I woke up from the light chirping of birds and the sunlight shining into the tent through the fabric. I sat up with a yawn, stretching my arms above my head. I shuffled out of my sleeping bag, trying not to wake Glenn up. I saw Ace just waking up like me. I slipped on my socks and boots and slipped out of the tent silently. I walked out to see Dale on top of the RV. He must have had the early watch this morning. I climbed up the RV ladder. Ace who followed me out of the tent sat at the bottom of the ladder patiently.
"Good morning," Dale greeted me once he noticed that I was there. He sat in his blue lawn chair with his signature fishing hat and his binoculars.
"Good morning," I replied quietly.
"How'd you sleep?" Dale asked.
"Good," I responded. I still had what happened yesterday on my mind.
"You sure about that?" Dale inquired looking over at me.
"Yeah, I just still feel like yesterday was my fault," I admitted. I hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him alone yesterday.
"Why do you feel guilty this time? You didn't like it was your fault until this time," Dale pointed out. I thought for a moment, wondering what was different this time.
"Glenn and Merle got hurt," I explained.
"That makes sense," Dale responded.
"It does?" I asked, looking over at him.
"You risk your own well-being, not others," He explained to me. The more I thought about it, the more what he said made sense.
"You want to protect everyone else; You want to help so when your actions lead to someone getting hurt, it hurts you," Dale continued.
"I don't feel any better about it now," I told him.
"That's a good thing, June," He said.
"It doesn't feel good," I replied.
"It makes you a good team member," Dale stated. "You are going to think of others before yourself, just like Glenn thinks about you before himself."
"He really shouldn't do that. He needs to worry about himself," I retorted.
"He thinks the same thing about you," Dale responded.
"I still don't like that he got hurt," I said.
"He got hurt because he put himself in danger. Not because of you," Dale assured me. I sighed at his reply, not feeling much better. I heard an unzipping sound from behind me. I looked back to see Glenn coming out of our tent. He had a swollen eye from yesterday which made me feel sick with guilt. He came up to us, climbing the ladder. He sat with us in a lawn chair beside me. I sat in between them in my lawn chair.
"You're up early," Glenn commented as he sat down.
"Yeah," I replied.
"It's a beautiful view up here. I see why you like it," Glenn said to Dale.
"Yes, it is. You can see the entire quarry from here," Dale replied. I looked out to the view, enjoying it as well. The sun had already risen, but the colors of the sky were still gorgeous. You could see the tops of the forest's trees from the vantage point we had. It wasn't a view you could get just anywhere. Watching the sunrise in the city was pretty, but this is just breathtaking.
"You feeling better than yesterday?" Glenn asked me.
"A little," I replied. I didn't feel much better, but Dale always knew how to put things in a better light.
"Good, Shane is wanting a few people to go to the highway today. Tomorrow we need to go back into the city for food and some other tools. I want you to stay here for a few days," Glenn explained to me. I nodded, not liking the idea of staying at the camp, but I agreed. I didn't feel great at the moment.
"I already talked to Dale. He said he'd keep an eye on you," Glenn said.
"Okay," I said quietly.
"It's just for two days, then we'll see about you going again, alright?" Glenn said. I nodded in reply. We heard a commotion below us.
"Hey, can I come up?" We heard Carl call up to us. I gazed down at Carl, nodding to him. Glenn decided to go back down before Carl climbed up. He sat where Glenn had a moment ago and looked out to the view we had been enjoying for a while.
"We're so high!" Carl said, looking in awe at the height we stood at. I looked behind me to see Lori and Shane smiling at each other weirdly. I decided to ignore it, since it wasn't my business and enjoy my time with Dale and Carl.
It wasn't long before everyone was awake and breakfast was ready. I was starving, ready to eat, and very excited to try squirrel for the first time. We had kept the squirrel stored away in the Rv's freezer until now. The squirrel honestly just tasted like the rabbit, but slightly different. It was good though. I liked it.
"Alright, can I get everyone's attention!" Shane said.
"We are going to need volunteers for today going to the highway again for gas as well as tomorrow to go into the city," Shane said. He got Glenn, T-Dog, and Jacqui to volunteer for the highway. For the city, Glenn, Jacqui T-Dog, Juan (Morales), and Andrea volunteered to go. Daryl told the group he was going on a hunting trip and was going to look for Merle.
Amy seemed very nervous about Andrea going to the city, but she was comforted by her sister into being okay about it. Glenn, Jacqui, T-Dog, and Daryl left to go to the highway in the U-Haul. Dale took place upon the RV again and Shane and Lori seemed to have disappeared somewhere. Ed and Carol stuck together over by their tent. Ed seemed to mind his business today and I didn't feel like picking a fight today. I saw Sofia and Carl coming over, sitting beside me.
"Hey, how are you doing?" Carl asked cheerily. I smiled over at him.
"Good, you two?" I asked them both.
"I'm good," Carl replied. I didn't hear much from Sofia for a moment, but then saw her fake smile before she replied.
"I'm good too," She replied, clearly not fine. Carl didn't seem to notice though. I looked at her, waiting for her to tell me that she wasn't okay. She wouldn't even look me in the eye. Carl had run off somewhere while I wasn't paying attention, so I asked her.
"What happened?" I questioned her. She looked hesitant to answer.
"I already know something happened. I just need you to tell me," I spoke to her softly.
"I don't want to start another fight," She whispered to me with pleading eyes.
"I won't start a fight. I promise," I stated as I looked into her eyes.
"Dad got really mad while everyone was asleep…" Sofia started. She rubbed her arm that was covered by her sweatshirt. I knew what she meant. She didn't have to say anything else for me to understand.
"I don't feel safe," She confessed with teary eyes.
"Maybe you can stay with me for the night. I'll ask Glenn tonight and Carol when she's away from Ed. Okay?" I asked. She didn't want a fight, but I wanted to help her. She nodded to me, hugging herself for comfort. I wrapped an arm around her, trying to comfort her.
"Why don't we go for a walk down to the water?" I suggested, wanting to help her get Ed off her mind. She nodded in agreeance and we walked down to the pond. No one was fishing today so we had the pond to ourselves. I slipped off my boots and socks, setting them on a rock by the water. I felt the gravel poking my feet and the light breeze coming past Sofia and I. She followed my lead, taking off her shoes. I walked into the shallow water with Sofia behind me. Just as I turned to look at Sofia, I was splashed by the water.
I saw Carl beside Sofia giggling at me. I got ready to splash them back but Ace came charging into the water splashing all of us. This became a splashing fight, soaking us all even though we were only at hip level in the water. Ace swam further into the pond as the splash fight continued. I giggled, having fun playing in the water. I sighed as I stayed with Carl and Sofia for the rest of the day. Playing cards, hanging out with Dale, running around and playing tag together, and anything else we found interesting until dinner.
Glenn came back, bringing a new arrival with him. The man's name was Jim and he seemed nice enough. He wasn't the main priority though; Getting Glenn to agree to Sofia staying with us for the night was. I walked a few feet from him, motioning for him to come to me.
"Hey, how was it today?" He asked.
"Good," I replied.
"Good," He went to leave.
"Wait!" I said.
"Yeah?" He questioned.
"Ed hurt Sofia and she wants to stay with us for the night. Can you ask Carol?" I asked him.
"She told you he hurt her?" He inquired. I nodded, knowing she didn't say it. She didn't need to. Glenn sighed, seeming deep in thought for a moment.
"She said she doesn't feel safe," I quoted Sofia from earlier, staring at Glenn for an answer.
"I'll ask Carol, but I can't promise anything," Glenn whispered to me. Glenn led me to the campfire with him. Carol was cooking with Lori so I left him to ask. I waited anxiously for her answer even though I couldn't hear them. I saw her nod her head, and hope rushed through my body. Glenn nodded to me and I ran to tell Sofia.
"Sofia! Sofia!" I called running to her. "You get to stay the night with me."
"Really?" She replied excitedly. I nodded grabbing her hand. We ran to Glenn, Carol, and Lori.
"Are you sure you want to take on three kids for the night?" Lori asked Glenn who nodded to her.
"I'll be fine," Glenn replied.
"Three?" I asked.
"Carl's going to stay with us too," Glenn told me. Sofia looked over at me, seeming even more excited than before.
"I'm going to go tell him," Sofia said running off to do just that.
"I'll grab Sofia's sleeping bag," Carol said, leaving to do so. Lori grabbed Carl's sleeping bag too. Both women handed them to Glenn who packed them into our tent. Carl and Sofia returned, happy to have a sleepover together.
Dinner was served soon after and it became dark quickly. Glenn stuffed us all into the tent and He struggled to get into his sleeping bag in the cramped tent. Not to mention Ace came to cuddle in between Sofia and I. Carl was on the opposite side of Sofia, and Glenn slept on the other side of Carl. I smiled, sleeping peacefully for the night knowing my friend wouldn't be hurt, even if it was just for tonight.
I KNOW THIS IS A SHORT CHAPTER BUT I WANT TO LEAVE THIS DECISION UP TO YOU! SHOULD RICK APPEAR IN THE NEXT CHAPTER OR SHOULD WE WAIT FOR A FEW MORE CHAPTERS?