A Broken World

Seven

By this time Daryl was stomping towards me and grabbing me by the arm and dragging me off down to the lake. I pulled away from him and slapped him across the face. His head snapped to the side. He took a deep breath before looking at me, his blue eyes blazing with anger. "Don't you ever fucking touch me again!" I yelled. "The fuck is wrong with ya?! Air our business to everyone like that?!" He yelled back. "Oh, fuck you, Dixon! They all have a right to know! They have a right to know who they brought into their group."

"What the hell ya doin?" He asked. I tilted my head in confusion. "What do you mean what am I doing here?" I asked. He pulled his lower lip in between his teeth and started chewing on it. "I went to your apartment the next day. Charlotte told me ya left, but she wouldn't tell me where you went. Ya been here in Atlanta the whole time?" I looked down at the ground, crossing my arms over my chest. "Yeah. I moved here to get away from that town. To get away from you since you no longer wanted me in your life. After all, I'm just some pig now."

I turned around and walked back up to the camp. Everyone was acting like nothing happened, but I could feel eyes on me as I walked past them all and went to my tent. I pulled my badge over my head and threw it at the cot. My hands found themselves locked together and raised to rest on the top of my head, my eyes were closed, and my head tilted back. "Knock knock." I rolled my eyes and turned around. "Is it alright I come in?" Shane asked.

"Yeah, what's up?" I asked. He stepped into the tent, taking his hat off. "You wanna explain to me what just happened?" He asked. I crossed my arms over my chest. "Well, Walsh, you let a criminal into your group and I just outed him. I get he can hunt and that's a vital skill to have in this situation. But he had no intention of sticking around. They were going to rob you. Now, don't get this twisted, because Daryl…"

I took a deep breath and dropped my arms down at my sides. "Daryl is a good person. He's nothing like his father or his brother. He never got in trouble with the law, he had a job, but he will do anything for family. It doesn't matter if he doesn't want to do what Merle wants, he'll still do it. Merle messes with his mind. He puts him down and tells him shit that's not true. Daryl might seem like he's an asshole and he sometimes is, but he's a completely different guy when Merle isn't around. If they're going to be here then we need to keep a very very very close eye on Merle.

He nodded his head, "I've been keeping an eye on Merle, I figured he had a bad past he makes it known. I keep him around only because he and Daryl have the skill to hunt. Can I ask you something? It's kind of personal." I raised an eyebrow at him and took a step back when he stepped further into the tent. "What would that be?" I asked. "You and Daryl…were you two…a thing?" He asked.

"Not that it's any of your business, Office Walsh, but no. Daryl and I were best friends until we weren't. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go back out and help the girls finish dinner." He nodded, turned around, and walked out of the tent. I waited a few minutes before leaving the tent and going back to the girls.

Later that night we sat around the fire, ate, and talked for a while. There was talk about whether we should put up signs on the highway into the city to warn people of how bad the city was. In the end it was decided that it just wasn't safe and we shouldn't waste the gas we have. We also talked about getting more supplies. I learned that Glenn would always go by himself, he was the fastest of everyone and could get in and out with no problem, but he could only bring back so much at a time.

"Hey, Glenn!" I called, catching up to him. "Why don't you let me come with you on the next run. I know the city just as well as you and I won't hold you up," I suggested. He took a moment to think about and let out a sigh. "Yeah, okay, but I don't want anybody else coming. And we don't go too far into the city." I nodded in agreement, "I'll follow your lead." After that we went to our tents. Of course, I couldn't sleep, all I could think about was that Daryl was here, in Atlanta, and we somehow ended up in the same group of people.

Eventually, after laying on the cot for a few hours with no luck of sleep coming anytime soon, I got up and headed outside. Dale was on top of the rv so I walked over and headed up on top with him. "Want some company?" I asked. He smiled at me and gestured for me to come sit beside him. I went over and sat down on the cooler they had up here. "Couldn't sleep I presume."

I hummed in agreement, "yeah, have a lot on my mind," I said. He looked out over the camp, directing his eyes at the Dixon brothers tent. "So, you knew Daryl and Merle?" He asked. I looked down at my lap, "yeah. Daryl and I used to be best friend's. That was until I graduated college and went to the police academy. After that he didn't really want anything to do with me," I told him.

Dale was an easy person to talk to. I haven't known him for more than a day, but I knew I could trust him. I told him about my life before I moved to Atlanta and he told me about his wife and how they used to live traveling all around the country. He told me about her cancer and how it progressed pretty quickly. That's how it went for the rest of the night. He gave me advice before he eventually left me take over keeping watch and went to bed.