cassette tapes |d. dixon| [1]

49

"It didn't take much before we had another issue arise. The walkers were piling up on the fences, putting tension. It wouldn't be long before the fences would go down and they would be overrun."

"WHAT IF WE PUT SOMETHING LOUD OUT THERE, LIKE THE BOOMBOX THING YOU DID AT THE STORE?"

"Could work... but is it distracting enough to get them away from the fence?" Herschel asked,

"Nah, the scent of people are gonna keep 'em here." Daryl stated.

Caroline sighed, "What if we tease them? Lure them away. Maybe I can hop on the bike and drive off towards-"

"Nah, you ain't doin' that." Daryl interrupted, "I'll do it-"

"Oh, so you can do it cause you're a guy?" She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows,

"Cuz it's my bike." He smirked,

"That's not fair. I can do this, too." Caroline stated,

"Didn't say you couldn't." Daryl responded, standing up from leaning against the wall, "My bike, I'll do it."

Caroline rolled her eyes, "Fine. Whatever."

"That was the thing about Daryl. He never really let me do anything myself if it meant being in danger. He wanted me inside the fences at all times. It felt... suffocating."

Once the meeting broke, Caroline left the room with Daryl trailing behind her.

"Hey." He called out but she kept going, "Hey." Daryl grabbed her arm and tugged her to a stop,

Caroline pulled her arm out of his grip, "Seriously, Daryl? Way to treat me like a child in front of the entire council."

"I was just tryin' to protect ya." He told her,

The blonde woman rolled her eyes, "But humiliating me? Well, good job, you got what you wanted."

She walked away, shaking her head. Caroline headed back to her cell and paced.

She thought she had gotten him to stop treating her like a kid. She thoughts had proven herself in the past few months.

Caroline kneeled onto the ground and pulled her black bag out from under the bed. She reached inside and grabbed a blank tape and her recording device.

She had placed the empty tape inside the recorder and was about to press record when she heard a voice, "What is that?"

The blonde looked over to see Carl standing in the doorway, staring at the recorder. She smiled at him before tossing one of her filled tapes with the number 12 painted on it in bubble gum pink.

He walked over, observing the cassette tape as Caroline held out her Walkman. He put the tape in and pressed play,

"You're not gonna hear from me for a while." Carl stared at her as her voice played throughout the room, "We're on the constant run, trying to get ahead of the herd. It's been two months. We can never stay in a place for too long. They always catch up. Which is ironic considering how slow they are. But it's unnerving. We haven't had proper sleep in days. Weeks. It's too much."

He pressed pause, "You've been talking about everything that's happened?" He questioned,

Caroline nodded, "Kinda like a diary."

"Why not just write in a notebook then? Wouldn't that be easier?" Carl asked,

She shrugged, "I'm dyslexic. Besides, I think speaking my feelings help me more than writing them down."

"That's so cool." He smiled, leaning forward and pressing record on her device,

"Carl Grimes here. Today I played soccer with Patrick and I fed the piglets."

He leaned away from the recorder and Caroline pressed pause, "What do you do with them?"

"They're for when I'm gone." She answered truthfully, "So someone knows what we went through in this world."

"No offence, but that's really depressing." Carl stated,

"I guess, yeah." She laughed before putting the recorder away and kicked it gently under the bed, "C'mon, let's go look at the piglets."

"Carl has been doing better ever since the Woodbury incident. Since his dad has stepped downs has he. He's a kid again. And it's great to see him smiling and laughing again."

Caroline held Judith on her hip as she and Carl went to look at the baby pigs, "Are you a little piggy? Are you a little piggy?" Judith giggled as Caroline poked her belly and tickled her.

Someone cleared their throat behind her and she turned to see Daryl, "Can we talk?"

The blonde nodded and handed Judith off to her older brother before following Daryl. He led her away from prying eyes, which was hard with the prison filled with so many people.

"'M sorry." He mumbled after making sure no one was around,

Caroline sighed, "Daryl... I get you want to keep me safe, but we can't keep having this argument. I can handle myself. Everyone knows that. You know that."

Daryl nodded before fishing into his pocket and pulling out his keys, "We'll go together. You take yer gun and yer knife and don' even think about jumpin' off the bike, got it?"

The blonde grinned up at him before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek, "Got it."