Chapter 22

I pull up a chair and sit next to Carl. Resting my forehead on the bed, I quietly start crying too. This was all my fault, this is what I get for trying to help.

Carl wipes his tear-filled face. "Why did you drop her? Why did you leave her?" He asks facing me, his arms and body still draped over Dodger.

I pick up my head slowly, "I had a bad feeling and I went after it... I don't know why I just left like that. I felt the need to just go... Ever since then, her and I haven't been the same"

"Yeah I don't blame her. You dropped her and left her. After you did whatever you did, you never even brought her in, I did. You came in and didn't say anything about her. I found her out there, bleeding and unconscious..."

He's right. I did leave her and never said anything about how she was out there.

"I-I don't know what I was thinkin' to be honest with you Carl..." I confess

"I thought you loved her" He says through his gritted teeth

I don't know how I felt about her now...

"You don't care about her, do you?" He frowns

"I put her here, why wouldn't I care?"

"You know what Daryl, if so care about her why did you leave her? Why did you shove tons of drugs into her veins? Why do look at her so differently!?" Carl says angrily, picking his head up

I looked down at the floor, I was getting yelled at by a teenager...

Carl sighs and hugs Dodger one last time before leaving her side.

"You better not lay a finger on her" He says, leaving the room

Looking over at her, body pale and limp. Tears form in my eyes and I quickly shake them away. I didn't need to cry over her, she wasn't who she was before. I stand up, looking down on her, she looked dead to me. Carl said not to touch her so I didn't check if she was alive or not.

"Who are we anymore... What are we..." I say to myself before leaving the room. It was going to be sometime before people start trusting me again...

~next morning~

I didn't sleep last night, I couldn't. It felt as if Dodger was haunting me. Every so often I would see Maggie or Michonne go in and come back out a few minutes later. What would Dodger say to me when she wakes up, if she does...

Everyone slowly starts waking up after the sunrises. Rick goes into her room with Carl and Father Gabriel. Gabriel doesn't even know her but I guess that's what priests do.

"You hungry?" Carol comes over to me with a smile

"Nah 'm not" I look down at my feet

"What's wrong pookie?" She asks getting to my level. Saying 'Pookie' in a joking way

"Nothin's wrong"

"Now we both know that's a lie Daryl" She frowns

"Why? What are you happy she's probably gone?!" My voice was louder than I wanted it to be

Carol didn't know what to say and everyone was staring. They thought I wanted Dodger dead...

"No that's not true. You're happy with her, I can see that. I'm sorry for what happened between her and I before. I was jealous, that's all. But I accept that you love her Daryl. You need to be with her" She says calmly

"Nah I don't" I say getting up, only to be stopped by Carol

"You know you need her and that she needs you"

"We'll see about that" I stand up and walk away, I don't need this

I look around for my crossbow but forgotten that Rick had taken it. Looking out the window Dodger was peering through, I could picture her face against it. It sent chills down my spine, pain in my heart. I haven't seen her alive, not yet.

"I think you should go out and hunt for awhile, clear your mind a bit. You need it, go on" Rick says handing me my crossbow

"Oh so you trust me with this now?" I turn and face him

"Daryl you need alone time, I get it. You can't be stuck in here all the time"

I take my crossbow and throw it over my shoulder

"How much you want" I ask referring to food

"Enough to feed everyone" Rick says, looking away hiding a small smile

Did that mean Dodger is okay? I shouldn't get my hopes up...

"Be back by noon" I say walking out the doors. Hopefully I'd be back by then

-Maggie's POV-

I was sitting in the chair in Dodger's room when I heard the front doors slam. Dodger still wasn't up but she had a pulse, still not great but better than it was before. I open the door and step out,

"Who was that?"

"Daryl, I told him to get some food. He'll be back soon" Rick says picking up Judith

I nod and go back in her room. The pile of dirty, bloody clothes was growing in the corner of her room. Picking them up, I shoved them into a bag.

"I'm going to the river to wash these off" I grab my knife and pistol

"I'll go with you. I can collect water upstream while you wash them downstream" Michonne offers

"Is that going to be okay?" Rick asks

"Yes. Dodger is for the most part stable so we don't really have to babysit her as much" I clarify

"So she's stable?"

"For the most part"

"Alright. Just be careful" Rick says opening the door for Michonne and I

"We won't be too long" Michonne says with a smile

Me and Michonne quietly walk to the creek. She goes upstream and I go downstream, roughly 10 feet away from her. I soon begin to wash Dodger's clothes when Michonne breaks the silence.

"What about Daryl"

"What do you mean?" I tilt my head in some confusion

"What do we tell him?"

"Rick will tell him, that's not on us"

"But if all of us are out here, what if he finds us and asks" She frowns

"I don't know" I really didn't

"Do we lie to Daryl?"

"That's all we need..." I sigh

"Lie to me about what" Daryl says slowly coming from behind a tree

"Nothin' Daryl. Not lyin' about anythin'" I try to clarify

"Hmpf" He rolls his eyes

"It was just a thought, I wasn't going to lie about anything" Michonne says

"Whatever. What are y'all doin' out here anyway" He scoffs

"I wanted to wash up some clothes and Michonne wanted to accompany me and grab some water"

"Why do you have Dodger's clothes"

"Because she can't stay in the same clothes Daryl" I sigh, hanging her jeans over a tree branch

"So she's okay?" He asks quickly

"It's not a definite. I would like to wash her and change her clothes"

He didn't know what to say, he just nodded awkwardly.

"I'll stay with y'all then" He says sitting against a tree

"You don't have to. Don't you have to get food?" Michonne asks

"Already did. Carol has it"

"Oh, okay"

But why was he with us? Did he want to know more about Dodger? I know Rick hasn't been telling him everything.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Daryl asks quietly

"You know she's strong, what do you think?" I ask

He just shrugs and looks up at the sky. "I just hope she will be alright"

"But you put her there?" Michonne says, confused on what he was thinking

"Carol convinced me that I need her. And maybe that Dodger needs me..."

"Maybe she's right, but did you think
of what Dodger might think when she wakes up?" Michonne reluctantly asks

"I don't want to think about it..." He says upset, his voice a whisper

I put the last of Dodgers clothes over a branch, Michonne filled her last water bottle. Daryl had a knife in his hand, looking at his reflection in the blade.

"Is that Dodger's?" I ask sitting next to
him

"Yeah..."

I nod, "She's gonna be okay, you know that"

"But she's gonna kill me Maggie" He looks over at me

"No she won't. She wouldn't do that"

"She's gonna hold everything against me. She's not gonna look at me the same way as before. What if she doesn't want me anymore..." By his last sentence, his voice was cracking, he was trying not to cry. He loves her...

"Daryl, everything is going to be okay"

He looks down at the ground and sighs, "I hope so..."