Dakari Wolfe, itsi3, hillaryn and LampPostInWinter - Thanks for the love!
Tigerlilly - I would tend to agree with that assessment, but he'll have to be dragged kicking and screaming the all the way. )
I don't own a thing.
Chapter 4 - Daryl
Shots and screams pierce the night.
My brother was gone, I had been hustling on foot for hours to get back to camp once we discovered the box truck was gone, and my only thought when I heard the chaos up ahead was of Carol and Sophia.
My head filled with the image of those two little girls torn open and writhing in pain.
I tried to shake it off, tried to think of, Carol, coming up to my tent as I stormed around my camp getting my stuff in order so I could go to the city and rescue my stupid fucking brother who couldn't stay sober long enough to not get his ass handcuffed to a roof.
She was scared, not of me though, not of my anger. She was ducking low and looking over her shoulder. She knelt by the dead ashes of my fire and just watched me in silence. She seemed to play with her spiked bracelet nervously without knowing it. I stopped my pacing and just looked at her.
"What the fuck do you want?"
She flinched a little but didn't skulk off like I thought she would. What did she think I wanted her stupid ass hangin' around me for? She was weak and a coward. Didn't know nothin useful I didn't teach her myself, and the things she let her daddy do to her and probably her little sister... She was no use to me.
"I wont do you the disservice of sayin' I know how you feel," she said peaking up at me before retuning her eyes to the cooling ashes, "but my sister is all I got in this world."
She scoffed bitterly.
"Rest'a camp don't care if I live or die, civilized as they like to think they are, my life don't mean nothin to them. Even if they did keep me around, keep me alive, I wouldn't have no reason to keep fightin if she was gone. Fight despair, fight hunger, fight geeks... my father..."
Catching herself she was quiet.
I just stared at her. What did she want from me? I didn't have time for the trials and tribulations of little girls.
"Carol!"
She looked around wildly in panic.
"Carol, where are you, you stupid whore? You got chores to do."
She took a breath to steady herself and looked me straight in the eye.
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what happened to your brother and I hope that you find him and..."
She seemed lost for words.
"I just hope that you find him."
With that she gave me that tight smile of her's and turned away.
"Hey girl," I said before I could stop myself.
She turned, a blank expression on her face.
I dug through one of my bags and handed her a folding knife with a five inch blade. It would be small enough to hind in her pocket but all she would have to do was-
"Go for the eye," I said and she looked at me as she held out her hand. "Blade's long enough to pierce the brain through the eye. That way your lack of strength and the thinness of the blade wont be a problem. Plus, if you don't try to stick it through the skull then there's no chance that the blade could get stuck."
She smiled at me, a real smile.
"Seems I learn somethin' from you every time we meet."
I just nodded, frowning.
Her father bellowed her name again. She nodded and was off, but not before whispering, "thank you Daryl. Good luck."
I watched her go, creeping silently through a maze of tents.
Before I could stop myself, the hope that she use that blade on her daddy crept into my mind.
I shook the thought away.
She is not my problem.
Another scream ripped the memory from my mind.
My feet took off without my bidding and my body found strength that wasn't there before.
I didn't bother telling myself they weren't my problem. I didn't tell my self anything, when we broke through the trees into the camp all thought stopped. There was blood and death and instincts took over.
Geek, fire. Geek, fire. Geek ripping open a woman's neck, fire twice.
King Shane had Skeletor and the boy behind his back with a few other survivors using the RV to protect their rear. Smart.
Rick broke away from the T-dog, Glenn and me.
"Baby! Carl!"
I realized he had been shouting it all along but with the adrenaline pumping in my ears I hadn't noticed.
Rick dropped to his knees as his boy and Skelator ran to him. I scanned the survivors. I saw that black woman, the mexicans, the old man, Carol's Pa but no Carol or Sophia. I looked around at the bodies but I didn't see them. I scanned the camp again and a pair of white arms lifted Sophia up to stand on the roof of a car.
I ran for them weaving through the tents that blocked my view. Carol came into view, her back to her Pa's SUV, my knife in her hand raised over her head, three Geeks coming at her. She stabbed one in the eye and pushed it hard with her other hand knocking the next one over. I raised my cross bow to shoot the third but she was already there, stabbing it in the eye. She walked back to the second geek, still struggling with the now truly dead weight pinning it down and she dispatched it from it's wretched existence.
She stood, took a shuddering breath and then began to cry.
I was proud of her. She stayed calm, kept herself together and protected her sister 'til it was over.
She ran to the S.U.V., folding the knife and tucking it back into her pocket.
"Sophie," she said raising her arms. The girl was crying too and reached for her sister. Neither saw the geek come around the side of the car.
I raised my bow and pulled the trigger. They both jumped when the geek's body hit the ground.
I stalked over and put my boot on the geek's face as I pulled my bolt out.
"Next thing you need to learn is to be aware of your damn surroundings," I said pointing my bolt at her.
She nodded and headed back to the main camp.
She turned, Sophia in her arms. "Thank you Daryl," she whispered.
I watched her go and waited 'til she was back in with the overs before I walked the perimeter of camp looking for any other stragglers. I told myself that I was doing it since no one else would think to, but in truth I knew I was trying to protect Carol from what her Pa would do if he saw her return to camp with me.
How the fuck did I let that girl become my problem?