The curtains were closed and the lamp in the room was low. Lori and Rick both looked up as I closed the door behind me.
"I thought you may need a change of clothes" I said holding the pile in my hand.
"Thank you so much" Rick said standing up and taking them from me. He hugged me and held me for what seemed like ages.
"How is my little dude doing?" I asked walking over to the bed, where Carl lay.
"We need antibiotics and other stuff ASAP" Rick said.
"Have they got the bullet out?" I asked.
"It broke up on impact, Hershal got alot of it out, but not all of it. This is why he's getting a fever" Rick said.
I touched Carl's hand gently and rubbed it.
"So will he beable to get the rest out with everything that Shane's gone for?" I asked.
"That's the idea, so fingers crossed" Rick said.
"Well I won't stay any longer, but if you need anything and I mean anything, we hv set up camp over by the trees" I squeezed Carl's hand gave Rick a hug and left without acknowledging Lori.
It was getting dark now as I walked back towards the camp. I sat an ate a bowl of soup with some crackers by myself on the fence over looking the fields.
I washed all of our things up and packed them back into the RV. Daryl came over to me as I was coming back outside.
"You OK?" he asked.
"Not the best, my little Carl looks so poorly" I sighed.
"Come on let's go for a little walk over by the horses" he said grabbing my hand.
We told Dale where we were going and slowly walked off holding hands.
The sun was setting and it was a beautiful backdrop for the walk. Looking at it you would have never known dead people were walking about not to far from where we were.
Daryl kept talking about random things, to try and keep my mind off Carl.
"So where did you live before moving to Charming?" he asked.
"I lived in new Jersey before i came here, I had a little house close to the beach. I lived there for around 4 years before that i lived in brooklyn where I did my police training, as a kid i lived in harlem" I said.
"So what made you move here?" he asked.
"I had a bad life when I was younger, my mom was a meth head. She got pregnant with me by one of her clients, gave birth to me way too early and I was addicted to drugs, so for first few weeks of my life i was on methadone. Obviously I was taken away from her, but no one wanted to foster a baby who was hooked on drugs at birth and would surely have health issues. So i was put in a home until i was 5. Then shit just went from bad to worse, but I won't bore you with all that" I said.
" No tell me I want to know everything about you" he said as we reached the paddock. I sat on the step leaving enough room for Daryl.
"Ok, well i was adopted by the most adorable couple. They didn't have much money but they made it work. I did good at school and everything was going good until..." I paused for a moment to try and fight back the tears. Daryl grabbed my hand and I continued.
" they were walking back from work together one night, I was 17 at the time, a gang fight broke out and they got caught in the crossfire killing them both instantly. So I was 17 lost the only people i had ever cared about, and had cared about me, with barely any money, still in school" said looking at the last bit of sunlight behind the trees.
"So what did you do?" he asked.
"I went to school, I worked 3 jobs to pay the rent and everything else. I Knew there was no chance in hell that I was going to be able to get enough money for college and every single one of them who were involved in my parents murders got off, I wanted to get into law. Obviously that was never going to happen I decided that I would finish school and try to get in the police academy" I said.
"That is absolutely crazy" Darryl said shaking his head.
"I passed everything with flying colours, I made sure of it. But it was hell in the city, I loved every minute of the job until, I was stalked by a guy that I arrested once. it was the worst experience of my life, he followed me to New Jersey and kidnapped me" I said shaking my head to get rid of the memory.
"And did he get what he deserved?" Daryl asked.
"No, well yes and No" I sighed.
"Go on tell me" he said grabbing my hand.
"I hate talking about it" I said, I looked at his face and exhaled deeply.
"I escaped and managed to attract attention of the neighbours who called the cops. He held a gun to my head, and there was a big stand off. He threw me to the ground and was about to shoot me, but the cops shot him first" I said quickly.
"So justice wasn't done for you again?" he sighed shaking his head.
"Well at least I knew that he could never come back for me. There were too many bad memories in New Jersey so that is why I decided to transfer here. It has been the best thing I ever did" I smiled.
"until now?" he laughed.
"well I would much rather be here than back there, with all this going on" I said.
"I had no one there, least I have Rick and Carl here, and now you and Carol" I smiled.
"you really don't like lori do you?" he smirked.
" not at all, anyway come on lets get back, we won't beable to find our way back to camp" I stood up, brushed off my legs and grabbed Daryl's hand.
"can I kiss you?" he asked.
"you don't have to keep asking" I laughed. Before I knew it he was fully kissing me.
He pulled away and I could see his eyes glistening in the last bit of light.
"You are so beautiful" he whispered in between his heavy breaths.
"No I'm not, you're the beautiful one" I replied kissing him again.
"You talk shit" he grinned, pulling away.
"No you are, I find you really attractive and if I could forget what happened today I would be in that paddock rolling around with you in the hay" I giggled.
"I know what you mean but we should head back and wait for Shane and Otis" he said kissing me again.
"I want to share the tent with you tonight, if that's OK?" I asked.
"Of course it is you don't need to ask" he smiled.
"No funny business mind, just need to be held right now" I said grabbing his hand.
"I wouldn't want any funny business with you anyway" he laughed.
We headed back to the camp as it was almost pitch black now.
Carol was boiling water for us to have a drink for bed.
Andrea was on top of the RV on watch and Dale was making sure the camp was secure around the fences.
"There's some hot water left for you to get washed up" Carol said.
"Thank you" I said taking the water from her. Went into the RV and had a wash in the bathroom. I changed my clothes into the ones that Carol had washed for me and put my boots back on. The one thing I missed the most was being able to sleep in comfortable clothes and no shoes, as we had to be ready at all times.
I went back to the tent and got in beside Daryl.
"You smell lovely" he said spooning me.
I felt so safe in Daryls arms that I fell asleep almost instantly, such a deep sleep that I didn't even know that Shane came back with everything but no sign of Otis.
