CHAPTER 8 – I WON'T STOP NEXT TIME
It was a hot day, even more so than normal. The group had taken a break from their jobs, aside from Dale, who sat atop the RV keeping watch. His hat was pulled low on his head, protecting him from the heat.
Andrea, Amy, Carol, Jacqui, Lori and Andy all sat around the lake at the bottom of the meadow. Andy has been with the group for five weeks now and she finally felt like she had gotten to know them. She laughed, joked, bickered and talked to everyone. There were, of course, some members of the group Andy did not always see eye to eye with, but today, those moments were forgotten, as the women lounged around the water, trouser legs rolled up, feet dipping in the water and faces smiling upward toward the heat of the Georgia sun. They had been having a care free conversation, a rare opportunity that the women had snatched.
"What do I miss most?" Amy said, replying to Jacqui's question, "I miss my laptop! Facebook and Instagram… I miss chocolate and I miss Buffy the Vampire Slayer!" the women laughed as Amy pulled an over-exaggerated sulking expression.
"I miss my vibrator." Andrea muttered, loudly. The women giggled mischievously.
"Me too." Exclaimed Jacqui.
"Me too!" laughed Andy.
There was a stretch of silence punctured only by the giggles of the women.
"…Me too…" Carol admitted, quietly. The women threw their heads back and fell in to fits of laughter. Andrea was slapping the grass as Andy wiped tears from her eyes. No one had expected to Carol to say such a thing.
Behind the unaware women, Ed tried to listen in, cursing that he could not hear the exchange by the lake. He pulled his cigarette tin from his pocket, popped off the lid and removed a roll up. Grumbling, he counted six. Six roll ups left until he was out of tobacco. Anger boiled through Ed's body as he shoved the roll up between his lips and lit the end. He stuffed the tin back in to his pocket and stomped towards the women, who were still laughing loudly, making Ed grate his teeth as he approached them.
"What's so funny?!" Ed spat, his voice raised, at the women, making them all jump. Carol's eyes fell to her lap and she sat on her hands. Andy noticed how she had begun to shake, and was trying to cover it from the other women. Andrea narrowed her eyes and spoke flippantly to Ed.
"Just swapping war stories, Ed." Andrea smiled nicely at the man, but the smile did not reach her eyes.
Ed continued to make his way to the women, his eyes set on his wife. Andrea sprang to her feet and stepped in front of Carol.
"Problem, Ed?" she asked the man, tilting her head, her brow furrowed.
"Nothin' that concerns you. And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club." He looked down at Andrea, smirking slightly, feeling in control. He took a long pull of his cigarette and blew the smoke in to Andrea's face. Andrea wrinkled her nose, batting the smoke away from the air in front of her with her hand. She stared at Ed with intent. Andy rose to her feet cautiously, standing near Andrea, fearing a fight. It was no secret Ed was an aggressive man and Andy was not stupid enough to believe the stories Carol would make up to explain a blossoming bruise. Andy's eyes flicked back and forth between the pair and she watched Andrea place her hands on her hips, lips pursed.
"Ed… Tell you what." She began with a sarcastic smile, "You don't like how your laundry is done? You're welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here." She bent down and picked up a dirty shirt from the pile and pressed it in to his chest. Fuming, Ed grappled for the shirt and threw it back in to Andrea's face with force.
"Hey!" Andy shouted holding her hand out towards Ed. "Ain't my job, missy!" he spat as Andrea pulled the shirt away from her face and threw it to the ground, placing her hands on her hips.
"And what is your job, Ed?" she yelled, "Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?!" she laughed sarcastically. Ed scoffed at the woman and smiled, eyeing Andrea with disgust.
"Well it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart-mouthed bitch!" he made to move around Andrea towards Carol, "You know what?" he said holding a gesturing hand out to Carol, "Come on."
Carol made to stand, when Andy placed a protective hand atop her shoulder. "I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed." She told the man in the calmest tone she could manage.
"And I say it's none of your business!" he yelled, pointing his finger at Andy, making her back away nervously. He moved back towards Carol, "Come on now, you heard me!" he demanded.
Carol rose from the floor, her hands shaking furiously. Ed leaned back on the balls of his feet and crossed his arms across his chest, grinning smugly as he watched his wife obey his command.
"Carol…" Andrea called to the woman, reaching out her hand. Carol pushed it away, still looking at the ground.
"Andrea please, it doesn't matter." She shuffled towards Ed, clutching her hands together in an attempt to stop herself from shaking. Taking a deep breath, Andy stepped between the pair.
"She's not going anywhere, Ed." Andy told him, her eyes burning with determination. Ed closed the already small gap between himself and Andy, looking down at her, a threatening glare in his eyes.
"Hey! Don't think I won't knock you on your ass just because you're some British college-educated cooze, Alright?" he said in a terrifyingly quiet voice. He shoved a stunned Andy aside and approached his wife, gripping her wrist, "Now come on, or you're gonna regret it later!" he pulled on Carol's wrist and Jacqui rose behind the scene, holding her arms out, confidently.
"So she can show up with fresh bruises later?" Everyone was stood up now, crowding around Carol, backing her up. Ed's eyes shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, we've all seen them, Ed."
Tears began to silently fall down Carol's cheeks Ed let go of her wrist, laughing. "Stay out of this!" he yelled at the women. "You know what? This ain't none of y'all's business! You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I'm done talking!" he grabbed Carol once more and yanked her towards him, "Come on!" he turned around and began to walk away.
Andrea surged forward, pulling Carol away from the man, "No!" she yelled. Amy ran forward placing her hands on Carol's shoulders.
"Carol you don't need to…" she began.
Ed span around stalking quickly towards the women. "YOU DON'T TELL HER WHAT! I TELL HER WHAT!" he screamed.
Daryl's head snapped up as he heard the distinct yell of Ed. He had heard him shouting more than once. At Shane, at the group, but mostly at his wife and kid. Daryl jogged to the top of the hill and looked down to the meadow. The scene in front of his eyes disturbed him. Ed was furious, shaking with anger. The women were all stood poised like lionesses, Carol enclosed in the middle crying. Daryl scrunched his face together when he looked at Ed once again. He had seen that face before, he knew that face too well. He had grown up with that face. This man was about to lash out.
"Shit." Daryl muttered, throwing his bag down on the ground. He stripped the rope of rabbits and squirrels he had caught and dropped them on top of his bag. His crossbow remained on his back and his knife in his belt.
CRACK
The slap echoed across the meadow and bounced off of the hill. Carol had fallen to the ground and the women were in uproar. Daryl had known that face. Daryl began to run towards the scene. He pushed himself, panting, seeing the women, including Andy, attempting to hold Ed off.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Andy shouted shoving Ed. Daryl hated himself for not being faster as he watched Ed swing the back of his hand across Andy's jaw. She cried out, clutching her face.
Ed raised his hand once more to deliver another blow, a blow that would never happen.
Ed guffawed, the wind completely knocked out of him as Daryl tackled him to the ground.
Daryl hovered over Ed's body, clutching the throat of the man. He raised his fist and brought it down on Ed's cowering face with a fury. A sickening crunch made the women cringe and blood streaked across Daryl's knuckles.
"Daryl! Stop!" an incoherent voice rang quietly in Daryl's ear, he forgot about it quickly, bringing his fist down on the man's face again, again, again and again. With each punch Daryl delivered to the man, the harder he found it to stop. Blood gurgled in Ed's throat, his lip split, his eye puffed up, and bruises sprouted across his skin. Daryl lowered his fast and bunched the blood-soaked fabric of Ed's shirt in his hands, he lifted the man's face to meet his own, his lips inches away from Ed's ear.
He spoke in a deadly quiet tone, the words dripping from his mouth like acid, "Ya' put ya' hands on ya' wife, ya' lil' girl or anybody else in this camp one more time, I won' stop next time, d'ya' hear me?" he moved his face to meet the broken man eye to eye, "D'YA' HEAR ME?!" he shouted. Daryl dropped the man and his head fell back on to the grass. He whimpered in pain. Daryl stood and put all of his effort into a hard kick into Ed's side. He groaned, unable to move.
"Oh, God! No. God!" Carol sobbed, dropping to her knees beside her husband. "Ed, I'm sorry. Oh my God. Ed, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Ed." She whimpered.
Daryl paced, his ears ringing. He was seeing red. The commotion of the women telling him to stop, the loud sobs of Carol, Andy shouting his name. All of it had gone over his head. He had given Ed the first punch with intent of teaching his a lesson. The rest had come from a place of Daryl's past, and he had realised now that he, in that moment, had become the person he had been most paranoid about becoming. His Father. Daryl had always been the sobbing wreck beneath a drunk, anger crazed man with a single intention, dominance. Ed was that man, Daryl's Father had been that man, and now he felt he was that man.
A hand on his shoulder pulled him from his thoughts and he jumped around, cringing away from the touch. He met Andy's eyes immediately, his eyes like a magnet to hers.
"Daryl…" she began. He had not heard the gentle sound of her voice wrapping around his name in weeks. Yet, he cut her off.
"Nah." He told her quietly, shaking his head. He walked away, leaving Andy behind. He could feel her eyes on his back as he made his way back up the hill of the meadow. But he did not turn back.
Guys, I am so, so sorry for the week delay.
I ended up doing an extra shift last week (Wednesday is my writing day) and I couldn't find the time to get this chapter down.
As you've read I made a big change in this scene. I felt it was appropriate for Daryl to take Shane's place in this scene to accommodate for the plans I have for his, Andy and Carol's characters.
Please, leave a review. Please, let me know what you think. This is chapter eight and Ii have only received one review so far, and I am really doubting myself on what you guys think and what you would like to see, so I beg you, please take an extra two minutes to let me know what you think of the story so far, or what you would like to see in the future.
A big thank you to all of the new favourites, and followers, you know who you are!
xx
