Finding Sophia (The Walking Dead Fanfiction)

Twenty-Nine: Scars

I felt safe. Safety in a world like this? Impossible...but reality hasn't been exactly spot on these past years. So when I was with Daryl, in his arms, I didn't think I'd feel safe. I hoped I wouldn't feel anything.

I didn't want to be in love with Dixon. I just...I knew I liked him. He was harder to know than Martinez, and harder to get to know. He was a puzzle, and I wanted to solve him. I actually slept that night. He had one arm around me and kept snoring like a fucking rhino.

I laid there, awake, a while. I didn't want to fall asleep and wake up to have it over. I needed sleep. I needed to rest, considering we'd be moving in the morning. But I didn't want to. I just rested there, letting him hold me.

I didn't want him to go. I was sick of being alone. I hated it. I needed someone. I wanted someone. I pressed my lips to his shoulder and rest my temple on the same spot. I sigh and shut my eyes.

He shifts then. He twists his body closer to me, keeping his arm firmly in place, but wrapping the other around my waist. He buries his head in the crook of my neck, but he's still not on top of me. I tense, but soon relax into the new position, running my fingers through his matted hair.

"I lost a baby." I whisper to him. "I left my family. I left everyone I loved. I left the prison...and I hate that. I keep leaving everything I care about. I think it'll be easier...as if running would solve all my problems."

I run my fingers down his neck, rubbing my thumb on my path. I only stop when I feel skin rise on his back. My eyebrows furrow, and he flinches in his sleep as soon as I make contact, but still doesn't wake up. I bite my lower lip and continue to touch the scar. I find one. And then another. And then another. At least six scars on his back.

"Oh my God." I mutter, stopping the tears. I look at Daryl and press a kiss to his hair. I finally fall asleep.

|_|_|_|_|

"You've got to be kidding me. Christ. Give it here." Those are the first words I hear when I wake up. I look around, seeing as Daryl isn't with me anymore, but standing, crossbow in hand, with Len being the voice that woke me up.

"You step back." Daryl ordered, pushing him back from the chest.

"My half was in the bag. Now it's gone." He pauses a second, "Now ain't nobody around here interested in no half a damn cottontail except you. Ain't that right?"

Daryl says, "You're the only one still thinking about that crap."

"Either that or yer little bitch over here, huh? Bet she did your dirty work for ye. Ain't that right, sugar?" He looks over at me.

"I said step back!" Daryl orders.

"Empty your bag." Len says, as if he's got the upper hand in this situation. I look at the bag at my feet and see the blood. That it was tampered with. Someone put something in there.

Joe steps in, "Did you take his rabbit, Daryl? Just tell me the truth."

"I didn't take nothing."

"Did the lady?"

"She can barely walk!"

Joe grabs the bag, looking at me, and pulls the top half of the rabbit out. I shut my eyes. I know what these people are like. They'll kill Daryl, and then do whatever to me. "What do we got here? Come on. Well, look at that."

"You put that there, didn't you?" Daryl blames Len. "When I went out to take a piss."

"You lied. Didn't you? You lied. You stole." Len laughs a little, "We gonna teach this fool or what, Joe?"

"Whoa, whoa. Now, Daryl says he didn't take your half of the rabbit. So we got a little conundrum here. Either he's lying, which is an actionable offense, or...or you didn't plant it on him like some pussy, punk-ass, cheating, coward cop, did you? 'Cause while that wouldn't be specifically breaking the rules, it'd be disappointing. It would. Mm-hmm."

I stay silent and look at Len. "I didn't." He lies straight from his face hole.

"Good." Joe says. Fear surges through me? He believed that fuck? "Well teach Len a lesson, gents. He's a lying sack of shit." I take a breath, "I'm sick of it. Teach him all the way." He turns to Daryl and says, "I saw him do it."

"Why didn't you try to stop him?"

"He wanted to play that out. I let him. You told the truth. He lied. You understand the rules. He doesn't." Joe looks at the rabbit in his hands and says, "Looks like you get the head, too." They start to beat Len. Beat the lying fuck to death. Joe ignores him and tells Daryl, "Now, I understand that you knew this girl before you joined us, is that right?"

"Is that a problem?"

Joe shakes his head, "Now, if she becomes a liability, we'll have to have our way with her. So long as she pulls her load, none of us'll touch 'er."

"Just enough time to let her heal." Joe doesn't seem impressed, so Daryl says, "She survived for two years on her own, taking care of a kid." That seems to tickle Joe's fancy. "Comes outta your stash of meds." He says. "But she can stay." I smile and attempt to stand up.

"We got a ways to walk, huh?" I ask.