This Is Reality

Chapter 7

On our walk to the shack, Rick, Carl, and Michonne were close behind me with Daryl near me. Talk between Daryl and I was none, but Rick kept telling Carl to be safe and all that. With Michonne, Carl should be fine.

Every so often out of the corner of my eye,

I'd catch Daryl glancing at me. Maybe he was trying to start conversation but couldn't figure out how. I didn't mind the silence between us, I needed it.

"What I said earlier that pushed ya too far..." Daryl says to me, his voice low

I don't say anything, I don't know how to respond to that...

"Dodger please, just say something..." He's hurting, knowing he pushed me too far

"We're here, at the shack" I say going into the woods

I lead them inside and start grabbing things off the shelves.

"How'd you know this was here?" Daryl asks, he's now suspicious of me. Great.

"When I left, I stopped by here. It was pretty much empty. Figured it belonged to the Terminites, so I left it alone, didn't need any of it anyway" I say as I grab the brown ponchos.

I hand everyone one, but there was only four. I was left without one.

"Take mine. If Michonne is my back up and she's covered, she could kinda hide me too" Carl says handing me the poncho

"That's risky but I guess it's better than having neither of you covered. I appreciate it Carl" I nod and take it

"You need it" Carl smiles

"I'm going to bring a thing over here and kill it outside and bring it in, be ready for me" I put the poncho on the table and head out.

I didn't have to walk too far before I found a dead thing. I lead it to the front door of the shack and stabbed it in its head. I threw it over my shoulder and laid it on the floor inside.

"That didn't take long" Rick said

"Ya ain't gotta go far to find one" I say

I take out my hunting knife and cuts its stomach open. Comes to find out, this dead thing used to be a woman who was pregnant. The fetus was crying but moaning at the same time. It didn't eat through the mother's stomach, it fed off what she ate but never grew. On my knees, I sit back and just stare at it. Michonne walks out followed by Rick and Carl.

"...Did you lose one..." Daryl asks reluctantly

"Yeah, before the world went to shit..." Holding back the tears was just as difficult as remembering the day I found out.

-flashback-

I woke up to my normal empty bed, but something didn't feel right. My boyfriend and I got into a huge argument last night about how I was pregnant. I was just under four months pregnant, and now he wants to make a huge deal out of it.

I just felt so alone this morning. It was summertime and my apartment was never cool, but I was freezing. It was 80 degrees Fahrenheit in my apartment, I had to have been running a fever. As I was checking my temperature, I had sudden abdominal pain. This wasn't right.

I called my doctor and got an appointment. After arriving and going in, she told me I had miscarried. Right then and there I broke into a million pieces. She told me that my body might not be able to handle a child and I was too stressed. After that I just went home and cried for hours. He made me lose the baby...

-end of flashback-

I was crying and I couldn't stop. He removed the fetus from the womb, took a knife to its head and left with it. Shortly returning, he stood me up and hugged me tightly. Hugging him back and crying into him silently was the only thing I could do right now. I couldn't do anything else, I just wanted to kill everyone in my path just like when I found out that I miscarried.

I don't know how long I was in his arms but I didn't really care. Rick wasn't back in with Michonne and Carl, so I had time to spare. After I calmed down some, I let go of him and wiped my face.

"Sorry..." I say to him

"Why are you sorry"

"Causing such a scene like that" I could have held the tears in... maybe...

"You didn't cause nothin' I'd say I know how you feel, but I don't. I just want you to know I'm here if you need anybody"

"You sure contradict yourself Daryl"

"...I just..." He looks down

"No no, I get it I really do, don't be so hard on yourself" I step closer to him and make him look at me

"Just tell me why Rick keeps telling you 'I told you' n shit like that..."