Broken Wings (Daryl dixon x Reader)

Chapt 10: Lies

We arrived at this big, old, farmhouse. I wondered when it was built and how long these people owned this land.

When we drove up our people and some others we hadn't met yet were gathering stones. But the second thing I noticed was Shane.

He had shaved his head and he was wearing overalls that were too big for him. He looked extremely odd like that but I kept those thoughts to myself. I climbed out of the R.V. holding Muffin in my arms as we drove up to the house's front porch. That's when I saw this young blond girl smile and point to me as she poked another guy standing next to her in the arm trying to get her to look at me. Guess she liked cats. I looked around at our people as they stood around looking at each other.

"How is he?" Dale asked the question we all wanted to ask but were too scared to know the answer.

"He'll pull through" Lori answered and tears came to my eyes at hearing that, he was too young to join the dead. "Thanks to Hershal and his people and"

"And Shane" Rick finished for Lori "We'd have lost Carl, if not for him"

I smiled at Lori and hugged her the others followed suit. The blond girl walked up to me.

"Hi, I'm Beth. Um, what's its name?"

"This is Muffin, would you like to hold him?" Beth nodded happily holding her arms out. I passed the cat to her.

"Daddy, can Muffin and this girl stay with us in the house?" She asked blinking her eyes at Hershal, her father. Hershal smiled and looked at us then loosing his smile.

"Your Y/N? Right? You did my brother's funeral." I looked at him for a minute and began to recognize him.

"Yes sir. I. I did." He looked at me for a moment staring I could feel the other's eyes on me and then he went over and hugged me. I froze, taken aback by the hug. He pulled back.

"I'm sorry I. Your funeral home made his funeral memorable. I can't ever thank you enough for that. If. If you and this cat here want to stay inside you can."

I bit my lip looking around at the other for a moment, then back at him.

"If Muffin can stay inside with you I would appreciate that, I'm alright out here, I just want him in a safe place." Hershal nodded.

"How'd it happen?" Dale said taking his eyes off us and continuing his conversation.

"Hunting accident, that's all, just a stupid accident"

We exchanged a few more hugs before Lori spoke up.

"Otis, he, he died trying to save my baby, we are having a memorial for him. If everyone would like to come with." Beth headed inside with Muffin quickly and came back out and we all headed towards this stone mound that had been built up. A memorial for Otis.

This new family all went up one by one laying a stone on top of the mound.

"Blessed be God" Hershal began,
"Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to Him for the gift of our brother Otis. For his span of years, for his abundance of character. Otis who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset. We thank you, God, for the peace he enjoys in Your embrace. He died, as he lived, in grace." Hershal finished.

I thought about the services I had attended over the years and the words that each pastor had read out. I thought about the words and how they always meant something to the deceased. But out of all those funerals and memorials, this is the one that felt the most different.

"Shane, will you speak for Otis?" He asked. I turned looking at Shane. He had been limping meaning that something bad went down and I wondered silently how it all went down.