When the dead roam - (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 116 - The turning

Maggie Rhee stood on the steps of Barrington House, watching, waiting, as her people helped gather the bodies of the dead into two piles. Saviour's soldiers. Hilltop's soldiers. Alden stood in front of her, his arms tied at his front by a tattered piece of rope that looked like it had seen better days.  Without ever taking her eyes from him, she slid her knife through it and listened to the snap as it tore in two.

Louise couldn't hear what she was saying but she knew by the nod of her head and the wave of her arm that she was directing him to bury his people outside the walls. In no way were Saviours being laid to rest next to people like Glenn and Abraham.

As much as she wanted to help bury their dead, the hole in her back sent a blinding pain through her every time she tried to raise her arm above her head - attempting to dig six foot down into the hard ground seemed like a bad idea, even in her mind. She stuck to keeping watch, a gun in her hand and knife in her boot.

"You feeling okay?" Nicole asked from her spot on the wooden platform beneath them. She was sat with her legs crossed, twisting the tip of her blade around her finger in circles with just enough pressure that it didn't break her skin.

Louise nodded. It wasn't a total lie. Sure, her temperature was slightly elevated and she had a cough that made her feel like she'd smoke thirty cigarettes a day for the last twenty-odd years and she couldn't keep anything other than water down...but who was she to worry her kid about that?

"Fine"

"Siddiq said you should be resting"

"I never listened to a doctor before the world ended" she replied flippantly.

The teenager smirked. "What if he'd said it to me?"

"Then you'd be up there" she pointed to the highest room of Barrington House. "Lying in bed for the next week until you could bear weight on your arm"

"So double standards?"

"Definitely...but I'm the adult here so naturally I'm right and you're wrong"

"Oh, of-course"

They may have been joking but the worry that filmed over Nicole's eyes every time she looked at the archer couldn't be hidden. She took the cap off a bottle of water and handed it to her and as Lou took it gratefully, a small smile formed on the young girls face.  After she took a few gulps, she passed it back for Nicole to have some and the second it touched her lips, she asked what she was dying too.

"What was going on with Enid yesterday?"

Nicole nearly choked on the liquid. "You did that on purpose"

She chose to ignore the statement. "Was I right? Was it about Carl?"

For the longest few second, she didn't respond but after she placed the half-empty bottle of water beside her leg she nodded. "She blames me"

"Oh...I thought you were gonna tell me you both fancied him"

"Gross. No. He's not my type...wasn't my type, I guess"

Lou raised an eyebrow knowingly. She would never force her to clarify what she meant but as the two locked eyes, they had a mutual understanding that the teenager was opening up in ways she hadn't before. With a curt nod, Lou sat down beside her and patted her knee.

"What happened to Carl wasn't your fault. It was an accident" she said. "Enid knows that, she's just hurting right now. You both are and nothing is going to change that. It's going to take some time before either of you feel normal again but you're friends, right?" Nicole nodded. "And right now, a friend is what you need"