:( guys i'm not getting any reviews. i'm honestly really saddened by this. i didnt think my writing was that bad...
It was later in the evening when the crew had arrived back. I hadn't emerged from my truck since the exchange between myself and T-Dog, but I saw them clear as day. I counted heads as each of them came up the hill. There were four missing, and I felt my heart sink to my stomach. Dale had greeted them, but from what I could tell as soon as they arrived he was in a frenzy. Something had happened while they were out. I made a move for the window, to let myself outside, but I stopped, pulling my hand away from the latch. I couldn't bring myself to leave the truck.
I felt eyes on me and looked up. Daryl's gaze had found me, and he meandered over to me, sauntering through the cars. His pace slowed as he neared the truck and he stood outside of the window, studying me before opening it. He eyed me up and down, but I didn't move from where I sat, arms around my knees.
Slowly Daryl climbed in, depositing his crossbow where he had the night before. He didn't shut the window behind him, and the cool night breeze felt good on my skin, as it had gotten hot in the truck. He sat silently next to me for a short while before clearing his throat.
"Dale told me about T-Dog, how he's not doin to hot." Daryl's voice was quiet and he hesitated. I looked up at him and he looked at me, unsure of what to say next. He swallowed hard, running his thumb against his lip.
"T-Dog is sick because of me. If I hadn't been so far from the group, he wouldn't have had to come back for me." I said shaking my head and burying my face in my knees. "I couldn't even stitch him up properly"
"Don't do that ta yourself. Once ya open that jar ya can't close it." Daryl said harshly. His tone hurt, only making me feel more stupid than I already did. Evidently he realized how harsh he sounded and he cleared his throat. Softening as much as he could. "T-Dog cut his arm on a door, an as far as I'm concerned, if yah hadn't been there he'd have been walker meat long before I coulda got to em." Again we were silent. I knew he was right, I knew I had done all I could for him with the supplies we had, but I couldn't stop thinking these awful thoughts. I glanced up at him and as I expected he was watching me.
"What happened out there?" I asked quietly, wanting to change the subject. Daryl hesitated, looking away from me. His silence caught my attention and a feeling of dread crept back to my stomach.
"Carl was shot." He said plainly. I felt my mouth drop, a slight gasp escaping it.
"What happened?" Daryl shrugged, running a nervous hand through his hair.
"I'ono. I wasn't there. The group split up, Rick and Shane wanted to continue searchin'n Carl went with em. We had been separated maybe'n hour when some bitch rode up on white stallion" I narrowed my eyes at him and his terminology and he fidgeted under my gaze. "She knew Lori's name'n everything. Told us Carl was at her farm'n he was shot."
"Oh my god… Poor Lori. How's Rick?" I asked. Again Daryl shrugged.
"Not sure. He wasn't with us when it happened, but if I had ta take a gander, I'd say he's probably not doin to well. We paused and I looked up at the RV. Dale and the others had grouped up front and now the old man was flagging us over. I groaned, pulling myself to my knees, and Daryl followed suit.
A decision had been made amongst the group. We decided we had to move, we couldn't just stay here to be walker bait, and much worse, T-Dog was in awful shape. I glanced over at him, drowning out the conversation.
"If Sophia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful." Andrea said matter of factly. There was a pause and Daryl spoke.
"Okay." He agreed. I looked up to him, watching the wheels turning in his head. "We gotta plan for this. I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies." Daryl gestured with his hands and I nodded dumbly as I listened to him. The others seemed to be in agreement that the idea was sufficient, leaving Daryl surprised because they never agree with what he had to say. "I'll hold here tonight, stay with the RV." My brow raised at his last statement and I gave a slight shake of my head. No body noticed, except for Daryl and he shot me a look. I frowned at him, his look not staying my thoughts.
"If the RV is staying I am too." Dale interjected, nodding his head. Andrea agreed and I finally spoke up.
"If you're staying so am I." I said defiantly, crossing my arms in front of my chest. "I always get left behind, I'm not useless ya know!" I said, my voice nearly a shout. My thoughts returned to what T-Dog said earlier and Daryl frowned at me.
"No, no, you two are going. Take Carol's Cherokee." Dale said, pointing between Glenn and myself. Glenn scoffed, putting his hands on his hips.
"Why is it always us that gets left behind?" he asked, gesturing widely between us. I looked up at Daryl for any kind of reassurance but he gave me none, merely looked down at the ground. I felt a lump forming in my throat and I swallowed it, feeling utterly betrayed.
"You two have to find this farm, reconnect with our people." Dale said to Glenn before turning to me. "And most importantly you have to get t-Dog there. You said it yourself Beau, his blood infection is bad and you of all people know its getting worse by the minute." I closed my eyes, turning to look at the sick man who sat on the back of the RV. It was sweltering outside and he was bundled in a blanket, shivering excessively. My stomach dropped at the thought of sharing a car with the man. "This is not an option."
I flinched, shying away from the man who had just scolded me like a child, but not before throwing a glare in Daryl's direction. The hunter seemed regrettable, but still he said nothing to me.
"Get him to that farm, see if they have any antibiotics, because if not, T-Dog will die." Dale continued, his focus back on Glenn. Daryl stood thoughtfully for a moment, before turning and walking away from the group. I watched him leave, crossing quickly to his motorcycle, as did the rest of the group. From the messenger bag he produced a bag full of pill bottles and I gasped, watching him walk back over to the rest of the group.
"Why'd ya wait til now ta say anything?" Daryl asked, bringing the bag back over to me. He held it out to me in a way that could only be described as cautious and I snatched it from him, still angry about his lack of back up. Quickly I opened the bag, rifling through it, going through label after label.
"Crystal, X, don't need that." I muttered under my breath, throwing them to the side. Daryl watched me quietly before looking at the others.
"Got some kick as painkillers in there." Daryl said with a smile as I pulled out a bottle of oxycotin. I ignored him, tossing the bottle to Dale. The old man caught it easily, examining it. I grabbed out the next bottle, reading the label, pleased with what I'd found.
"Oxycycline." I felt my spirits begin to rise and Daryl nodded from where he stood next to me. I looked carefully at the bottle, reading the label and dosage.
"Not the generic stuff neither. It's first class." Daryl assured us. He was right on that account. This was an expensive pharmacy his brother had. "Merle got the clap on occasion." Daryl said non-chalant, shrugging his shoulders. I felt my face scrunch in disgust and I wiped the bottle off on my pants, as if it were dirty.
Daryl watched as I did so, shaking his head at me and storming off into the pile of cars on the highway. I frowned at his back, wishing I hadn't shown such disrespect for his brother's things. I debated going after him, but T-Dog moaned from behind me and I was torn between the two.
"T, I got some shit for you." I finally called to the large man at the back of the Rv. I held my hand out for Dale to give me the painkillers and he did, also handing me a bottle of water.
Glenn, T-Dog and I left quickly after that, piling into the Cherokee. It was hard to move T-Dog onto the seat, but we managed to finagle him with Dale's help. Daryl had not returned from wherever he walked off to and looked in the direction he'd gone, hoping he'd come back so I could say goodbye.
"Don't take it too personally." Glenn piped up from the back where he was packing up a few supplies. I looked over to him and he watched me carefully. I gave him a weak smile, looking down at the ground between my feet. "He's taking Sophia going missing harder than the rest of us. I wouldn't be surprised if he went back out there on his own." Glenn said, looking off into the tree line. A silence passed over us and I sniffed indignantly. T-Dog moaned again.
"We should get going." I said, climbing into the back seat with the injured man, placing his head in my lap. Glenn nodded, waving to Dale who sat ever vigilant on the top of the RV.
Glenn started the Cherokee, putting it into gear and pulled off softly, as not to jostle our injured passenger any more than he already was.
"Thankfully there's a farm on the map, which I'm pretty sure is the farm the girl was talking about, its only a few minutes up the road." Glenn rambled from the front seat. I tried to listen, but my thoughts were far away. I stared out the window at the countryside. There was movement between two of the cars and I looked up.
Daryl was making his way back to camp, but stopped suddenly when he saw our car pulling out. Our eyes met and he seemed to frown, looking after me as I pulled away. I turned carefully in my seat, not wanting to go and he gave me the smallest gesture, one I hadn't quite expected from him. Slowly he took a few steps towards the retreating car and raised his hand, stretching it out towards me, as if he were asking us to stop.
But it was too late. We were too far-gone and Glenn hadn't seen him. As I lost sight of Daryl I turned back around in my seat looking straight out the window in front of me.