder as i cried softly. I closed my eyes. "I'm okay." He said holding me, letting out a breath, My heart was racing. His was too.

He could have gotten  bit. "I'm okay. It's okay." he softly putting a hand behind my head, holding me close. Both of us scared and in shock. "Carl." Siddiq said looking at us. Carl looked at him. "You could have left." Siddiq said. "We should have." I said against Carl's shoulder. I was slowly catching my breath, calming myself down. 

I don't care if he heard me.. He took his hand off my head and put it on my back, pulling me in a bit closer. "I'm responsible for you now." Carl said, He rubbed my back and let me go but keeping me close. I looked down and put my hands under my eyes. I was shaking. "that's how it works." Carl said looking at him. "I don't want to make any trouble. Your dad didn't want anything to do with me." He said. "He didn't but sometimes kids have to find their own way. To show their parents the way." Carl said. He put a hand on my back and pushed me a bit. I took my hands off my face. We walked over to grab the backpack.

He put it on his back and grabbed my hand, we started walking again. "I'm sorry. I know that scared you." He said walking. I kept looking at the floor, Still a little shocked about what happened. He pulled me aside and made me look at him. "I'm okay." he said softy. Another tear fell unexpectedly and he wiped it away. 

He pulled me in for a hug and kissed my cheek holding me close. "Don't cry." He said softly and rubbed my back. We pulled away and headed home.