Every day she told herself to just keep her head down, her mouth shut and to do whatever chores that she could find to prove that she was useful to the group. If they happened to get her out of the tent and away from Ed, all the better. Especially if she could get Sophia to help her, or if Lori was willing to watch the girl while watching over her own son. Carol sighed, looking back at the tent. She dreaded every night, knowing that Ed didn't care that his own daughter was a witness to everything he did to her.
No one else seemed to be blind to his actions, or his words, either and she saw the looks she got from the others in their camp. Not a single one of them did anything to help her though. Lori watched Sophia occasionally, but she was wrapped in her own fear and grief over her husband that she didn't look much further than her new relationship with Shane, and her son. Shane didn't seem to care, retreating into the background anytime something happened that didn't affect him personally. Dale was kind, but he was distant and probably thought of it as none of his business.
The Morales family stayed away too, though she was glad Sophia had found more friends. The Dixon brothers gave her some knowing looks, but they didn't seem to type to get involved in other people's drama, and she could only see their interference ending in violence so that was probably a good thing. Andrea gave her knowing looks, but seemed to blame her for not standing up to Ed, and Amy was oblivious. Glenn wasn't much more than a kid himself, for all his forays into Atlanta, and he just seemed lost when something happened that he didn't have the experience to deal with. Even Jim and Jacqui kept away when Ed was particularly loud.
Carol hunkered down over the laundry again, it was almost ready to bring down to the water to be rinsed, and she was wasting time to draw out the task as long as she could. Ed was nursing a headache in the tent and Sophia was playing with the Morales children, and she just wanted a few moments of peace.
Of course, she knew that she needed Ed to survive in this new world. He was the one who had planned for the end of the world, and had stockpiled weapons and supplies like the MREs they were still eating. That didn't stop her from fantasizing that he was eaten by walkers though. Especially when she was nursing a new black eye or saw him eyeing his daughter in disturbing ways.
That was one of the reasons she was trying to ingratiate herself with the others; cleaning, cooking, watching the other kids for a bit when their parents needed some privacy. Anything to make connections and seem like a team player, to make them want to help her if anything did happen to Ed. Making them want to help her learn to defend herself would be even better, but none of those with the skill seemed inclined to teach anyone yet. Eventually they would have to, but for now she supposed that they liked feeling that everyone was dependent upon them. Until then she just had to keep her wits and stay alive.