Finding Sophia (The Walking Dead Fanfiction)

Twenty-Eight: Don't Go

GUYS WE HIT A HUNDRED VOTES!!! Y'all are so flipping amazing!

I wake up to the sound of voices around me.

"Well looky here." One person says, "Guys, look at what I found!" I full wake up, and by the time I do, four men are surrounding me.

"Shit." I mutter, pressing my hands to the wall behind me. I feel for my pistol, and see it still there. I think I see another man still over in the middle of the garage. I hiss as my leg begins to sting like a bitch.

"That's right sugar." The first man says, kneeling down. "Now what've we got 'ere." The man in the garage runs over as soon as he hears that.

"I got dibs fir-." A second man said.

The man who ran over says, "Claimed." I look up at him, terrified and angry at him. But all I see is Daryl. Daryl Dixon is still alive. I feel like crying right there, but I'm still trying to figure out what claimed meant. Daryl looks from me to the other man, the one who spoke first, and asks, "That's how it works, ain't it?"

The second man says, "We share women, Daryl."

"Now wait a minute, Len. When was the last time you had a woman, Daryl?"

"Years, man." He says, looking from me to the man, "Joe, I need this."

Joe seems to think about it and nods, "You can have this one. But we share the next." Len is about to say something, but Joe simply shakes his head. Len glares at Daryl and walks over to a car, tossing his stuff inside. The other men disperse and I'm left alone with Daryl.

"What the hell does claimed mean?" I ask him, ignoring my leg.

"Don't worry, Andie." He kneels down next to me, "I ain't gonna hurt ye."

"What does it mean, though?"

"It means...whatever ye claim is yer's."

"Oh." Is all I can mutter. These people claim people? They treated people like things? My thoughts were interrupted by my leg stinging like a bitch. I whimper and try to add pressure, but my arms feel like fucking jelly. Daryl doesn't say a word, but immediately sets to work on my leg. He drops his bag next to me and pulls out some medicine.

¨Sophia.¨ I suddenly say, ¨Did you see her?¨ I ask frantically. Daryl doesn't answer, just continues to unscrew the bottle of peroxide.

¨This is gonna sting like hell.¨ He informs me. My thoughts drift to when Sophia had that cut, and I stitched up her arm.

¨I know." I mumble. He pours it on my leg and I try to stifle my scream, letting it come out in a series of grunts and moans. I ask when the worst of it is over, ¨D-did you see Sophia or not, Dixon?¨

¨I don't know.¨ He answers, screwing the cap back on. He pulls out bandages next and proceeds to wrap me up. I sigh shutting my eyes and resting my head on the wall. ¨I was with Beth at the beginning, til yesterday. We were at this house, and we was separated. These people took 'er. She...she ain't dead, just gone.¨

I let that all sink in. ¨She's ok.¨ I tell him, ¨She's still ok. Beth and Sophia. Both of them are still ok.¨

He doesn't say anything. I don't know that I wanted him to. But, I kept talking. It'd been days, at the least, since I'd seen anyone else.

¨I've been alone since. You...you have no idea how happy I am that you're here.¨

¨You seem t' be alone a lot.¨ He says, tossing the bandages back in the bag.

¨Force of habit.¨ I respond with. I look at my leg and say, ¨Thank you.¨

¨Don't mention it.¨ He says.

We just sit there a moment, sitting in the silence. I think about everything, and about everyone. Everyone we've lost, and still here I am.

"Caesar wasn't a bad guy.¨ I tell him. He doesn't stop me from talking, so I take that as a sign he wants me to continue. "He was stupid and too good for his own good, but he didn't deserve to die."

"A lotta people died who didn't deserve it."

"I know." I tell him, "And I know it's stupid, but I would trade places with him in a heartbeat. He was built for this world. He had the useful skills."

"And he's dead." Daryl says, "He wasn't built for this world, Andie. You were."

I let that sink in before I joke, "You're just a big sap now, huh?"

He chuckles a little. "I'll let ye get some rest."

"Don't go." I tell him. "Please." I practically beg, "Just please, please don't go."

He stops a moment and just looks at me. He nods, slowly at first. He sits next to me, his bag at his feet, and places an arm around me, pulling me close. I rest my head on his shoulder, and I don't know what this means. I shift all the weight off my bum leg and onto my right side. I'm on my side and he's still sitting against the wall.

"Never again." He mutters softly.