Ellie Dixon

Knockout

I was sitting on the floor next to Eugene and staring at his face. He had blood running from his nose and the centre of his forehead. He lay on his back, unmoving. I stared at him, wondering how he could cause so many people so much grief and just move on with his life. How he could cost so many people their lives, and not say a word. Abraham was on his knees ten feet away from the fire truck, facing the road we'd driven on. Rosita drove the truck over to Eugene since it wasn't safe to move him. Abraham hadn't said a word since he fell to his knees, hadn't moved either.

"They have no idea we're here." Glenn said to Tara.

"That's great news for GREATME. There's a silent E on the end, I think it's a metaphor because of Eugene's lie." I  heard Tara reply. "In less great news for GREATME, we just scraped the bottom of the water barrel."

"What is... What's GREATME?" Glenn questioned.

"Us. Group name. Solidarity. Band of brothers. GREATME." Tara responded.

"And Eugene is the silent E?" I could practically hear Glenn raising his eyebrows.

"Well, Ellie hasn't kept a massive life changing, world shattering secret so I think her E deserves to be heard." Tara responded. "Thinking about getting it tattooed on my knuckles... Sorry, I'm just trying to think of something else, you know?"

I heard footsteps which told me Maggie and Rosita had joined their conversation. "Should we get him to the church?" Glenn asked.

"Moving him could make him worse." I heard Maggie respond.

"What will make him better?" Rosita questioned.

"Waking up." Maggie replied. "If he doesn't..."

"What about Ellie? What was that earlier?" Glenn asked.

"She had a panic attack. As long as it doesn't happen again, she'll be fine." Rosita answered.

"She's never had one before?" Tara asked.

"Not as far as I know. Not surrounded by walkers, not fighting cannibals, not being mistaken for the Governor's daughter-" Maggie listed.

"Sorry, what?" I could hear Tara's surprise.

"For a little while he kidnapped Ellie and made her pretend to be his dead daughter." Glenn stated.

"Oh..." Tara trailed off. "But, she's okay now-"

"I can hear you all, ya know." I interrupted their conversation. "I'm like six feet away."

"Do you want your book? Give you something to do while we wait for Eugene to wake up?" Maggie offered.

"If he wakes up. He could be dying." I deadpanned.

"But, we hope that he's not. Right, Ellie?" Tara urged. I hummed in response.

"C'mon, you don't need to look at him any longer. Go read or something on the other side of the truck." Glenn walked over to me, extending his hand for me to take. When I didn't accept his hand, he reached down and picked me up from under my arms, putting me on my feet and turning me around as he walked me to the back of the truck. Rosita handed me my book so Glenn patted my head before they both walked away.

Rosita appeared a couple seconds later to go talk to Abraham, she had a water bottle in her hand. "C'mon, you haven't had anything to drink all day." Rosita urged, Abraham didn't react. "Take the bottle." Rosita ordered, Abraham didn't move. "Seriously, Ellie doesn't pull this shit and she's ten-" She was cut off when Abraham hit the bottle out of her hand and it flew about six feet to the right. She put her hands on her knees to come face to face with him. "Don't do this, Abraham." Rosita ordered, but Abraham wasn't even looking at her. "Look at me."

"Don't." Abraham muttered.

"Look at me!" Rosita raised her voice.

Abraham stood up, towering over her and making eye contact with a dangerous glint in his eye. I threw my book to the ground, standing up and pulling out my gun to aim at his head. Rosita was leaning back, scared of him so I went to stand next to her. Abraham's eyes flickered to me. "I told you what would happen if you yelled at her, what do you thinks gonna happen when you're squaring up? Huh? Sit down or I'll put you down. You've seen me kill men without hesitation once, what makes you think I wouldn't do it again?"

He stared down the barrel of my gun for about ten seconds before slowly going back down onto his knees. I pocketed my gun.

I was sitting on the fire truck, in the open door part of where the fire fighters would've been, hanging my feet over the side as I read my book. "We need more water." Glenn stated.

"There's a creek. Few miles southwest of here." Rosita offered up.

"Y'all go. I'll stay here." Maggie nodded.

"Can I stay too?" I looked up.

"You weren't coming even if you wanted too." Rosita smiled. "You gotta rest up. Don't kill Eugene."

"Yes, ma'am." I grinned.

"Stay safe out there." Maggie told them as she sat next to me.

"You too." Tara nodded, before the three of them took off.

After ten minutes, Maggie spoke. "Help me get some shade on Eugene?"

"Let him burn." I muttered.

"Ellie." Maggie sighed.

"Maggie." I repeated her action.

"Honey, you can't be mad at him forever." Maggie shook her head.

"Okay, I'll stay mad until the useless bastard's eaten by a walker." I replied.

"Language. You're still ten. And, you shouldn't say those things." Maggie ran a hand through my hair.

"It's the truth." I shrugged, putting my book down and standing up. "We putting the nerd in the shade or not?"

Me and Maggie got a ladder from the back of the truck and leaned it from the truck to just behind Eugene's head. We then got the blankets and leaned them over the ladder to keep the sun off of Eugene. We couldn't move him because he might unfortunately die. I looked at his face, but I found I couldn't keep my eyes on him anymore so I walked to sit in the fire truck again. Maggie walked to talk to Abraham. "Get over yourself. You're not the only one who lost something today. It's never gonna get any better than this."

We hadn't done much, but I'd finished my book. I watched Abraham who still hadn't moved, not even in the approximately two and a half hours, probably more. I walked over to him with a water bottle in my hand. "I know you're thirsty." I held out a bottle for him to take. "So, don't say you're not." When I looked at his face, I squatted down. "I know that look on your face... Did you want me to shoot you, big one?"

He sighed through his nose. "I thought I did, little one. But, I didn't."

We heard groaning, both going for our guns, before we heard. "Hell... Hello?"

I rolled my eyes, but Maggie walked over to him. I just looked back to Abraham. "You don't have to forgive him, I don't think I can... But, ya just can't punch him out, or lash out on other people."

He nodded, a small smile tweaking at the corner of his lips. He reached out for the bottle before slowly bringing it to his lips and drinking it. It may not have been much, but it was the first sign of Abraham starting to grieve the loss of hope in a healthy manner.