Carol sat with her new group thinking Ed had already gone to sleep in the tent, thinking she was safe. Sofia sat next to her talking animatedly to Carl, Lori's son. Carol was happy she'd found people to stay with though it'd taken endless begging and countless beatings for Ed to agree to stay with them. The fire in front of her flickered with light and she almost felt she could dance with joy being surrounded by new people, it would be easier to make excuses for Sofia to stay out of Ed's way. She couldn't believe she was happy in such a world like this probably because Ed couldn't beat her much as he normally did, he saved that till when she came back to their tent.
"...Does anyone have any good stories?" Dale, the older man had asked with a smile splayed across his face, his dark eyes were filled with reassurance for everyone.
Nobody spoke up, it would be nice to hear a different story instead of living in the nightmare they did. Across from her one of the two brothers whom Ed had called feral started fidgeting and soon began biting his nails. He and his brother seemed to like keeping to themselves.
"Daryl...do you have any stories?" Dale questioned himself noticing Daryl's fidgeting. Beside him, Merle snorted standing up and giving each and everyone of the camp a look before clapping a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Have fun telling em' 'bout ye Chupacabra, little brother." Merle said before treading off to God knows where.
Carol felt Sofia curl into her side more as Daryl began to recount his tale but Carol's mind was far from monsters on hunting trips. She was afraid for her daughter, Ed had been asking for her to stay with him an awful lot lately. Carol prayed every single night for God to punish Ed for what he'd done to herself and her little girl. Her eyes remained on the flickering of the fire.
"...so's I saw a chupacabra and I ain't lying. Was almost as bad as seein' Merle's naked ass when he came back from washin' down at the creek." Daryl's gruff voice cut in to her thoughts causing an involuntary grin split across Carol's face and she began laughing along with the rest of the group though for some reason Daryl didn't seem comfortable with everyone laughing so loudly but he still managed to quirk a small half smile that looked like doubt and amusement at the same time.
She suddenly felt happier than she had in a long time listening to the laughter of so many people, even Sophia was laughing. Daryl quirked a strange looking grin at Carol until it quickly fell into a wary scowl along with most of the groups. Carol's heart almost stopped as she felt Ed's familiar large sweaty hands clamp onto her shoulders from behind her, he secretly dug his nails into her collarbones uncomfortably. She could even smell him, the stench of sweat and anger and violence.
"What are you laughing about, Carol? What's so funny?" Ed asked breathing ontop of her head, the whole camp had gone quiet and the only sound apart from his breathing was Carol's heartbeat and the fire spitting out.
"Daryl was telling us about how he saw a chupacabra!" Carl exclaimed, ignorant of the danger he was putting Carol and her daughter in. There was no way to blame him, he was only young.
Carol felt Ed's hands tighten on her shoulder as he leaned over her, Carol's eyes remained infront of her at Daryl who sneered at Ed.
"What are you looking at, redneck?" Ed asked giving Carol a harsh squeeze on her collarbones silently asking her to get up, she did as she was told grabbing Sofia's hand and pulling her up as well.
She half turned ready to walk away trying to get Ed's hand so that he wouldn't cause a fight.
"Somethin a lot uglier than a Chupacabra." Carol froze in her place as she held Sophia closer to her. She prayed Shane wasn't going to kick her and her little girl out because of Ed's behaviour, she half wished he'd just take her back to the tent instead of tormenting the others.
Daryl was on his feet preparing for a fight, like he always did. He kept his grip on the knife in his back pocket tight as he watched the fat pig of a man advance his way towards him, ain't no one gotta be like that anyway.
Before either of them did a thing, the little girl starting crying into her mothers side gripping onto her shirt for dear life. Both Daryl and Ed looked back to the crying girl and Ed's eyes turned dark with evil.
"Carol get you and Sophia ass up into that tent, now!" Ed had shouted, clenching his fists in anger. "Now, I'm sure you don't have to talk to your wife like that, Ed. We're all just trying to have a good night." Dale said standing up as well, putting his hands up in a warning.
Ed scoffed, wiping sweat from his forehead and glancing back at his wife and daughter, they were in for it tonight embarrassing him like that infront of everyone...he could feel the rhythm in his hand getting louder and louder as he looked at his Carol's frightened face, hr laughed cruelly, she knew what he planned for her.
"A good night in a world like this, keep dreamin'." Ed muttered before trudging off laying ahand on Carol's shoulder pushing her passed him. She hung her head in shame, holding her daughter closer to her.
God, punish him for what he's done to us, please.
Carol still remembered the first time Ed had hit her, it had actually been a month after their honeymoon and she thought things had been going amazingly, he was Ed, her lover, her husband
. Turns out he was just waiting for her to get too tied up in his lies. She had winced in the kitchen as plates fell from the top cupboard that she'd accidentally placed unevenly, some of them hitting her in the process as well as a glass which had managed to chip and cut her finger.
"What the HELL was that!?" Carol heard Ed's voice yell from upstairs, his footsteps treading down them, though they'd been lighter back then. She turned to him, a re-assuring smile on her face, mistaking his anger for concern.
"Just knocked over these plates, one of the glasses up the top scratched me a little, should be okay though. You wanna kiss it better?" Carol had teased, tucking a strand of her once long hair behind her ear. She had expected Ed to tease with her but as she looked at him she noticed the same look her father had given her many times, still the slap he gave her was unexpected.
Her cry of pain and shock echoed throughout the house, hot tears sprung to her eyes as she held her cheek looking at the ground. The physical pain didn't even come close to the pain of betrayal she felt.
"I'm going out, clean this shit up before I get back."
First Walking dead fanfic, it'll go through highlghts of the show and flashbacks of both of their lives, eventual Caryl! :) Please review and let me know what you think, next chapter will be longer.