It has been six months.
The prison was swarming with life and hope. The crops were growing, the piglets that Rick found were now pigs and Hedley's cards were now in the form of study cards, held together by a metal ring. It helped him flip through them quicker to give his response.
He was walking with Daryl down to where the food was being cooked by Carol.
"Hey Daryl!"
"Hey, Daryl."
"Hi, Daryl."
The archer smiled stiffly under the attention and Hedley frowned at everyone in confusion.
Carol saw this, smiling, "Just so you know, I liked you first."
"Stop." Daryl huffed, reaching over for a plate of food, handing a plate over to Hedley. "You know, Rick brought in a lot of them, too."
"Not recently. Give the stranger sanctuary, keeping people fed, you're gonna have to learn to live with the love."
"Right."
Carol smiled at Hedley, "How you doing, Spider Monkey?"
Hedley flicked through his cards. 'Good'. 'Thank you'.
"Hey!" Called a voice and in came Merle, "Ya havin' a dinner party and didn't invite old Uncle Merle?"
Carol raised an eyebrow at him, "Where have you been? I haven't seen you all morning."
"Worried about me, sweetheart?"
Carol rolled her eyes.
"I was doing gun training with the newbies. Hershel gave me the job."
Daryl frowned at his brother, "You what?"
"I've been pullin' my weight, baby brother." Merle shrugged then nudged Hedley, "How's ma Nephew doin' today?"
'Good'.
"Ya like the book I found ya?"
Merle went on the last supply run and had gotten Hedley a big book of bugs. An encyclopaedia of all nature's insects. Hedley spent most of last night reading it under his torch light.
The boy nodded, 'Thank you'.
"Ya welcome."
"I need you two to see something." Carol then announced, "Patrick, you want to take over?"
"Yes, ma'am." Said a boy slightly older than Hedley, "M-Mr. Dixon, I just wanted to thank you for bringing that deer back yesterday." He shuffled closer to Daryl, "It was a real treat, sir. And I'd be honoured to shake your hand."
Hedley frowned at the display, giving Merle a confused look. Merle chuckled and Carol smiled warmly. Daryl licked his fingers clean before shaking the boy's hand.
Carol went to lead Daryl and Merle where she wanted them. Daryl stopped Hedley from following.
"Stay 'ere."
'Why?'
"Socialise. Make a friend."
'Carl'.
"I know ya have Carl but a couple more won't hurt."
Hedley looked at Merle for help but his Uncle just shrugged, pulling a face.
The adults left, leaving Hedley with Patrick at the stove.
"You have a really cool dad and uncle, Hedley." Patrick said, "I see you going out into the woods all the time. I wish I could do that, but I don't know how to handle weapons. What do you do out there anyways? Hunt? Scavenge? Or-" Patrick looked up from what he was doing, finding Hedley gone. "Oh."
*****
Hedley saw Daryl getting ready to go on a run and ran to him.
"Ya comin', Spider Monkey?"
Hedley nodded, looking around. He showed a card. 'Merle'.
"He ain't comin'. He and Carol are up to somethin'."
The boy responded with a nod of understanding.
Bob, Sasha, Tyreese and Beth's new boyfriend Zach got into the car while Daryl and Hedley got on the bike. Hedley couldn't help but hum happily in his seat behind Daryl when the bike revved to life. The vibrations always made him happy stim. They drove down to the front gate but stopped when seeing Michonne. Hedley bounced in excitement, leaping off the bike as soon as it stopped and ran to hug her. Michonne hugged him back with a huge smile.
"I've missed you too, Bug."
Bug had been a nickname only Michonne called Hedley. It started around three months ago and ever since, It stuck. Hedley loved the name.
He flapped his hands, happy to see his friend.
"Well, look who's back." Daryl said.
Michonne frowned, "Didn't find him."
"Glad to see you in one piece."
"I'm thinking of looking over near Macon." Rick sighed in disapproval, "It's worth a shot."
"Miles of walkers. You might run into a few unneighborly types. Is it?" After a pause, Daryl looked at Rick, "I'm gonna go check out the Big Spot. The one I was talking about, just seeing."
Rick nodded, "Yeah, I got to go out and check the snares. I don't want to lose whatever we catch to the walkers."
"Hedley's going on the run?" Carl said.
"Yeah." Daryl said, "He's been out more than most of us."
Carl groaned, looking at his father, "It's not fair, Dad. Daryl lets Hedley go on runs with him."
Rick sighed, "We ain't discussing this again, Carl."
Michonne then announced to Daryl, "I'll go with you and Bug."
Daryl nodded.
"You just got here." Carl whined.
"And I'll be back."
Hedley hopped back onto the bike while Michonne joined the others in the car. And soon, they were off.
It was a long drive and when they got to the store, everyone hopped out of their vehicles and got ready at the entrance.
"Alright, let's make a sweep. Make sure it's safe. Grab what you can. We'll come back tomorrow with more people." Said Daryl, loading his crossbow.
Hedley did the same, rocking back and forth on his tippy toes.
Zach suddenly spoke, "Okay, I think I got it."
Michonne frowned, "Got what?"
"I've been trying to guess what Daryl did before the turn."
"He's been trying to guess for, like, six weeks." Sasha explained.
"Yeah, I'm pacing myself. One shot a day."
Daryl sat on the windowsill, "All right, shoot."
"Well, the way you are at the prison, you being on the council, you're able to track, you're helping people, but you're still being kind of... surly. Big swing here." He took a dramatic pause then said, "Homicide cop."
Everyone laughed.
Daryl narrowed his eyes, "What's so funny?"
"Nothing." Michonne chuckled, "It makes perfect sense."
"Actually, the man's right. Undercover."
Hedley frowned at him.
Zach's eyes widened, "Come on, really?"
"Yep. I don't like to talk about it 'cause it was a lot of heavy shit, you know?" He then smirked, making Zach groan.
"Dude, come on, really? Okay. I'll just keep guessing, I guess."
"Yeah, you keep doing that."
Daryl knocked on the window and suddenly four walkers pressed themself to the glass.
"Mm-hmm. We're gonna do this, Detective?" Michonne joked.
"Let's do it. All right, we go in, stay in formation for the sweep. After that, you all know what you're supposed to look for." He looked at Hedley, "Ready, Spider Monkey?"
Hedley nodded.
"Stay close."
They entered, splitting up in order to look around quickly for stuff to take. Hedley headed for the baby section. He saw some clothes, blankets and bottles and quickly put them in his bag. He also saw a teddy. It was of a brown bear with black patches, big eyes and it had a bow tied around its neck. He picked it up, feeling the soft fur.
"Whatcha got?" Daryl said, coming into the aisle.
Hedley showed him the bear.
"For lil' ass-kicker?"
Hedley nodded.
"She'll love it."
A loud bang was heard, and Daryl went running. Hedley put the bear into his bag and followed, seeing Bob under a shelving unit.
"You cut?"
"No, man, but my foot is caught."
Daryl and Zach tried lifting the shelves. It was heavier than they thought.
Suddenly, walkers were falling through the roof. Growls, groans and moans of the dead getting louder by second. Everyone started fighting. Hedley shot his arrow into one of the walkers' heads, stabbing another with his knife. Daryl, Sasha, Michonne and Tyreese joined but the walkers kept coming.
As the fight continued, Daryl and Zach got the shelves off of Bob, but Zach was then attacked by walkers, sending him to the floor. Walkers surrounded him and started to feast. Zach screams echoed Hedley's head but soon another walker was falling down, landing right in front of the boy. It snarled and crawled to him. An arrow went flying. Daryl had shot it.
"Daryl!" Michonne called, "We need to go!"
Daryl took his arrow back, lifted Hedley up by his waist then ran out with the others. The building collapsed, with Zach's eaten body still inside.
"You okay, Bug?" Michonne asked Hedley.
The boy panted, hands over his ears.
Michonne quickly got his headphones out of his backpack and placed them on his head, wrapping her arms around him as he calmed his breathing.
"We need to go!" Sasha said, pointing to the walkers that were attracted to the noise and were slowly walking out from the woods.
Everyone - except Zach - got into their rides and drove off. The vibrations of Daryl's bike helped ground Hedley, eyes closing as he felt them slither up his spine.