DEVILS ? C. G. 〖 #wattys2018 〗

A/N: I found an actress to be April (Daveigh Chase). She played the girl in The Ring, and I think she can still pull off a good, psychotic smile, right?

x x x x x x x x x x

SOTC: Blackbird Song by Lee DeWyze
• No more time / For crying, dear •

Carl had always felt that he was steeled. He locked himself behind cinderblock walls and inch-thick bars. Let his emotions rot away until they were but swill and stink lingering in the air.

He didn't bottle up every frustration, every anguish, until it came pouring out his mouth again. If he did, then he'd be swinging his raw fists at this psychotic girl, and that gun would be pointed down his throat. He would have eaten bullets years ago, if he'd been so naïve not to cast away his pain.

Carl kept his emotions under his skin instead. At the tips of his fingers, the soles of his feet. His shoulders. Whatever it took to keep it from his words, for his mouth would create writhing creatures of anything he spared.

But as the screams began, he didn't know if he'd be able to withhold this time.

It started with whimpers. He could hear the stark, ringing words of Negan, muffled through the walls, yet still pounding on Carl's skull. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. His feet grew numb as screams began to rip through the air. He squeezed his eye shut, but that only magnified the pounding hits as they ricocheted through his mind.

He opened his eye, and the girl was staring at him. Green eyes wide, craned up at his. Crazed threads of hair falling into her features. Maniacal smile tipped across her face.

"What." It was a but a hiss under his breath. The tips of his fingers began to curl.

She let loose a playful chuckle. "Poor Carl-y. Can't know, can't watch."

Another strike pulsed through the air. He felt his chest tighten. "What will you do if I look?"

"Nothing." A smirk lanced across her face. Something glittered in her eyes, like a twisted fascination. She enjoyed the way Carl flinched whenever he heard a heaving sob echo through the walls of the RV. "But you don't want to look," she mused, voice low and threatening.

More pained howls and shrieks wormed through the air. "Fuck, Daddy's going to be ma-ad." She whistled softly as she watched something over Carl's shoulder. He kept his regard on her polished black boots in efforts to keep his breathing steady. When that proved ineffective, he stared at his fingers, picking the dirt from under them.

"Oh, shit!" She whooped like she was watching an intense sports game. "Fuck yeah, you crack his fucking head! Oh yeah, smack it! Shit, his eye is bugging out! Fucking hell, this is a good one!"

Carl's teeth began to chatter. His hands quivered in anger, yet he kept it there, pent up in his fingertips.

She snapped her fingers in his vision, breaking the silence between them. His gaze flicked to her face. "Isn't it so nice that I'm not making you watch?" A sincere smile, and Carl wanted nothing more than to punch it off her face.

"Honey, you gotta understand. There are two gory-ass corpses of your friends. Their heads are cracked open like piñatas, and I'm letting you keep your mind innocent. Isn't that nice of me?"

Carl's breath began to quicken. He wanted nothing more than to tear out this girl's eyes, pry them from their sockets and stomp them into the RV floor. But he kept it in his breath. Don't talk, Carl. Don't ruin your chance.

The sound of a gun cocking near his ear crackled his senses to the surface. "Why don't you thank me, Carl-y?"

He could gain trust with this girl. Gain trust with Negan. Be an asset to his group. It made the roof of his mouth slimy with disgust to even dwell on the thought of relenting. But it was something he would have to chance.

For the good of his people. His father. His sister.

"Thank you," he said, attempting to keep the vomit out of his mouth.

Her eyes cleared in surprise. She cocked her head, smile etched into her skin. "Wow." She uncocked the gun and set it in her lap. Carl kept his eye on her features, the statuesque way her lips stayed in a permanent smile.

"I need you to know," she started, voice quiet yet blindingly sharp, like the whistle of a bullet by his ear. "That simply being kind and courteous, like you just demonstrated, will get you far. My dad, he enjoys the charmers more than the rebellious ones."

A chilling laugh escaped her mouth as her eyes found the RV door. "Speak of the devil, here he comes."

x x x x x x x x x x

Wow, after rereading these first few chapters, I'm only now realizing how April was such an unlikable character. I promise she's not this gross later on haha

x x x x x x x x x x

Word Count: 863
Created 12-18-16
Published 12-27-16
Edited 4-22-17