Ch.8

I'm sitting down by the lake with the rest of the women washing laundry. All but Lori, of course. across the lake, I hear Shane shouting something to Carl about frogs.

"Can someone explain to me how the women wound up doing all the Hattie McDaniel work?" Jacqui comments. "The world ended. Didn't you get the memo?" Amy responds. "It's just the way it is." Carol says looking back at Ed.

The girls begin naming everything that they miss sinse the world ended. "What about you, Mae? What do you miss?" Jacqui asks me. "I mostly miss my family and friends. And electricity. I like to play video games." I smile at them, then look sadly at the water.

A quick silence goes by before I hear Andrea speak, "I miss my vibrator." she shrugs her shoulders. We all giggle at her. Then Carol speaks up, "me, too" she states. We all laugh louder now.

Ed comes strolling down to us. "What's so funny?" he asks smoking a cigarette. "Just swapping war stories, Ed." Amy answers. Ed stalks closer to us. "Problem, Ed?" Andrea retorts. Carol stiffens up.

"Nothin that concerns you. And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club." he stares at all of us. Andrea stands up to him. "Tell you what, Ed. You don't like how your laundry is done, you're welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here." she sarcastically says while throwing a wet shirt at him. "Ain't my job, missy." he throws it back at her.

"Andrea." Amy tries to calm her sister down before she causes a scene. "What is your job, Ed? Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?" she spits back at him. "Well, it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart-mouthed bitch." he smirks at Andrea.

"Tell you what - come on. Let's go." Ed calls to Carol. I listen to them bicker before I stand up. "Ed, where's your sense of dignity! A real person wouldn't go around abusing someone they love! Especially over petty, little things! You're a monster, Ed! And she doesn't have to go anywhere with you! She has all of us to back her up!" I scream at him before he walks up to Carol.

As we're fighting against Ed to let go of Carol, he extends his hand to slap her as hard as he can. We all start screaming. I hug Carol as she calls for Ed. Shane has knocked him on the ground and is punching the hell out of him. We all yell at Shane to stop punching Ed before he kills him. "I'm sorry, Ed! I'm so sorry!" she repeats.

It's nighttime now, and they're still not back. 'Where are they? What are they doing?' I think to myself as I eat my fish. Dale tells us about a watch that's been handed down through generations.

Amy gets up to go to the bathroom when her sister calls out to her. "Where you going?" Andrea asks. "I have to pee. I can't be discreet around here, can I?" we all laugh at her.

All of a sudden we hear screaming behind us. Everyone turns around in terror. A herd of walkers are surrounding the camp. "Where the hell did they come from!?" I scream. Shane gets out his gun and begins to fire at them, one after another.

"Follow me!" I hear Shane shout over the walkers. Andrea runs up to Amy. A walker had bit into her neck and arm. "Oh, God!" Andrea screams as she tries to stop the bleeding, but it's no use.

"Come on! Stay close!" Shane shouts again. I run to mine and Daryl's shared tent to get my knife he gave me. I never had to use it before this. I should have kept my knife on me at all times.

As I get closer to the tent, a walker steps in front of me and stops me in my tracks. I don't know what to do without my knife. The creature snarls at me, and I back away quickly. I scream as I push it down to the ground. I quickly grab my knife after running into the tent.

I run into the same walker on the way out of the tent. It grabs my arm, and I slice at it's neck. I knock it away enough to back away and put distance between us. It stares at me and snarls again running at me.

I scream as I plunge the knife into its head. It falls to the ground, I pant as I run back to where everyone else gunshots can be heard. "Mae!" I hear Daryl yell my name. I turn around in search of him. "Daryl?" I yell back scared. The others made it back just in time.

I turn back around to find another walker headed straight towards me. I scream again before a gunshot can be heard behind it. Blood splatters everywhere when the bullet rips through its skull. It falls to the ground in front of me and look to see my savior.

"Mae!" Daryl yells over at me. I sigh in relief as I see him in front of me. "Daryl!" I scream in reply as I run up to him. "Where the hell have you guys been?!" I yell at him as I get in a stance behind him. "We'll talk about it later." he says killing more walkers. "Dad!" Carl yells. Rick picks him up while crying.

When all walkers are dead, we all stand in shame. Andrea is still hovering over Amy. By the look on Andrea's face, I knew her sister had already died. Tears begin to form in my eyes, and I put my hands over my mouth and hide my head behind Daryl's back.

A few minutes pass before Daryl speaks up. "You okay? Where did all these geeks come from?" he turns around to face me. "They just showed up. Where were you? What happened today? Why were you so late coming back?" tears begin flowing down my cheeks.

"We didn't have a ride back. Someonone took the truck. I think it was Merle." he stares directly into my face. "Where is he, then? What happened?!" I cry out. He sighs first, "Didn't find him. When we searched the roof, he wasn't there. Well, not all of him. He left his hand." he states.

"What do you mean by that?" I ask confused. "He sawed off his hand in order to get free of the geeks." He says sadly. I cringe at that. I put my hand over my mouth as I listen to his explanation.

"I'm so sorry, Daryl. It must have been horrible to find that." I touch his arm. "Look I'm...I'm sorry for leaving you here to fend off so many geeks. I didn't know there would be so many." he looks worried for me. I stare at him stumbling over his words.

Daryl looks down waiting for my response. I place my hands on his cheeks and force him to look at me. "Thank you for your concern. We've both had a horrible day. I'm still alive because you showed up just in time. I should be thanking you, not you apologizing to me. So, thank you, Daryl." I rub his cheeks.

I look at his straight face and smile. "I'm tired now. We all are. Why don't we try to get some sleep, okay?" I try to persuade him. I reach out my hand to him, "Come on." I smile at him and he follows me.