Healing Broken Wings [Daryl Dixon] The Walking Dead

Sixty Six| Divided Loyalties

🛡️Jake🛡️

I shuffle along beside Lydia, sticking to the center of the group, and glance around. Without skin we're vulnerable. "They made you remove your skin?" Alpha asks in a whisper and I nod. "They took it off me, he did," she whispers back. "The one who made the trade?"

Lydia nods as we continue moving, mimicking the way the dead walk. "He was ready to fight to keep both of you. Why?" She looks over at me as Alpha waits for an answer. "We acted like we needed his help."

"Did he touch you?" Would you care if he did? When it's one of us you don't blink an eye. But suddenly you're concerned? I keep my thoughts to myself. Being Beta's son doesn't protect me from Alpha's wrath. A lesson I've learned all too well. "No."

"Did you tell him about us?"

"That there are only a few of us. That I hated living like this." Alpha glances at her daughter and she quickly comes up with an explanation. "I lied to get them to trust me. Except for one thing. I said they shouldn't cross you."

Suddenly the woman steps in front of Lydia, forcing her to stop walking, and gazes into her daughter's face. "What did you find out?" I stop beside Lydia. "They have mostly farmland. Some supplies. Their weapons are basic."

"They have a few guns. But not enough," I add, earning a glance from Alpha. "Any signs of trade?"

"No," Lydia and I whisper at the same time. "I don't think... no," she says getting a tiny bit flustered with her mother so close to her. She doesn't want to get slapped again. "What else?" She opens her mouth, but I quickly answer. I'll take the brunt of her anger.

"That's it." She looks over at me and I see that anger in her eyes. "That's it?!" Her voice raises slightly above a whisper and Lydia flinches. "I broke my own rules comin' to get you two. What do I get in return?" She enters my personal space, attempting to tower over me, but I'm taller and not inclined to cower, and try to make myself appear smaller so she leaves me be.

I fix my slouched position, abandoning the dead like posture so I'm at my full height. She has to tilt her head slightly back to look into my face. If I didn't know any better I'd think Alpha looked slightly impressed with my small act of defiance, but I won't hold my breath.

She turns her gaze back on Lydia continuing to make her point. "Excuses. Wasted words."

"Sorry, Alpha." She keeps her eyes on the ground, head angled toward the forest floor so she doesn't appear to be challenging her. "Was that the only reason you came to get us?" She asks briefly looking into her mother's face. "To get information?"

"What a stupid question," she hisses getting even more into her daughter's face. Lydia goes back to looking away while Alpha looks her up and down before turning around, and keeps moving. When we're halfway back to camp, Alpha let's us rest and recuperate before we have to continue our journey.

I sit down beside Lydia, leaning back against the small tree, and holding out my palm full of pecans to her. She looks down at them then back up at me. I nod and offer them to her again, lifting my palm up. "Thanks, Jake," she whispers and takes a few, slipping one between her teeth, biting it in half.

I nod, popping one into my mouth and looking around at the other Whisperers. Lydia's mom stops beside Sean and Helen who are whispering with their heads close together, as if even normal whispering wasn't safe for them to do. When Alpha gets close they immediately stop, leaning away from each other.

She can see deception coming from a mile away. Especially, if you're really bad at keeping it a secret. She makes her way across the stream "Jake?" I look over at Lydia's low tone. "Back at Hilltop. That girl, Kara, you liked her, didn't you?"