Dixon Family Matters

The Quarry

            It was later that night and Christian was sitting away from the others. Carol left Sophia sitting next to Lori and went over to him.

            "Hey sweetheart, you alright?" she asked, crouching down. Christian shrugged.

            "You know, you don't have to be scared of Ed," Carol said quietly, "I'm not going to let him hurt you again and when your dad finds out..."

            "I'm not scared," Christian murmured.

            "No? Then why are you upset?"

            "It's my fault he hit ya," Christian mumbled.

            "What?" Carol said in shock, "How was that your fault?"

            "I kicked him and made him angry," Christian said, "Then he hit ya."

            "Oh, Christian, that wasn't your fault," Carol said gently, "Ed isn't... He isn't a good man. Whether you kicked him or not, he would have done something bad."

            "I wanted him to leave ya alone," Christian looked up at her, "He was scaring ya and that ain't fair. Ya didn't do anythin'."

            "Unfortunately some people don't see it that way," Carol rubbed his back, "But you know what? I'm grateful that you defended me. That was really brave of you."

            "Daddy says we need ta protect each other more than ever now," Christian said and Carol smiled. "He said we 'specially need ta protect people we care about."

            "Yeah?" Carol said and Christian nodded. Carol wrapped her arm around his shoulders and hugged him gently. She had half been expecting him to pull away, but instead he squeezed her tightly.

            "Come on, let's go sit by the fire and warm up," she said, taking his hand and walking over. He sat between her and Sophia, eating fish and laughing with the others. Everything felt good again. Even though his dad and uncle weren't here right now, things seemed to be okay.

            Until, in an instant, they weren't. A scream pierced the air and they all turned to see a walker attacking Amy. Everyone panicked. Lori grabbed Carl and reached a hand out for Carol, gesturing for the other woman to follow.

            Carol stood and went to grab Sophia and Christian, but the little boy was gone.

            "Where's Christian?" she asked, gripping her daughter's shoulder.

            "He ran!" Sophia cried, "I'm sorry!"

            "Shhh, it's okay," Carol hugged her daughter close and pulled her along behind Lori, Carl, and Shane. She kept looking around, trying to find the youngest Dixon.

            "Shane, what do we do?" Lori cried.

            "Stay close!" Shane shouted, "Get to the RV!"

            "Momma, look!" Sophia shouted and Carol looked, feeling the blood drain from her face. Christian was standing there, gun in hand, seemingly frozen, as a walker stumbled towards him.

            "Christian!" she shouted. Just as the walker reached him, Jim appeared, scooping the boy up and moving him out of the way. Carol lifted him into her arms just as the others returned to camp and began killing the walkers, one by one. She and Lori held the children close and waited until the gunfire had stopped before finally relaxing their hold.

            "Dad!" Carl shouted as he ran to Rick.

            "Are you okay?" Carol asked the little boy in her arms, "Did it bite you?"

            Christian shook his head, bottom lip trembling, before he burst into tears.

            "I'm sorry!" he cried.

            "Shhh, it's okay," Carol hushed him, holding both him and her daughter close.

            "Christian!"

            She looked up to see Daryl walking towards them and released her grip on the boy.

            "Daddy!" he held his arms and Daryl lifted him easily, holding the boy tight.

            "Shhh, it's a'right buddy," Daryl murmured.

            "I'm sorry daddy!" Christian said, crying harshly.

            "Shhh, the hell're ya sorry for?" Daryl asked.

            "I got scared!" Christian cried, pulling back to look at his dad, "I got the gun you left, but I couldn't do it! I got scared!"

            "That's a'right bud, ye don't gotta be sorry," Daryl said, "Yer allowed ta be scared bud, it's a'right now. It's over." He looked over at Carol and Sophia.

            "Ye a'right?" he asked and Carol nodded.

            "I didn't notice he was gone until he had already run off," she said, "I'm-"

            "Don't say it," Daryl cut her off, "Sick of all these sorrys. Ain't no one's fault. All we can do now is deal with it an' move on." She nodded and looked down at Sophia, kissing the top of her daughter's head.

            "C'mon," Daryl said, tilting his head. He led them over to the others and stood with the rest of the group.

            What Daryl said was true. They needed to deal with what had happened and move on. But how?"

Sorry to anyone who had voted for Amy and Ed to live. Their fate was pretty much sealed in both stories from the get go, but I still wanted to give you guys a chance to vote on them.

Also, I will be including the most recent deaths in the poll tomorrow so go vote if you want certain people to live! I'll also be removing any characters who have died in both stories up to this point.

Thanks so much for voting and let me know what you think!