Side Of A Bullet

Shane had gone off the deep end, no longer able to keep quiet when he saw his once best friend leading a walker towards the barn. This man was going to end up getting Lori killed and he could just not have that. Angry words were exchanged as the group followed the scene, the men ready to step in if they had to. Tessa mirrored Daryl's steps but stayed a good fifteen paces behind him unsure of what was going to happen. After shooting the walker Herschel had been leading repeatedly in the chest to prove to the old man that she was in fact dead, he shot one final shot through her forehead to put her down for good. The group stood by watching the spectacle play out until Shane started to open the barn. There were pleads and protests from almost every member of the group for him to stop what he was doing. Even Tessa was surprised at her own voice as it came out softly almost like a whispered prayed that everything didn't go as horrible as she was imagining.

Daryl glanced back at her, their eyes locking for a brief moment, and with a short nod he had ended their silent conversation. Tessa trusted him with her life and if he said to stay where she was then her feet weren't going to move until he told her it was okay. She watched as Shane broke the doors open enough so that the dead could start tumbling through the open space. The Greene daughters' sobs floated through the air, mixing with the gunshots as one after another walker was put to rest. The dead were stumbling right towards her but Tessa never felt safer with Daryl standing in front of her. Sweat beaded his brow and coated his skin as he took out each walker with precision.

Silence; an eerie calm after the chaos that had just occurred. Daryl kept his eyes trained on the corpses in front of him, not even glancing in Tessa's direction until he knew they were safe. Well, as safe as they could be with Shane coming apart at the seams. The tension that settled over the members of the group was almost tangible, a dense smog of racing minds. It was the slightest shuffle that brought Daryl's eyes back to the barn doors. The gentle creak brought a few more eyes back to where the mangled bodies laid. It was the low growl though that stabbed every member of the group right through the heart.

Tessa heard the sobs and the shuffling feet as Carol dashed past her in search of what used to be her daughter. Tessa barely got out Daryl's name for him to stop her but there was no need. He had caught the hysterical mother with one arm keeping her back from the monster that was no longer her daughter. The little girl's name spilt from her mouth, over and over, like if she said it enough that maybe Sophia would hear her. Shane actually appeared guilt ridden as Rick stepped closer, his gun aimed at Sophia's head. This wasn't how it was supposed to be; children were supposed to outlive their parents by decades. But that was just another thing this new world had taken away from civilization. There were no more rules, no more right or wrong, or even destinies. The evil spread throughout the land without worry of wealth, age, religion, or race.

The shot rang out through the air, her small body crumbling to the dusty ground. Carol had slumped over, heart wrenching sobs racking her frame, as Daryl held onto her as if he let go she would fall into a million pieces. Images of his past flashed through his mind, seeing his old man lying in pool of his own blood but he pushed the memories down. Locking them away in his mind, he tried to get Carol away from the scene not wanting anyone else to have to deal with the weight of those pictures that would forever be seared there.

"Don't look," he tried to haul her to her feet, angling his body so that she wouldn't have a direct view of her daughter. "Don't look."

Carol cried out in a fit of desperation, pushing away from him and running off toward Dale's RV. Tessa still remained in her spot though she knew any danger was gone. She could see him working hard to push keep the memories from overtaking him. Tessa had to admit she was having a difficult time handling it as well but she had her time to grieve. The second he stalked past her it was like taking her feet out of the invisible lock he had set them in. She spared a sorrowful glance at the Greene family before catching up to Daryl who was headed in the direction Carol went.

"You can't fix her anymore than you can me," Tessa tried to stop him for going after the weeping woman.

He shook his head as he kept walking, "Don't look so broken anymore to me."

Because I had you, she thought to herself as she silently followed in his footsteps because if he was going to take on this guilt she was going to make sure he didn't end up drowning in it instead.

X-X-X

"We're ready," Lori came to the door of the RV and told Carol.

Tessa instantly went to move but saw Carol stayed rooted in her spot, staring out the dirty window. Lori tried again but Carol refused to go. Daryl was even taken back, adding his own, "That's your little girl."

"No," Carol shook her head. "My Sophia died a long time ago."

Lori excused herself leaving Daryl and Tessa in the RV with Carol. Tessa thought they could wait it out, that she would change her mind, or come to her senses but Carol just sat there staring out that damn window. Tessa felt her whole being fill with anger. If she was still the person she had been before the world went to shit she would have bit her tongue and walked out the door without a second glance in the woman's direction. However, she wasn't that woman anymore, and she couldn't help as the words rolled off her tongue with great ease.

"You selfish, bitch."

Daryl stopped chewing on his thumb nail as Carol's head whipped in Tessa's direction. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Tessa refused to back down, her fiery red hair almost amplified by her anger. "You're a selfish, bitch. This man," she held her arm out in Daryl's direction for emphasis, "Spent every day out in those damn woods looking for her. For what? He took an arrow and a bullet for someone you claim 'died a long time ago'? No, you had some hope, some sliver of a prayer locked in there somewhere that she would come running back into your arms. Don't disrespect him by not going to her burial and don't you dare disrespect your daughter's memory."

Tessa left the RV, having said her part and knowing if Carol responded she didn't have full control over her temper and she was liable to take a swing. She paced the dirt pathway, counting to ten so many times that even the numbers were starting to piss her off. Tessa was the one whose stomach dropped the second she saw Daryl being carried into the Greene's house. It was Tessa that didn't move from his bedside until he was awake and even then she stayed up the whole night making sure he wouldn't slip off. What had Carol done? Bring him dinner on a tray with a muffled thank you.

Daryl silently exited the RV and if she hadn't been paying attention she would have missed him as he went towards where they were burying the bodies.

Of all the things that the apocalypse had changed death remained the same. Tessa couldn't recall who spoke, if anyone had given some kind of eulogy at all, as her heart beat hard against her chest. She thought about her own loss since this whole ordeal had started, the lost loved ones of the people standing around her, and especially the ones that were able to slip off into the darkness before the epidemic hit. The freshly packed dirt held a finality to it all that Carol should have been there to see. She should have paid her respects instead of carrying around the notion that if she pushed it down it would go away. Tessa's eyes shifted over to Daryl and worry creased her brow as he stood, gripping the strap to his crossbow so tightly that his knuckles were white. One more glance at the new grave and he had enough, his steps eating up the ground to get as far away from it as possible.

X-X-X

Tessa stood with one hand on her hip and an eyebrow arched as Daryl set up his tent away from the camp. She had half of a mind to find Carol and shake her until she realized that this world came with consequences. Atlanta was barely safe enough to let kids run free before the world turned upside down. Now? Well, now it was just plain reckless. Children didn't need freedom or self-exploration, they needed to be watched after under a strict eye and taught to follow commands without a second of hesitation. They might not grow up to be peacekeepers but they would grow up and more importantly they would be survivors.

Deciding that she cared more about where Daryl's head was at than Carol's excuses she made her way through the yard. She sat down on a log that was set in front of the pile of sticks he would light later for a fire. He didn't object to her being there but he certainly didn't welcome her either as he continued to slide his knife over the stick in calculated strokes.

"This doesn't fall on you," Tessa finally spoke up though she kept her gaze on the laces of her boots. He snorted in disbelief and rage flashed through her eyes as she stood up. "Fucking Christ, Daryl, the guilt needs to fall on her for letting Sophia more than an arm's length away from her. You did everything you could for that little girl. You're brooding like you lost your own goddamn child."

"Sophia wasn't mine!"

Tessa didn't flinch from his volume or his proximity as he got in her face, an unhumerous chuckle falling from her lips. "Neither was Kaitlyn and yet here you are four years later still holding my damn hand." He kept his face stoic but she saw the memory flash through his eyes. "I'm not going to let you pull away. You can't do anything without people anymore. And so help me God if she pulls you down with her I'll show her the side of a bullet."