little grimes | daryl dixon | WATTYS 2018

chapter eleven

the next day
chapter eleven
august

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"carl, can you watch her? while we go to otis' funeral?"

"yeah." carl nods and smiles.

"i don't need a babysitter." i tell rick and daryl.

"but you do. you could-"

"listen 'doc'. i'll be fine. carl go."

"carl, as you father, i demand you to stay." carl nods and sits back down.

as soon as they left, carl brought out uno.

"you know you're my favorite right?"

"of course i am." he laughs. "wait, even before daryl?"

"even before daryl." i confirm and he fist pumps the air.

when the funeral was over and we heard the door open, we scrambled to get cards put away. we didn't get there in time because lori came in.

"we weren't doing anything!" carl immediately yelled.

"shush! jeez kid, you have so much to learn." i shook my head.

"you guys playin' uno again?" she chuckled and we both nodded slowly. "alright. deal me in."

i laughed and then winced.

"are you okay, auggie?" carl says. i nod.

"just hurts when i laugh is all."

but that wasn't the truth. it hurt like a bitch. even when i wasn't laughing. it felt like my insides were going against each other. like they were burning.

"hey carl, can you go ask hershel for some pain pills? please?" he said yes and then runs off.

"alright, what's wrong?"

i burst into tears it hurts so bad.

"it-it hurts. really bad, lor." she brings me into a hug lightly and rubs my back.

"i'll have hershel check you out, alright?" i nod and she heads out. i hear the screen door slam for the second time.

i hear her scream hershel, daryl, and ricks name. i sighed. i didn't want them all to know.

"everything alright?" hershel says as he walks in.

"um...not really."

"what's wrong?" i look to lori.

"come on rick. let's go carl. we'll be outside." i nod and daryl begins to leave.

"can you stay?" i ask him. he nods and i tell hershel how i feel.

next thing i know i'm seeing black again.

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daryl
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"what did you do?!" i yell and rick comes barging inside. he looks at her body and yells the same as i do.

"everyone! calm down! everyone out. go get maggie. i need her. tell her to grab everything!" rick does as he's told. i look down at her.

"do i really have to leave?" i ask.

"i'm sorry son. i'll let you know when i find anything."

so i leave the room, practically forced out. that's when i saw hershel lift up her shirt. the bandage was covered in blood.

"holy-" i looked down.

"did she complain to you about any pain?" hershel asks me.

"no. she's tough, she wouldn't admit it hurt unless it was really bothering her."

"well it must've if her sister in law was shouting out name."

hershel took off the bandage and blood immediately started pouring out.

"hold the wound with pressure!" he barks at me and i immediately do it.

i couldn't lose her.

"rick! we're gonna need more blood!" hershel yells and rick comes in.

"holy shit." he looks at her. "take as much as you need." he sits down and maggie begins to take ricks blood and put it into aug.

"i'm gonna have to go back in, see what happened." we all nod in agreement and rick and maggie are getting everything out from last night.

i don't normally pray... i don't even know if i believe in god. but i needed her. i needed august to live.

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a few hours later hershel came out. he looked stressed, sad and he was sweaty.

"everything's okay, right?"

hershel nods at carl's question.

"carl, would you mind going to get me a glass of water?"

"no problem." carl runs off.

"no boy should have to hear this." tears stream down ricks face and lori is holding him tight. "there was another bullet fragment which pierced something in her body that caused internal bleeding. good news is she is stable, alive and doing well. bad news is she'll be asleep for a while. a day at the most. her body needs the rest, so if she does wake up, make sure she goes back to sleep."

we all nod at his words and i tell rick i'm goin' to go hunt. we still need to eat.

so i left, hoping she would wake up when i got back.

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august
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"she's waking up!" a voice said.

"not so loud." i mumbled.

"how're you feeling?" i opened my eyes and saw hershel looking at me.

"hurts. but not as much as before. what happened?"

"there was one more fragment that tore something and caused a bleed. but hershel fixed you up, good as new." lori smiles at me and i try to smile back, but it's just taking too much of my energy.

"where's daryl?"

"he should be back any minute."

turns out a minute, turned into an hour.

i was half asleep when he finally came in.

"you're here." i mumbled and slowly opened my eyes.

"yeah, i am. i got you something." he put a flower in a beer bottle on the bed side table.

"where were you?" i looked at him as he sat down next to me on the bed.

"i went huntin'.

"so why the cherokee rose?" i ask.

"because, i thought... i don't know..." he looks up at me with his piercing blue eyes and moved closer to me. i sat up with the strength i had and moved as close as he did.

when our lips almost touched, i heard "auggie! look what dad gave me!" daryl and i quickly pulled away.

damn you carl.

"wow!" rick had given him his sheriffs hat.

"he said that grandpa gave him this hat when he was my age."

"that he did. i was so jealous." i snickered.

he smiled and walked out of the room.

"i-i'm sorry. i shouldn't of done that." daryl apologized.

"don't be. it's not like i didn't want it to happen." oops.

"oh really?" he smirks.

"i-i..."

"goodnight darlin' get some sleep."

damn it.

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