The new teen kept a wary eye on Daryl most of the ride to the hilltop. She'd noticed his staring once again. Only this time, he was not looking at her. Carl tried keeping conversation with her, but she refused to speak anymore as she now realized everything was going to be different from now on. She did grow used to being alone and soon that treehouse had become her home. She hugged her back pack to her chest as it sit on her lap, remembering that her family photos were still in there and they were the only thing she had left of her own.
"You alright?" Carol asked her when she noticed the tight grip she had on her bag.
"I'm fine."
They heard one of the car horns behind them. "What's going on?" Sasha asked.
"I don't know." Rick looked in the side view mirror. He saw Aaron poking his head out the driver's side window, motioning for him to pull over. "He wants us to stop." He sighed, pulling to the side of the road and getting out. After a small conversation involving the two men, Rick returned to the door of the RV. "They're almost out of gas."
"What?" Abraham responded.
Putting his head down in frustration, Rick said, "We're gonna have to go to the nearest gas station."
"Well, that's no big deal, right?" Maggie asked. Glenn squeezed her hand. "There can't be one too far from here."
"There's one a few miles up the road, but Aaron says they won't make it that far." Grimes sighed.
"Well, we can go get the gas right?" Jesus wondered.
"We can. But, I think some of us should stay back with them."
"What? Why?" Rosita looked to Abraham who looked at Sasha.
"Because. I don't want to risk any walkers showing up and no one here to help them. Just in case." He stated.
"I'll stay." Michonne offered.
"Me too." Daryl added.
"So will I." Sasha offered.
"Count me in." Abraham smiled, always loving a good jolt of danger.
"I want to stay."
"Carl, no." Rick refused.
"But Dad, I can-"
"I said no. You're coming with the rest of us." His son slouched in frustration, but Rick didn't care at the moment.
"What about you?" Evelyn whispered to Carol beside her. "Are you gonna stay and protect them?"
"Why?" The woman wondered.
"He's staying." Evie looked to Daryl and Carol followed her gaze.
"So?"
"Okay, everyone who's staying you can get out. Be careful and we'll be back as soon as possible." Rick moved to the other side of the RV to get into the driver's seat as the volunteers all exited the vehicle with their weapons.
Evelyn looked over to Rosita who mouthed the words 'be careful' to Abraham as he got out and got ready to shut the door. She watched him weakly smile at her and the door was closed. She was soon confused as she saw the way the redhead looked at Sasha and the way Rosita looked at him. They were the same looks Carol had received from Daryl the whole ride. Only, Daryl seemed more sad.
Rick turned the RV back on and they continued down the street. "Hey, Evie?" Carol whispered.
"Yeah?"
"What did you mean by that back there? You know, about me staying?"
It was now that Evelyn realized, Carol hadn't a clue about Daryl's stares. Either that or she was ignoring them altogether. "Nothing. Nevermind. I just thought-Well, I haven't been around people for two years except for those things so pretend I never even mentioned it."
Carol did just that, as it was true, she had noticed the looks she was receiving from him all along. That was the specific reason she hadn't volunteered to stay back. His looks of sorrow, or regret, or pity, or all three were unbecoming of him and she couldn't stand to see it anymore. She shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes and trying her best to get rid of this-
"Headache?" The young girl asked.
Moving her hand away from her face, Carol gave her an intrigued look. "Yes. How'd you know?"
"My mother used to do that when she got migraines." Evie replied. "Here." She took Carol's hand and squeezed the webbed area between her thumb and index finger. "My mother was always tired and got headaches a lot. She and my father fought all the time. It was mostly about us kids and doing things the tribal way on his side, but she wanted us to live normal lives the way she was raised. It was really bad for their marriage." She set down Carol's left hand and picked up her right to do the same to it. "It got so bad sometimes. Once, she had a migraine for four days and had to go to the hospital for it. My dad hit her the next day." She stared off into space for a moment as Carol glanced at her reminiscing in her memories. After a couple seconds or so, she snapped out of it and put Carol's hand back in her lap. "There. Is that better?"
"A little bit. Yeah. Thank you." The woman rubbed her hands together while watching the girl fiddle with the zippers on her back pack. "You miss your mother." It wasn't a question, nor an informational sentence. It was more of a realization that Carol finally began to think of Sophia once again, realizing she did miss her and she wondered what her life would be like with her daughter in it at this time.
"I miss all of them. But I guess it's more that I miss what we were. " Evelyn nodded. "We were happy. We were best friends. Once this all happened, she changed. Something was different between us." It was now that she noticed the one eyed boy was listening to everything. "I just wish we could go back to before." She felt Carol's hand on hers and she looked up at the lady weakly smiling at her.
They felt the RV come to a stop and Rick and Glenn stepped out. Rick filled the gas can for the other cars while Glenn filled the tank of the RV. They looked around a lot, preparing themselves in case anymore walkers showed up, or even people from another community such as Jesus.
"Alright, we should be good." Rick said as he got back in the driver's seat. He buckled up and headed back for the rest of the group.
"You say you're part Native American?" Jesus asked Evie, who nodded. "Ah. What tribe?"
"Cherokee."
"I had a girlfriend once who was Tuscaroran." Evelyn nodded once more and they felt the RV turning down another road.
"Did you hear that?" Maggie asked.
"What?" Glenn wondered.
"Sounded like a-" Before she could finish, it sounded again and this time they all heard it loud and clear.
"Gunshot." Rick concluded and they came across the group fighting off about fourteen walkers.
Daryl stabbed one and turned to see the RV coming. "Rick!" He yelled, pushing one away and shooting it in the head. Another one came up behind him and he pushed it in front of the RV, Rick hitting it and running it over, crushing its skull. The whole group began to run off the RV and Carol turned to notice Evelyn's shock.
"Stay in here." She demanded.
"Maybe I can help." Evie offered with uncertainty.
"No! I'll come get you when-" She turned seeing one running towards the entrance of the recreational van and she stabbed in the head, yelling back at Evie. "Just stay in here!" She left closing the door and helping the others kill the rest.
"I'm sorry!" Daryl yelled as Carol came up beside him.
"What?!" She yelled, stabbing one through the back of the head.
"I'm sorry about last night!" Daryl shot one through the chin.
"You're bringing this up now?" She yelled, knocking one to the ground and bending over to stab it in the forehead.
"You know, I thought it'd be best when you could kill these things and not me!" He shot two more and turned to her as she stabbed another.
"Very funny, Daryl." One grabbed her from behind and he shot it.
There was about three left and Rick, Sasha, and Michonne finished them off. Once the one that had ahold of Carol fell to the ground, she looked into Daryl's eyes. "I miss you talking to me." He admitted. "I don't want what I said last night to affect that."
She sighed and looked down, suddenly remembering Evelyn. "Could you go get that girl for me? I had her hiding in the RV." Carol leaned against the hood of one of the cars to rest.
Daryl looked down, slightly nodding and taking one last look at her as he walked away. Suddenly, her headache was back and she put her hand to her forehead before trying the trick Evie did on her. It wasn't as effective.
Suddenly, there was one more sound of a gun going off. "Help!?" She heard Daryl's voice and looked up, seeing him help Evelyn limp around the RV. "Help!" Carol stood up as fast as possible and ran over to the two as Daryl set her down on the ground. Evie leaned her back up against the car behind the RV and screamed.
Upon approaching them, the group saw the blood that poured out of the young girl's leg and Denise fell to the girl's side, immediately putting pressure on the wound and Heath handed her a cloth to help.
"What happened? I told you to stay inside." Carol said to the teen.
"I thought it was over and when I opened the door there was one more." She grimaced in pain.
"Why didn't you scream for my help?" Carol held her hand.
"I thought I could handle it." She groaned again and started to sweat. "It's fine though. Just a small bite."
Everyone gasped, turning to look at each other. Carl knelt down beside her. "You were bitten?"
"Yes." Evie answered, confused.
"You don't know what happens when we get bitten by one of those?" He asked her.
"No?" She looked around at everyone's reactions and immediately knew what that might mean.
"Evie, how did your family go?" Carol asked, still holding her hand.
"They, um…" She hesitated to tell them, but knew she probably had to. She hissed in pain as Denise wrapped her leg. "My sisters and brother were all eaten, then my parents…" Some tears escaped her eyes. "They killed themselves. Salal looked after me until...he went kind of crazy and I...I ran away from him."
"Evelyn, being bitten is not a good thing." Michonne said slowly.
"You-" Rick's son began to tell her, but Carol interrupted.
"You'll be okay." The widow assured her as her headache grew worse. "We'll take care of you." Everyone looked down at Carol as if she were crazy. Except for Daryl who leaned over and put a hand on Carol's shoulder before helping Rick get Evelyn into the RV again.
A/N: I hope you liked this chapter. Please leave reviews!