Heart of Dixon

Chapter 18: Something's Wrong

So very sorry I haven't updated in forever, so much has happened since the last time I posted. My computer died, I got accepted in college, and then I moved. I still don't have a new computer but I should be getting a new one this Friday which is making me super happy.

Warning: I posted this fast because I wanted to give you something so if there are any grammatical errors, I'm sorry. I reread through the stories all the time, so all will be fixed when I spot them.

Enjoy!

Robin's POV

Pain, nausea, and guilt. It was the only feelings I could name as I tried to figure out where I was. The source of the emotions was a mystery to me. Pain was the most obvious of them all. My entire body was burning with it. Especially my left arm and for the life of me, I couldn't remember why. Every time I grasped the answer, it slipped away, replaced by a headache.

Nausea-I felt sick and dizzy like the world was spinning around me too fast. I couldn't focus on my surroundings. The nausea also came with a foreboding sense like something bad was going to happen or maybe already happened. Once again the thought slipped away once it become to make sense.

Lastly guilt, the overwhelmingly crushing weight of guilt filled my entire body. It was another thing I could not remember even though a part of my brain was screaming the answer. I couldn't understand it. It's like it was screaming from underneath water, I could hear the urgency but not understand the message. Why did I feel so guilty?

Why was I so sick?

Why was I in so much pain?

The rational part of my brain began to kick in, but only a little. I was able to push some of the pain, nausea, and guilt to the side and looked around. I was strapped to a chair in the middle of the dark room. The only light streaming in was the moonlight that shone through the small cracks in the boarded walls. I recognized this place, but I didn't remember how. The screaming in the back of my head became louder. I could almost hear it until I was surrounded by an ominous whispering.

Murderer… Killer…Monster… Over and over I heard their words insulting me, haunting me. I wasn't a killer, was I?

The whispering grew louder. Murderer…Killer…Monster… I no longer had to strain to hear it, but it got louder. First, it sounded the same pitch as someone calmly talking. It became louder like they were shouting. I wanted to cover my ears, but they were still tied behind my back.

Then the voices started to scream at me. Murder!...Killer!...Monster! The screeching seemed to circle around me, it hurt my ears and it only seemed to get louder and louder. My ears felt like they were starting to bleed. I couldn't take anymore, "Shut up!" The voices stopped their shouts and went silent, and then together they laughed.

The longer the laugh went on the darker it sounded. There seemed to be several men, but I still couldn't not see them. Some laughed hysterically while others laughed deep sending chills down my spine.

"Stop laughing!" I screamed again, but they only laughed harder. Again and again I screamed, but they never stopped.

Out of nowhere I yelled, "I had to do it!" They stopped laughing. In a weak pleading voice, "I had to."

They finally appeared, it was four men looking furious and downright murderous. All of them looked like victims of a slasher flick. One had a stab wound in the middle of his chest with blood still dripping from the injury.

There were two blondes; one with brown eyes and the other had green. The green-eyed had a viscous stab through his Adam's apple and underneath his chin; the wound was jagged and bloody. His eyes were an angry dark green.

The brown-eyed one was bleeding from his temple. The blood continued to drip from the should-be lethal stab wound to his shoulder. He looked at me with such malice; I could have sworn looks could kill.

The last one was the worst to look at. He looked gruesome with all the missing chunks ripped off of him. He had bite marks up and down his arms and a side of his face gnawed off making part of his face looked partly skeletal with his left cheek missing. Never before have I ever seen such a dark and dead look in someone's eyes.

"You had to?" The gnawed man spat, "You had to kill us?"

"You would have killed me!" I screamed, "I did what I had to, to survive."

"I was just sleeping on the couch. You could have just slipped past; you didn't have to kill me." The brown-eyed blonde sneered.

"I loved you, we weren't meant to be together. I wouldn't have killed you." The gnawed man frowned while glaring.

"You would have held me against my will and raped me." I argued back, "I don't regret it."

"You don't regret it?" The man with the stab wound the stomach asked.

I did. I felt awful and empty for killing them. I had to get out and it was the right thing to do, but I still felt like I could have done it differently. Emotions and Logical thinking were battling one another. I didn't want to regret staying alive, but I did. Stupid isn't, how emotions can royally fuck with you.

"We'll make sure you regret it!" They'll snarled. They all turned to look like walkers then pounced on me snaring. I screamed in agony as their teeth ripped in my flesh. I knew it was just a dream, but why haven't I woken up. Was this my hell?

My eyes snapped open and I snapped up in the bed I was sitting. Pain shot through my body, making me groan. I remembered about dislocating my arm, I'm surprised I didn't scream my head off when Hershel was relocating my shoulder. I would give myself a pat on the back for acting strong-if it didn't hurt to do so.

"Bitty, you alright?" Sitting in a corner in a rocking chair was Daryl. I don't know when he came in; he wasn't here when I fell asleep.

"I'm fine. When did you get here?" I asked, wiping the sleep out of my eyes. I avoided looking him in the eyes, I felt like if I looked at him, he would know everything I was hiding.

"Came in during the night." Daryl explained, "Worried about you."

I liked it that Daryl was worried, but then again didn't. It would mean he would start asking questions soon. Honestly, I rather not ask anything, I just want to act like nothing happened in the woods except for falling. I doubt I would have such luck.

"I'm alright." I nodded, "Just a little pain, but I'm fine." I still avoided making eye contact, it was hard though. I loved looking into Daryl's beautiful blue eyes.

Daryl didn't look like he believed me as he scrutinized me with narrowed eyes. Somehow he knew I was lying.

"I swear, Daryl. I'm fine." I forced a smile. I knew it was obviously fake, but I couldn't make myself smile for real. I made the mistake of looking him in the eyes for a brief second, then forced my eyes to his chin and neck.

"Whatever." He huffed, "I got to go get Rick, he wanted to talk to you when you woke up." His voice was rough, just like the bearded creeper. It made me feel sick just thinking about what I did. I frowned and looked away from Daryl.

I shrugged uncaring, though the movement sent another sting of pain into shoulder, "Alright." I grimaced through the pain.

"I'll have the doc give you something too." He said.

I gave him a real smile, then settled back down in the bed. I noticed Daryl was just standing by the door, holding onto the doorknob without making any move to leave. He was just gazing at me like something was wrong.

"Everything ok?" I asked.

"I'm trying to figure that out." He mumbled, then spoke louder, "You sure you're alright, Bitty."

I looked away so I wouldn't look in his eyes again, "I'm fine, Daryl." It sounded harsher than I wanted, but Daryl left anyway without saying anything about it.

Daryl's POV

Something wasn't right; I could feel it in my gut. Bitty wasn't herself. Not once did she call me some disgusting pet name, I called her Bitty waiting for her to say something but nothing. Before she disappeared, she would always look me in the eye when she spoke to me, but now she refused to look at me. She used to chat my ears off, but now she barely talked unless she had too.

I found Rick talking to Lori and the douchebag Shane by the RV. He stopped talking the moment he saw me coming up. Lori walked off not looking too pleased with either Shane or Rick, not that I cared. Shane crossed his arms and gave me a glare.

"Any news on Robin?" Rick asked.

"She's awake." I replied, "She's not acting herself."

"What do you mean she's not acting herself?" The old man, Dale, walked up the Glenn.

"She's not herself. She looks panicked when I bring up what happened to her in the woods. She won't look me in the eye." I explained. And I just had a gut feeling about the whole thing.

"Maybe she doesn't like looking at your ugly mug." Shane smirked.

I lunged at him only to be stopped by Rick and Glenn, "You should shut your mouth!" I yelled. Something was seriously wrong with Bitty, and he thought it was the perfect time to joke around and be a dick.

"Shane, Daryl, stop it." Rick ordered, he pushed me back away, then looked at me with his hands on his hips, "Has she said anything?"

"She only has she's fine." I said.

"Maybe she's is fine, Daryl." Rick said, "She's probably still tired from being in those woods for two days. Just give some time to get her energy back and let her arm heal."

"I've seen Bitty joke around without having several nights sleep. Like hell, she's acting this way, just 'cause she was in the woods."

"Daryl, she went two days without rest, food, and water." Dale started.

"Plus, she had a concussion and a dislocated arm." Glenn added.

"Like I said, give her some time to rest and recharge, Robin will be fine." Rick said.

I couldn't believe this. It was obvious that something up with Bitty. I just know it!

"Man, y'all don't know the hell you're talking about." I snapped. I turned around and marched my way back to the farm house. Rick called out for me. I stopped, but I didn't really want to.

"Calm down, Daryl." He said evenly, "Now let's go talk to her together."

Nothing was said as we made up to Bitty's room in the farmhouse. When we walked in, she was sleeping again, but moaning and switching something awful. She rolled around on the bed and mumbled, "No, stop it. I had...to. I had to…"

I looked over to Rick and he shared a look with me. He saw it now, something was wrong with Bitty. Before she disappeared, when she had nightmares she would say 'don't hurt them' in her sleep, so I knew it wasn't the dream with her brother. Something was up, something bad-real bad. And I wasn't going to stop until I figured out what it was.

Robin's POV

I had the same dream like before when I felt someone nudging me. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I let out a tiny shriek, but when I opened my eyes, I saw Rick and Daryl standing above me looking really worried. I could only pray that I didn't give any signs about my nightmare or what happened.

"Nightmare?" Rick questioned.

I couldn't deny after my reaction, so I nodded, "Yea, it's the same dream about my brother. No big deal." I brushed it off hoping they would too. Sadly, neither looked like they would, but they didn't say anything.

Rick sat down at the edge of the bed and Daryl remained standing, "Robin, can you tell us what happened while you were in the woods?" Rick asked softly.

Inside I panicked, but I pushed it away, "After we got separated, I killed the walker and was running back when I saw Sophia." Both got tense when they heard me say that, "I called out to her from the edge of the small cliff; she turned to me and was running over when the edge gave out. I don't know what happened to her after that."

Their shoulders sank slightly in disappointment, but they allowed me to continue.

"After the fall, I had a concussion, but I got up and started to make my way back to the highway. I made it back, but it wasn't the same part of the highway. I hide away in a truck and slept. I made sure to wake up every hour or so by using a watch."

"Why did you leave the highway? Daryl found you in the woods, didn't he?" Rick asked.

"I was going to drive around on the highway for you, but…" I froze. I was going to stay until those men kidnapped me.

"But what?" Rick asked.

"But another herd came through, I had to leave." I hurried with the lie.

"How did you dislocate your arm?" Daryl asked.

I didn't even look at him when I answered, "I fell again while running. I must have hit something on the way down."

Rick just nodded slowly, but Daryl growled, "You're a damn liar!"

I jerked my head to look at him, "Excuse me?!"

"You're lying. I know it." He got closer to the bed to look me right in the eyes, "What are you hiding?" His voice made me flinch hard. I couldn't stop thinking about the man's voice, nor the look of fear that came on my face when I looked at Daryl. He saw it and backed away with a hurt look was on his face.

"Alright, let's calm down here. Robin, you look like you need some more rest. I'll have someone bring you up something to eat." Rick tried to soothe the tension, but it didn't work. Daryl was now looking away from me.

"OK." I mumbled. I crawled back under the bed. I only let go of the tears in my eyes once I heard the door closed behind them. I hated what I did, what I had to do, but most of all I hated that I affiliated Daryl with one of my attackers. He was nothing like them, none of them. If Daryl had been there, he wouldn't have hurt me; he'd beat the shit out of them and then would have got me out. But when I heard his rough, gravelly voice, I thought back to being tied on to that chair.

Daryl's POV

I hated that look, the look of fear. Before I didn't mind as much because it kept people away, but when Bitty looked up at me like that, tears forming in her eyes, I hated it. I never wanted her to look at me that way. I liked her smile; her carefree look even though the world turned to shit. She wasn't supposed to be this way; she wasn't supposed to be scared of me. Her fear only confirmed that something happened while she was out in those woods.

"What the hell happened?" Rick asked, pushing me to face him.

"I don't know." I shook my head.

"Well, you're right. Something did happen, but we can't just force it out of her. She got really scared when you tried. Just give her some more time, and then we'll ask a few more questions." Rick said, "Shit, I forgot to give her something."

Robin's POV

I jumped again when the door opened; I hastily wiped away the tears from my face and turned. Thankfully, it was just Rick who gave me an apologetic smile, "I forgot to give you this." He handed me a small toy walkie talkie.

I took it and glanced at it in confusion before looking up at Rick. He smiled, "Turn it on."

I did and waited until I heard, "Hello? Robin?" Carl's voice came through the walkie talkie. I smiled hearing his voice.

"Hey bud? How you doing?" I asked, pressing the talk button.

He laughed, "I'm good, a little sore. Did you hear that I got shot?!" He asked excited. Rick chuckled hearing it, then left.

I laughed too, "I heard about it. I'm glad you're alright."

"Me too, I'm just like my dad now. He was shot too. We should start a club." He went on.

"A club? Do I have to be shot to join?" I asked, "Because I don't want to be shot."

"I'll make an exception since you're cool." He replied.

"Thanks. We'll have to come up with a handshake and a secret password. Not to mention, we have to find a clubhouse." I listed off, smiling.

"Once we get out, we can look." Carl said, "I'm glad you're back, Robin. I wanted to be the one that found you, but I'm glad you're safe. Now we just got to find Sophia."

I smiled again, "We'll find her, buddy."

"I know-crap, I got to go. Mom's coming up and she doesn't know I have these." Carl hurried. He didn't give me enough time to reply before he cut his off. I settled back in the bed, ignoring the pain and tried to relax.

Daryl's POV

After I calmed down from scaring Robin, I thought I could go and give the flower to Carol. It would make her feel better about all this mess and maybe help take my mind away from Bitty. I asked Dale where he saw her and he said she was up in the RV.

Inside the RV, I could see right away Carol did a lot of cleaning. Everything was shiny and in order. All the dishes were setting out orderly, clean and waiting to be used. In the back of the RV sitting on the bed was Carol sewing together a hole in a blanket.

She looked up, giving me a guilt-inducing smile, "Cleaned up. I wanted it to be nice for her."

I looked around thinking of something nice to say, the woman's daughter was missing so I didn't want to act like a dick, "For a second I thought I was in the wrong place."

She smiled for a second, then looked back to the blanket. While she was looking away, I set the Cherokee Rose in an empty beer bottle down on a shelf. She looked up at it for a moment in surprise; probably she was worrying why a no-good redneck was giving her a flower.

"A flower?" She asked, looking up at me.

"It's a Cherokee Rose. The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears. The Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way. From exposure and disease and starvation. A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow right where the mothers' tears fell. I'm not fool enough to think there's any flowers blooming for my brother."

Carol wiped the tears threatening to fall and kept listening, "But I believe this one bloomed for your little girl."

More tears fell, making me uncomfortable, did I say something wrong? Then she gave a shaky laugh, I let out the breath I was holding in. I hated hearing people laughing at me, but I was glad to hear her, it told me I didn't screw up. I thought I was done so I started to walk away, I realized I kind of liked this whole 'being nice' thing so I stopped and turned back to her, "She's going to really like it in here." She gave me another smile then I walked out.

I stood outside wondering what I was going to do. I thought back to Bitty, she wasn't talking, at least not to me. Now that I think about it, I doubt she'd talk to any of the guys here. She didn't seem open to talking to Rick. I know she won't be talking to Shane, she hates him. Glenn and Dale are the one's she's closest too, maybe she might talk to them.

I found Glenn talking to T-Dog, "Hey!" I called out.

Glenn shot me a frightened look, "What is it?"

"I need you to talk to Bitty." I said.

"Why?" He asked, confused.

"Because she's close to you." I huffed, I didn't like admitting that.

"Robin's closer to you than anyone." Glenn remarked.

"I'll talk to her." Andrea popped out of nowhere.

"No." I said simply, not evening turning to her. Bitty and Andrea didn't see eye to eye. If I sent her in there, Bitty would clam up. If they talked, it would start a fight. I wanted to find out what was wrong, not piss Bitty off sending in the blond bitch.

"And why not?" She asked offended. I didn't have to turn around to see her crossing her arms out with her hip popped out.

"Because Bitty hates you and you're a bitch." I looked at Glenn waiting for him to agree to talk to Bitty.

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"Do I got to say it louder?" I snapped. I heard to stomp off, but I didn't see where she went off and I didn't care either.

"Why don't you talk to her?" T-Dog asked.

"She ain't talking to me." I replied.

"At all?" Glenn asked.

"She does, but not about what really happened. And I want to know what really happened." I explained.

"Maybe something didn't happen; maybe she really did just fall." T-Dog shrugged.

"Then why does she look afraid when I talk to her about it? Or when Rick asks? She's hiding something and I want to know." I wasn't crazy, I know something is going on, I could feel it.

Hershel's daughter, the one that Glenn was always drooling over about, came up, "I'll talk to her."

"You?" I asked. I didn't know this girl, either did Bitty.

"You want someone to talk to her. The best bet would be another woman around her age." Maggie explained, "I'll talk to her."

"If you think she'll talk to you." I said, I stepped to the side.