In the Shallows

"I won't do it, we can't just leave."

Dale sighed, "Carol, the group is split. We're scattered and weak."

Carol started to get a little angry, her voice squeaking with fear, "What if she comes back? And we're not here," She looked at all of us, her face full of hope, "It could happen."

Andrea chimed in, "If Sophia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful."

Daryl gave me a look and then nodded, "Okay, we got to plan for this. I say tomorrow mornin' is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight, stay with the RV."

Dale nodded, "If the RV is staying, I am too."

"And I'll stay too." I said, giving Carol a warm smile. "Keep these boys from getting in any trouble."

Carol smiled back, "Thank you. Thank you all."

We all looked at Andrea who responded that she was going to stay, and then Glenn spoke up, "Well, if you're all staying then I'm-"

Dale interupted him, "Not you, Glenn. You're going. Take Carol's Cherokee."

Glenn scoffed, "Me? Why is it always me?"

I cut in, causing Dale to clamp his mouth shut, I looked at Glenn, reaching out for his arm, "You gotta go to the farm and make sure everything is okay and let them know the plan."

Dale nodded, "But most importantly you have to get T-Dog there, this is not an option. That cut has gone from bad to worse, he has a serious blood infection. Get him to that farm, see if they have antibiotics. Because if not, T-Dog will die, no joke."

As Dale was talking, Daryl walked over towards the bike and pulled out a baggy from the leather bag that sat on the end. He walked over towards us, he threw the white rag towards Dale, "Keep your oily rags off my brother's motorcycle." He set the bag down on the hood of a car, "Why'd ya wait till now to say anythin'? Got my brother's stash. Crystal, X. Don't need that. Got some kick ass painkillers." He tossed them towards Glenn, "Oxycycline," tossing that one to Dale, "not the generic stuff neither. It's first class, Merle got the clap on occasion." He shrugged off his brother's business and went to put it back.

I marched over towards him, my hand ripping the baggy just before he tucked it back in, "Why the fuck do you still have this?" I hissed. A few days before we had met up with the group we were apart of now, I had to act like mother hen and chewed out the two of them for carrying this kind of stuff with us. I wasn't into drugs, I never was. After seeing what it did to my father, I resented it. I knew Daryl never did the stuff his brother was into but he had promised me he was going to get rid of it. Is this what he meant by not promising me anything?

He avoided my stare, "It helped someone, dint it?"

I gritted my teeth, "You look at me when I'm talking to you, Daryl Dixon." He sheepishly faced me, "Answer my question."

"In case I wanted out." He muttered.

I squinted my eyes, my voice low but filled with anger, "In case you wanted out? You wanted to get high off of every drug known to man in an apocalypse? Are you fucking out of your mind." He neglected to answer my question and that made me absolutely pissed off. I threw the bag of drugs on the ground, giving him the most dirtiest of looks and spun on my heel. I walked up to Dale and Carol, "I'm going to go with Glenn and T-Dog. I think someone else should at least go with Glenn, so he doesn't feel like a lackey."

Dale nodded and Carol agreed, she reached out and grabbed my hands, "I understand and it means so much that you were willing to stay. I can't thank you enough."

I nodded off to her and kissed her cheek, "You don't have too." I walked over towards my bag that laid on the ground, digging through it, I pulled out my handgun and an extra clip. Checking the chamber and making sure I was equipped, I hollered for Glenn and T-Dog to get ready. I wanted to get to this place before night fall and judging by the position of the sun, that wasn't going to happen. I locked eyes with Daryl, my eyes were stone cold against his soft blue orbs.

I was furious. I couldn't believe that he would save those drugs in case he wanted to opt out. Daryl wasn't supposed to take the easy road, he was supposed to be the asshole who took the most complicating and risky road. It hurt even more because he had promised me that he would get rid of them, he promised they would be never be brought up again. Drugs were evil, especially the ones in Merle's stash. Heroine, meth, crack, everything. It hit a huge nerve inside of me and I had to prevent myself from going over the edge on him. I couldn't say the words I wanted to say. Because those words were strictly from spite and I would regret them the second they would leave my mouth.

Right before I climbed into the car, Daryl quickly jogged up to me, his hand gripping my forearm firmly, "Stay safe, Lex."

I bit my tongue and tugged away from him, looking away too. I slammed the car door shut and looked at my lap, I was having mixed emotions but the rage was still singing loudly in my brain but the feeling of guilt lingered in the background. We had driven off and like I had predicted, we got there right when it was pitch black outside. We all climbed out, I quickly rushed to T-Dog's side and let him use me to guide him. We got to the front stoop and all our eyes glanced down at the blood trail. It made my stomach twist and turn.

Glenn looked at me, "So do we ring the bell? I mean it looks like people live here."

T-Dog swayed against me, his eyes fluttering, "We're past this kind of stuff, aren't we?" We started up the steps, "Having to be considerate" I struggled to keep T-Dog's weight completely off of me, compared to him, I was like a tooth pick and there was no way in hell that I would be able to support him if he came crashing down.

"Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?" A voice from behind the shadows spoke out, our eyes adjusting to a short brown haired woman sitting in a rocking chair. She had her knees pulled up to her chest as she swayed back and forth.

Glenn's mouth dropped, it almost made me giggle, "Uh, hi. Yes, we closed it. Did the latch and everything. Hello, nice to see you again." I raised an eyebrow, confused. How did they meet already? And then it dawned on me, this must have been the woman who got Lori. "We met before briefly."

T-Dog's eyes started fluttering again, "Look, we came to help. There anything we can do?" She stood up about to say something but her eyes looked down at his arm that was bandaged up. "It's not a bite, I cut myself pretty bad though."

She nodded, "We'll have it look at, I'll tell them you're here."

Glenn dug in his backpack, "We have some painkillers and antibiotics. I already gave him some, if Carl needs any?"

The woman ignored him and opened the door, "Come on in, I'll make you three something to eat." Before she led us to the kitchen she led us into a room where Lori and Rick sat by the bed and Carl looking so peaceful.

I made a noise in my throat, which caused them to look up. My mind racing again, my mouth opened but no sound came out. I rushed to Lori who embraced my hug, I could feel her shaking with tears, and I held onto her tightly. I couldn't imagine what was going through her mind but I felt it. I waited until she let go first, pulling away, I gave her a pressed smile. I then followed the others out of the room and into the kitchen. I had almost forgotten how good real food tasted like, it made my stomach growl and roar with hunger as I slowly ate the sandwich she had placed in front of me. I was hungry but I couldn't find myself wanting to eat. Carl, poor sweet Carl. Why was everything going so badly? I just wanted it to be over, go back to how things used to be. But, I was smarter than that, things could never go back to the way they used to be, not after this.