Make it Till You Don't

Frustration

Dinner was awfully quiet, too quiet for my liking. Glenn attempted to break the silence, but it didn't work too well. But props to him for trying. Once dinner was finished, everyone went back to camp while I stayed and sat on the porch. I stared out into the night as I heard the door from behind me open.

Turning around, I saw it was Carol. "What are you doing out here?" She asked me, coming up to stand beside me.

"Taking a moment." I replied, looking back out. "How's he holding up?"

"Fine. Stubborn, but fine." She replied, causing me to chuckle. "I'm worried though."

I brought my attention back to Carol, confused. "What for?"

"It's just- Everyone is doing so much to find my little girl, but..." She paused, a frown on her face. "I don't want people getting hurt, or worse, dying over it."

I took a moment before I spoke up. "Don't beat yourself up over it." I spoke softly. What happened today was an accident, none of it is anyone's blame... well- except for Andrea for shooting him when we said not to." I mumbled the last part to myself.

She gave me a small smile, nodding. "Thank you, (Y/N)." I nodded in return. "Did you ever find out where you're going to sleep tonight?"

I shook my head with a sign. "No. With everything that just happened, I never got around to asking anyone."

"Why don't you just use Daryl's for now? He's going to be in the house for at least a few days, giving you some time to sleep." Carol pointed out.

I grimaced at the thought. "And have him catch an attitude with me? Yeah, no thanks, I'll pass."

"Just until he is up on his feet, not saying you gotta share it. At least for a couple days? I don't want you sleeping outside like last night."

I let out a sigh, knowing I won't win an argument with her. "Fine. Only for tonight though."

She patted me on the shoulder. "Good enough. Now come on, let's go." She gestured to me to the camp, and I followed.

—

At the first sign of light, I was awake and wasted no time in leaving the tent. It just felt too weird being in someone's space without their knowing. So I opted to walk around the camp before sitting down against a tree as I waited for the others to wake up.

As I sat there, I heard footsteps approaching the camp. Looking over, I saw Daryl making his way over. "Shouldn't you be on house arrest?" I spoke up, catching his attention.

"Mind ya damn business." He retorted back. "Besides, I ain't holdin' up in that house with people breathing down my neck 24/7."

I rolled my eyes at his attitude. "Geez, what's with the attitude all the time? No one's allowed to worry about you or something?" I raised an eyebrow at him. "You're pretty badly injured, afterall."

"S'nothin." He grumbled. "The hell you doing out here anyway?"

"Why do you care? Thought you said you didn't care if I lived or not?" I asked, repeating what he said to me yesterday.

He walked into his tent. "I don't."

I shook my head as I leaned my head back, closing my eyes for a little longer. Thank god I left that tent when I did, that would've been much worse.

I heard a noise, causing me to open my eyes, seeing more people up and about. "Hey, didn't mean to wake you."

I turned to see Glenn walking by with a basket of peaches. "Oh no you're fine, didn't realize I fell asleep." I rolled my neck, stiff from lying against the tree.

"Right." Glenn said, shifting uncomfortably before holding the basket out to me. "Peach?"

I reached into the basket, grabbing a peach, before looking back up at him. "What's up?"

"Nothing, why?" Glenn replied quickly, causing me to raise a brow.

I watched as he began walking off to the others. "Okay, if you say so." I told him, biting into my peach.

"Don't tell me you slept out here again last night?" I turned to Carol as she approached me.

I brought the peach away, dropping my hand to my lap as I shook my head. "No, I didn't. I woke up early and came out here waiting for everyone else to wake up. Thank god I did cause Daryl came marching back to camp." I nodded my head towards his tent.

"He should be back at the house, in a real bed." She frowned, not liking the news.

I breathed heavily out my nose. "That's what I said. He got all pissy with me, told me to mind my damn business." I took another bite of my peach, somewhat annoyed. "I don't know what I did, but he's had it out for me since day one."

"He's like that at first with everyone, especially since he lost his brother not too long ago." Carol replied with a sigh of her own.

"His brother died?" I asked, not realizing he had a brother.

"We don't know." She shrugged her shoulders. "There was an incident in Atlanta and he ended up getting cuffed to a roof. When Daryl and a few others went to get him, he was gone by the time they got there."

I processed what she said, understanding now why he is so guarded, it's a defense mechanism. Even now, I still have my guard up because I've only known these people a few days. If I wasn't as injured as I was, I would've ran the minute they weren't looking, I don't know the lengths they would go to survive. They seem like good people, but this world changes people. "I see."

"Don't worry." She gave me a smile. "He'll come around."

I let out a small chuckle. "That's what Dale said too."

Not long after, Shane and some others went off to begin gun practice. I had stayed behind, not really keen to use a gun; I prefer to use any weapon that I can use as quietly as possible, plus I didn't want to be around Shane... something about him just sets off alarms in my head.

I sat around for about an hour, when I began wondering why no one is out searching for Sophia. Majority of the group is gun training, Dale is on watch, and Daryl is injured so he doesn't need to go. But here I am just sitting around, so what the hell am I doing?

My wound is doing much better after hershel treated and stitched it up, so why am I just sitting here? I decided I sat around enough and walked into the RV, grabbing my ax.

As I walked out, I made sure Dale was looking the other way before I started making my way towards the woods. Though, I didn't get far before I heard someone speak up. "The hell you going?"

I saw it was Daryl and groaned internally at the bad timing. "Nothing, don't worry about it."

"Don't look like nothin'." He replied, gesturing to the ax in my hand. "You can't seriously be thinking about going off into the woods alone."

I crossed my arms as I replied back. "So what if I am? Why does it matter?"

"Cause it's a stupid idea." He snorted.

"No, you know what's stupid? Me sitting here and doing absolutely nothing." I spoke up, frustrated. "While everyone is off shooting guns, no one is in those damn woods looking for Sophia."

Not having anything else to say, I turned and kept on my path to the woods. "I'm not just gonna sit around..."

———
Published: 02/27/2024