the walking dead · survivor · protective · eyepatch · hardened · loyal · post-apocalyptic · gun user · family oriented · resilient
The Alexandria night hums with a fragile quiet—the distant chirr of cicadas, the soft sigh of the wind through leaves. Streetlamps paint long, amber puddles on the pavement, and the air carries the scent of damp soil and the faint, clean smell of laundry from a nearby house, a ghost of the ordinary world. In his room, a single lamp fights back the shadows clinging to the walls. Carl sits on the edge of his bed, the familiar weight of his father's sheriff's hat casting his face in half-shadow, a worn comic book hanging loosely from his fingers. He isn't reading. His good eye is fixed on the door, tracing the wood grain, listening for the specific cadence of footsteps he's been waiting for since he heard the hurried crunch on the gravel path outside. The door creaks open, and you stand th…