Ch. 4
Daryl woke early the next morning feeling extremely sick. He had barely even opened his eyes when the urge to vomit became nearly overwhelming.
He tried to take a deep breath, to calm himself. Maybe he could talk his body out of puking.
For a second, he thought it might work.
Then he felt bile rising in his throat. He closed his eyes again, willing himself not to be sick.
He began to sweat, and it became harder to breath. Once again, he tried to steady himself, but this time, his body just wasn't having it. Daryl began to heave, vomiting on the bed.
His stomach contents burned as they came back up. There wasn't much there, Daryl knew, so it was mostly stomach acid. Still, his body didn't seem to want to stop. He continued to dry heave for a long while after.
When it was finally over, Daryl felt drained. And disgusted, too. Disgusted at himself, for being unable to keep himself from being sick, and disgusted at the pile of vomit that was right next to his head. It was only by some miracle that he still had been able to turn his neck enough to keep from face planting in it.
Then there were footsteps, and the door opening.
'Fuck...', Daryl thought to himself. The Governor wasn't going to be happy.
00
"You don't even have to do anything, and you managed to fuck that up," the Governor said, as he tied the chain to the post in the bathroom.
Daryl's chin and upper chest was covered in vomit, and the Governor was cleaning him up. He turned the shower on, cold water as always, and urged Daryl to get in.
The water hit Daryl's face and he closed his eyes while waiting for the majority of the mess to be cleaned away.
"This wasn't another one of your games, was it?" The Governor asked, a hint of anger in his voice. "I swear to god, I ought to have let you just stay there, covered in your own sick for the whole day, but I just can't imagine how bad that would smell in twelve hours. Disgusting, really. You are truly a sorry excuse for a man."
"It wasn't on purpose," Daryl replied, softly.
"Right. It's no surprise why your little friends didn't come back for you. You must've put them in jeopardy a lot of times, what with your inability to control yourself. If it weren't for that nice, tight hole of yours, I'd be apt to off you myself."
Daryl swallowed, wanting to scream but not daring to do it. He didn't want to put meeting with Merle at risk by angering the Governor any moreso.
Another minute passed, the cold water feeling even colder as time went by. Then the Governor turned it off.
"Get out."
Daryl stepped out of the shower and stared down at his own feet. The Governor toweled him off as he always did, then led him back to the bedroom. There, David was just finishing up remaking the bed, having removed the dirty sheets and comforter to take for cleaning. The kid gave Daryl a sympathetic look, but quickly left the room.
"Lie down," the Governor growled, shoving Daryl towards the bed.
Daryl did as he was told, complying quietly as the Governor once again chained him up.
"Your punishment for today is no food. No bread, no grits, nothing. If you're good, then tomorrow morning you can have something, but do not test me. I won't hesitate to make you go longer. The human body can go a long time without food, so long as there's water. David will bring you some later."
Daryl nodded in agreement then rested his head. He just wanted to sleep. Maybe he would feel better when he woke up.
00
A knock on the door woke Daryl. David was back.
"Yeah," Daryl called out, stunned at how hoarse his voice sounded.
The kid walked in holding a pitcher of water and a plastic cup.
"How're you feeling?"
"Shitty."
David nodded, then poured some water into the cup. He had to hold it to Daryl's lips for the captive to be able to drink it. The feeling of the cold water touching his dry throat was wonderful and he drained the cup quickly.
"Wow. You must be thirsty," David noted.
Daryl gave him a look that said 'no shit', but didn't verbally reply.
"You can have another glass but drink it slower. Don't need you getting sick again."
The kid poured more water and held it up for Daryl. For his part, Daryl followed the kid's directions.
When Daryl was finished, the kid spoke up.
"Do you need to go to the bathroom? 'Cause I can take you."
"Yeah." Daryl was surprised that he actually had to go, considering he felt like he had nothing left in his system.
David put the cup down and began the process of putting on the collar and removing Daryl's handcuffs.
As they walked out of the room, they heard the sound of something thumping. Both looked to the closet.
"Penny," David mumbled.
Sometimes Penny would hit her head into the closet door repeatedly. Daryl assumed that the walker smelled them and was trying to get out.
"Ignore it," David added, when he noticed that Daryl was still looking at the door.
Daryl walked into the bathroom and watched as David tied up the chain. The kid felt bad about it, as he always did.
"I know this kinda sucks but… I don't know. Take your time. You don't have to do the three minute thing while I'm here."
"Thanks," Daryl answered.
Well, it was better than nothing.
00
When David returned later in the dark, he was holding a paper bag, along with the pitcher of water.
Daryl looked at the clock. Seven at night. The Governor should have been back by then. Daryl looked at the kid expectantly.
"He says he's going to be out later tonight. Wanted me to come check on you again."
"Oh."
Daryl felt like he should have been happier about that then he was. It most likely meant that the Governor wasn't going to be having any 'fun time' with him that evening. Daryl felt too tired to enjoy the freedom, though.
"How are you? Feeling sick at all?"
"Not now."
"Good. I, uh…I brought you something."
Daryl stared at him, wanting him to continue.
David pulled a small container out of the bag he was holding and showed it to Daryl. It was some type of sandwich.
"It's not much but I figured you needed something."
"Oh. Wow. Thanks…" Daryl replied. He fully expected David to feed it to him, the same way he always fed him during the day, but the young man surprised him yet again.
"You're not gonna run off if I unchain you, will you? 'Cause then he'll kill me, and probably Elena too."
Daryl sighed.
"Even if I wanted to, I doubt I could even get out the door," Daryl said, truthfully. He was weak and he knew it. Walking more than a few feet would be out of the question.
"Yeah. You're probably right." David looked over the handcuffs. "Alright."
He unlocked Daryl's wrists and helped him to sit up, even going so far as to provide Daryl with an extra blanket to cover himself with. Once Daryl seemed to be comfortable, David handed the sandwich over.
"Thank you, man." Daryl was truly grateful.
He took a small bite of the sandwich to make sure that eating it wouldn't make him sick. When he felt confident that he would be alright, he ate faster. It was a peanut butter and grape jelly, but to Daryl it could've been a thousand dollar meal. About halfway through, he patted the side of the bed.
"You can sit down," Daryl offered.
David shrugged and took a seat. He poured out some water and handed the cup over to Daryl, who again thanked him.
After drinking a glass of water, Daryl took one more bite of the sandwich, then stopped.
"You okay?" David asked, confused.
"...Yeah."
Daryl was okay, just annoyed. He really wanted to finish the sandwich but he knew he wouldn't be able to, at least not without discomfort. His body just wasn't used to eating normal portions anymore.
"I just… can't finish that," Daryl continued. "Sorry."
"It's okay. I understand," David said, holding out his hand to take the rest of it.
Daryl handed it over, but held onto the cup of water.
"He really should be feeding you more. You look like one of those holocaust victims."
Daryl snorted.
"I wouldn't go that far. I've just lost a bit of weight is all."
David stared at him again, trying to figure out if Daryl was joking or not.
Seeing David sitting there staring at him, Daryl decided to change the subject.
"So.. Elena's your daughter, right?"
David grinned at the mere mention of the girl's name.
"Yeah, she is. Wanna see her?"
"Sure."
David pulled out his wallet, removed a photo and handed it over. It showed a little girl with the same straight black hair as David, but with a heart shaped face and big brown eyes. She was holding a stuffed teddy bear doll and smiling.
"That's here when she was three. She's four, now."
"She's beautiful. Looks like a sweet kid."
"She is. She loves animals… We're slowly accumulating pets over at our house. Any stray cat or dog that comes along, Elena wants to take in. It's hard for me to put my foot down, after all that happened."
"I take it your wife is gone?" Daryl asked.
Daryl nodded, "She died when Elena was two."
"I'm sorry."
"It is what it is." David continued to look down at the photograph.
Daryl waited for what felt like a long enough time to be respectful before talking again.
"Can I ask you something?"
"I don't know. Can you?" David joked.
Daryl tried not to roll his eyes.
"I'm serious."
"Yeah. Okay."
"You said Merle's comin'. Do you know when?"
David's shoulders slumped.
"Come on, man, if I tell you that and he finds out that I did -"
"I swear, I won't let on that I know. I just want to know what to expect is all." Daryl tried not to sound like he was pleading, but it was hard.
"Ah, fuck. I should've never done all this for you." David stood up and motioned for Daryl to move. "Turn over."
Daryl didn't fight David as the younger man handcuffed him back into place.
"Please," Daryl tried. "I won't say a word about it."
David pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Fuck."
He was silent for a moment, "Let me think about it, okay? I'll think about it tonight."
Daryl wanted to press him again but decided against it. He had to give David some space, or the kid would close off completely.
"Yeah, that's cool."
David nodded and packed up everything he'd brought.
"Yeah. Okay. I'll see you later."