little grimes | daryl dixon | WATTYS 2018

chapter seven

the next morning
chapter seven
august

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"honk the horn if you need to stop, if not then we keep going." shane explains. "we'll be on station 40 on the radio."

that's when morales and his family announced that he wasn't coming with us. they said they had family in Birmingham. i sighed as i hugged both of them and their children.

"channel 40 if you need anything." rick reminds them. they nod and take the lead. once they've left, all of us are making sure we have everything. i was riding with daryl in his truck as there wasn't enough room for me with my family.

besides, i wanted to tell him what happened to me. why i was crying.

"you ready, darlin'?" daryl asks me. i nod and we head in the truck. we were behind the rv while shane was leading and rick was behind us. t-dog and jaqui rode with shane while carol and sophia rode with rick and lori and carl.

we were about 15 minutes into the trip when i asked daryl, "hey daryl,"

"nuh uh. i ain't gonna talk to you unless you tell me why you was cryin'."

"i am. i trust you."

"good. i trust you too." he looks at me and smirks.

"alright." i take a deep breathe and begin. "when i was 14, shane was sleeping over at our house. rick and him were 18 at the time. getting ready to go to college and the police academy. well that night... shane snuck in my room and i assume you can guess what happened..." tears streamed down my face.

"and then when i was 16, he did it again. after that first time, i stopped eating and sleeping and doing anything healthy. the only thing i did was run. but i got better. then when he did it a second time, i stopped eating. by then, my parents figured out what was wrong and they shipped me off to rocks house. i was anorexic. i lived with rick until i was 19. that's when i did in-patient."

"basically, that son of a bitch raped you? you do realize i'm gonna kill him." daryl says.

"you ain't doin' shit. anyways, i was crying because shane was pointing a gun at rick and then he had me so scared i thought he was gonna... hurt me again..."

"imma kill that sumbitch."

"daryl, i told you because i don't want rick to know. he can't. not yet."

"you will tell him though, right?" i nodded.

i could tell daryl was mad, so i left the conversation and we talked about the happy times in our life. there wasn't a whole lot in either of ours. then we just sat in silence for the next few hours, listening to the static radio. we were about 2 hours into the trip when everyone stopped.

"what do you thinks the problem?" i ask daryl as he gets out. i mock his actions and follow him.

"prolly' that damn radiator hose." he answers.

we walk up to the group and he confirms it's the radiator hose. i sigh and lean against the rv.

shane and t-dog went off to get gas, so that was a stress level off my shoulders. i put my flannel over my shoulders and just stood there. when jaqui came out saying that jim was worse, rick went in.

when he came out a few minutes later he told us what jim wanted. he said that jim wanted to be left here. tied to a tree. we all obliged his wishes when he called lori in.

i could make out some of the things he said to her. he basically said to watch carl. keep him safe. we al knew lori would do that. no matter how bipolar she was.

i was with rick, helping jim to the tree when he said to me, "i know you...let carl win at uno..."

"how'd you know?"

"because. someone like you, likes to see smiles on people's faces. even in the worst of times... that's why... you're always laughin'." he says. i smile.

"sometimes he lets me win too." i reply.

by the time shane is back, we have jim successfully tied. the radiator hose is fixed and we have more gas, enough to make it to the cdc plus more.

after we've all said our goodbyes, we get back in our vehicles.

"is it true?" daryl asks me as he starts up his truck.

"is what true?" i was confused.

"do you let carl win?"

"yes sir."

"would you let me win?"

"no. you're a big boy. you can do it yourself." i laugh.

he scoffs and we continue our journey to the cdc.

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