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A L I C E

ALICE DUNLAP WAS BEATING herself up over what happened to Patrick, last night. She felt guilty that she never bothered to check on him, when she knew that he was beginning to come down with something. Instead of following him out of story-time, she focused her attention on Carl, who'd she seen sneaking through the bookshelves. Her disdain for the boy had finally, truly, costed her.

What the girl felt even worse about was that she hadn't even thought about Patrick at all, until it was already too late.

When she was awoken by the gunfire in her cell-block, her first instinct was to get Elliot to safety. At first, the girl began to put his arm around her shoulders and hoist him out of bed, but before she could even finish pulling open the curtain to their cell, Alice realized that there were too many of the dead scattered throughout the cell-block.

The girl locked herself and her brother in their cell, and the two held onto each other, huddled in the corner, until the gunfire finally ceased. Quickly after it was over, she and Elliot were forced to overhear the news of Patrick's death, from Rick Grimes' voice echoing throughout the entire corridor of cell block D.

He'd died from the same sickness that Alice ignored, the night before. She was even a bit excited that Elliot didn't go see Patrick, that night, out of his fear of catching whatever it was. It meant that she got to spend some time talking with her brother, who she barely got to see anymore. The girl was never one to dwell, but she carried the guilt of the deaths that could've been prevented had she encouraged Elliot to go visit Patrick, anyway.

Elliot staying behind last night didn't even make a difference, as he came down with a fever just a few hours after the outbreak. He was to stay resting in their cell, until the council could figure out a method of quarantine. With the death of the person he was closest to, the girl knew that her brother was suffering alone, in that cell. And, deep down, she felt worried that Elliot would also suffer the same fate as Patrick.

Except, this time around, she wasn't even allowed to check in on him. Alice, having no symptoms, was expected to stay away from him, in order to give the girl a chance of not catching it.

The girl was doing the most that she possibly could, although she felt as though she was just sitting around. And she was. She was sitting across the room, distancing herself from potentially contaminating Carl Grimes, as the boy worked on his hands and knees crafting a cross to mark Patrick's grave.

She stared down at the wooden cross, trying to focus on anything but the building lump in her throat, as she hoped and prayed that she would soon experience some sort of symptoms. That was the only way she'd be allowed to be there for Elliot, who'd just come down with the life-threatening illness that'd already claimed the life of his first love.

Alice's watery, spiteful eyes were locked on Carl Grimes' hands crafting the cross, as they were the only things moving about, in the motionless corridor. But when he sat back on his knees and lifted the wood off of the ground, her eyes moved upward, meeting the eyes of the boy who was awaiting her gaze. "Do you know if Patrick was Catholic?"

The girl had avoided speaking to everyone that morning. Of course a few of the adults had spoken to her, in passing, to reassure her about her brother or to apologize about what happened to Patrick, yet nobody had looked her in the eyes and expected to receive an answer.

But the overwhelming part of Carl's question was that Alice Dunlap didn't have the answer. She had no idea what religion Patrick followed—or if he even followed one at all. She felt like that much more of a horrible friend for not knowing such a simple thing about the boy.

Her tears began to come in faster than she could choke them down, and they built up in her waterline. She felt Carl's stare on her, as she dropped her eyes down to the cross in his hands. The wooden symbol that would forever mark a life lost in the middle of the lonely night, was all the girl could hold her stare on.

"No." The single word that she uttered never managed to leave the surface of her tense vocal cords.

Alice could see Carl's facial expression shift, out of the corner of her teary eyes. He was finally recognizing how close the girl was to her breaking point, and his body awkwardly tensed, as a result. She couldn't quite picture how the boy was looking at her, but the fact that he'd been staring at her in such a vulnerable manner filled her with the urgency to escape.

The girl turned her head to the side, to avoid Carl's gaze. One blink was enough to send a warm tear gliding down her cheek. She knew that the boy could see it, from where he was sitting. And the only thing worse than finally having to grieve someone, was having to do it in front of Carl Grimes.

Alice slapped her hands on the metal table she was sitting at, using them to push herself to her feet. Once she finally stepped away from the seat, she folded the sleeve of her shirt over her palm, using it to quickly swipe away the tear from her jawline. The girl didn't bother to look back at the boy she was speaking to, as she finally forced an answer to the surface. "I don't."

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By the time Alice Dunlap made it back to cell block D, Elliot had already been quarantined, along with the other kids and the rest of the people who displayed symptoms. Karen and Elliot, the first few isolated people, were sent to the cells for inmates who would've been carrying out their time in death row. The girl would've loved to find the irony in the arrangement, had her brother not been one of the people rotting in there.

She returned to an empty cell. The only trace of her brother was the sweaty print of his body that stained his sheets, on the bottom bunk.

The girl let out a huff, just underneath her rolling eyes, as she began to tear the damp sheets from his bunk. She crumpled and tossed the fitted sheet onto the table of their cell, before reaching straight for the pillowcase. Once that was peeled from the pillow and placed alongside the balled-up sheets, the girl had nothing to focus on. Her thoughts crept in almost immediately as she stared at his bare mattress, and she worried about the possibility of never getting to make her brother's bed, again.

Alice's tears began falling freely, and although her curtain was closed, she still felt the need to hide them. The girl placed her hands against the railing of the top bunk, before straightening her arms and bowing her head. She silently wept to herself, letting out every grievance.

Once her heavy tears were reduced to a few sniffles, the girl quickly shook her head and wiped her face. Alice felt guilty for experiencing even just a few moments of emotion, when Elliot obviously had it so much worse than her. That's how she'd felt her entire life. If her brother could live with his struggles with such bravery, then she had no reason to be upset. He made her brave.

And now, she was the one who needed to be brave for him. That's how it had been, ever since their father disappeared. Alice could accept that loss, in all of her ignorance, but there was no way she could ever lose Elliot and pretend not to notice. He was now all that she had, and without him, she'd be all alone.

Now was not the time for Alice to be thinking of herself. She needed to put her brother first.

Putting her hands on either side of her face, as if to comfort herself, the girl looked around the room, at all of Elliot's belongings. She then felt around, under his bunk, for his small backpack. Once she pulled the empty bag out from its hiding place, she began to fill it with familiar things that could possibly make him feel better, while in quarantine.

The overwhelmed girl placed all of his belongings into the bag, with the intention of getting to bring it to him soon. But, being that their dad had taken the family's duffel, before they made it to Woodbury, Elliot had very few things to pack.

Before she knew it, Alice Dunlap had seemingly packed up her brother's entire life into a small rucksack. And, once again, she soaked in the view of his sheet-less mattress and the bag filled with this things, thinking of what it would be like if her brother never even got the chance to unpack.

Alice pulled herself from the cement floor, lifting her knees from the ground. She sluggishly pulled herself onto his bunk, landing with a bounce. The girl crossed her legs, balancing her elbows on both of her knees, and cradling her face in her hands. She battled the pessimistic yet realistic thoughts clouding her brain for what seemed like just a few moments—when it'd really been several minutes.

A sudden, soft noise was enough for the girl to pull her face out of her hands, as she slightly jumped. She quickly glanced around the cell, catching sight of her curtain blowing from the gentle breeze casted from underneath it by the soccer ball that'd just rolled all the way to the far wall of her cell.

With furrowed eyebrows, Alice reached up and grabbed the railing of the top bunk, using it to lift herself to her feet. She studied the ball as it bounced off of the wall and slowly rolled back towards the entrance of her cell, coming to a stop right in front of her feet.

She gently kicked the ball, immediately developing a sour attitude as it swiftly rolled out of her cell. The girl began to wonder who'd play soccer at a time like this. People had just died and some idiots were out in the corridor kicking around a dumb ball. Alice thought about bursting out of her cell and telling off whatever kids were out there, being so inconsiderate of others.

But, as she sat back down on Elliot's bunk, she realized that there were no kids to yell at. They'd all been moved out of the cell blocks, especially cell block D, where it'd been painfully silent ever since their departure. The girl began the process of elimination, counting out Elliot—and obviously Patrick—from being a culprit.

There was only one person who was capable of sending that ball rolling into Alice's cell. And just as she began to single out who it was, the ball rolled right back underneath her curtain, as if it was sent there with intention.

The girl peeled herself off of the mattress, after having almost no time to situate herself on it. Instead of using her foot to rid herself of the ball, she bent over, grabbing it with her hands.

She made her way to the door of her cell, using her elbow and shoulder to shove away the curtain. Before the girl even got a full view of the corridor, she could see Carl's boots planted, opposite the door to her cell. Once Alice finally made it out into the quiet corridor, she studied the boy. He stood there, keeping his hands in his front pockets, with his thumbs hanging out. He was a little tense, under the girl's stare.

Alice didn't know what he wanted, or why he was bothering her. The two had never voluntarily spent any time in the other's presence, let alone done whatever the hell that was.

"I'm sorry about Patrick." Carl said. Alice liked how the boy got straight to the point, avoiding her even having to beg the question of what he was doing all the way in cell block D.

She studied the look on the boy's face, as he stared at the ground. He seemed remorseful, for they had both lost someone, that day. And probably because it'd been no secret that the girl was just crying her eyes out.

Carl never would've trudged that far just to see Alice Dunlap, if the cell block wasn't empty—if the reason that it was empty never even occurred. But it did, and here the two were. Their only friends were either dead or in quarantine. It was the end of the world, and if Carl wanted to walk around acting like an adult, Alice was glad that he could at least muster up the maturity to do whatever this was.

"I'm sorry," Alice started. The girl took one step forward, still holding the soccer ball between her palms. After finding out what Carl was there for, she felt no need to be nervous, as their childish feud was no match for the aftermath of the outside world finding its way in. It was now time for the two to face reality. "He was your friend, too."

"In that case," Carl continued, folding in his bottom lip as if to offer Alice whatever he could of his own emotion. His regretful eyes almost tried to warn the girl for the reminder that she was about to receive. "I'm sorry about Elliot, too."

The girl furrowed her eyebrows, pulling her eyes away from Carl to look down at the ball in her hands. Her fingers toyed with a few strands of the stitching that'd been poking out of it. She gently shook her head. "Nothing's happened to him, yet."

"I know," Carl nodded his head. Alice could see him from the corner of her eye, as he subtly leaned forward and projected his voice. "And it's going to stay that way."

She matched his gaze, soaking in the determination of the promise he'd just made her. Although the boy was utterly powerless when it came to Elliot's fate, the reassuring, stern look on his face made Alice feel just a little more hopeful.

The girl took a second to think about this whole situation, as it took all of the other kids of the prison to be quarantined for Carl and Alice to willingly interact. But, the thing was, the two shouldn't have even been interacting. "You're not supposed to be around me. I'm supposed to stay here—away from everyone."

"Look how far away I am." Carl motioned with his hands, arguing his point with a shrug. "The neat part about passing the ball is that we kind of have to be on opposite sides of the room."

The girl knew that he wasn't taking the sickness seriously, but not for the sake of being childish. He was risking his health, in her vicinity, because she was alone. But, then again, so was he. A small, distanced risk of catching a life-threatening illness was worth the relief of kicking around a soccer ball. Besides, everyone in the prison had most likely been exposed at some point. The difference was that some spent more time around the infected than others. And both Carl and Alice had split their time around Patrick almost perfectly down the middle, before his demise.

A small smile spread across Alice's face, as she stared across the corridor, at Carl. She was a bit hesitant about taking the olive branch that the boy was actively extending towards her. This wasn't the bickering of children, anymore. It was the clashing connection between two people who'd felt the same exact loss and fear—and who'd found comfort where it was least expected. She pondered the invitation, before returning her eyes down to the ball.

"I'll even kick it the right way." Carl persisted.

Alice's eyes immediately flicked back up towards the boy, who was awaiting her gaze with a shy smile. In a way, his words made the entire history between them seem like something that they could now laugh at—something that was completely over.

Surrendering with an eye-roll and a scoffing chuckle, Alice dropped the ball to the ground and passed it, across the corridor, straight in the direction of the boy who'd surprisingly turned out to not have been all that bad.

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2793 words
January 24, 2023
10:18 PM

A/N

so... I started school and my ex's other ex is in one of my classes... the odds of that happening are pretty slim considering that we're both in college, in different grades and she just transferred to my college this semester ahahahha...

she added me on Snapchat last week and talked to me today and it was so awkward. she's actually so nice and hasn't done anything wrong but she reminds me of my ex and it's taking me back to when I was dating him. I'm literally remembering stuff that I COMPLETELY forgot about before now.

anyways writing and making tiktoks has been distracting me from all of these old memories and I love you guys and Alice!!

(I just figured instead of talking about this chapter, once again, being right on time ;) I'd tell you guys about what's going on in my life.)

oh yeah, and the bottom half of my hair is pink (victorian rose to be precise) and I'm OBSESSED

now that my unsolicited life update is out of the way, AAAAAHHHH Carl and Alice are so cute.

I've been planning this chapter for so long and I've had it fully written ever since the last chapter came out (I'm almost done writing the next chapter, as I'm publishing this)

and I'm planning so many other chapters and have season 4 completely mapped out !! not publishing a fully-written chapter has been so HARD. (It has come a few hours early, thanks to my fave: theo!)

so, go enjoy your lives. be friends w/ your ex's ex. avoid 30 y/o ppl who are obsessed with you, and have fun until chapter 4 comes out!!

☆vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote ☆