I Saw The Lights Go Out - Carl Grimes

Waking up after sleeping on the cold, hard, and uneven ground was never a good time. Throughout the night while you're sleeping you don't completely notice how uncomfortable you are. That was until you wake up and all the knots start to form their way under each muscle.

I sat up as gingerly as possible. My hands pressed against the cold dirt as I lugged my body up against the tree behind me. My shoulders ached in protest, I let out a groan and pulled my knees to my chest to rest my forehead against and get away from the morning sun in my tired my eyes.

Streams of golden light poured through the branches all around. I tugged the blanket up closer as goosebumps fanned across my bare arms. The mornings hadn't started to get any warmer. Dew spreads across the grass of our clearing and the ground felt damp and cold beneath my jacket.

Some muffled whispers came from my left, Maggie and Glenn sat close together sharing a metal thermos. They drank and chatted together quietly. I smiled slightly, admiring the fact they found their soulmate even after the world turned to what it was.

Abraham trailed along the perimeter of our camp. Since I'd been asleep a rope had fastened its way around our camp of sleeping bodies. Empty cans hung down from it acting as an alarm system against the walkers.

Carl was fast asleep at the base of the tree next to mine. He lay on his stomach with hair fanning across his eyes and a blanket tucked tight around him. The collar of his fleece jacket was flipped up against his cheek shielding him from the cool morning. His eyes flickered back and forth beneath his eyelids as he dreamt somewhere far away from here. I tore my gaze away from the sleeping boy not wanting the others to notice my staring.

Michonne was half awake with Judith asleep on her chest. Rick slept beside her on his back too; his chest rose and lowered at a slow pace. The others scattered around the area didn't do much to catch my attention, most of them still asleep, other than Beth who munched on a granola bar next to Daryl's sleeping figure.

I did my best to stand up straight using the tree behind me to steady myself. My back and shoulders ached some more, restricting my movements and forcing me to slouch. I twisted my head around to stretch my neck where the sound of a crack escaped my bones and made me whimper. But then the tension in my neck and shoulders released and I closed my eyes finally relaxed.

My lower stomach was tight and full, however, it was definitely not from a full course meal. I sighed quietly and bent over to shift through my backpack for my dwindling roll of toilet paper. I ripped off a few squares and folded it up before shoving it into my jean pocket.

I walked over to Beth on the other side of the clearing, doing my best to keep my footsteps as quiet as possible. The amount of crunchy leaves on the ground was unfortunately far too many to dodge.

I stepped closer toward her and her wide eyes popped up to look at me. Curiously, she looked around with the half eaten granola bar grazing her pink lips.

"Hey, I really have to pee, would you mind being my lookout?" I asked Beth awkwardly but as quietly as I could. She let out a chuckle, her confused look washed from her face.

"Of course." She muttered with a smile. She unwraps the warmest blanket I'd ever seen from around her body before placing it over Daryl. He opened his eyes to slits to see what was going on before noticing Beth's happy face and closing them again.

Beth took another bite of her breakfast and followed me to the edge of our camp. We duck underneath the makeshift alarm system and walked to the edge of the tree line. I did my best to trudge up the incline of the ditch toward the road.

"Is your leg still bugging you?" Beth asked concerned. She did her best to help me walk up the ditch by holding onto my left arm, however her cast restricted her movement and she sighed defeated as well.

"Sadly, yes. But I think it's healing alright. When do you think you can take that cast off?" I replied as we made our way across the road.

"They said something like two months but I couldn't tell you how long it's been. I guess whenever it starts to break apart." She chuckled and helped me walk down the steep ditch. "Over there looks like a good spot. Lower than the road, no signs of walkers." Beth pointed out a tree to our right with a smile. I nodded my head and hobbled over to it.

"Keep an eye out." I called over to her as I leaned my back up against the tree and undid my tight jeans.

"That's what I'm here for." She hollered back at me with a laugh. I squatted down as much as my stitches would let me to do my business. I scanned around for any sign of movement through the trees and thankfully couldn't see anything. Being so vulnerable didn't make for a relaxing bathroom break. Nonetheless, I pulled up my jeans before discarding my toilet paper to the ground. I did my best to hide it, kicking leaves and dirt over it before buttoning up my pants.

"All done." I chimed walking around the tree to Beth. She turned toward me with a smile and her cheeks full of food.

"Me too." She mumbled showing off her empty wrapper. I laughed and we both headed back up the ditch to the road.

We soon made it back to our campsite in silence. Not much had changed since we left so I decided to use the time to rearrange my bags. I took a seat back on my coat and placed my bags between my open legs.

The first thing I did before starting is take out what was left of my strawberry hand sanitizer and scrub my hands. It didn't do much other than smear the dirt around on my palms but the chemical smell gave me peace of mind.

I opened up my backpack and rummaged through the contents of it. There was mostly clothes, some food, a few toiletries, but most importantly, my father's hunting knife nestled at the bottom. I took out my clothes first and began to fold them one by one hoping it would create more space in my bag. I then discarded all the wrappers and garbage, throwing it behind the tree I rested against.

I began to do the same to the contents of my drawstring bag. It had less clothes and more random necessities in it. I tried my best to organize all my contents into my backpack and surprisingly, it worked. Everything fit snugly inside and I even sectioned it so I knew where everything was. I smiled to myself satisfied that I did a good job. My back was going to thank me for it.

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Hey! Here's another super boring chapter :( At least it's longer than the last one, right? I'll update soon since this was a weird filler chapter. I just finished exams though, cried a few hundred times a day but it's all over now, thank god! Now that I'm finished I've got a whole month to write! Can't wait honestly, I've got lots of ideas. Anyways, if you had exams too I hope they went well and if you didn't I hope you had a good day lol!

Let me know your thoughts, what do you predict, did you absolutely love how boring this chapter was? lol let me know.

Leave corrections, suggestions, comments, votes and follows as you wish. Y'all know how happy it makes me.

Love you all, happy reading!