I woke with a sharp hiss, my rib and cheek screaming out in pain.
I got up gently and crawled out of the tent without bothering about shoes. Too much effort and pain for one menial task.
The sun was blaring, everything basked in light.
"You're awake! Finally." Glenn called, jumping up from his seat to wrap an arm around my shoulders.
"Where is everyone?" I asked, my eyes searching about the relatively empty camp.
"Out searching again." He said, his voice low.
I nodded, thinking about the events of the previous day.
Hershel had confirmed that I'd bruised my ribs, and I had to endure getting my cheek stitched again. Then before I could sleep, I showed the group roughly where I thought I'd found Sophia's hair clip.
I never realised how many miles I'd gone that day. After that, I finished up a bottle of water in record time and collapsed in bed.
"Have they paired up this time?" I asked, and Glenn nodded ass he sat me down on one of the deck chairs.
"Yeah. We figured you and Daryl proved a point. If the badass' of the group can nearly die, we won't take our chances." He grinned, making me roll my eyes. His words really touched me though, in a bit of an egotistical way.
"We all thought you'd like a lie-in." Alex chirped as he sat down next to me.
I smiled. I definitely needed that.
"So how're you feeling?" Glenn asked.
"Like hell." I laughed, tentatively bringing a hand to the left side of my rib cage.
"But apparently it'll only take a couple of weeks to heal. I just can't do much." I sighed, recounting Hershel's words about what I can and can't do. It was pretty irritating - I couldn't do anything!
"Well, that should pass in no time." Alex smiled. I reciprocated it, but I could feel in my gut that these next few weeks were going to drag.
We sat chatting for a while as I ate, and soon enough I was getting bored.
"Well, I should probably leave for town." Glenn said, standing and dusting himself off.
"Want a hand?" I offered, probably a little too enthusiastically.
"No, you need to take it easy. Besides, Maggie wants to go in too." He said, finishing with a gulp.
I watched him walk away, sinking feeling setting in. How was I going to pass the day? I guess I could help about camp...
Helena came to the rescue though, charging from the house with a soppy grin on her face.
"Sam! Can we go and see Carl? Please please?" She pleaded, her eyes excited.
"Is it okay with Lori?"
"Yeah, she said it's okay. So come on!" She grabbed my hand and started pulling. I gritted my teeth against the pain in my ribs at her tugs, but I didn't stop her.
I rolled my eyes at Alex but followed her up to the house, anxious myself about seeing Carl.
The last time I saw him, he was covered in blood in Rick's arms. He didn't look like he was going to survive the rest of the run, let alone a few days later. I shook that thought out of my head as we walked towards Carl's room.
The door opened after Helena's excitable knocking, and she gasped as soon as Carl came into view. He was sitting upright, Rick's hat sitting proudly on his head. He had more colour on him, and he seemed to have his cheeky glint about him.
"Helena, Sam!" He grinned, patting the bed next to him. Helena scurried up beside him and immediately began asking questions. She settled nicely on the bed and eagerly listened to his answers.
On the chair by his bed sat Lori, and I felt a strange dread come over me. I hadn't really seen her since Glenn told me about her being pregnant. I didn't know how I was going to act normal, knowing what I did.
"Sam, can I talk to you?" She asked and I nodded, feeling my stomach drop.
She got up and walked towards the door, but turned back to Carl and Helena.
"Sam and I are just going to be out here for a second. I don't want you moving too much Carl." She said, pointing her finger. He waved her off, pointing to where he was hit and Helena's face filled with awe.
She carried on out of the room and I followed her, shutting the door behind me.
"I know Glenn told you." She sighed, keeping her eyes level with mine. She crossed her arms, challenging me.
"Yeah. It was eating the guy alive." I pointed out, and she nodded, dropping her arms.
"I know, I shouldn't have dumped that on him."
"What are you going to do?" I asked, frowning.
"I- I don't know Sam. But you can't tell anyone about this." She asserted, stepping forward.
"I wasn't going to. Look, I know it's not my place, but have you told Rick?" I asked gently.
"You're right. It's not your place." She snapped. I was taken about at her harsh words, but then I got angry.
"Well excuse me for being considerate." I stated, trying not to raise my voice.
"You have no idea what this is like." She said, her voice wobbling slightly. I bit my lip before I spoke.
"That's true. I know nothing about parenthood. But I know something about people, and you need to tell Rick before he starts to see. Because if he finds out through any other way but you, there's gonna be hell to pay." I whispered harshly, stunning her into silence.
"If you ever need anything, I'll help you, despite your damn attitude to me. I'm human like that." I said and with that, turned back and walked back into the room with Helena and Carl.
I plastered a smile on my face and listened intently to their conversation, trying to keep my raging thoughts off the conversation we just had. Lori eventually walked in and sat back in her chair.
I could feel her watching me, but I didn't respond. I kept my eyes glued on the kids until I eventually caved and looked over at her.
'Thank you.' She mouthed, and I nodded once at her.
We listened as Helena and Carl chattered away, talking about what it felt like to be shot, and how awesome that made him.
I even spoke quietly with Lori about what she wanted me to do for her, but she said she was fine for the moment. I took that with a pinch of salt.
Soon enough Carl was getting tired, and Helena began getting restless.
"Come on Helena. Let's give Carl done time to rest. What do you say to Lori?" I asked, laying a hand on her shoulder when she got up to stand in front of me.
"Thank you for letting me see him." She grinned.
"That's fine sweetie."
"Bye Carl!" She chirped, waving frantically. He waved back just as madly.
"Come back tomorrow!" He called and Helena giggled.
I steered Helena out of the room shutting the door gently behind me.
"So, was it nice to see him?" I asked as we walked through the house.
"Yeah! He's so brave! He showed me where he was hit and everything. He said it didn't hurt at all." She gushed and I grinned. Kids, eh?
"Well, I'm sure it might have hurt a bit. But anyway, there are some chores we could be getting on with." I said, and she groaned loudly. I also shared that sentiment. I hated 'chores'.
"Hey, the sooner we finish them, the more time we have to do nothing and the sooner tomorrow will come." I said, trying not to laugh. At that, she looked up at me and nodded vigorously.
"Come on. We're on washing up duty." I smiled.
She sighed, but grabbed my hand and dragged me towards camp, more eager to clean up than any other person I know.
It hadn't taken long to finish all the work.
Helena had actually worked extremely hard. She didn't complain about doing the washing up or hanging out the clothes.
She even enjoyed it - though that may have been because she had the opportunity to splash me.
Not long after we had finished, she had gone up to Patricia feeling a little tired but somehow with a huge amount of enthusiasm.
Despite the record time of finishing all the work, the day had crept on and the sky was just starting to get a tint of orange. I had a feeling I woke up at about midday, so it meant that it wouldn't be too long before the others came back.
Having nothing really left to do, I got my machete and file and started sharpening it. It's been too long since I'd sharpened it, and I had to do something before I clawed my eyes out with boredom.
"Hey, how is he looking?" Alex asked, sitting down next to me.
"Really good. He's sitting up, and he seems pretty spritely." I shrugged, flashing my eyes up to him.
He seemed to be considering my words before he smiled and nodded. I carried on with my sharpening, chattering away to Alex.
"The first pair are back!" Dale called from atop of the RV.
I lifted me head up to see Shane and Andrea making their way slowly across the field.
"Find anything?" Alex called, but Andrea shook her head when they were close.
I sighed and looked back down at my machete. I ran the file pad along the metal, hoping that one of the others would come back with a more productive finding.
Andrea sat with Alex while Shane walked past, sending strange glances at each other.
I stared between the two, unsure of what to think. A quick look at Alex told me that he'd noticed their weird thing too.
Pretty soon, all of the group had filtered in. No one had found anything.
"I found the bodies of those walkers you took down Sam. But nothing else." Rick sighed. I nodded solemnly, looking down at my hands.
Damn it.
"The walkers were a mess though Sam. You didn't say how bad it was." Rick sighed, standing in front of me.
Alex span to face me, horrorstruck.
"What?"
"It want that bad. I just had to think on my feet." I shrugged. Personally I didn't think it looked too bad, considering what they were.
"I swear to god Sam, I'm never letting you-"
"Alex, don't finish that sentence. You're not my mother." I interrupted furiously, staring him down.
He sighed, but nodded.
I sat back round and gave Rick a raised eyebrow. He let out a small smile before walking up towards the house.
I had almost finished my machete when Daryl came back.
"Anything?" Andrea asked. He too shook his head. There was a collective sigh.
I ran the pad along my machete one last time before stowing it all back in the tent.
"How ya feelin?" Daryl asked as he walked by.
"Not too bad. Not incredible either." I said slowly, stunned at his concern. He merely nodded before heading into his tent.
I sat silently as the group all gathered to prepare food. I didn't stay silent for too long as T-Dog say next to me, asking all sorts of questions about my fighting. It was a welcome distraction.
"Sam, will you go bring over Carol? She hasn't come out yet." Rick asked and I nodded.
I stepped up and headed to the RV, clambering inside and headed back to the back room but she wasn't there. I knocked on the bathroom door, but again, no reply. I stuck my head out of the door and frowned, but I spotted her over by Otis' memorial.
She had wrapped her arms around herself and she appeared to be shivering. I sighed.
I jumped out of the RV and headed over to her, but Daryl got there before me. I watched as he steered her towards the group, an arm wrapped around her shoulders. I stopped short and watched them walking together, ignoring the cold that tried creeping into me. As well as a stupid whirling sensation in my stomach.
I turned back and headed towards the fire, kicking stones and dragging my feet as I went.
"Before you sit down, can you grab a towel from the RV? This ones had it." Alex called to me and I nodded as I caught the towel the threw.
I spun back and headed to the vehicle. I rooting around for a towel, realising I had absolutely no idea where they would be. I got by the narrow bit of the hallway when the RV jiggled slightly, signalling that someone had just stepped in.
"Hey, do you know where-" I said, but stopped short when I saw Daryl.
"Where's Carol's jumpers an stuff?" He grunted.
"Back room." I murmured, confused.
I stepped back against the wall so he could squeeze past. The hallway got a bit tight but there was plenty of room. But he stopped in front of me.
I looked up at him, his eyes staring at mine, only a few inches away.
I wanted to ask why he stopped. Why he was so close. But no words formed. I couldn't speak.
My heart started thundering at a thousand miles an hour as his eyes studied my face. I felt his arms move and his fingertips trace my hips, causing my breath to hitch.
He pushed my shirt up slightly so he was touching my skin and I repressed a shudder, but I couldn't prevent goosebumps rising up all over my skin.
My mind screamed for my body to stop, but I couldn't. My fingertips reached up to the scruff of his collar and gripped, bringing his face a mere inch away from mine. I closed my eyes, waiting, begging for the impact.
It never happened.
A loud, primitive growl resonated from his throat, causing my eyes to flutter open and snap out of it. His shocked piercing blues met mine, and I didn't dare breath.
We stayed there, neither of us moving, hardly ever blinking.
My mind and heart were racing. My stomach kept plummeting. But my eyes were somehow steady, holding his there.
Do something, I wanted to scream or whisper. But I couldn't.
He gulped, and in my peripheral vision I could see his chest rising and falling more and more rapidly. His warm breath rolled onto my face, making me hotter and hotter with each passing second.
"Sam, what's taking you-" Dale called, stepping into the RV.
Our heads snapped round in unison.
Dale stopped dead, staring at us, his jaw hanging wide open.
Oh-
"Fuck." Daryl whispered.
Dropping his arms and yanking my hand off him, he tore his eyes from me and stormed away, stealing the breath from my lungs.
I stared after him, my mind swimming. Dale backed into the cabinets, staring at me with such concern but I ignored him, staring at the spot where Daryl just was.
Oh god.
Oh yes. It happened. Or didn't!
But all is not as it seems. So don't get too excited.. ;]
Thank you all for the views and alerts! The last upload hit the biggest viewing peak I've ever had on here! so thank you all. :)
- Loré. X