A/N: Don't give up on Carl yet. I promise he will redeem himself. And I worked out my plan for the rest of this story so I now have an ending in mind. But damn do I draw things out way longer than necessary with added drama.
Carl watched as his father turned away, clearly biting his tongue from saying anymore. The teenager averted his attention out toward the vehicles and landed on Michonne, Glenn, and Karen. It wasn't long until Rick joined them and they all loaded up into the Hyundai, driving off through the gates while Tyreese and Sasha made sure to close everything back up.
Carl wasn't sure why he was so bitter lately. He just couldn't shake it. All he could do was take his anger out on Daryl because they couldn't move forward until he was back on his feet. But it just seemed like Daryl kept getting worse, and the more his condition worsened, the less likely it was that he'd bounce back or even make it. And now his dad was going out there and risking lives to find supplies in Woodbury? There was surely nothing good to be had from that not to mention the possibility that they might not even find what they're looking for to begin with.
He couldn't believe he was mere seconds away from actually trying to smother Daryl. He wasn't sure what possibly frightened him more: the fact that he even thought about it or the fact that he was close to going through with it. Then drawing his gun on his dad? The more thinking he did, the more he realized maybe he shouldn't be on watch. He needed to do something to keep his mind busy and staring out at walkers lining the fence wasn't exactly productive.
A small part of him wished he could have gone on the run with everyone.
Daryl sat up the best he could with his back supported by the wall. He was getting restless now that he was awake, the urge to just get up and do something minuscule never having daunted him this much before. But knowing his body wouldn't allow him that even if he tried and with Hershel by his side it was a lost cause. He grabbed the sheet that lay crinkled on the bed and pulled it over him.
"Don't understand why ya had to go and strip me down…" he muttered. The realization that he had been in nothing but his underwear all this time finally hit him.
"It was necessary to get you cooled off. You had a seizure due to your fever getting out of control. There wasn't much else we could do," Hershel explained. He sat in a chair someone had brought in earlier facing Daryl from across the small cell.
Upon hearing Hershel's explanation, Daryl fell silent. He lowered his gaze to the sheet he had pulled over him. Seizure? Had he really suffered from a seizure? Was he really that bad? Daryl had no idea. All he knew was that he'd been out for quite some time and that things didn't exactly piece together with his memory being a little foggy.
"I didn't mean to frighten you. Figured you'd want the truth." Daryl nodded as Hershel continued, "Think you'll be alright for a bit? I was planning on heading over to C, grab something to eat."
"I'm fine," Daryl replied.
"Would you like me to bring you back anything?" Hershel grabbed his crutches and made his way back onto his foot.
Daryl shook his head. "Don't even wanna try eatin' or drinking nothin' yet."
"I understand. I'll be back in a little while, though someone may beat me to it. We're all looking out for you." Hershel managed the smallest of smiles as Daryl did his best to return one. A couple minutes later and the cellblock fell silent once more after Hershel made his exit.
Daryl sighed and inched his way back down, lying so that he was facing the wall. He pulled the sheet up over his shoulder and shut his eyes to keep his vision from spinning. He might as well try and go back to sleep since he couldn't do anything else. His back was still hurting and nothing else seemed to be changing for the better. And knowing Rick, that man probably already left for his damn suicide run…
Carl gave it some time before he left the guard tower and flagged down Sasha to take over for a bit. He wanted to avoid the others if possible after the fiasco with the pillow and furthermore, he truly did want to check up on Daryl to see how he was doing since it sounded like he was awake. He quickly spotted Hershel and Carol along with Maggie in C Block so he assumed that meant Daryl was alone. He figured that was probably for the best anyhow.
But when Carl entered into D Block, he quickly realized that maybe it wasn't quite for the best: there were a handful of walkers roaming through the cellblock, one following another. And one of those walkers had just entered into Daryl's cell.
