I sat on top of the RV beside Dale. He stopped trying to make conversation when he realized I was only up there to watch for Daryl to come back with Merle, not to make conversation or seek guidance.
The only person left in the camp that didn't annoy me to no end was Sophia. Even her mother was starting to make me question why we even came here. Though, I knew I was only annoyed with everybody because I wasn't permitted to go to Atlanta to find my brother.
"Ellie." A voice called from below. I tried to ignore it, but she only continued. "I can wrap your ribs in the RV. Andrea told me how bad you fell." Snitch.
With a sigh, I looked at the woman I was best friends with only a day ago. Lori looked up towards me with a hand over her eyes to shield them from the bright sun.
"You're not gonna be any help to them if you're not healing." I considered her words carefully. She was right. I would be absolutely no help to Merle or Daryl on the road with my ribs the way that they were. If I didn't start taking care of 'em now, I'd be useless longer than any of us would care for.
With a sigh, I walked over to the edge and climbed down the metal ladder on the side of the large motor home vehicle.
I hopped down, ignoring the twinge of pain I got when I landed. It was like I was trying to prove to myself that I could handle the pain, that accepting Lori's help didn't make me weak.
She ushered me inside and had me sit on top of the bed in the back. The blinds and curtains were closed, so we had the privacy we needed.
I kept my mouth shut and my eyes trained on the carpet while Lori searched for the first aid kit in one of the cabinets.
Both of us were silent, clearly unsure of how to communicate. After all, her husband is part of the reason my brother was left behind on a roof, not to mention my other brother tried to stab her said husband.
She sat beside me and I took off my shirt, attempting, but failing horribly to suppress my wince.
The bruises were horribly discolored, and a gasp left Lori's lips.
"Why didn't you say anything before?" Her eyebrows were furrowed as she inspected the bruises, almost looking unsure.
"I was a little occupied," I mumbled, wincing as I tossed the shirt.
Lori paused, realizing what I meant. She took another look at me before shaking her head. "I can't wrap them, it'll only make it worse." She sighed.
"Is there anything we can do?" I questioned, reaching over for my shirt and silently cursing myself for tossing it the way I did.
The tall woman shook her head. "We don't have an ice pack, let alone any ice. We could try to wet a towel, but other than that . . . "
I nodded my head. Of all the people to fall down those damned stairs, of course, it was me.
Lori began putting everything back into the first aid kit while I stood to my feet, fully clothed and ready to get the hell out of the tight space.
"He's trying." I stopped, facing her as she fidgeted with a pack of bandages. "Rick." She clarified. "He feels horrible, and I—I know that doesn't excuse what he did, but . . . he's doing what he can take make it right."
My eyes fell to the floor for a moment as I thought over her words. Daryl won't care how hard he's trying to make this right, not until we find Merle. I sent her a small nod before leaving the RV.
My eyes searched the camp. I knew there was no possible way that they'd made it back yet, but I still looked anyway.
I made my way over to the RV's ladder, ready to tell my ribs to shut the hell up while I climbed.
Shortly after I sat atop the house on wheels, Lori stepped out, calling out to her son.
My eyes looked out upon the quarry, seeing two small figures at the shore, standing in the water. I knew that must've been him, but I said nothing as Lori walked further away.
My eyes trained on the group of women across from the other two. They were washing clothes while Ed watched them.
It was smart to have someone watching their backs while they were busy, but I knew Ed wasn't there to watch the women's backs. He had his own selfish reasons that made my blood begin to boil.
After another couple of minutes of watching them, I noticed him inch closer to the women. My eyebrows furrowed suspiciously. I didn't like it, his approach—at least from up here—didn't look friendly.
Not thinking much about it, I made my way back down and quickly started walking down the path to the quarry. When I finally got there, Carol was getting up while Andrea and her sister were telling her she didn't have to go.
"C'mon now, you heard me." Ed beckoned with a cigarette in his hand.
As I neared my blood began to come to a boil once again. Carol very clearly didn't want to go with him, and we all knew what was going to happen when they left.
Andrea turned toward Carol and they whispered something to each other before Ed butted in once again.
"Hey, don't think I won't knock you on your ass just 'cause you're some college-educated coos, alright? Now you come on now, or you're gonna regret it later."
"Why?" I asked loudly. Ed turned, damn near rolling his eyes in annoyance. "So you can smack 'er around some more?"
"Listen here, little girl, I already done told you to stay the hell out of our business." He growled, pointing his cigarette in my direction. He then turned toward the other women. "This ain't none of y'all's business. Y'all not gon' keep proddin' the bull here, okay? Now I am done talkin'." He grabbed Carol by her arm, roughly tugging her away. All of the women tried to tell Carol she didn't have to, tried to tell Ed to stop, but I was done talking too.
Ed began yelling at the women and Carol before delivering a hard slap to his wife. My footsteps sped up as pure rage began to fill me.
Everything that'd happened in the last 24 hours seemed to all come boiling over and I snapped.
All of the women were screaming at Ed, but before any of them could see it, I swung upwards at Ed, sending him stumbling back.
He chuckled darkly as he wiped some blood away. "Oh, you went and done it now."
"Ed, no!" The women all screamed as he charged at me, but I charged right back.
I kicked up my leg, successfully kicking him in the stomach but he grabbed ahold of my leg and pulled me forward.
All I could remember was Ed shoving me to the ground and getting more than a few good kicks and hits in.
My ribs were burning and I was spitting up blood by the time Shane had gotten his hands on Ed.
Jacqui and Amy were at my side while Andrea was holding back a sobbing Carol.
"Just breathe, baby, just breathe." Jacqui cried as I began choking on my blood. "Help me turn her over." She rushed as she began pulling at my shoulder. She and Andrea pulled so I was on my side, spitting out the blood instead of letting it flood my mouth.
Morales and T helped carry me back to camp, and once again I found myself in the RV.
Lori cried when she saw me. Carol didn't let Sophia even come near me. Though, I wasn't sure if that was because of Ed or if it was because of how I looked. Could've been both.
I could hardly move, Ed's big ass feet did a number on my already aching ribs.
Lori came in and helped me with my face, even lectured me for always jumping into situations I didn't have to.
"Shane could've handled it."
He did handle it. I was just stupid enough to allow my anger to take over when I was already injured.
I laid in the RV for a while, so long that I'd fallen asleep. When I woke up, it was because I heard a soft, startled, little gasp from the doorway. When I looked, I saw Sophia standing there with her hands over her mouth, eyes wide and tearing up.
"Hey." I croaked with a smile. "You shouldn't be in here." I reminded, trying my best to sit up without moving my ribs much—which by the way, is impossible.
I held back every grimace as I did so, I didn't make any vocal complaints, but I couldn't hold back the faces. I couldn't.
"My dad did that, didn't he?" I didn't want to answer, not at all. We both sat there in silence for a moment before she spoke up again. "I heard Jacqui and Amy talking about it. . . I—I'm sorry." She began to tear up.
"Hey, hey, hey, you have nothing to be sorry about." I shook my head, gesturing for her to come closer. When she did, I gently wrapped my arms around her, ignoring the stinging in my abdomen.
"I don't get it." Sophia's voice cracked and her little head moved to look up at me. "How come you always stick up for us?"
My eyes softened. My young self never understood why some people would do good things for me either. Men like Ed, men like my dad. . . they have a way of making you feel like you don't deserve any kindness or good from this world. For Sophia, it couldn't have been further from the truth. She was just a kid, a scared little kid.
"Because it's what friends do—it's what good people do."
Once again she laid her head into me. We sat there in silence for a long time before I heard her soft snores.
My hand began to gently comb through her hair before my eyes fluttered shut.
It had to of been at least an hour and a half later because when I woke up the sun was setting. Carol was waking up Sophia, tugging her off of the bed, saying something about them checking on her father. I didn't protest because it wasn't my place, but all of me wanted to make sure Ed never had contact with Sophia and Carol ever again.
"Sorry, Ellie, I wasn't trying to wake you up." She whispered with a soft smile. I could tell she was trying really hard, trying to not look at the bruises. She didn't even make direct eye contact, not for long anyway.
"It's okay." I nodded before gently shaking Sophia's shoulder to wake her up.
I watched the two leave, Sophia was more reluctant than ever, but she was a good kid, she wasn't going to disobey her mom.
With no one in the RV, I winced as I sat up. I pulled myself to my feet and trudged over to the bathroom.
Lori had made it very clear that she didn't want me anywhere near a mirror, but she wasn't aware of how many times I'd actually been in this situation.
"Wow," I mumbled as I stared at myself in the small bathroom mirror. "Can't even give a bruise correctly." I scoffed. Just by looking at them, I could tell that they'd heal in a few days' time. Sure, they looked gnarly to people who weren't used to seeing others get beat up, but I'd seen Merle with similar bruises when he'd come home from hanging out with his friends.
I shuffled out of the bathroom and turned toward the door to see Lori climbing up the steps. Her eyes met mine and she almost looked shocked.
You could never really keep us Dixon's still for too long.
"Ellie, what are you doing up?" She asked, stepping further into the RV. I simply shrugged as lightly as I could. "Well, I suppose it don't matter much. I was gonna ask you if you wanted to join us at the fish fry. Andrea and Amy caught enough to feed the camp three times." She gave me a sheepish laugh.
I thought about it for a moment. "Nah, I'm good," I mumbled loud enough for her to hear before shuffling back to the bed.
Lori stood there for a while before following my steps. "Well, I'll bring you some food, and if you change your mind we'd be happy to have you join."
Truth was, I was scared my face would ruin what sounded like was gonna be a good night. Beaten faces tend to be one hell of a downer.
I simply nodded as a reply, but still didn't plan on making an appearance.
Lori left and I was once again left to stare at the ceiling. I'd gotten so used to the throbbing in my chest that ignoring it was becoming easier and easier with every hour.
Honestly, this reminded me of when Daryl got his ass beat for not coming home when he was supposed to.
Merle was still in the military, so it was just me and Daryl.
I watched from around the corner as our father really did a number on my brother, but once he left for the bar, my nine-year-old self was quick to pull Daryl to his room and take care of him.
I remember not allowing him to move from the bed because his ribs were bruised just like mine.
He was so bored the entire time, so I brought cards from Dad's room, but didn't tell Daryl where I got them from.
When dad found them in Daryls room a week later, I couldn't let Daryl take the fall for it, so I told him the truth.
I got a real whoopin' for going in his room, but as long as Daryl was okay, so was I.
Tears pricked at my eyes. I didn't like being alone. I didn't like being the reason that neither of my brothers were here.
If they were here it would've been them beating Ed to a bloody pulp, not Shane.
I missed my brothers, I missed when things were more simple, but I had to remind myself that this was my doing.
I sniffled, wiping away a couple of stray tears before laying down completely to fall asleep.
I vaguely remember Lori coming in and bringing me a plate, but I only thanked her and went back to sleep.
What woke me up was the sound of the RV door being carelessly opened.
"Careful, Ellie's sleeping!" Someone whisper shouted with a giggle.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" Another voice whispered back before their footsteps came into the RV. By the time I was able to turn over to see who it was, Amy was leaving the RV with a sigh.
I remember her yelling something about toilet paper before a blood-curdling scream that sounded like it came straight out of a horror movie, came out of her.
I immediately shot up, looking around frantically for my belt.
I spotted it on the other bed and quickly grabbed my piece from it before quickly shuffling toward the front of the RV.
More screams started coming from camp, but when I heard the moans and snapping teeth my stomach instantly dropped.
I stumbled out of the RV but quickly pushed myself back in when Shane's shotgun began going off. When he stopped aiming in my direction, I looked to my right to see Amy screaming on the ground with a walker at her neck.
Quickly, I shot the walker in the head before limping forward to kill more.
There were so many. There was no way Shane could take them all on his own.
They all roamed the camp, coming out of nowhere as if they were just spawning in the woods.
"Ellie, look out!" Someone screamed, and when I turned around there was a body directly behind me.
She chomped her jaws viscously, her eyes milky, her skin covered in dirt and decay.
In one moment, she was on the ground. I continued to help clear a path for the group as they were headed for the RV, and once I knew they were okay I went off.
There was so much gunfire, so many screams, I couldn't exactly pinpoint what was going on. Eventually, I heard the sickening 'click' from my piece, and I cursed before shoving it into my pants.
I was in too much of a rush to grab my knife, so I was pretty much unarmed.
I silently cursed myself as I began to make my way through the camp, doing my best to avoid jaws and claws.
Then, like magic, there were more gunshots. As in more people.
My head whipped around, praying that my brothers were here, that they were okay, but I was quickly taken aback by the snapping jaws in my face. Someone screamed my name, but I was too busy trying to pry its hands off of my shoulders to worry about who it was.
I fell down onto the dirt, knocking the wind out of me, but the adrenaline closing through me allowed me to somewhat ignore the pain. I pushed against the seemingly significantly stronger walker, trying to hold her off long enough for me to figure something out.
Eventually, another Walker came and leaned right against the first to try and take a bite.
I couldn't do it, I could hold off the first, but the added weight was too much.
A scream left my lips as the walkers came closer, snapping their jaws and growling in anticipation, almost sounding excited.
"Get off!" I screamed desperately. I knew they wouldn't listen, they're dead, but I was feeling so hopeless as I pushed against their body weight that just seemed to get heavier and heavier.
"Elliot!" I knew that voice. I'd know that voice anywhere. He was one of the few people on this planet that actually knew my name.
"Daryl!" I choked back, trying not to move an inch as the walker's decaying teeth were close enough to take a bite out of my face if I moved even an inch.
A loud shot rang out, and the first body collapsed, then another shot, followed by the second body going limp.
The two bodies were tugged off and Daryl pulled me to my feet.
I cried as I gripped onto him tightly, terrified.
My hands were shaking violently as images of our father being disemboweled right in front of us played in my mind.
It was almost me.
The shots had stopped, and there was no more groaning. I didn't want to look around, I just continued to cry into my brother.
Daryl had his arm wrapped around me, and I could feel his body shift a little every time he looked around for any more danger.
"S'okay, you're okay." My brother mumbled, but most of his attention was on making sure we were in the clear.
Then, a cry was heard coming from the RV. My head turned to see Andrea hunched over her sister, repeatedly calling out for her. It sounded like she was calling from the depths of her soul.
The wailing was so heartbreaking, I turned myself back to Daryl with my eyebrows furrowed, sniffling and wiping away the tears.
"W-where's Merle?"
I was met with silence, when I finally looked up at him I saw disappointment quickly turn into anger.
"The hell happened to yer face?"