The Monsters Among Us ➳ Daryl Dixon

24. A Thunderous Grief

The next three months passed in a seemingly serene blur.

Everything had settled down, people now had jobs and routine. The cleaning crew, the farmers, the cooks, the guards, the runners. Only one job was cycled through for everyone and that was the Fence crew. We’d managed to repair the wire fence as best we could with the materials we had on hand, assigning a total of ten people to stand by at all times, clearing away any biters that make a nuisance of themselves. It was far from a pleasant experience, which was why we’d basically begun using it as a form of punishment.

Our longest serving fencer, who had been manning the fence for almost two and a half months now, was Claire. After her outburst in that farce of a courtroom trial, the council had initially decided to keep her under “house-arrest” until we figured out a better alternative.

She was on watch twenty-four-seven, unable to leave the cell block, and was obviously removed from her council responsibilities. When we established the fence-watch, Daryl, Rick, Maggie, Glenn and I had taken the first shift, during which I’d somewhat jokingly remarked that I’d love to watch Claire suffer through some actual physical labour. Rick had thought it a great idea and, after checking with the council, we put it into motion a week later.

Frank was also utilised, having been found guilty of Walter, Caleb, and Terry’s murders a few days after I’d been acquitted. He and Claire were kept as far apart as the fence allowed, of course, and were kept under the watchful eyes of both Ophelia and Tyreese.

A few weeks after the whole courtroom fiasco, Carol and I were officially given the go-ahead to start our little “book club”. It went almost perfectly during the first week. We established a chaperone crew – which all consisted of mothers, fathers and guardians that were in on the truth – so the other parents were more comfortable and explained to the kids that every second session would have an important segment for self-defence. All the kids were on board, even promising to keep it a secret.

And, yes. It did feel super cult-y.

But, at the end of the day, it was kind of worth the discomfort. The vote for my idea of Child In-Dangerment had, indeed, been viciously one-sided. Only Daryl, Michonne, and I voted for. Tyreese, Karen, Hayden, Hershel, and the new member, Lachlan, voted against.

So, secretive little cult meetings about stabbing shit it was.

Despite that, however, I got just as into the whole book club part of it as I did the knifework. It got so invested that I began doing a dramatic retelling of the entire Game of Thrones series off memory alone. Once a week, I would go on for about two hours, recounting the story with such passion and fever that it actually became quite popular throughout the prison populace. People began to show up to those sessions along with their kids, and soon, even the people without kids began squeezing into the packed room to listen.

We’d had to move it outside lately, as the prison library had grown too small for my audience.

For once, people actually enjoyed the fact that I could remember entire monologues and sequences of events from the show and the book. I could even run off some Dothraki and Old Valerian. And because I said it all with such fever, such dramatics, most of the parents even overlooked my horrendous language and overly detailed play-by-plays of graphic death scenes.

Funnily enough, I even managed to work in some lessons into my storytelling. After all, it wasn’t nearly as intense if the kids couldn’t visualise how one might utilise a sword of spear in close quarters combat, was it? And it certainly wasn’t as impressive if the kids couldn’t imagine how one might throw a knife, right?