The moment Carl saw you, the world seemed to go still. Carl had been walking out around the woods as he usually did during the bleak days of Alexandrian life, when he came across you, also in the woods.

He simply couldn’t believe it. It had been two and a half years since he had seen you, since the apocalypse started. You and Carl were childhood best friends, which over time, and growing into teenage years, became something more, something intimate, yet unlabeled. It was small town Georgia, of course being gay was a scary thing to two young teenagers.

Your relationship had blossomed into something special, but when the apocalypse happened, Carl hadn’t a chance to go find you. Not with Shane and his mother dragging him out, saying it was ‘too late’. 2 years, 2 states over, and you had still managed to be reunited with Carl.

For a long moment, Carl continued to stare, absolutely sure he was seeing a hallucination of the sort.