Heart of Dixon
Chapter 4: A Shit Ton of Drama
Rewritten and edited by the wonderful 0rchidd
I do not own the Walking Dead or Daryl. Though I do have a very sexy Daryl poster in my room. *Drools at poster* What was I saying...? Oh right, Walking Dead isn't mine. Just Robin...and my poster.
Daryl, Rick, Glenn, and T-Dog left two hours ago and I really wished I hadn't listened to Daryl and went with them. I was so worried about the four I did everything to take my mind off of them. I helped Dale work on the RV, just handing tools to him. Then I helped Jacqui and Carol fold clothes. Then I helped Morales clean the fish that Amy and Andrea caught. Jim's little melt down or whatever took my mind off the men for while, I was curious about why he was digging holes. Avoiding Shane took a lot of my time too.
Now I was sitting by the campfire while Morale's wife, Miranda, cooked fish. I was thinking there was nothing left to do except worry about Rick and company when I saw Carol and the other women walk by with large baskets of clothes and a wash board. I jumped up and ran over.
"Do y'all need any help?" I asked.
"Sweetheart, you've been running around helping everybody, relax for a bit." Jacqui laughed.
"We already accept you as part of the group, you don't have to work so hard to impress us." Andrea smiled.
"I want to help, it keeps my mind off of things." I bit my lip. And I don't have any of my books to occupy my short attention span.
They gave me a sympathetic smile and handed over a basket and a washboard. We climbed into Carol's husband's, Ed, Cherokee and rode down to the quarry. Immediately I got to work washing casually listening to the other's conversation. Jacqui and Andrea were not at all happy about washing clothes while Shane taught Carl how to catch frogs. Normally I would have agreed with them but right now I'd prefer to keep my mind busy with work.
"Can someone explain to me how all the women wind up doing all the Hattie McDaniel work?" Jacqui asked.
"The world ended. Didn't you get the memo?" Amy replied making me laugh. Amy and I got along famously. We spent a long time taking, forgetting about the world, it was all girl talk and nerdy. I was glad to have a friend.
"It's just the way it is." Carol said looking back at Ed.
"Someone's got to do it, and I doubt any of the men are going to volunteer. Though if we stopped washing their clothes for a while that might change something." Amy laughed at me and nodded.
"We should totally do that. I'm tired of scrubbing boxers anyhow." Amy agreed.
"Some of them wouldn't care. Like Daryl, the man will wear the same clothes for a week not caring that he stunk." Andrea complained wrinkling her nose.
"Merle's the same, well was." Carol said.
"I bet he's still alive." I scrubbed at a shirt, "The man seems like he's too stubborn to die from something like dehydration."
"Oh my God, please tell me you don't like that jerk." Amy laughed splashing me.
"What? No! I'm just stating what I think." I defended myself.
"Riiiiight…you sounded like you were admiring him." Amy grinned.
"I did not!" I was smiling and blushing.
"You kind of did." Andrea agreed.
"No I did not!" I squeaked.
"I'd be careful around them. Merle and Daryl aren't men you should get involved with." Carol said in a motherly tone. The other women nodded and gave sounds of agreement.
"They're not that bad." I spoke silently defending them. I know I'd only known them for a day really, but I somehow knew deep down that they weren't awful men. Merle telling me about how Jacob really died said a lot about him, he valued family. He might not show it outwardly but he did. Both Daryl and Merle did.
"Trust us, honey, those men have trouble written all over them. It's best you just leave them alone." Jacqui said in the same motherly tone as Carol. Andrea and Carol nodded as Jacqui preached.
"You're a good girl. You deserve something better than them." Carol said, "What about Glenn? I can see you with Glenn."
"Or Mark, you'd be cute with Mark." Andrea suggested. I had no clue who Mark was.
"Guys, please, I don't need to be hooked up with anyone. I don't have feelings for anyone, so please stop."
"Alright, but let us know and we'll work magic for you." Jacqui smiled. I could see her imagining me with Glenn or that Mark fellow.
I was not attracted to Merle at all, but Daryl on the other hand...I was totally attracted to him. He was a sexy man with his big arms, sexy voice, and beautiful blue eyes. It was so strange for me to be attracted to a man so fast, I usually avoided dating. I didn't want to wind up as my mother who thought she needed a boyfriend to be happy.
We were silent for a long time just scrubbing clothes with our brushes. Every so often Amy and I would stop and have a splash fight resulting in me getting completely soaked. The quiet brought back the worrying thoughts I'd been trying to avoid and then there were the other thoughts that the girls brought up.
"I do miss my Maytag." Carol brought me out of my thoughts.
"I miss my Benz, my sat nav." Andrea stated.
Jacqui wringing out clothes, "I miss my coffee maker with that dual drip filter and built-in grinder, honey."
"My computer and texting." Amy pouted at the memory.
"I would give anything to have my iPod and all my books." I whined. My thoughts went back to the stuff I dropped back at the tank. I missed my stuff, but I didn't bother to ask the guys to go pick it up for me since I thought Merle and the guns were the first priority.
"I miss my vibrator." Andrea spoke up making all of us bust out laughing. I missed my hitachi wand so much, so many memories came from the beautiful machine. I could only last two minutes with it on high before I was screaming from the pleasure. Sorry if that was TMI."
Carol looked back at Ed turned smiled conspiratorially, "Me too."
The last thing we accepted was for sweet, little Carol to admit that. We laughed even harder. Amy and I slumped laughing against each other almost falling in the water.
"What's so funny?" Ed came up behind us.
"Just swapping war stories, Ed." Andrea smiled. We all turned back to our work, smiles gone now.
Ed came up behind all of us, checking us all out. I started reaching for my crowbar; I always had it beside me. The Guide said always keep weapons on hand, and that's how I survived. Amy saw me slowly reaching for it, her eyes widened.
"Problem Ed?" Andrea asked with attitude.
"Nothin' that concerns you." I could feel Ed's eyes on me and his breath on the back of my neck. I'm not scared to brain you, pig! I thought.
"And you ought to focus on your work." He ordered.
"Yes master." I mumbled. I sent him a glare holding my crowbar in my lap where he could see. I may be a coward when it came to the dark but if any man ever tried messing with me I made sure he regretted it. I would really like to brain him after I saw the marks on Carol's shoulder or how scared Sophia got when he was around.
"This ain't no comedy club." He said to Carol. Make one wrong move against her and it's over for you! I felt a protective urge surge through me for Carol. She seemed so delicate.
Andrea huffed and rolled her eyes before getting back to work. Ed still stayed behind us not allowing any conversation. It didn't take Andrea long before she had enough. When she stood up, I followed her.
"Ed, tell you what, you don't like how your laundry is done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here." Andrea threw the soaked shirt at him. He only threw it back hitting Andrea in the mouth.
"Ain't my job, missy." Ed snapped.
"Andrea, don't!" Amy came up behind us.
"What is your job, Ed?" Andrea advanced towards him. I was right behind her, "Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?"
"Being a no class, uneducated, filthy pig?" I suggested with a shrug.
"Thank you, Robin. Which one is it?"
"Well it sure isn't listening to some uppity smart mouth bitch and a dike."
"A dike?" I repeated with a smirk, "Please Ed, you can do better than that."
"Tell you what-come on. Let's go." He yanked Carol up smacking her across the face.
"Don't you fucking touch her!" I was ready to bury the teeth of my crowbar into Ed's skull when Shane popped out of nowhere taking Ed down. He beat the shit out of Ed while Carol watched screaming for him to stop. Shane threatened him before walking away. Carol helped Ed up and they went away.
"Hey you alright?" Shane came up to me asking.
"Don't touch me!" I snapped and hurried away.
"What is your deal!?" Shane hurried behind me grasping my arm making me turn around.
"My deal!? You are the reason my brother is dead! That's my fucking deal!" I yelled in his face.
"I didn't kill your brother!" He yelled back, "Who told you that?"
"Merle did. He told me how you didn't want Jacob to save them 'cause you don't like them. How Jacob went anyway making you mad. You sent him out to distract the walkers, saying there was a truck. But the truck had no gas in it. Jacob was bitten because of you!" I sobbed.
"I was mad because I didn't think Merle or Daryl Dixon was worthy of his death, of anyone's death." Shane took both of my arms into his hands, "Your brother was a friend of mine, and I did not want him to die. I didn't know about the truck not having gas. If I had known I wouldn't have sent him. Jacob did it several times before, I thought he could do it again and it's a mistake that still haunts me. I swear to you that I didn't know."
Shane was calmer now looking down at me. What he said made sense, Merle never said Shane did it intentional right? It could have been a mistake, a terrible mistake. I should forgive Shane, shouldn't I? Isn't it the right thing to do? A tiny voice in the back of my head told me not to trust him. Another voice told me not to let Shane know how I didn't trust him.
"I'm sorry. I guess I needed someone to blame." I apologized.
"Hey, it's alright." Shane smiled charmingly, "If you ever need anyone or anything, I'll take care of it…personally." He added it with a wink. He glanced me over with a smile making me very uncomfortable. Then he gave me another wink before walking off.
"Whoa, Shane's got the hots for you!" Amy squealed behind me, "I didn't think you'd be each other's types."
"We're not." I said walking up the path.
"I saw how Shane was checking you out." Amy grinned.
"He's the last guy I'd ever want to get involved with. Besides I'd rather not have a boyfriend who I could lose anyone any day." She stopped smiling at that.
"I can understand that." She spoke quietly.
"You lost someone?"
"Yea, your brother." Amy answered with a frown. A tear fell down her face.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know about you two…" I trailed off.
"Nothing was going on. I liked him, but when he saw me, he saw you. He wanted to find you so bad. He told me all about you. Said how the two of us would be such good friends." More tears slid down from her brilliant blue eyes.
"I'm sorry that you lost him too." I frowned.
"Thanks." She sniffled, "Gosh, look at me. I hate crying! Come on let's get back to work."
For the rest of the afternoon we washed clothes, hung them up, and folded them. Then I retired to listening to music with Amy in my and Jacqui's tent. We talked about books this time, and our favorite mythical creatures. She and I both really loved mermaids. We were both big kids when it came to fantasy things like that.
"Amy! Robin! Dinner's ready!" Andrea called out from outside the tent. Amy sat down beside Andrea and I sat down beside Dale.
"So Robin, I've been curious." Dale started, "What all did that book tell you about?"
"The best places to hide, the best weapons for killing zombies, or walkers, all kinds of stuff. Even the best vehicles to take." I answered taking a bite out of my fish.
"It tell you to always have a crowbar on hand?" Shane asked.
"It said always keep a weapon on hand, preferably a silent one. So I have two knives on me and I never go anywhere without my crowbar. It's kind of a good luck charm."
"How's it a good luck charm?" Carl asked.
"I was trapped in a dollar store closet. Several walkers were outside, I didn't think I was going to live through it. The crowbar was hidden on the floor behind some boxes. I used the boxes to climb up to the air duct above and used the crowbar to pry the covering off. I've used it several times to escape and it's an awesome weapon to kill walkers." I replied with a smile.
After that the conversation veered away from me, thank God. Most of us were silently enjoying the fish. I felt the worry come back again. The men haven't made it back yet, what could be taking them so long? I prayed they were alright. Please God, let them be on their way here with Merle.
"I got to ask you man, it's been driving me crazy." Morales broke the silence bringing me out of my thoughts.
"What?" Dale asked with a kind smile.
"That watch." Morales pointed at it with his fork. The others were nodding and smiling wondering the same. Looking up at the watch, it was just a regular wrist watch, nothing too special.
"What's wrong with my watch?" Dale, still smiling, asked.
"I see you every day, the same time, winding that time like a village priest saying mass." Morales laughed.
"I've wondered this myself." Jacqui laughed.
I looked over expectantly to Dale. I saw nothing wrong with it. Maybe he was just holding on to something normal. If I could, I'd be still dying my hair purple, but I couldn't waste the precious water to wash out the remainder of the dye and I've never stayed in one place long enough to actually dye it. It would just be too stupid to risk my life trying to get a dye kit anyway.
"I'm missing the point." Said Dale.
"Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to come to an end." Jacqui smiled.
"Time-it's important to keep track-isn't it?" Dale asked looking around. I gave him a smile, I've never really thought about keeping time but I wasn't going to argue with him about it. Maybe it was important, maybe it wasn't.
"I like what a father said to his son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down from generation to generation. He said, 'I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me. I give it to you not so you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it.'"
"Faulkner." I smiled. Dale sent me a surprised, yet kind smile.
"You are so weird." Amy joked ending the epic silence with laughter. Amy then stood up walking away, grabbing Andrea's attention.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
Amy leaned down slightly, "I got to pee. Jeez, you try to be discreet around this place." Amy frowned walking to the RV.
The men entered my mind again. I frowned looking down drawing shapes into the ground with the sharp end of my crowbar. I wanted them all back. Glenn who risked his life to save Rick and I. He seemed to be a nice person and had the potential of becoming a friend. I needed Rick to come back since he was now my brother and the one who kept hope alive for me. Then Daryl and Merle…
"You need to stop worrying, Robin." Dale whispered to me. I looked up shocked, no one else had noticed it today.
"I just thought they would be back by now." I whispered back.
"They'll be here. You worry like my wife did. She would work all day to try to forget about it. I've seen you running all over camp offering to help everybody." He gave me an understanding smile.
"I just hope they all make it back safe. I've been having this terrible feeling in my gut all day."
"A terrible feeling? Like what?" He asked with a frown.
"Like something bad is going to happen." I looked up to meet his eyes, we were both frowning.
"Hey guys, we're out of toilet paper." Amy called out from the door of the RV followed by a blood-curdling scream. A walker appeared out of nowhere latching onto her arm with its teeth.
Suddenly several walkers were limping out of the woods. One limped its way over to Lori and Carl. It wasn't able to get far before I stabbed it in the head with my crowbar. Another came closer but I brained it with the teeth of the 'bar.
I was in the middle of stabbing a walker when I felt my feet pulled out from under me. Trying to eat through my steel toe boot was a legless walker. My crowbar was still lodged in the previous walkers head. I yanked my boot out of the walker's mouth and crawled to the other walker's body. I tugged my crowbar out then stabbed it into the legless walker.
Staggering back to my feet, my hair was grabbed from behind. As teeth drew closer, (OK, this is cheesy) but I saw my life flash before my eyes. Not really, but I was thinking about it. I remembered the faces of my parents, who were dead to me before this happened. I could see my brothers again, Jacob and Erin. I missed them.
Right as the teeth began to close on my neck, a bolt shot through its temple. I yanked my hair from its grasp as its body fell to the ground. Standing not too far was Daryl, with gun and crossbow in hand. He handed me a Glock pistol and went back to killing. I used the gun to down the rest of the nearby walkers.
Finally none were left and the sound of the guns stopped, it was silent except for the sound of cries. Andrea sobbed over the dying Amy. Watching the scene brought tears to my eyes, Amy had become my friend. Rick, Lori, and Carl held onto one another. Morales' family cried as they held each other. Everyone had someone to hold, except for me. I stood out by myself. Daryl stood off in the shadows of the woods watching too, Merle-less.