A/N: Hey y'all, I just wanted to thank everybody who started following my story, or favorited it (Is that a word? Well, now it is). It means a lot to me that you guys like it. This is my first real attempt at writing a fan fic after a couple crash-and-burn attempts. Please feel free to leave comments, especially if you don't like it. I'd love to hear feedback on how I could improve my story.
As to my main character being a tattle tale: yes, she is. But nobody's perfect, eh?
Rick, Glenn, T-Dog and Shane ran out to deal with the walker, as I scrambled out of my tent. I heard Rick yell at Andrea not to shoot it, and that they would deal with it, but as soon as they were minutes out, she raised the weapon and aimed. I guess she couldn't get a clear shot, because she lowered and lay down on the top of the Winnebago. Dale yelled "Andrea! Don't!" but she didn't listen. I knew Andrea was going to take the shot, because I had noticed her stubbornness over the past few days. I didn't think twice as I rushed my way over to the RV and climbed on top. I wanted to yank Andrea away, but she'd already fired. I saw the walker go down and I heard her let out a laugh of relief. It quickly disappeared when we hear Rick yell "NO! NOOO!"
"What'd you do that for!" I yelled at the blond woman. So many things were running through my mind. The shot could've attracted walkers; why did she need to prove herself so badly?; why did Rick yell no? Everybody came running out of the house, and Hershel was pissed. "What the hell is going on out here?" He yelled.
I pulled the rifle away from Andrea and dragged her off the RV.
"Andrea, you really need to cut this bullshit and start listening to Rick. Your shot might have attracted a herd of walkers, and you put all of us in danger. If Rick says he'll handle it, he will. The four of them wouldn't have have had any problem taking that walker down nice and quietly. Stop making all this about you." I yelled at her.
"Shut up bitch! You can't tell me what to do! I took down that walker, I saved us all!"
Then I turned around and ran to the group surrounding the walker. It seemed like they were now carrying the it and I started to think that it might not be a walker at all to begin with. When we got closer, I saw that it was Daryl who was limping between Shane and Rick.
"Oh my God, is he dead?" Andrea asked frantically. I guess she ran after me "You just grazed him." I was relieved, but I couldn't help my self. "It's a good thing you're so inexperience Andrea, otherwise you would've killed him!" Andrea looked down in guilt. I couldn't hep but worry about Daryl when I saw him hurt like that. I didn't want him to die.
"Look at him, what the hell happened?" Glenn butted in. "He's wearing ears!" I took a close look at Daryl and saw that he was, in fact, wearing ears on a string around his neck. Well, that was disturbing. Rick quickly took those off. "Let's keep that to ourselves."
Suddenly T-Dog's voice stopped us all. "Guys, isn't this Sophia's?" he asked, holding up a doll. I gasped for breath. Another sign that she was alive! But first, we needed to get Daryl inside.
Once Daryl was in Hershel's qualified hands, I stomped off to Andrea. I don't know why I was so angry with her, but all this shit from her about having to prove herself nearly got somebody killed today. When she saw me coming, she started walking the other way. "Oh no you don't." "What do you want Jessica!" She yelled in return, as I yanked her around. "Make me feel even worse? Rub it in how I nearly got Daryl killed? What!" She had been crying and I could see in her face that she felt guilty. My anger calmed a little and I decided to take a different approach. Yelling at her would only push us farther apart, and I knew that above everything, we needed each other together as a group if we wanted to survive.
"Listen Andrea, I need you to realize that you're a valued member of our group. You're smart, and strong, and you care. But you gotta stop thinking that you're not allowed to shoot because you're a woman. Rick could care less about that. He just wants to make sure that those who know how to shoot have a gun, because he wants to prevent accidents like the one today. I know you wanted to protect the group, but you let this whole gender discussion get in your way. It got you all riled up and it made you too eager to pull that trigger. The fact that they don't want you to carry a gun has nothing to do with the fact that you're a woman, it's got to do with the fact that you are too eager." My voice had gotten softer, I needed her to understand that I was sincere and honest with her. "I don't blame you Andrea, I know what it's like to be a woman in a world that seems to be dominated by men, but I am asking you to think twice next time. We can't have friendly fire killing our own. And what if a herd of walkers had heard your shot? You could've signed your death sentence." She nodded, and she dried her eyes.
"Tomorrow, Shane is gonna teach us how to shoot. You should come, because I have a feeling that there's gonna be a day all of us will need to take aim and fire."
With that, I left Andrea alone with her thoughts. "Thanks," she sniffled. I looked back and gave her a small, encouraging smile. I saw Dale coming up to her and comfort her. As I walked away, I stopped real short. "How's she holding up?" Dale inquired. "She'll be fine." "You weren't too harsh on her? She's a good girl." Dale defended her. I smiled at his protective nature. Andrea was lucky to have him as a friend. "No, I don't think so. She needed to be told to back off though. I think she got the message." Dale nodded, then moved on towards Andrea. He was better at it than I was, I just wanted give her a piece of my mind. I knew she wouldn't be punished. If this were a regular day, she could've gone away for attempted murder, so I wanted to at least have her understand the severity of what she had done. But she also needed to know that she had a chance to redeem herself. Nobody had gotten seriously injured.
I walked inside to see how Daryl was doing, when Rick and Shane came out of the door. Lori was waiting for them and I joined her. Rick and Shane had an argument about whether or not to stop looking for Sophia, but I was with Rick on this: we couldn't stop, not when we had found hard evidence! I could feel the tension rising between the two, so I slipped into Daryl's room. However, that didn't stop me from catching Shane throw me a dirty look.
When I closed the door I heard a sound behind me. Daryl shifted on the bed, quickly covering his bare chest like a little boy afraid I might give him cooties. I chuckled at the amusing sight of the grown, muscular man acting so childishly. "How are you feeling?" I asked him, walking over and sitting down on the edge of the bed.
"Why do you care?" I heard the hostility in his voice and I sighed, not feeling the emotional strength to deal with his angry mood. I got up again. "Look Daryl, I didn't come to fight. I just wanted to make sure you're OK. You had me worried there when you went down." My voice was soft. "What's it to ya? I'm just some disgusting redneck. Leave me alone, I don't want you here." For some reason, that last remark stung. "Ok Daryl, whatever you need. I hope you feel better soon." I walked towards the door, but when I was halfway out, I wanted to tell him one last thing. "Please know that we're all grateful for what you've done for Sophia. Especially Carol." I left the room, and took a couple of deep breaths to steady my heartbeat and choke back some unwanted tears. I was really starting to get good at that. I was hoping that I was establishing something of a place for myself in this group, but it seemed like I hadn't fully been accepted still. That didn't stop me from worrying about the people though, and I was frustrated that I had started to care about them already. It seemed that, if I didn't care too much, I wouldn't get hurt either.
I walked to the kitchen, pretended everything was fine and helped out with the preparation for the big meal. When I had the chance, I walked up to Carol. "Hey, I think it might be a good if you would go up and talk to Daryl. He shut me out, and I figured that you have more experience with little boys, being a mom and all. You might be able to get through to him." She looked up at me and nodded. "I'll go bring him some dinner when it's ready." "Thanks Carol. So, what can I do?" I asked changing the subject before it got too much for me to handle. For the rest of the afternoon, I cut vegetables, cleaned herbs, and boiled potatoes. For the very first time in a while, I felt normal again. Standing in a kitchen, cooking with two other women, making a meal for a large group of people. It reminded me of home, and my big family. Our house seemed to be a central meeting point for everybody: aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, grandparent, boyfriends and girlfriends, fiancees... I smiled at the memory of our packed kitchen on a random weekday, and I sighed in content. Carol and Lori were really nice to me, and they made me forget I had felt so rejected by Daryl before. I finally started to feel part of the group.
The dinner itself was rather awkward, to be honest. It was eerily quiet, only the sound of cutlery scratching the plates and glassed being lifted and put down echoed through the room. Glenn, the sweet boy, attempted to improve the atmosphere by asking if anyone played guitar. Apparently they had found it somewhere in an abandoned car, but nobody knew how to play. "Otis knew..." Patricia whispered. Glenn's smile dropped from his face and turned around uncomfortably, having brought up the hard loss. "He was actually quite good at it too." Hershel added. And with that remark, the short conversation ended as miserably as it had started not a minute before.
When the torturous dinner was finally over, I helped clean up. I didn't have anything else to do, and it occupied my find. I was numbly drying a plate, when Lori asked me if I could go upstairs and pick up Daryl's dishes. I quickly looked around to see if Carol was there, to ask her if she could do it, but she wasn't in the kitchen. I took a deep breath and put a fake smile on my face. "Sure." I put the plate and towel down and moved to the stairs. I could do this; I was not going to let Daryl get to me. I was just running an errand, and he just so happened to be in the room where I had to pick something up. No big deal.
I knocked on his door softly, but I didn't hear a reply. I quietly opened up the door just enough to see that Daryl's back was turned towards me. I heard a soft regular breathing pattern, indicating he was sleeping. I was relieved, because I wouldn't have to deal with him. I snuck into the room and grabbed the plate, but when I looked up, I was shocked. Daryl's back had been partially uncovered in his sleep and I could see several scars running across his back. It took me a second or two to snap out of the stare I had been engaging in, and I made my way out of the room.
While I walked downstairs my mind started filling up with reasons why his back could be so mangled, none of them very pretty. It started to make sense now why I had thought that there was more to Daryl than his rough exterior. It seemed a defence mechanism. As I realized this, I also figured that I knew very little about him, and that he might be much more tormented than I had ever anticipated.
