It really hadn’t been that long since someone had pointed a gun at Carl’s head. It had long since become a regular occurrence in his life, but that didn’t prove to remove the sense of unease that came with being in such a vulnerable position. He’d gotten lost in the moment and hadn’t even thought to pull out his own gun before he’d started fighting with the impossibly sturdy door. That was stupid and it was unlike him. He might not have been able to make his way through a social gathering without messing things up, but things like this he was usually good at. If he ended up dead today, it was because he’d let himself get wound up in emotions.
“Carl Grimes. And I want my sister.” He informed the woman firmly, straightening his stance to give him the vague semblance of anything to work with. That bit of height was the only thing he really had on her right now because going for his own gun was too obvious a motion. He glanced over the woman’s shoulder for some sign of his baby sister as he spoke. There wasn’t any sound of fussing like he’d have expected with that giant dog in the room, or even so much as a toy lying on the floor.
So he’d been stupid again. Judith wasn’t even in the room. She was probably with Negan, listening to some stupid story littered with “fuckidy fuck” and “cunt” and eating it up. She was probably even safe with him. In spite of every other cruel thing that he’d done, Carl had never known Negan to kill children for fun. If he chose to believe the stories he’d been told in the basement, there was no reason to be this worried. What would Negan have gained from hurting Judith without Rick, Andrea, and Carl present to “benefit” from the lesson?
“Where’s Judith?” He demanded, bringing his gaze back to the woman.
There was something about her that made his skin crawl when he focused his attention on her alone. She seemed so familiar and he couldn’t begin to place why. The most obvious answer was wrong; she wasn’t one of Negan’s wives. He had the photographic memory of that harem that any straight teenage boy would’ve and there hadn’t been a wife like this. There hadn’t been a wife that he thought could have survived so easily without the saviors around to protect them. This woman didn’t have the stance of someone waiting to be saved.