Down by the water • TWD

New Roles.

"Avery." 

She could feel the rough shake of her body as someone whispered her name. She fluttered her eyes open, trying to let her eyes adjust to the light. "What?"

She could see now that it was Jackson who was shaking her awake. "Get up. Rick's already out there working." He told her, grabbing a new pair of clothes for her. Avery let out a groan, not wanting to wake up to work. "Let's go. Carl just went out there, too."

"Noo... I'll come in a little bit, just 10 more minutes of sleep, " she said, shutting her eyes and lying back down. 

"Avery, c'mon." He insisted, shaking her once more. She kept her eyes shut even though she knew he was increasingly annoyed. She shook her head 'no' quickly, pushing his hands off her playfully. He sighed to himself and started to walk out of her cell. "Fine."

Avery just wanted to rest her eyes, not fall back asleep. She loved helping Rick farm for everyone; it made her feel useful. She was exhausted this morning because she stayed up late drawing in the sketchbook Daryl brought back about a week ago. She never usually liked drawing, and she still doesn't. It just gives her something to do when she's bored or when she can't sleep in the middle of the night. Even when she fought for her eyes to stay open, she still felt herself falling back asleep. It had only been five minutes before she was asleep once again.

---

"Avery," she heard a man huff as the footsteps in her cell grew louder. "Aves, let's go; it's time for breakfast." The girl could feel her eyes start to flutter open at the familiar man's voice. Daryl ripped the covers off her body with no hesitation. "C'mon, you've slept in enough."

Avery let out one last final groan before hopping out of bed and rubbing her eyes. She then watched as Daryl picked up her sketchbook with a small smile. " Yer' usin' it?" The girl hopped off the bed, snatching the book from the man's hands, and stuffed it in her bag. He softly chuckled as he shoved her lightly to the cell door. "I'm hungry, let's go."

Avery hated how uncomfortable she felt as she walked through the courtyard, passing all the new members of their group. She hated the way she felt their eyes on her as she cowered behind Daryl. Daryl. The man everyone loved. They envied him for so many reasons, but she never understood it. Well, she understood why, she never understood why they are just now noticing it. The girl would never admit the jealousy that would creep under her skin when she noticed the behavior. She saw the good in him first.

"Morning, Daryl." These were the first words she had heard clearly since they'd been making their way to Carol.

"What's up, Dr. S?" She heard Daryl respond as he glanced around, trying to find where he sat.

The words "Morning Daryl," echoed around the courtyard. Avery chuckled under her breath as she watched him stumble around, turning his head, overwhelmed. This was the usual during breakfast, with everyone saying morning and ignoring the girl he traveled with. She would sometimes hear the whispers of questions about their relationship. There were many assumptions that Daryl was her dad or even her older brother.

"Smells good," Daryl told Carol as he picked up a plate of food, handing it to Avery. He grabbed one for himself before looking up at Carol.

"Just so you know, I liked you first," Carol said snarkily, smirking. Avery scoffed and glanced up at the woman with her eyebrows raised. "We," Carol fixed her comment, winking at the girl slightly.

"Yup." Avery butted in with a smile as she inspected her food.

"Stop." The man huffed, shoving a piece of food into his mouth. "You know, Rick brought in a lot of them, too."