RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

the void

SHE WOKE UP TO Sienna's legs wrapped around her own, her small, frail arm slung over her chest and her little face nestled in the crook of her neck, quick breaths flowing through strands of her hair and raising goosebumps on her skin. She gently unscrambled herself from Sienna's grasps and looked at the other side of the bed. She was disappointed to see that it was empty. 

"Mommy?" Sienna said with a stretch.

Willow looked down at her, pushing some hair away that had fallen into her face during the night. "Yeah, baby, I'm right here."

Sienna rubbed her half-open eyes. "Cows."

"Eat breakfast first, then you can pet the cows." She said as she swung her legs off the bed, squinting against the sunlight that barely peeked through the boards along the window. Her head was killing her, and the light only made it pound more than it already did.

She peeled off the clothes she didn't bother changing out of and slipped on a pair of leggings and a flannel, cuffing the sleeves. She looked at her wrist, tracing a new bandage that was on it.

"I changed that for you."

She looked over her shoulder at Tara standing in the doorway.

She leaned against the door frame with folded arms. "Rick asked me to check on you, but you were already asleep. I saw it had bled through, so I changed it. Didn't want to wake you up. Did I?"

"No, I didn't even know." Willow looked away and into a mirror that sat on the back of the dresser, running her fingers through tangled parts of her hair. "How are you feeling?"

She could see Tara smile in the reflection. "No fever. I'm still kickin'."

She nodded as she pulled her hair back into a loose braid and tied it off with an elastic she kept on her wrist.

"I think you were right... about Dwight. I think he took that shot on me because someone else was going to, and if they did... it would be a different story. I probably wouldn't be standing her right now. Or, maybe I would, but I'd probably try to eat you."

Tara's voice was smooth and offered some amusement, but Willow went a bit stiff. 

"I, uh- I heard what you and Rick did. Morgan, too." Tara stepped further into the room, sitting on the end of the bed and playing a bit with Sienna's feet. "If you had told me, I would've-"

"No." Willow didn't let her finish. "No, you needed to rest, and I don't think Rick wanted anyone to know. I don't think he even wanted me to know, but I just happened to be there when he asked Alden."

"Because of Carl?" She asked.

It was an innocent question, but Willow felt a pang in her chest as she closed her eyes and rubbed her wrist. "Yeah."

Tara watched her closely as she sat on the other side of the bed and slipped on her boots. "Are you going back out there?"

She tugged at her shoelaces. "I don't know. I got chewed out last night for it."

"Only because no one knew where you were. Where any of you were." Her voice was much more serious. "All of us had to practically tackle Daryl to keep him from going out there to find you."

She finished tying the other boot before standing up and getting some clothes for Sienna. "Alden and Ash knew. If everyone was really that worried, I don't know why they wouldn't have said anything."

Sienna bounced off the bed and ran to Willow's side, snatching the pink long sleeve and grey leggings to put on.

"I think they know who's side they're really on now." Tara suggested. "Maybe they thought that if they told anyone, someone would go out there to try to stop it from happening. I think they wanted it to happen."