in a dark meadow | daryl dixon

home

word count: 6636

Avery stared numbly into the fire.

Instead of huddling herself in front of a campfire outdoors, unprotected, she was warm within the walls of the small cottage they'd found nestled in the woods. A quiet had settled over the home, as everyone else seemed to have turned in for the night, but Avery remained in the living room alone.

Their luck had started to turn after they found Carol. Along with the abandoned home, they found a stream for water, fresh animal tracks for hunting, and an unending amount of pecans to fill their hungry bellies. Avery thought about the way Mica's eyes lit up when she found a plush doll in one of the bedrooms, holding it close to her chest as she relished the chance to just be a kid again.

They had followed the train tracks, heading East. It was their only point of interest. It was better to follow a path rather than stumble in circles through the woods. Along the tracks, they had passed a metal road sign. There was a message scrawled on it with dried paint that read:

Sanctuary for all. Community for all. Those who arrive survive.

TERMINUS.

While their group had initially planned on heading to this supposed sanctuary, the safety and stability this cottage had to offer had Tyreese second-guessing. The girls were happy here. They could stay here. Make a life here.

"Can't sleep?"

Carol stepped out of the shadows like a phantom, her nurturing eyes falling over the brunette. Avery lifted her forehead from her knees, greeting the woman with a small smile.

"I'm exhausted, but my brain just won't shut off."

"You should try anyway."

"Okay," Avery responded softly, returning her gaze to the fireplace. "I will in a bit."

Carol watched her for a moment before retrieving one of the chairs from the kitchen, and placing it in front of the fire beside her. Avery lifted her feet onto her seat and wrapped her arms around them.

"I know you weren't at the prison, Carol."

The woman sighed, her facing falling. "Rick tell you?"

Avery stayed quiet, a hard lump forming in her throat. It was Daryl who told her.

"Are you going to say anything?"

"Why?" She asked quietly. "Why'd you do it?"

"I had to stop the virus from spreading. I had to stop other people from dying. There were children in there, Avery." She quietly listened to Carol's explanation, waiting for an answer that wouldn't come. Even though Carol's intentions were good, there wasn't anything she could say that would justify what she had done in Avery's eyes.

"I made it quick. They didn't suffer."

The statement was meant to ease her concerns, but all it did was send a chill along Avery's forearms. She tried not to picture Carol standing over Karen and David in the dark, not even trembling when her knife punctured their skulls.

The silence stretched until Avery finally turned to face her. "You have to tell him."

Carol looked away. "I can't do that, Avery. He'll kill me."

"He found a shoebox of mice in Lizzie's cell. He thinks she did it."

Though subtle, she took an intake of breath at Avery's words. Lizzie's morbid fascination had been misconstrued with Carol's actions to protect their group? She couldn't let Tyreese actually believe she had anything to do with it. How could she ever live with herself?