Chapter 33: Overwhelmed Carl
"He's alright."
In the distance, Shawn lowered his Stone Sledgehammer and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad Carl hadn't been scratched, and glad that Carl hadn't disappointed him.
Shawn looked again. Just when he thought Carl would get up and continue toward the finish line, an unexpected scene unfolded.
Carl stood up, dragging his painfully stinging arm. He looked at the walker still growling in the storm drain and took a deep breath. His eyes scanned the surroundings and landed on a barbecue grill in a nearby yard.
Carl staggered over, grabbed the long, two-pronged fork, and walked back without a word. He looked down at the walker in the drain, the pungent stench filling his nostrils. He gripped the barbecue fork with both hands, trembling slightly. He seemed to be fighting an internal battle. After a long moment, Carl gritted his teeth and finally made a decision.
He slowly lowered the fork through the grate and, using the daylight, suddenly thrust it into the walker's wide-open mouth.
'Schlick—'
The fork easily pierced the walker's head. Before the walker could collapse, Carl pulled the fork back out and held it in his hand.
After doing this, Carl stood up straight and stared into the grate for a while, as if savoring the moment, or perhaps thinking. He was replaying every detail of his encounter with the walker, how he had reacted to the threat.
Shawn, meanwhile, watched Carl from a distance, not rushing him. He had sent Carl through the town not because he cared whether he completed the task, but because he cared more about the process of the training.
Fortunately, this time Carl only stood still for about three minutes. Then he came to his senses and carefully checked his own injuries. He tore a strip from the hem of his shirt with the barbecue fork and made a temporary bandage, wrapping it around his elbow.
When Carl looked up again, his eyes were filled with determination. With a cold expression on his little face, he limped toward the finish line.
"I can do better... I can do better..." Carl's voice grew more and more resolute. Shawn, following behind, heard him and nodded to himself.
Shawn began to genuinely acknowledge Carl from the bottom of his heart. Carl's actions had once again proven the saying—the offspring of a lion can never be a sheep!
And it was for this reason that Carl had once admired Shane so much. At least in his eyes, Shane was an insurmountable mountain. But now, there was also Rick and Shawn.
Carl moved forward, one step at a time, his footing becoming more and more steady. The discomfort from the walker's attack quickly faded, and Carl's condition gradually recovered. He held the barbecue fork in one hand, the other bandaged, his whole body clad in wood armor like a warrior. Now, this was what a survivor of the apocalypse should look like.
However, it took Carl more than two hours to cover the remaining distance of less than 2 kilometers. When he finally looked up again, he had arrived at the finish line—the Fire Station. Both bay doors of the Fire Station were open, just as they had been when Shawn first arrived, not much had changed.
Upon reaching his goal, Carl first caught his breath, then looked up at the sky hesitantly before turning and tiptoeing into the Fire Station.
'Smack—'
Shawn, watching Carl's back from behind, slapped his own forehead.
"This little guy is clearly running out of stamina. He wants to find some supplies before heading back. But I've already cleared out everything to eat and drink here. What's left for him?"
Shawn grimaced, slightly regretting his 'locust-style' search method. But fortunately, Shawn knew the Fire Station better than Carl.
Shouldering his Stone Sledgehammer, Shawn quickly and quietly made his way to the back of the Fire Station and climbed the ladder to the second floor. Peeking over, he saw Carl carefully moving around on the first floor, being extremely cautious. Shawn quickly pulled his head back, took 2 pieces of bread, 1 compressed biscuit, and a bottle of water from his system, and placed them inside the counter in the second-floor break room.
But after a moment's thought, he took the food and water out again and placed them in a conspicuous spot on top of the counter, afraid that little Carl wouldn't see them. After doing this, Shawn mimicked Carl, tiptoeing down the ladder and out of the building.
He pressed his ear to the wall, listening to what happened next.
He heard Carl push open the door to the back room and let out a sudden cry of surprise. Shawn's heart tightened, but fortunately, no other sounds followed. He figured Carl had just been startled by the corpse of the walker Shawn had killed in the Fire Station earlier. Then came the sound of footsteps on the stairs. After reaching the second floor, another cry of surprise was heard.
"This little guy is always so jumpy," Shawn said irritably. The first cry was from being scared by the walker corpse. The second one was filled with pleasant surprise. He had clearly seen the supplies Shawn had left.
These supplies weren't much for an adult, but for little Carl at this moment, they were more than enough. By the time little Carl came out of the Fire Station, he was wearing a somewhat worn-out satchel. Inside the bag were half a bottle of water and a piece of bread. Carl's stomach was slightly bulging, and his complexion had improved a lot.
"Mom~" Carl lowered his head, a little dejected. He missed his mom.
From being full of energy at the start, to taking a blow, to being full of energy again, Carl had used up all his strength and energy in just a few short hours. For a child who had always been protected by his mother and the camp, this was perhaps the greatest test of his life.
Dragging his slightly heavy feet, Carl took a deep breath, turned, and started on the path back.
"He's exhausted everything. Now is the time to rely on perseverance." After Carl left, Shawn emerged from behind the Fire Station. He watched Carl's faltering steps and couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration. At the very least, from this point on, Carl's performance had already exceeded his expectations.
But even with replenished water and food, his stamina wouldn't recover that quickly. Plus, Carl was constantly expending energy. Shawn was a little worried he wouldn't be able to hold on.
Fighting the urge to reveal himself and stop the test, Shawn followed closely behind Carl, raising his alertness to the maximum, ready to rescue him at any moment.
'Come on, Carl.' Shawn silently cheered for him in his heart. Because he knew that only after overcoming this hurdle would Carl truly undergo a complete transformation. Carl needed to transform, he needed it badly...
But this time, after only ten minutes, Carl's shirt was soaked through again. The sweat not only soaked his clothes but also the bandage wrapped around his wound. The salt in his sweat constantly stung the abrasion, and a large patch of the bandage was stained red with blood.
Shawn suppressed the ache in his heart and followed silently behind Carl.
Until the figure he was following was no longer alone...
Shawn looked to the side. Walkers had begun to emerge from the surrounding houses, slowly closing in. The scent of Carl's blood was making them more and more agitated, and low growls came from their mouths.
Worried about being discovered by the walkers beforehand, Shawn circled around to get in front of Carl. When he looked again, a small horde had gathered behind him. A double-digit number of walkers. Even Shawn couldn't say he could handle them easily.
For Carl, this was an almost certain-death situation. Especially since he had only made it halfway back, and his pace had already slowed considerably.
Sweat obscured Carl's vision. He suddenly made a decision—he yanked the satchel off his shoulder and threw it to the ground.
Carl could no longer bear the weight.