South Tree * TWD

54. Might Wanna Meet

                             LILLIAN HAD FALLEN asleep leaning against Daryl but it hadn't taken long for Daryl to want to wonder off. He gave her a small nudge which woke her up immediately, her head shooting up to look at him.

"Gonna go keep watch." He told her quietly as he wiggled his arm out of her grip. Lillian sat up, straightening her back as she let out a yawn.

"I'll come with." She told him as she watched him push himself to a stand, then grabbing his crossbow.

"Nah. Go to sleep." Daryl told her as loud thunder struck, causing her to flinch down. She looked over at him with sad eyes as he looked back at her.

"Please?" She begged. She wasn't sure why, but she felt better being around Daryl than not while it was so loud. So much so that she had fallen sleep during it.

"No." Was his final answer as he turned around and left. Lillian looked down, embarrassed as she tried to act like it didn't happen.

"Why don't you lay down with Carl and Judith?" Rick suggested. Lillian looked over at him and then glanced over at Carl. He laid on his side with an arm extended out as Judith laid on his arm, snuggled up to his chest. Lillian glanced back at where Athena once sat but she was no longer there. She had probably left to go lay next to Colton and Maggie. Lillian let out a sigh as she nodded, picking up her bag with her hand before standing up. She slowly walked the couple of steps over to the barn wall that Carl was sleeping next to. She carefully lowered herself against the wall, a foot away from Carl's head. She cris crossed her legs and looked down at her arm that throbbed in pain. She let out a sigh as she rested her head against the barn wall.

Seconds after, loud thunder boomed, scaring Lillian for the second time. The rain was loud from outside and so was the banging from the barn door being tied shut. That noise suddenly got more aggressive, loud banging against the door as thunder struct again. Lillian looked over at the adults as Carl got startled awake. Loud growling sounded from the front of the barn on top of more thunder. Lillian ducked down, one of her hands covering her ear as she looked around panicked. The adults all shot up, running to the front of the barn as Carl pushed himself up and Judith began to crawl towards Lillian.

"What's going on?" Carl asked frantically as he quickly pushed himself to a stand. Lillian didn't hear as he asked as she put all of her strength into her left arm to pick up Judith. Carl looked towards the door, then back at Lillian. "Stay here." He told her louder, she actually heard him this time. She sent him a nod as he began running towards the door. Lillian held the crying Judith towards her tightly, trying her best to cover Judith's ears despite the loud noise hurting her own. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt helpless and overwhelmed by the pain and the noise.

☆

The storm had settled and the walkers that clawed at the door had been handled. It was assumed that a tree fell which crushed them, but nobody went outside to check.

Lillian laid close to Daryl as they were in a small part of the barn that faced the door. Daryl was keeping watch as everyone else rested in the area in front of the door, he tried to get Lillian to lay near the rest of the group but she almost started crying so he just let her rest near him. As he leaned against the wall, Lillian laid on her back next to him with her jacket as blanket and her backpack as a pillow. She knew Lola The Elephant was in her backpack still but she didn't want to get it dirty so she rested her head against it. She had gotten a little bit of sleep but she was really just laying there with her eyes closed.

She couldn't stop thinking about the mark that was on Daryl's hand. It bothered her thinking about how someone did that to him. She remembered how he told her that no matter how bad she was, she didn't deserve to be hit. This was the same. He didn't either. She didn't understand.