South Tree * TWD

21. Sick

Before long the sun was rising. Lillian sat still in the middle, Lori was no longer hugging her. They were heading to the highway, back where they left supplies for Lillian and Sophia. T-Dog almost didn't let them go back, called it a suicide mission. She had almost jumped right out of the car. Lillian hoped that Daryl would be there and Carol would be there too. She also thought about Carl and Colton. She didn't know what she would do if she lost everything she had including the people that cared the most. Soon enough more cars came into view, including the motorcycle that Daryl rode. Lillian got excited as she began to approach the highway, seeing that that there had been more than just them there.

Lillian jumped out of the car as fast as she could, throwing herself into Daryl as soon as she laid eyes on him. She wrapped her arms around his waist tightly as she started crying again. Daryl laid a hand on her back, the other one holding her head.

"Are you okay?" Daryl asked her quietly, rubbing his thumb against her forehead. Lillian nodded, letting go of him and looking over at Carol. She tried to stop crying as she looked at her, but when she kneeled down and wrapped her arms around the girl, the tears only flowed harder.

"I didn't want to leave you, i swear." Lillian cried as she wrapped her arms around Carol as well.

"It's okay. I'm okay." Carol reassured in a soft, sad voice. Lillian let go and looked back to Daryl as she sniffled, her crying finally slowing. She figured that he was still upset at her for "doing enough". She couldn't handle him being upset on top of everything.

" 'm sorry i made things worse." Her voice cracked as she apologized. Daryl sighed as he looked at her.

"I ain't mad. Nothing to be sorry about." Daryl responded, brushing a piece of her out of her face. Lillian frowned but nodded.

The gesture reminded her of her daddy, always used to say that he wanted to see her face. She needed to stop hiding behind her hair. He used to call her his pretty girl when he was real drunk and was being real nice. He said it reminded him of her mama, that she looked a lot like her and she acted like her too sometimes. Lillian liked that thought for a while, thought it was a compliment until her mama started being real weird and mean. She missed them. She missed her parents a lot. She missed every memory that she had just left behind of them. She missed her books and Beary.

"Daryl.." Lillian mumbled. To which he responded with a hum. "I left everything. I left the book you got me and Beary." She frowned, she didn't want to start crying again so she took a deep breath in at the end of her sentence.

"We can get you more, Lilli." Carol suggested and Daryl hummed in agreement.

"It's not the same." Lillian mumbled again, disappointedly as she looked to the ground.

"I know." Daryl agreed again. He definitely sounded sympathetic but he wasn't sure what to do about it.

"Lils!" Colton exclaimed from next to her as he pulled himself out of a hug from Maggie, Hershel, and Beth. Lillian looked over and looked at him but before she could see much, he threw his arms around her. Lillian hugged him back.

"Don't sneak off, ever again." Lillian tried to say in a stern tone but it just made her voice crack.

Colton let go of her and just held onto her shoulders as he began to rant, "Carl and I were gonna go help find you and Shane and then we just found Rick and he killed Shane and then Carl shot Shane cause he was a walker and then we saw the herd and then we ran into the barn and i lit it on fire and then we ran and found Hershel and then we came back here." By the end of his sentence, he was out of breath. Lillian gave him a weird look.

Rick killed Shane? Weren't they best friends? She also looked at Colton's face, seeing that he had blood splatter on his face but also that his eyes were red and puffy. He had been crying.