Opal opened her eyes, the light shining into the tent. She stretched and got out of her sleeping bag. Her back was sore from sleeping so close to the cold, hard ground.
She cracked her neck and knuckles and stood up. She was surprised that she could stand fully in the tent. She finally stumbled out of the tent. Most of the group was already awake surprisingly.
Lori, Carol and two kind women Opal had met last night, Amy's sister, Andrea and a dark skinned woman, Jacqui, were all hanging up wet laundry . They all smiled as Opal approached.
"Morning! How'd you sleep?" Lori asked, a chirpy smile on her face.
"As good as I can now a days," Opal said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"that's good." Lori hung up another rung out shirt, "Rick is still asleep. I remember before that he'd always be awake first, he'd never need an alarm."
Opal smiled, she loved reminiscing about the past, just the happy parts though.
"Speak of the damn Devil," Lori said as Rick approached the women, in a clean white t-shirt. "Good morning, Officer." Lori continued.
Opal glanced at Andrea with an amused face. Andrea laughed lightly.
The couple shared a quick peck on the lips and it brought Opal back to when her and her ex-abuser, Jeremy and her first started their relationship. They used to be so lovey dovey, it probably grossed out the ones around them. She sighed and tapped her foot until Rick finally left.
"Could I help?" Opal asked, "I've got nothing better to do."
"Sure hun," Jacqui said, a motherly smile on her face.
"here, you can take my spot," Andrea said. It was obvious that she didn't want to do this work. Even though there wasn't anything else to do.
Then, there was a child's scream.
"Mom!" it was Carl.
"Mommy!" Sophia.
Everybody sprinted to the screams. Carl ran into his mother's arms and Sophia followed his actions, fear forced fears coming out of her eyes.
"My deer!" It was Daryl.
Opal took a deep breath, he was back. And her was gonna be pissed that his brother wasn't there.
Rick looked at the dead zombie, then to the group, making eye contact with Opal. He saw her discomfort and had a questioning look on his face.
"It's Daryl," she said silently.
Rick's face fell.
The hunter walked out of the woods, staring at the group.
He sighed at the deer and threw a curse word at the walker that had ate part of it. It's head was bashed in, blood spurting everywhere. He started to walk to the middle of camp, shouting his brother's name
"Daryl!" shane shouted. "We've gotta tell ya something!"
Daryl turned to face the group, "what?"
Rick stepped forward, "it's about your brother, Merle."
"And who are you?" Daryl questioned, annoyance definite in his voice.
"Rick Grimes. Now, look you're brother was being a danger to us all," Rick tried to explain.
Daryl sighed, wanting to get to the point, although he could see where it was heading, "so he alive or dead?"
Opal could hear the disappointment in his voice.
"Well," Rick started, "We don't know. He's on a rooftop in Atlanta."
Daryl was shocked, how had Merle got himself in the situation? "And you left him there?" he screamed.
Opal flinched, memories of Jeremey drunkenly yelling at her filling her head.
Everyone went to the middle of camp where everything would go down, except Opal.
Opal had made a straight bee-line to the tent. She sat on her bed hyperventilating. Every hit, bruise, tear and memory coming back. Her chest tightened and she let every tear in her eyes flow. She'd been holding it in for so long. Opal didn't understand why Daryl's freakout triggered all these emotions.
Opal was alone for around five minutes before Daryl burst into the tent. She flinched at the sudden movement and prayed Daryl didn't notice. The two made eye contact and Daryl saw Opal's tear stained cheeks.
"You okay?" he asked, his voice softer than it has ever been.
Opal only shrugged. She didn't want to bother Daryl with her problems.
"We're going back to Atlanta to get Merle," he said, grabbing a few knives from his back. He looked down to Opal and handed her a knife.
"I don't know how to use it though," Opal said, her voice cracking from crying.
"Just aim for the walker's heads. You'll learn soon enough. Once me and Merle get back we'll teach ya," Daryl said.
Opal nodded and showed a smile. A fake one that she had perfected over the years.
"You sure ye alright?" he repeated.
Opal frowned, "I don't wanna be a bother."
Daryl's face softened, it had only been three years since he'd been in the situation with the only girl he's ever loved, his ex-girlfriend, "I get that, you don't have to tell me anything."
Opal appreciated Daryl not trying to pry open her emotions. "thanks, I'll tell you when you come back."
Daryl nodded, "course. I'll see ya," he then walked out of the tent, carefully steeping and making sure not to step on Opal or her things.
Opal was then left alone quite again. She took deep breaths and made sure to keep her breathing steady. That was the only way she could possibly calm down. Being around Daryl was a big help.
Opal wondered why she was feeling this way, she wasn't seeing Daryl as a possible girlfriend/boyfriend relationship, maybe a brother one, and that made Opal glad. He would be the brother she never had.
She leaned her head forward and saw her long hair dangling in front of her eyes.
She was tired, tired of not being in control of her own life, but now, finally she was. She got away from Jeremy and could do anything she wanted. She didn't have to be scared of being hit every time she spoke. She wasn't worried about hiding her bruises. She was finally her own person and didn't have anyone controlling her.
She was going to go crazy if she kept to herself with her thoughts. She knew that she either had to go out of her tent and be with the group, or go to sleep. And she absolutely did not want to go socialize.
She laid down, not tired at all. She felt like a child who didn't want to go to bed at her bed time. But she had too. She looked to Daryl and then to Merle's bed. She stared at the bag of pills on Merle's bed.
There could be sleeping pills in there. She crawled to the bag and opened it up, seeing multiple pill containers, and none of them made for Merle Dixon. Thankfully, she found one that was titled Ambien. Opal knew that it was a sleeping medicine from her mother.
Her mother, Pam, used to have very bad sleeping problems and every night she had to take almost millions of sleeping pills. Now that Opal was thinking about it, her mother may have been a drug addict. Opal laughed at the idea.
She grabbed three of the drug and popped them into her mouth. She dired swallowed them, her throat already dry enough from not enough water.
She laid down and hoped that the Ambien would start working fast enough. She layed on her stomach and planted her face on the floor. She knew she needed a pillow. She looked to Daryl's bed and thanked him silently and grabbed it, putting it where her head would lay.
Opal sighed and let go. It took awhile for the meds to kick in. but they eventually did and they knocked her out.