What Are You?

Irritating

As the days went on, Carol came to be more of a presence, if only by a small notch.

He began to notice things.

Like how she was constantly checking to make sure her daughter was okay, or the way she kept her eyes down when she was around people, or the way she spoke, with her words always so smooth and crisp like she was so 'educated' or 'better' than everyone or some shit.

But possibly the most obvious thing he noticed, was the way she acted with her husband.

She would always keep her head down and talk to him real low, like she was a child asking for something that was completely out of the question. And she always did whatever he told her to. If he wanted an extra helping of food, she would get him some, even if there was hardly enough to begin with. If he wanted her to rub his feet, she would. Hell, if he told her to jump off the quarry, she'd probably do it. Damn woman was a liability, a threat to the whole group.

Her husband was a dumbass. And it would only be so long before he asked for something that got him into trouble or compromised the safety of what little they already had. And she would help him do it, too. And that was what really grated on his nerves.

Daryl watched from his place by the fire as Ed grabbed Carol by the arm and spoke menacingly in her ear.

She nodded submissively and he released her, brushing past her to do whatever the hell he pleased as she glanced back at his retreating figure with timid, worn eyes.

Her daughter, Sofia (damned if it wasn't burned into his memory by now, it made up about half the woman's vocabulary) rounded the corner of the RV and smiled broadly at her, and Carol smiled and hugged her in return as she led her over to the fire where Daryl sat so she could keep an eye on her and tend to the roasting squirrels he had caught earlier that day, not seeming to mind in the least that he had been there first.

She may not have been completely useless.

She may have been loved, if only by her daughter.

But she was still a pitiful excuse of a woman.

And to him, that was just plain irritating.