AS THE WORLD FALLS DOWN I RICK GRIMES

Shade My Eyes From the Sun

Shade My Eyes From The Sun

Slow down little one
You can't keep running away
You mustn't go outside yet
It's not your time to play...

"Whoa, where's the fire?" Alexis asked, as Carl almost collided into her, automatically catching his arm to steady him.

Carl just stared at her with wide eyes, startled, before catching himself, shaking his head as though to clear it. "I'm escaping the circus downstairs," he said, making Alexis raise an eyebrow. "Sorry," he hastily amended, "they're your friends, I" -

- "Don't be sorry, kid," Alexis said tiredly, half-heartedly punching him on the shoulder, "I was just messing. They're definitely not my friends, and they should definitely not be here."

"Then why are they?" Carl asked curiously.

"Because my brother-in-law got the wrong end of the stick," Alexis lied, knowing full well that Pete had coldly and deliberately set out to scupper her sister's plans as revenge for her going against his wishes. "He thought we were holding a sort of social mixer for your group, and he invited half of Alexandria over."

"The female half?" Carl hazarded, raising an eyebrow this time.

"The women here outnumber the men ten to one," Alexis pointed out reluctantly, "so maybe we can hardly blame them for being a little excited at the prospect of fresh meat."

"We're all fresh meat," Carl pointed out quietly in turn, "especially out there."

Alexis hesitated at this, before forcing a smile on her face. "Okay, before we give up on life entirely," she said, shaking her hair back, "why don't you come and meet my oldest nephew? Trust me," she said gently upon seeing the sceptical look on his face, "it's better than haring about my sister's house like a madman, and besides, Ron has a candy stash to make your eyes pop out."

"I like my eyes as they are," Carl said dourly, but all the same, he allowed Alexis to take him by the elbow and steer him down the hall in the direction of Ron's room.

As they came to a stop in the doorway, Ron's head jerked up, his face turning red. "Hey, Aunt Alex," he said, hastily clambering off the bed from where he'd been sitting beside Enid, nearly tripping over his skateboard in the process.

"What did I say about having Enid in your room, Ron?" Alexis snapped, not caring if Carl was there, too caught up in her annoyance to notice the way he was staring at Enid. The girl was like a ghost, appearing and disappearing at the drop of a hat, the thought of Enid creeping about Jessie's house instantly setting Alexis on edge.

"The door was open," Ron protested, "and we weren't doing anything anyways" -

- "Then why are you sitting on the bed with her!?" Alexis flared up as Enid rolled her eyes and picked up a comic book, all but blocking Alexis out.

"Stop embarrassing me," Ron whined, his face turning red again at Alexis's insinuation, "you're not my mother!"

"Hey," Mikey said nervously, edging around Alexis as he came into the room, "is... is this a good time?" He glanced at Alexis, half torn between admiration and anxiousness, his crush on her colliding with his nervousness upon seeing he'd just walked in on a family row. He usually dropped by the Anderson house when nobody was about, particularly Pete, but just when he thought he was in the clear, here he was, in the middle of World War Three.

"It's okay," Alexis said, exhaling sharply, "you don't need to head for the hills just yet."

"Cool," Mikey tried to say nonchalantly, his gaze then falling on Carl, seeing and seizing upon an opportunity to change the subject. "Who's the new guy?" he asked, making Alexis do a double-take, before hastily remembering Carl was there and why.