Chapter 9 – Deja Vu

Carol felt her heart jump a bit in her throat when Daryl broke into a smile. Her demand that they get to know each other was apparently met well with him. He cleared his throat a bit while he waited for her to ask her first question. He steeled himself to tell her the truth, no matter how uncomfortable the questioning might be.

"Let's start with the basics. Just tell me who you are. Not just your name."

"Daryl Dixon, but ya know that. I'm a carpenter by trade. In my spare time, me and my buddy Glenn fix up that old house. Not much more to know about me."

"Do you have a family? I don't want to put them out by taking over your house."

"No family. Just me, and I don't live there yet. Got a daddy and brother, but they aren't around no more. No wife or kids either. You ain't putting anybody out."

"So, Daryl, do you do this often?" Her unexpected smirk told him that she could be trouble if she wanted to be.

"Do what?"

"I don't know, rescue women in trouble? Offer jobs to strangers? Ride in ambulances with attack victims? Take your pick."

He knew that although she was making light of the situation, she was in fact genuinely curious. To keep her at ease though, he matched her sass with a little snark.

"Nah. I'm too busy feeding starving orphans and rescuing whales to do much of that anymore." It worked. He was gifted with her laugh.

"Seriously though, why did you help me? You don't even know me."

"Don't gotta know somebody to do something to help them when they're gettin' the shit kicked outta 'em. Just gotta be a decent enough human being, I guess. Suppose me and Glenn qualify." He tried to be flippant, but she was having none of it.

"Don't do that. Don't make light of the amount of help you are gifting me with. It means a lot."

"So, Carol Mason; time for a little information on you now. Tell me anything you want but start with how you ended up in Georgia."

"Well now, you know already that being Carol is new to me. Who I was before? Well, she doesn't matter. I don't ever want to speak my old name again. That woman? She was too weak. That woman had a bastard of a husband who thought it was fun to break as many bones as possible. That woman finally found strength inside an ER and within an unlikely ally in a nurse. That woman took an envelope of cash from the nurse. She used it to buy a bus ticket as far away as she could get. It was supposed to get her to Atlanta. By the time I hit Kentucky, I knew that woman was gone, like she just burned away into ashes. That was when I became Carol Mason. The guy that attacked me was a seatmate on the bus. He saw me panicking at the prospect of nowhere to go. He offered up a few nights with himself and his wife. He had told me so many stories about them that I thought he was safe. I was obviously wrong. We were walking from the depot to meet his wife when he attacked. That's all I know."

"Rick Grimes, he's one of the deputies that came to help you when we called 911. He said the guy don't have a wife. He's a single drifter. He's been here off and on for a year. Goes back and forth to Michigan to get money from a family member."

Carol said nothing about the mention of her home state. She just turned away sadly. She hoped Daryl didn't pick up on that when she said, "I can't believe that I trusted a stranger like that. It makes me feel stupid."

"Guys like that? Like your husband too? They get into your head. They make you trust them just so they have an opportunity to catch ya off balance. They thrive on it. My old man was like that when I was younger. Him and my brother? Shit. They always made me feel stupid. But here I am, living the straight and narrow life I am, and they are sitting up in prison. That there tells me that the ones that wanna throw ya off are the stupid ones."

Carol didn't know what else to say but was rescued by the appearance of Andrea at her door.

"Knock-knock. Am I interrupting?" Andrea was smiling, but hesitant to interrupt their discussions as she peered through the doorway.

"Not at all Andrea. Daryl was just telling me a little bit about himself."

"Well by all means, continue. I just wanted to let you know that you should be released in about an hour Carol. Did you want me to contact the staff at Servants of Sacre Cour?"

Carol smiled at Daryl and looked up at Andrea. "That's ok Andrea. I won't need you to contact them. I need to get out of here as soon as I can with him still here. I am going to be staying at Daryl's house as long as the offer's still good." She looked at him with a hint of reservation in her eyes. Daryl wanted to erase all doubt for her.

"Offer's still good. Andrea, can you make sure Rick knows where to find us? If he needs to talk to Carol more, maybe it would be good to do it there."

Andrea grinned and nodded. She left back to the nurse's station to get started on the release paperwork. With Carol having no clothing except those in evidence, she quickly brought her a pair of scrubs that would fit her well enough until she could get more clothing. When Daryl came out into the hall to find the restroom, she whispered to him that Carol may be in need of a shopping trip for clothing and personal items. Daryl promised he would take her shopping as soon as she was up for it.

An hour later, as she was preparing to leave the hospital, Carol couldn't help the intense feeling of deja vu that swept over her. Every motion she made reminded her of the last night in Michigan in the ER. Her hand was re-wrapped and splinted. The smell of antiseptic was in the air. She had her personal belongings bagged and under her arm. She had bid farewell to another kind nurse. She had sample packs of pain medication rather than sleeping meds this time in her purse. She walked out the doors with Daryl, once again being offered the prospect of freedom from a kind stranger. She was finally about to really start life as Carol Mason, and she couldn't wait.