Chapter 18

I nodded, still trying to shake the dream out of my mind. I stood up and put my boots on. He soon did the same, the coming over to me. I looked at him in small confusion, he placed on hand on the back of my neck and kissed me passionately. He knew I wasn't okay but didn't want to ask.

After a short amount of time, I pulled away slowly, "We gotta get moving..."

He looked at me with worried eyes, "You wanna eat first?"

"I'm not hungry but you can eat, I won't rush you" I say going over to the workbench

"Alright" He says cooking up a squirrel

-some time later-

I was standing by the door, looking out the window. Just standing here killed me. What if something horrible happened and I wasn't here to protect them? Will they blame this on me when I find them? Is it too late...?

"You ready?" Daryl asks licking his fingers

"Yeah..." I nod and open the door

He grabs my hand, "We gonna find 'em don't worry, Dodger"

I sigh and walk out the door, followed by Daryl who was full of disbelief.

We weren't too far from the shed when I picked up a trail. I crouch down and examine it.

"What is it?" Daryl asks

"Not a snake trail" I stand up and start following in the engraving planted in the dirt

"Then what is it?"

"A lead. Carl probably did this. No one else, from what I could tell, doesn't care enough to be followed" I don't lift my head from the ground

He sighs again, "Y'all got off on the wrong foot"

"Yeah yeah yeah"

"Dodger listen to me" He grabs my wrist

"Daryl is it that important to stop me now?" I ask getting annoyed

"No, I guess it ain't" He says with an attitude and lets my hand go

I shake my head as I look back at the ground. The engraving is getting lighter which worries me. We have only been in woods for a short while. I stop and look closer

He doesn't say a word, just looks around. I roll my eyes and following the faint canal. I soon found myself at the front doors of a church. Sighing, I started walking around the building, taking a good look at it.

"'You'll burn for this'...?" I say aloud but quiet

Daryl peers over my shoulder to see what I had just read. He feels the markings and sighs,

"Either a fingernail or a knife" He whispers

"To carve it?" I ask looking around more

He nods and follows me around. I went over to a stained glass window and stood on my tippy toes to see if I could see anything. Since I was too short, even on my tippy toes, I sighed and looked for shorter windows.

"I got ya" Daryl says, sitting me on his shoulder

I put my hands and face against the window to look inside. I can pick out many human, bodily like figures walk around, pacing back and forth. There were living people inside here. I squint my eyes to see if I could get a better look, but instead I found myself falling off of his shoulder and onto the ground. Opening my eyes, I take a look around to find no one. I was alone yet again. The sun was starting to go down and I was alone. Daryl was gone. What the hell did I do to him?

I go to sit up but end up screaming out in pain. Look down at my left side, bleeding. It was too dark to see what impaled me. I put pressure on my side and slowly stood up, dealing with the unbearable pain. Picking up my crossbow, I started getting light headed from the loss of blood. I started taking deep slow breaths, but it was too late. Before I knew it, I had passed out. On the ground I was again.

When I awoke, I was laying on a couch and constant stabbing and pulling on my impaled side. I go to push away whatever was at my side but I was tied down.

"Let me go!" I say, my face was covered

"Dodger, it's alright. Stop moving please" Maggie spoke quietly to me

"M-Maggie...?" I ask turning my head her way

"Yes it's me. Let me finish stitching you up"

"Alright..." I let out a small sigh and try to lay as still as possible

What seemed like forever but probably wasn't, she was cleaning my side up. The cool alcohol on my skin burned.

"There, you're all done"

"Thanks Maggie..."

"No problem, if it wasn't for Carl you'd still be out there"

"Carl saved me?" I ask confused

"He did, managed to carry you in too"

"Oh okay..."

"I'll let you rest. Rick won't let me take the bandana off, I'm sorry..." She says sighing, exiting the room. Her voice wasn't like it was before, something was wrong.

I lay on the couch and sigh. My arms and ankles are tied so I can't move. I try to move around and try to get comfy when a hand is placed on my side. I wince in excruciating pain but the hand doesn't move or jerk back.

"Stop that hurts..." I say through my gritted teeth

The mysterious hand gently lifts up my shirt and grazes over the fresh stitches.

I go to cry out in pain but I manage to bite the bandana some how. Again, the hand doesn't move. I wanted to thrash around in pain but I couldn't. Tears were streaming down my hidden face, my body tense.

"Daryl what are you doing to her!?" Rick asks coming over towards us

"Just wanted to make sure they were alright..." Daryl says

Rick gently removes the bandana, revealing my face with tears pouring out of my eyes. Daryl doesn't look at me, just my wound.

"You're hurtin' her!" Rick says sternly at him, removing his hand from my side

Daryl glances at Rick and goes over to the small window and peers outside. Rick undoes my binds and pulls a chair next to me. I don't move much but I can finally get comfy.

"Rick, what's wrong...?" I ask wiping my face. He is looking at the floor like something is on his mind

"When you guys left to get dinner yesterday, shit hit the fan. Carol decided that she wanted to take over. I didn't want to leave without you guys, but she made Abraham knock me out and they left. We need to do something..." Rick looks up at me, desperation in his eyes again

"Why'd she take over though?" I didn't get it

"She thinks Daryl and I are different now, that we favor you and think you're better than everyone else"

"But that ain't true..."

"I tried tellin' her that but she wouldn't listen"

I sigh, "I'll figure something out Rick don't worry"

"We will figure this out together" Rick says, placing a hand on mine in a friendly way.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Daryl glancing over, expressionless. He doesn't care anymore...?

Rick flashes a friendly smile, puts the chair back and exits the room. I lay back down and pull a blanket over me. I stare at the religious sayings on the wall. Daryl was still by the window and hasn't moved or said a word. Something was wrong with him too...

I don't say a word, do I have to? What's to talk about? I don't want to get on his nerves but I probably did already and I don't know why.

"Why'd you drop me and leave me" I blurt out, still not looking at him. Why did I just do that...

I was lying on my back, staring at the ceiling when I saw his figure standing over me. Refusing to look over at him, a sadness came over me.

He opened his mouth slightly like he was going to say something but turned and left the room. I turn my body around, lay on my good side facing the wall. Before I knew it, I had tears streaming down my face. Why does everyone think differently of me now? What did I do...?