Broken Crown ~Daryl Dixon~

Quarry

Mentions of abuse 

Florence watched the man carefully, she had seen how Carol behaved around the man, she didn't want to assume what the situation was but she did. 

"Just swapping war stories, Ed." The man lingered over them, and the girl froze doing her work, slowly performing the actions. Anxious about what the man could do if she let her guard down. Andrea turned to the man, looking at him as she lingered and smoked his cigarette. 

"Problem, Ed? 

"None that concerns you. And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club." Florence shook her head, staring at the man and bit her lip. She didn't want to say what was on her mind, Carol glanced at the girl and watched the girl clean the clothes. Ed kept watching the girls, between Shane and Ed, this really bugged her. With the males lingering, watching while they did the work, she couldn't take it. 

"Hi, Ed. You know, this isn't the normal world anymore, women aren't housewives anymore. You wanna know why? Because there are no more goddamn houses to play housewife anymore. So I suggest, that if you want your clothes washed, do it yourself instead of sitting on your ass and watching." She grabbed the basket from the ground and shoved it into his arms. 

"Be a good little girl and do what you're told. Come, you let's go." He hissed throwing the basket back into her arms, the girl glanced at her arm as it sliced open from the plastic, Andrea stood up looking at the girl with concern and went to say something but Florence beat him to it. Carol stood up quickly but Florence stopped her. 

"She isn't going anywhere with you." 

"Florence, stop it," Carol begged, the brunette didn't listen.

"Don't think I won't knock you on your ass. Carol. Now." 

"What so you can give her fresh bruises?" 

"We've seen them." Carol looked at the girls who were defending her, she didn't think Florence would be the type to do it, she had an innocent quality about her and so Carol didn't see this coming. 

"Stay out of this. Now, come on! You know what, this ain't none of y'all's business. You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now, I am done talking." Ed roughly grabbed Carol's arm, Florence shoved the man away, causing Carol to be hit by her husband, the brunette yelped as Ed grabbed her arm swung a fist at her face and threw her to the ground. Florence hit the rocks, a graze appearing across her side and blood soaking her skin. 

After Shane started beating Ed to a pulp, Florence pushed herself up, grabbed a dry rag and pushed herself to another end of the quarry. 

"Flo!" Mason shouted, running down to her side, glancing at the wounds and started cleaning the wounds. She kept quiet, her eyes glancing down, not saying anything as he helped with her wounds after having finished cleaned her wounds. 

Her face was swollen, and her eye was shut with a bruise. Her lip had a large cut. Mason grabbed some food, sat with her in the tent and watched her worriedly as he glanced at the wound that was cleaned and healing. 

"Why would you do that?" 

"She's being hurt by the person that should be protecting her. It isn't right." She whispered quietly, Mason sighed gently and took the girl's hand. 

"You have to be careful, Flo. You can't be putting your neck out for everyone. I can't have you getting hurt and killed. Understand?" Florence nodded, not caring that she was being scolded by her little brother. Florence drank some water, stayed in the tent and looked at the things that were kept in her bag. 

As the day began to cool, Florence took her spear, standing away from everyone and practising using the spear. She swung it above her head, took breaths and threw the spear at a tree, it stuck in the wood and Florence glanced at Carol who walked over with some food. 

"I made you some food honey, are you okay?" 

"Thank you, yes I am. Are you okay?" The woman nodded, she sighed seeing the girl's appearance and shook her head. 

"My high school boyfriend used to beat me. I know what it's like. Watching you with him, I knew what was happening the second I started interacting with everyone." Carol frowned lightly, the girl seemed quieter than she had been, like Ed hurting her took her fight out. 

"I'm sorry," Carol stated, softly resting her hand on her shoulder. 

"Don't be. Even in this world, I don't want to see it happening." 

Mason and Florence sat around the fire eating the fish that had been made. She still remained quiet, fiddling with her necklace, smiling as Mason laughed along with the others. It was important to see her brother happy and not sad. He still got to be young and silly. Florence placed the plate down, washing her mouth out with water, she wasn't a fan of fish but would gladly eat it if it meant keeping herself safe. Florence heard screaming, she grabbed her spear and stood up seeing walkers around the camp. She stabbed them through the head, keeping her brother behind him as he fought the walkers that were behind her. 

The guns firing scared her, and she dropped to her knees, covering her ears. She shook her head, watching as the walkers all dropped dead around her. She clenched her eyes shut, shaking her head as the guns got louder and she couldn't do anything about it. 

"Flo, Flo. Look at me." Mason whispered, grabbing her face in his hands, she had tears running down her cheeks, not removing her hands from her ears. Florence stared at her brother, shaking her head, she could still hear the ringing in her ears. 

Mason stared at his sister worriedly, he knew how badly loud noises overwhelmed her back before the world fell, she couldn't go to sports events without having noise buds in her ears. Mason carefully pulled her up, she stared at him scared and glanced at all the crying children. Rick was back, and so were the others. She glanced at Daryl, not seeing Merle and took a breath as she pulled Mason in for a hug. 

"It's not safe here." She whispered. 

"It's not safe anywhere." He corrected.