The Walsh boy

Just a normal campfire.

I wake after more nightmares I don't think I'll even stop having them.  Dad is still beside me when I wake up the false dawn like fills the tent. Dad is already dressed. As I grab my clothes to get dressed he speaks barely above a whisper " you should sleep a boy needs his sleep" I put my shirt pants on " I can't nightmares how long have you been up did you sleep?" He doesn't look like he slept much or at all " little bit I'm ok kid. If you can't sleep then good morning" he tries to smile but fails I can't smile either I put my scarf on and we walk out the tent Lady joining us. Andrea is still by her sister she is crying stroking her hair. The only ones up are Dale who is on watch, Daryl,Carol and Sophia. Sophia walks up to me " Thank you" I stare at her "for what?" She puts a hand on my shoulder " you saved me and my mom" I'm stunned I haven't thought about it. I need to thank Jim for saving my life. " you - you didn't have to thank me but your welcome." I'm stuttering that's embarrassing " have you seen Jim?" I ask her. She shakes her head " I saw him go into his tent last night but I didn't see him this morning yet." Ok then I'll have to wait for him to wake up I stare at the woods so full of death. Death is all around us. Sophia surprises me when she grabs my hand . "Let's sit by the fire together we don't have to talk let's just be there for each other." She moves a long curly strand of hair behind her ear. We walk to the pit just sitting next to each other. I hear a  rustle behind me when I turn around I think it's going to be a walker but it's just Uncle Rick he walks pass me ruffling my hair as he does. I don't pay attention to where he goes I just keep watching the dead fire I don't feel like eating breakfast but dad comes by and puts a open can with two spoons in my hand he gives Sophia a empty metal tin. I dumb half the can in Sophia's tin.  I don't even taste it.
Later that morning after Rick returns from whatever he was doing. Glenn and T-Dog are burning the  bodies of the walkers. I get up " wanna help Sophia?"   She gets up " I need to take care of my dad he was bit and died last night" I nod as I walking to Glenn and T-Dog Sophia voice stops me " can you come with me I want a friend with me" I nod " that's what friends are for" as we walk  I watch as Uncle Rick walk up to Andrea she points her gun at him I gasped I go to grab my knife but Sophia stops me she grabs my hand " she needs some time, yes she is over reacting but you need to trust Mr. Rick he's the leader now he knows what he's doing" Sophia is right me rushing in won't help anything I nod. We walk by the adults talking I see Jim he looks like he is staring off. I walk up to him " Jim I want to thank you for saving my life even though dad tied you up and Lady bit you. Thank you so much" Jim kneels down "you didn't have to thank me I'm glad your are safe I helped you because you needed it. And  your dad and dog were just trying to protect everyone I was acting crazy don't worry about it kid you should be proud you saved Sophia and her mom" he ruffles my hair. Daryl walks by after yelling at the other adults " come on Jimbo we got some work to do" he goes to one of the bodies picking one arm up dragging it with Morales they start pulling it towards the pile of burning walkers. Glenn stop them " whoa what are you doing? This is for geeks or people go over there" he's pointing and getting emotional Daryl doesn't stop pulling " what's the difference their all infected" Glenn doesn't back down " our people go in that row over there we bury our dead WE DON'T BURN THEM!" He shouts the last part  he continues "we bury them understand ?" Daryl and him share a look Glenn speaks first " people go over there in that row" Daryl and Morales drag the body towards the row of others Daryl shouts " you reap what you sow" I have no idea what farming has to do with this. He must be talking about his brother he must be hurting and angry. Morales drops the body "man shut up" Daryl drops the other arm stalking around "y'all left my brother for dead you deserve this" he keeps walking. I turn to Sophia "do you know where your dad is" she shakes her head I'm not sure I know he died in the tent but he's not in there anymore"  I tilt my head "where did you sleep last night?" She points to one of the tents the Morales's extra tent they had one for the parents and one for the kids they now all share." I nod "ok let's find your dad" we start to walk around the camp I hear a commotion we walk behind the RV. I hear shouts from Daryl as I turn the corner I see Daryl coming at me with a pic axe I want to say I grabbed my knife ready to defend my self but the truth is I fell on my butt screaming "Gaaa" uncle Rick runs behind him "Hey hey hey" he points a gun at Daryl's head  " we don't kill the living" Daryl looks back at him scoff dad gets on the other side of him. Dad blocks my view of Daryl but I can still hear them " that's funny coming from a man with a gun at my head" dad speaks up " we may disagree on some things but not on this put it down go on"  Daryl slams down the pic axe  and walks off Uncle Rick grabs Jim's arm " come with me" Jim  nervously asks "where yo talking me" uncle Rick responds " somewhere safe" when they walk off I get up not bothering to dust the dirt off. I grab the pic axe " come on Sophia we still got to find him"
We walk around camp until we find his corpse. It was over by some others  and a car. I never liked Ed but he was Sophia's dad. Also he was eaten by the walkers so he will turn. I raise the axe above my head but Sophia grabs my arm "Wait I want to do it he was my dad" I nod handing it to her she looks down at the corpse a moment kicks it. I watch as she raises the axe so that I nearly touches her back she uses her whole body to slam the pic axe into his head. She starts crying I don't really know what to do so I put a hand on her back she hugs me I freeze I've never been hugged by a girl except Lori. I slowly hug her back gentle " it's alright Soph he can't hurt you anymore"  she sighs " I was scared of him He hurt me he hurt mom I didn't even like him. I'm relieved he's gone but why am I sad? I don't know what to feel!" She pulls away from me. " you feel however you feel Soph. I don't know why you are sad. I don't even know how I feel so I won't tell you how to feel" I feel bad for not being able to help her. We just stare at the corpse for a second I don't care that Ed is dead should I he was mean but I wish wasn't sad Sophia she is my friend I want her to be happy. But she needs to go though her feelings I can just be there for her. " let's take him to the line with the others" Sophia shakes her head " I want to burn it" that surprises me " you sure?" I ask cautiously She kicks him again "Yes. I'm sure. Think it's far enough for the fire not to spread." There was at least 10 feet between Ed corpse and anything else "let's gather rocks to make a barrier around the fire to be sure. It takes a while to get the rocks as I'm gathering rocks Carl comes up "why are you collecting rocks" I pause standing up " Sophia wants to burn her dad we are gathering rocks so the fire won't spread. Want to help" I nods " did you tell Sophia's mom?" I completely forgot " no I didn't I'll ask Sophia" I bend done to pick up another rock I hear a voice " can we help" I look up it's Louis and Eliza is right beside him. " sure you hear everything" Louis picks up a rock "yeah we want to help Sophia she is a friend and boss after all" he has a small smile on his face. After we all have enough rocks we walk back to Ed's body Sophia's rocks are already there I see he walk up with Billy and Ben they are holding sticks and dead leaves " they want to help let's get started" I look at her "Sophia do you want to tell your mom" before she can answer " What the hell you little shits doing?" It's Daryl Sophia speaks first " I want to burn him they are helping" she promptly turns back to the body laying the sticks on it. He runs his hand down his face " kid you need to tell your mom you can't just do stuff like this" Sophia shakes her head "I just want to take care of it for her she always takes care of me I want to do it the same." Daryl shakes his head " she takes care of you because she your mom you kids look like your a cult going to summon some demon or some shit" another voice stops us from answering " Sophia are you over here, OH MY GOSH!"  It Carol she stares at the boy covered in sticks and dead leaves with rocks around it. Sophia speaks first again " I want to burn him mom please I didn't tell you because I wanted to take care of it myself" she looks at her mom with determination " ok but I want to help he was your dad but my husband we should deal with him together" Sophia nods Carol turns to Daryl " will you help" he picks up the pic axe. "Those sticks won't be enough to get a big enough fire Brats go grab some logs I'll start the fire" he goes for his lighter I grab the striker from my pocket " here use this" he takes it " get the logs kid" I run to catch up to the others. When we get to the log pile Lady starts chewing on one of the smaller logs we all grab all the logs we can carry. " come Lady" I say as we head back she does.
Daryl already lit the fire it's not on Ed but next to him. Daryl hands me the striker I thank him he doesn't respond. "Put the small sticks in his abdomen." After we do he asks "Carol, Sophia which one of you want to light the body" Carol steps forward "I will" she takes a stick with dead leaves on it lights it then puts it on the pile on Ed.
Ed stinks more than I expected he reeks he also takes a long time to burn. Sophia and her mom are sitting down leaning in to each other. I sit on the opposite side of them just watching him burn.
When he is just smoldering remnants I see Glenn walk up " what's that smell" he sees what use to be Ed he voice is full of sadness when he speaks "I told you Daryl we don't burn or people we bury them! And you got the kids to help what the hell man" Daryl stands up ready to fight " don't you accuse me of nothing -" Carol stands up stopping him " Glenn this is what my daughter and I wanted I asked Daryl for help and the kids wanted to help Sophia because she is there friend. Sophia and I wanted to burn Ed" Glenn steps back surprised Daryl look shocked too Glenn nods " ok if that's what you wanted everyone else is lined up for the funerals do you want to come"  I stand up  Carol speaks " yes thank you" Daryl pours a bucket of water on the fire and we head up the hill to where Jim dug the holes. Daryl gets in the truck with the bodies and drives ahead. Lady has to do some business so I tell the others to go ahead the adults don't notice except Andrea. I give her a questioning look she put her hand on her hips" I'm not leaving you alone Walsh boy not with the geeks everywhere." I shake my head "not leaving Lady" she nods " don't expect you too she is family and you have to be there for family especially now" I put my hand on her arm " I liked Amy" she smiles sadly turns and puts a hand on my shoulder " I did too she was a good sister. I loved her and still do" tears well up in her eyes she brushes them back. Lady walks up to us Andrea rubs her ears "come on Walsh boy let's catch up."
At the funerals I can feel a tension between my dad and uncle that can't be good. Jim is also missing is something wrong? I'll ask dad later. We get in a line I watch as the dead are put in there final resting beds with sheets as caskets and a blanket of dirt. Truth be told I only knew Amy I should have listened to the introductions better. It's the the larger amount of loss that is bad don't want to think of losing my family dad, Lady, Carl, Lori, or my friends Sophia, Glenn,Andrea,Louis, Eliza, Ben, Billy,T-Dog, Daryl even if he doesn't like me I care for him and everyone else in this group. Amy is the last body Andrea pulls her to her grave when Dale goes to help she stops him saying "I can do it" over and over again.
I walk with my dad back to the camp it's time to ask " what's wrong with Jim he wasn't at the funeral and why did Daryl go after him with a pic axe?" Dad lets out a breath " Jim was bit last night" I freeze " dad he saved me he saved me and got bit it's my fault he is going to to... because of me" dad stops he kneels down grabbing my shoulders it's not your fault son it's the walkers Jim did what he felt was right. He was probably already bit." I shake my head "I want to talk to him" dad rubs his face "I don't think that's wise" I don't back down " dad please I need to" he nods ok I'll take you to him but I want to be inside the RV ok. I nod.
We get into the RV dad speaks to Jim to make sure he is alive. " hey Jim my boy wants to talk to you you up to it" that seems to shake him out of whatever trace he was in. "Yes I can talk" he smiles weakly when I get close "hey Jacob what's up" I need to say it " I got you bit didn't I. I'm so sorry" Jim shakes his head now even more alert " no no no Jacob I was already bit this is not your fault. I saved you because it's the right thing to do. Don't blame any of this on yourself promise me you won't blame yourself ok?" I nod " I promise Jim" dad comes up from the door well " I think Jim needs his rest Champ" I nod going to leave the RV when I'm at the door I notice I'm alone I peak around the corner Jim grabs dad's arm "you have to protect your boy Shane don't take your eyes off him for a second don't let him slip through your fingers" dad nods " I won't I refuse to lose him Jim"
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AN
This episode got split in half I decided to give Sophia some time to shine and I wanted Jim to make it clear he was bit already.
I got that idea of hero Jim from a old fanfic called Dixon family Matters where Daryl has a 5 year old son it's on fan fiction . Net but the last update was from 2019 the interaction between the main character and Jim so it's my own version of that idea because I am not cool with copying someone work it's a good story you should check it out.
A few chapters ago I said Jacob has green eye the color green is not important I just didn't want to give him blue eyes and I wanted him to have his mother eyes and his father's hair because Carl has his father eyes and mother hair.
I've been thinking of making Beth have a thing for zodiac signs Carl birthday is in April at least that's what the comic wiki says lol so I looked it up I'm thinking of making Carl a Taurus and Jacob a  Gemini the zodiac signs play zero part in their personality I'm not a zodiac person I had to look up all the information on it i don't even know what those signs mean for a person personality tbh.
I chose those signs because
1 Carl is born in April so he has to be Taurus or Aries
2 Jacob is born after Carl by only a few months and he needs to be born before September to be in the same school year.
3 I want Beth to make a comment about them being enemies. 
I've talked about one scenes in the next book that I won't write for like many months welp.
Should Sophia live?
Should Andrea?
Jim won't , And Amy didn't I would say sorry but it is the zombie apocalypse
I say this like I'm talking to someone.
Image https://www.vstockvault.net/free-photos/camping