Flash Fiction #16
Title: Flash Fiction #16
Fandom: The Walking Dead
Word Count: 501
Characters: Carl Grimes, Lori Grimes, Shane Walsh, mentions Rick Grimes
Warnings: None
Author’s Note/Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters associated with The Walking Dead, much to my everlasting regret. I just like to take them out and play with them every now and then. This story follows up Flash Fiction #15, posted last night. This is unbeta’d and unedited - if you see anything that needs correction, please let me know! Concrit is always welcome.
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Carl sat at the kitchen table, working on his homework and flinching every time he heard his mom slam a pot on the stove. She’d been angry ever since he got home and he wasn’t sure why. He just knew that she was mad at his dad again and he was worried.
When he got off the bus, he'd caught his mom standing outside smoking and talking to his grandmother on the phone. She only smoked when she was mad at his dad; she knew he didn’t like it and she did just to “piss him off”. He’d heard her tell his dad that once, after they’d made up. This time, Carl had heard her say things to his grandmother that worried him. Things like ‘I don’t know how much more I can take,’ and ‘bring Carl and come to stay with you for a while.’
Carl looked up when he heard a police cruiser come screeching to the curb. It was his dad’s car and the lights were going, but that wasn’t his dad that came flying out of the car and running up on the porch. It was his Uncle Shane. Carl ran to open the door and he started to speak, but Shane didn’t give him a chance. “Carl, I need you to get your shoes on and get ready to go, ok? Just go get in the cruiser. Where’s your mom?”
Carl wanted to ask where his dad was and why Shane had blood on his shirt, but the panic he heard in Shane’s voice made him go do as he was asked instead. From his room, he could hear Shane talking to his mom in the kitchen. Words like “been shot”, “missed the vest”, and “in surgery.” He could hear his mom crying, her words garbled from the tears. Carl knew then that his dad had been shot. He started to cry as he hurriedly put his shoes on and ran back downstairs.
By the time he got back downstairs, his mom was crying and Shane was talking to someone on his radio. His mom grabbed him and hugged him as Shane told whoever he was talking to, “Yeah, I’ve got them and we’re on our way to the hospital. You keep us posted while we’re en route.”
“Come on, we’ve got to go,” Shane said as he herded Lori and Carl out the door, forgetting to lock it behind him. “You know he’s strong, he’s not about to give up without a fight.” Shane bundled them into the back of the cruiser and jumped in the driver’s seat. He met Carl’s eyes in the rearview mirror and smiled what he probably thought was a comforting smile as he started the car. Carl tried to smile back but he was scared. He could tell that Uncle Shane and his mom were scared too.
As they sped off to the hospital, siren and lights blaring, Carl held on to his mom and wondered if he’d ever see his dad again.