Ellie Dixon

I Need To Help

"I need your help." I whispered to Sophia.

"With what?" Sophia quietly responded.

We were standing outside, watching everyone pack up the car. "I need to go with them. They'll never let me though."

"El, that's dangerous." Sophia shook her head.

"Please, Soph. It's my fault Maggie and Glenn got taken. If I just wasn't scared for once, then they'd still be here, and we wouldn't be going out to find them."

"I can't lose you." Sophia responded.

"And you won't. But we can't lose Maggie and Glenn as well. Not after T-dog, Lori and the baby. Not after everything. Rick only just snapped back to reality... If we lose Maggie and Glenn we'll lose Rick again, probably Beth and Hershel too. I don't wanna see more friends die. I can't go through that again." I explained.

Sophia hesitated. "What do you need me to do?"

I'd explained to Sophia the plan. My dad walked over to us, so we hushed our conversation. He squatted down in front of us with a sigh. "You girls gotta be on your best behaviour for Carol and Hershel, okay?"

Sophia nodded. "We will."

"Alright." I smiled, knowing that I wouldn't be here.

"We'll be back soon. Few days, maybe. But, when we come back... I need you girls to be okay. Promise that you'll keep yourselves safe. Don't do anything stupid." Dad reminded us.

"We won't, da-" Sophia cut herself off, clearing her throat. "Daryl."

Dad smiled a little, looking down and nodding his head. I smiled at Sophia as well. She didn't cover up the fact that she was going to call him "dad" very well, but I didn't mind. And neither did dad. Dad smiled at her before talking. "Doesn't matter what you call me. I love you, and I'm going to look out for you. You know that, don't you?" Dad asked her, Sophia looked down and nodded, blinking away tears that were clearing in her eyes. Dad smiled sadly at her. "You deserve a better father than what your daddy was."

Sophia nodded, wiping her eyes before moving forward and hugging dad tightly. Dad looked at my smiling face before he quickly hugged her back. I saw Carol staring over at them, tears present in her eyes and a hand over her heart with a content smile on her face. She walked over and squatted down to hug me. I looked over at my dad who was already staring at me with a smile on his face, so I smiled back at him.

Sophia pulled back from my dad and wiped her eyes. "Thank you." She said quietly.

Dad nodded with a smile. "Why don't you three head inside. Start fixing yourself some dinner?" Dad offered when he noticed everyone else loading into the car.

"That's a good idea." Carol nodded, standing up.

"I'm gonna see them off. I'll be there in a minute." I responded, taking my dad's hand as he stood up. I noticed the only people outside now was Beth and Axel who were going to work the gates for us. Everyone else was now inside or in the car. I took my dad's bag, and he laughed quietly as I struggled to hold the heavy thing.

"You want me to take that, babe?" Dad smiled.

I scoffed. "No, I obviously have this handled."

I got to the boot, and with dad's help chucked it in the back. "I'll see you in a couple days, okay?"

I nodded. "I love you."

"I love you, princess." Dad hugged me before going round the car. "Can you shut the boot, please?"