Some of you have been waiting for this. Hope it feeds your need for revenge, ladies ;) Thanks for all the reviews and thanks for reading! Enjoy!
Chapter Ten
Carol tried to take Andrea's tent down herself. She had no idea how he had put it up last night in the dark. Not that it had done any good. It was pretty much useless. She should have just left it. But it wasn't hers to leave to she fought with it until it was nothing but a mess of rods and vinyl on the ground. She put her hands on her hips and stared down at it in disgust. How was she suppose to fit this mess back in that small bag?
Daryl had taken his own tent down earlier. He had avoided her all morning and it was starting to make her nervous. She heard footsteps coming up behind her and she almost smiled, thinking it was him but then she realized that he would never make so much noise. She spun around and her fears were confirmed when she saw Ed only about six feet away.
"Heard those men talkin' earlier. You have yourself some fun last night?" He asked with a sneer.
"Stay away from me Ed. I told you, I'm done with all this. I don't belong to you." She hated herself right then because even she could hear the fear in her voice. She took a step back and then glanced towards the main camp.
"Ain't nobody there to save your ass at the moment. You really think that redneck would stick around after he finally got him some?" Ed glared at her and took a few steps closer.
She backed up and almost stumbled over the tent. She glanced back down towards camp but still no one was there. "You stay the hell away Ed." She said frantically. "If you touch me I swear to God he'll kill you."
"He ain't gonna do shit you stupid bitch." He growled at her. "Did you really think you'd get away with that? With actin' like you been actin'?" He laughed.
"Just let it go, Ed. Get in the car and leave."
"Oh, I'm leavin'. And you're comin' with me. Right now." He reached out and grabbed her arm but she tried to pull away.
"Ed, stop." She actually was able to yank herself free and she turned to run but he had her by the arm again and when he spun her around his hand clamped down on her throat. She tripped and he landed on top of her, crushing her with his weight.
"You wanna run around on me? Throw yourself at that boy right in front of me? In front of our girl?" He hissed as his hand tightened even more on her throat. "What do you think is gonna happen to her after this?"
White spots danced in her vision followed by black spots that dotted out a portion of his face. She felt around frantically at her sides for anything she could use as a weapon. He was killing her and she had to do something.
"You think he's gonna be able to save her once you're in the ground? Huh!" He spit in her face.
Her fingers grasped something. At first she didn't know what it was but then she realized just as she swung it around and stuck it into his side. A yellow plastic stake for the tent. She was weak, it didn't go in far but it was enough for him to howl in pain and move his hands from around her throat. He tried to move away but she yanked the stake out of his side and impaled him in the side again, this time with more force than the last. That was the funny thing about Ed. He was real good at dishing out pain but when it came to taking it, he was like a child. A weak pathetic man.
He pushed himself away from her but she went with him. She wiped his spit off her face as he fell backwards over some firewood Daryl had left sitting out. He was about to kill her. He had actually planned on killing her. And then he was talking about Sophia. He was going to hurt her too. She lunged at him, a scream bubbling up her damaged throat.
She still had the plastic spike in her hand. He was scooting backwards holding his side looking up at her with real fear in his eyes. She landed on top of him and plunged the plastic spike into his stomach. He wasn't going to hurt her again. He wasn't going to hurt her daughter. He was going to leave them both alone. She was tired. Tired of always hurting. Tired of always being afraid. Tired of people looking at her like she was a victim and tired of feeling like one. Over and over again she lashed out with the stake. She couldn't let him hurt Sophia. She couldn't let him hurt her anymore. She had to be strong and she had to keep him away from them.
She finally stopped. As abruptly as that desperate rage had consumed her it fell away just as fast. She scooted away from him and turned her head. Had she really done this? He was dead. As dead as she would have been if she hadn't done something about it. But this? The plastic spike dropped from her hands.
His stomach was torn apart. She turned away and then, on her hands and knees she tried to throw up but she hadn't eaten anything. Her throat felt swollen on the inside and it was hard to catch her breath. There wasn't enough room to let enough air get into her lungs. She tried to get up. To stand up and to get away from that body but she couldn't will herself to move. Her mind felt numb and her limbs felt numb. How could she have done this?
She collapsed onto her side and wrapped her arms around her knees. She wanted to get away from him. But there wasn't anywhere to go. He'd always be there. Even now, his bloody corpse was mocking her. She squeezed her eyes shut but behind her lids all she saw was more blood.
~H~
Daryl made sure Rick was going to keep an eye on Sophia before he headed back up towards camp. He hadn't seen Ed around all morning so he had made his way down to the water to see if he was down there. He'd looked around for a while and then everyone else showed up. Everyone else but Carol. He hadn't said anything to her after he had left the tent that morning but he had made it a point to keep an eye on her. It wasn't easy since she was always busy doing something. Bustling around camp all the time. But when he had left she had been talking to Shane so he figured she would be okay. He was starting to feel panic set in as he hurried back up the path. He should have taken her with him. Shouldn't have left her alone. But how was he suppose to know that they'd all run off and leave her alone at camp? With a potential psycho that would hurt her.
Camp was empty. Like he had known it would be. He saw that Ed's car was still there so he felt better knowing he hadn't snatched her up and taken her off somewhere. He jogged up to his own camp and then stopped. There were two bodies there. Both covered in blood.
He actually fell to his knees when he saw her. He couldn't understand what could have happened. Why were there two bodies? Why not just hers? Had someone else been here? Did someone see what Ed had done and then took out their revenge. But no one else was here. He was still about twenty feet away. Maybe it wasn't Carol at all. But he remembered the clothes she had been wearing and it was the same. He couldn't believe he had let this happen. What was he suppose to tell that little girl? What was she going to do now? What was he going to do? It had only been a few days. Just a few short days but the woman had managed to sear herself into his head. Just a few days. What could she have done if they had had a chance to have more than that? Why did everyone he ended up caring about have to leave him?
He got back up on shaky legs and willed himself to move forward. He took a few steps and then stopped. Had he seen movement? He walked towards her blood soaked body. Her shoulders shook slightly and then her eyes flew open. She was looking at the body a few feet away. Her eyes were clear and wide. He let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.
"Carol?" He whispered and her eyes closed again.
She squeezed them shut tight. "Daryl, I don't want to see him anymore." She whispered in a voice that broke. She didn't open her eyes.
"Jesus." He rushed over and pulled her up by the shoulders. There were angry marks on her neck but he didn't get a chance to get a good look. As soon as he had her on her feet she buried her face into his chest and started sobbing. He backed up, moving towards the woods, holding her as tight against him as he could without crushing her. He glanced down at the body on his way by but had to look away. It was bad. Had she done this?
When he had her a decent ways from Ed's body he stopped. He had one hand wrapped around her waist and the other pressed against the back of her head. She was crying loudly and he just let her cry. He didn't care what the hell she was doing as long as she was breathing. He wanted to push her away just long enough to check her to see if any of the blood on her actually belonged to her. But she didn't need that right now. He'd wait all day if that's what he had to do.
Rick had already said they might need to stay one more night. He didn't want to get hung up in a storm on the highway. So now Daryl had time to clean this up. He didn't think anyone would blame her if she really was the one that had killed Ed but he didn't want to take a chance.
They stayed like that until he thought that maybe she was all cried out. Her body was trembling so bad he had to wonder how she could even stand. He was pretty sure she was in shock. But he needed her to hurry up and talk so he could figure out what to do.
"What happened?" He whispered in her ear.
"I was trying to get the stupid tent ready." She shivered and he rubbed a hand down her back. "He was choking me and he was talking about Sophia and I think I almost passed out but then I... I just stabbed him. I stabbed him and when he fell I just didn't stop stabbing him. I kept going even when I knew he was dead I kept going." She took a deep shuddering breath and then wrapped her arms around his neck. "I wish you would have been there."
That caused something in his chest to ache. That she needed him and he hadn't been there. It made him feel worse than anything ever had in his whole miserable life. "Me too." He said gruffly.
"How could I do something like that? What's wrong with me?" Her shoulders shuddered again but she seemed to be doing better than when he first pulled her up from the ground.
"You did what you had too." He said into her neck.
She pulled away from him and hugged herself tightly, almost like she did the other night when she had taken that beating to the ribs. She shook her head. Her eyes were still streaming. "I didn't have to do that. I didn't have to keep going like that. That's not something a person like me does, Daryl." She shook her head.
"You lost it for a minute. It happens."
"Did you see him?" She asked as her eyes grew more wide. "Did you see what I did?"
He could only nod. He wasn't sure what to do now.
"What am I going to tell the others? They can't know I did that. Nobody can know I did that."
"Nobody'll know. I'll take care of it."
She looked off towards the trees. "You'll take care of it?"
He nodded. "Go find some more clothes. I'll do somethin' with Ed."
She backed away from him and then turned and ran. He didn't know if letting her go anywhere alone was smart but he didn't want her near that body anymore.
He walked back to his camp and looked around. The tent was useless anyway. He cleared off the poles and stakes and drug the tent over to Ed's body. He kept glancing around, making sure no one was coming as he rolled the body over onto the vinyl. "Fat bastard." He groaned as he rolled Ed up in the tent and then tied both ends with rope. He hurried to his truck and found a shovel. When he jumped down he nearly landed on top of Carol.
She looked a lot more calm than she had before. "Are you okay?" He asked.
She nodded and then looked at the ground.
"You stay here. I'll drag him to the woods and bury him. Okay?"
She looked up then. "I can help you. This is my mess."
He was about to shake his head but she reached out and yanked the shovel out of his hand.
"We don't have time to argue about it Daryl." She snapped and then she stormed away. He hurried after her.
They wrestled the body into the woods as far as they thought they needed too and then Daryl started digging. "You think they'll come lookin' for us?" He asked as he wiped the sweat from his forehead onto the back of his hand.
She gave him a stony look. "No. I'm sure they'll just think we're out here screwin' in the woods."
He stopped digging and looked up. That wasn't really a Carol thing to say. That actually sounded a bit like his brother. He frowned at her.
"What? It's the truth." She said bitterly.
He just shrugged and kept on digging but he couldn't help but keep glancing at her off and on. He was really starting to worry about her.
"That's probably what we should have done. We should have just went ahead and done it. That's what everyone thinks. It isn't like I have a decent reputation around here. I'm as bad as Lori and at least then I could have actually..."
"Jesus Christ, Carol." Daryl cut her off gruffly.
She shook her head. "I'm a murderer. Can you believe that? I killed my husband before I ever had a chance to even cheat on him."
"You ain't a murderer. It was you or him." He hopped out of the shallow grave and stood a few feet away from her. "And you ain't like Lori either. Lori ain't so bad if you think about it anyhow. She thought Rick was dead."
Carol nodded and helped him drag the body over to the grave. And then they both jumped back when it moved.
Carol grasped his arm with both of her hands and he backed up another few feet when something scratched against the vinyl.
"Carol," he whispered. "Was Ed bit when he came after you?"
She shook her head. No. No, he was fine. He didn't get attacked by a Walker. I killed him. I stabbed him with a tent stake."
Now they could both hear moaning and growling along with the scratching. "What the fuck?" Daryl breathed. "We have to tell somebody."
"What does this even mean?"
He shook his head and grabbed her hand. They ran through the woods, hoping the knots tied to each end of the tent was enough to hold him in there until they got the others.