❛ now daryl, daryl was gray. he always seemed to be bitter and emotionless with no other dimensions to himself; his mere presence was the only one. gray was intriguing, almost acting like an acquired taste, but it had the potential to be beautiful t...
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fourty six.
We were hard at work in the hot sun almost all day. Tyreese and Daryl took apart the pipe organ for spikes. Daryl walked outside and shoved the pipes into the ground just in front of the doors to protect us from the biters. My job was to hammer the wood from the pews Sasha chopped up onto the windows alongside Carl. Rick had called out our names from afar causing Carl to sigh and walk back to the entrance of the church. I hammered one last board onto the window and followed after him, wiping the sweat from my forehead. Everyone was already gathered by the doorway once I got there.
"We're goin' out on a supply run," Rick addressed us. "Michonne, Carol, Aften, Gabriel and Carl will stay back. The rest come with us. After what happened last night, we need enough firepower in both groups if we split up. We'll be back soon," he promised. Daryl didn't hesitate to make his way over to me and hold my hand. I hated he had to leave, but I rarely questioned Rick's orders; he always knew what was best for us.
"Be safe," I whispered to him.
"I will," he promised, slinging his crossbow over his shoulder. They left in a few cars, the tires kicking up dirt and leaving a cloud of brownish yellow dust behind. Carl pulled the church doors shut, beginning to board them up with Michonne. The Father started furiously scraping at the dry blood on the floor from last night, furious at the sins that took place. Carol saw an opportunity to duck out for a moment, so she lightly grabbed my hand and pulled me into Gabriel's office.
"What's wrong," I asked her with concern.
"What did they do to you," Carol questioned me quietly. My body suddenly started to ache with trauma. I shuddered as the Terminus memories rushed back to me like flood waters.
"What do you mean?" I tried to act dumb; I didn't wanna talk about it. I didn't wanna relive it. Carol pulled up my sleeve, exposing a few bruises left behind from the attack. One of them was square shaped from the belt.
"It's nothing," I whispered, pulling away from her as my body began to tense as I felt sadness building up in my throat. "I-it doesn't matter. It's done."
"Aften," she sighed, looking at me in sadness. "You know you can tell me. I'm here for you." I was quiet, my lip on the verge of quivering.
"It's too much," I muttered, feeling numb. "I just... I couldn't stop it even when I fought back." After a few moments of silence, Carol took me into her arms. A tear rolled down my cheek, pain plaguing me to think about it again. It was quiet, so quiet it almost seemed deafening. My body began to shake, a sob escaping my lips. "They took me away from him and they did everything." Carol hugged me tighter.
"We got them now: for you, for Bob, for everyone. They're dead; all of them are dead now." She began to rub my back as my tears dripped onto her shoulder. I squeezed my eyes shut as the loud voices of all the strangers of Terminus echoed inside my head. "It's okay, I got you," she whispered into my ear. Being with her made me feel safe, like I was home and had a mom again. She wasn't someone who was gonna judge me or leave me behind. She was someone I could trust with my life, as well as Tara who had proven that to me when she gave me her switchblade. Carol grabbed ahold of my hand. "Everything's okay now. You have me, Daryl, Rick, plenty of people who love you and will protect you. Lord knows Daryl would kill 100 men to protect you if not more." I could hear her laugh a little bit under her breath. I pulled away, nodding in agreement and cracking the smallest smile as I sniffled.
