Seven ➳ d.dixon's dog

s i x t e e n

Daryl and I walk together over to where Sofia's grave was. Everyone was already there, lined up in front of the three graves. Hershel's wife, Annette. Hershel's stepson, Shawn. Then Carol's daughter, Sofia. Daryl stands a little bit away from the group and I'm on the outside of him. Everyone stares at the graves in complete silence, letting their thoughts control their mind.

Their is a silent agreement that the ceremony is over and everyone disperses in different direction. Daryl and I go back to our camp. He starts packing, I throw him a look of confusion, he seems to understand it immediately, "This group has gone ta' hell. Jus' wanna get the hell away from it." He explains. I nod in understanding. Yes, I nodded.

It doesn't take long for us to be fully packed. We move about half a mile away from the farmhouse, away from everybody. It's peaceful out here. More so then it was closer to the farmhouse where all the chaos is. There is an abandoned fire place of sorts, and a couple of trees for shade. There is a log that slowly decomposes on the ground that will be good for Daryl to sit on when we get a fire going at night. He sets up the tent for me, which has holes in it. I grumble in annoyance at it. Why tha' hell would you poke holes through tha' thing you're sleeping in? I lay at the opening of the tent while he sits against the fireplace and starts to make more arrows for his crossbow.

We sit there in a peaceful silence. Well not so peaceful with the ongoing grief and guilt. It lasted for about an hour before Lori walked up. You seriously need to see Dr.Phil or something. Who's tha' father? Shane is! "Moving to the suburbs?" Moving away from you, get the message. Daryl doesn't respond, so she continues, clearly not getting he isn't in the mood to talk, "Listen, Beth's in some kind of catatonic shock. We need Hershel." She says stopping in front of Daryl.

Daryl continues to sharpen his stick thing, "Yeah. So what?" He asks, not even looking up at her.

She crouches down to his level, like she would to a child. Just that simple gesture getting me a bit mad, "So I need you to run into town real quick and bring him and Rick back." Why can't she go to her nutjob boyfriend? Daryl doesn't respond, "Daryl?"

He stops sharpening the stick and looks to her "Your bitch went window-shopping. You want him, go fetch him yourself." He goes back to looking at his stick and starts sharpening it again, "I got better things to do."

"What's the matter with you?" Since when does she know him like that? "Why would you be so selfish?" What. I stand up from where I am laying and growl at her, keeping my mouth close when I do so.

Daryl stands up right away, "Selfish? Listen to me, Olive Oyl. I was out there looking for that little girl every single day. I took and bullet and an arrow in the process, and Seven broke his ribs along with it." He points his knife at Lori. Cool it, Rambo, "Don't you tell me about me getting my hands dirty! You want those two idiots? Have a nice ride. I'm done looking for people." I stop growling and Daryl sits back down, focusing back onto the stick he was sharpening. Lori seems taken aback, and goes back to her group.

I go back to where I was laying down, and take a nap. I awake when night has fallen and Daryl sits around a small campfire he built. I sleepily get up and go over to where he is just to plop down against his legs. "Mornin'. Or evenin' I guess." He says, his mouth moving to the side, really him just being awkward. I yawn as a sort of response while he starts to let my head.

I stare at the fire. There's something I've always found mesmerizing about fire. I never knew why. I could stare at one for hours. They seem almost magical to me. You can't grab it, you can't have total control over it, if you touch it you burn. It's just amazing. The fire dances with the wind, making it seem absolutely beautiful to me.

We sit together, enjoying the warmth and quiet  for a solid 15 minutes before Carol walks up. Or rather, runs up. Her presence seems to always remind me of Sofia, "We can't find Lori" Daryl just sits, staring at the fire while petting my head. "And the others aren't back yet either."

"Yeah. That dumb bitch must've gone off looking for 'em." He picks up a long stick he was using earlier and starts to poke at the fire.

"What?" Her mouth is slightly agape from her little run here.

"Yeah, she asked me to go. I told her I was done being an errand boy." He continues to poke, sparks flying in to night sky and disappearing into the darkness.

"And you didn't say anything?" Daryl's face scrunches and he slows his poking. Did he just get in trouble? I snort at the thought. Carol storms off. She only makes it about half way out of our camp before she turns back around and walks over to us again, "Don't do this. Please. I've already lost my girl." She tells. I lower my head in shame.

Daryl stands up and gets into Carol's face, "That wasn't my problem neither." He seethes before going back to our tent. It doesn't matter! She was still a little girl, and you knew her! Carol heads back to the farmhouse after this. I don't move to go back to the tent, feeling angry with Daryl right now. Plus the fire is nice. I close my eyes to go to sleep.

I wake up after not too long to a single voice, "You're afraid. You're afraid 'cause you're all alone. You got no husband, no daughter." I stand up at this, my eyes open and aware. I already know who he's talking to. What the hell is your problem? I see Daryl getting worked up in front of a silent Carol, "You don't know what to do with yourself. You ain't my problem! Sofia wasn't mine!" He yells, a finger pointing in her face. I quietly growl at this, my presence still not known with how quiet it is. "All you had to do was keep an eye on her" I bark at him, Carol flinching when he gets too close. He looks over to me with rage clouded eyes, "Shut up, you dumbass dog!" I bare my teeth at him. You jackass! Daryl walks away first, then Carol starts to walk back to the farmhouse. I damn sure ain't spending my night with him.

I follow Carol back, but slow down while she walks ahead. I can't sleep with her. She is a constant reminder of Sofia.. I have nowhere to go. I look back to Daryl's camp and then back to where Carol is walking ahead.

I go back to Daryl's camp. But avoid the tent. I plop down against the fireplace, before I hear rustling from the tent. "Seven, c'mon." I ignore him and continue to look at the dying flames. "Seven." I hear footsteps coming towards me but I don't look. Asshole. "Fine. Sleep out here then. See if I care." He says slightly raising his voice. Fine. He turns back and leaves me out here. I close my eyelids and call it a night still feeling sleepy even after my nap.