The next morning the group is sitting around camp as my dad interrogates Randal. By the sounds of it, he's doing a good job too. I mean I understand why Randal's screams are so loud. My dad is an intimidating person. Maybe I should be glad the world ended before I grew old enough to have a boyfriend.
I look over at Carl and notice he's staring at me. Not creepily though, almost in a daydream state.
While the others around camp ask about a plan for Randal I stay quite sharpening a stick. Man, entertainment these days is wild. Dad comes out of the shed his knuckles are bloody and he doesn't look very happy. Well who would?
"Boy there has gotta gang. 30 men." He announces looking around the group. "They got heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends. If they roll through here, our boys are dead, and our woman, they're gonna wish they were." He says the last part looking directly at me and I look down shifting uncomfortably.
"What did you do?" Carol asks quietly.
"Had a little chat." Dad says reaching out a hand towards me and helping me up. We walk away, my hand never leaving his loose one. His touch comforts me and it's almost like old times.
"Stay away from the shed okay?" He says gruffly.
"Okay." I say nodding my head.
"I mean it, I don't even want you looking in its direction." He says looking down at me.
"Yes sir." I mumble looking at my feet. He sighs before squatting down to my level.
"What's wrong?" He asks brushing some of my baby hairs away from my face.
"Nothing." I say playing with the ends of my braids.
"Cherokee I'm going to ask one more time, and you better speak up." He says. I roll my eyes and he notices. "Lose the attitude okay? Now what's wrong."
"I don't want to talk about it." I say. "Not with you anyways." I see I hurt him. He's used to me being his little girl and talking about everything with him. "I'm sorry daddy."
"It's fine." He says obviously hurt. "I get it, you don't wanna talk to your ole man anymore."
With that he stalks off and I sigh. Great, now I've made him upset. I don't like that I did, but I didn't mean too. That has to count for something, right? I shake my head and go to find Beth, maybe she can help with my situation. I find her in her bedroom flipping through some old magazine. I knock on the doorframe signaling my presence.
"Hey." She says patting the spot on the bed next to her.
"Hi." I say sitting down and crossing my legs.
"You're being uncharacteristically quite today." So she noticed. "What's up?"
"What was it like when you got your first crush?" I ask sheepishly. She grins and closes her magazine, tossing it to the side.
"I knew it!" She says happily and I blush hard.
"I'm not sure. That's why I'm asking you Beth." I say playing with the end of my braids.
"Okay, how often do you think about him?" She asks.
"I don't know." I say with a shrug. "Often I guess. But that doesn't mean anything does it? I mean, there's not much else to do around here."
"You totally like him." She says. I sigh and flop my head back into her pillow.
"But I shouldn't!" I say throwing my hands in the air dramatically. It's true, the world has been taken over by the dead and I'm worrying about my crush on some silly boy in a stupid hat? When did I become such a teenage girl?
"Cheri, this is perfectly normal!" She says brushing my hair back. "You're growing up and a crush isn't anything to be ashamed about."
"I know, but is this really what should be on my mind?" I ask her. I'm glad she's willing to be my friend. I honestly don't know who I would talk to if it wasn't for her.
"Cheri, don't worry about it." She says squeezing my shoulder tight almost a sisterly act. "You're a kid; let yourself act like one- even if it's just for an hour."
"Thanks Beth." I mutter leaning my head on her shoulder.
"No worries," She says giving my shoulder one last squeeze before pushing me off her bed. "Now go find that boy, and when you come back later I want details."
"Who says there will be details?" I ask laughing.
"Me because there will be." She tells me as I leave the room. "Don't come back until you have some!"
I laugh rolling my eyes and leave the house. Looking around the farm I try to spot Carl. He's sneaking over around by the shed. I know my dad told me to not even look at it's direction, but he can't yell at me if I'm just checking up on Carl right?
Walking towards the shed I start to become nervous and begin to rethink my decision. Once I see Carl going up the ladder into the shed and I decide that he might need my help.
I wait one more minute before sneaking behind Shane and Andrea who are in a heated conversation. When I enter the shed I hear Randall complementing Carl's hat. Creep. Randall continues to talk to Carl but he stays silent.
"Carl!" I whisper when I near the boy in the hat. "What are you doing in here?"
Carl ignores me and continues to listen to Randall talk.
"Hey, I-- I don't know what people been saying about me, but I didn't do nothing." Randall rambles. "I swear!"
"My dad says you're a bad person." I say quietly to avoid Shane and Andrea hearing me.
"He's the one who beat me up, isn't he?" He asks me. I stay quiet, I shouldn't have followed Carl in here . "My camp, we got lots of supplies. You help me and I'll take you and your folks back to my people. We'll take good care of you."
"I've heard what your people do," I tell him. "and it's not something that sounds like its 'good care'."
I follow Carl as he goes down the ladder inside the shed. He starts to near Randall as he tries to convince us to let him go. Thats when the door opens making both Carl and I jump.
"What the hell are you two doing in here?" Shane asks entering the small enclosure pushing us behind us. He pushes Randall against the wall with his gun to his mouth. Andrea is yelling at Shane as Shane yells at Randall asking what he said to us.
"Shane, back off!" Andrea yells.
He does as he's and grabs Carl and I instead. "The hell are you doing?"
"Please don't tell my parents." Carl cries out.
Carl is the one getting most of the scolding seeing as Shane doesn't care for me as much.
"You could've gotten hurt in there," Shane says pointing a long finger towards Carl.
"I can handle myself." Carl says angrily.
"Let me tell you something-" Shane says getting into Carl's face. "You do not go near him again. Do you hear me?"
After some senseless rambling Shane tells Carl to go find Lori and I follow. I don't want to be near an angry Shane. It's not the best idea. The two of us run off and sit in some of the grass near the main camp.
"What were you even doing in there?" I ask him. "You heard what my dad said about him and his people."
"I don't know," he states with a shrug. "I guess I just wanted to see him for myself. He didn't seem dangerous."
"He wanted out of there." I say looking towards the boy with blue eyes. "He would've said anything to make it seem like he wasn't dangerous."
"Whatever." He mutters.
"Carl this isn't a whatever matter," I say seriously. "our parents told us not to go near the shed for our own safety."
"Then why did you follow me in?" Carl snaps.
"I-- I don't know." I say my voice hoarse.
"Exactly," Carl says with a rude tone. "stop being so hypocritical."
I look at the boy as my eyes water. He's looking at the ground. Knowing that this conversation is lost I get up and storm off. There's no use being somewhere that I'm obviously not wanted.
Walking back to my camp I notice my dad has gone off somewhere so I sit down and just enjoy being alone. In the distance, I see Carl is now being scolded by Rick. I can only hope that he wasn't told about the shed.
Our camp is farther away from everyone else. Dad likes being separated from the group. I can understand why, things can get hectic and it's nice to be secluded to our own little area. Merle's old motorcycle sits next to a tree that has a necklace made of ears from when dad was shot, and some old skins from rabbits and squirrels. Who knows why he's kept all that stuff.
I can't tell if I enjoy the silence anymore. It's so eerie knowing that the world that was once full of noise is just silenced. I head over to my tent. It's a mess at the moment. There's clothes all over the place and the sleeping bags and blankets are all disheveled.
Maybe I can get some of the laundry done. Lord knows it needs to be, no offense to my dad, but the amount he sweats makes his clothes smell disgusting. I know that for a fact. Gathering all of the clothes I throw them into my backpack and set my backpack outside. We have a bucket full of water for laundry so I bring it closer to a log so I can sit.
As I begin dunking the clothes in water I see Carl sneaking off into the woods. Considering he didn't want me in the shed, I don't follow. If he wants to be rude he can deal with the consequences himself. He's not my responsibility. I continue to work on the laundry distracting myself from the boy in the cowboy hat. When I'm done, I leave everything on the giant stone pillar to dry.
By the time I'm done the sun is setting. There's a meeting in the house going on about what the group should do with Randall. Personally, I'm conflicted. I don't know if he should live. If he is dangerous, that puts everyone one at risk. If he's not, then the group just took away a life for nothing.
By the time my dad comes back to camp I know what's been decided. Randall won't make it to tomorrow.
"You been by yourself all day?" Dad asks me.
"Basically." I shrug. "Got laundry done though."
He nods patting me on the back.
"Daddy?" I call out before he leaves.
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry about earlier," I say looking at the ground. "I didn't mean it."
"I know you didn't kid." He speaks up squatting down in front of me. "You're growing up, I get that; but it's hard to watch."
"I love you." I say wrapping my arms around his neck.
"I love you too." He mutters into my ear. "Why don't you head into the tent, I'd rather you not be in the open all alone. I'll be back shortly."
I nod and crawl inside the tent wrapping myself up in my sleeping bag and blanket. It's growing colder at night and pretty soon we might need more blankets.
Later on, I hear screaming. With wide eyes, I grab my crossbow and rush out of the tent. I see most of the group running through the field towards the screams. My dad yells for help and I run towards him seeing Dale dying on the ground. Rick pulls out his gun going to shoot the man as there's no saving him. He drops the gun, unable to shoot Dale and Dad steps forwards kneeling towards him with his gun outstretched.
"Sorry, brother" He says gruffly then; he pulls the trigger ending Dale's life with a gunshot ringing out into the night.
Word Count: 2055