What Changed Your Mind? [Wattys 2017]

Chapter 5: Mornin'

Note: Sorry for the change in format. When I write these on my Chromebook there's no option for bold or italics (or tab), so all I have is normal text.

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{Daryl:}

I slept in a chair by the bed where Beth was lying. It had been a day and a half and Beth still hadn't woken up. I only left once to use the bathroom. I knew Beth was getting better because the color was coming back to her face by the hour. I put my hand on her forehead and rubbed the loose hair back there with my thumb. I looked down and dropped my hand. She would get better, I knew it. She already was, but even though she was right in front of me I was dying inside without her. I felt completely alone even with her right there and four other conscious people in the next room. I crossed my arms on the side of the bed and laid my head down, letting sleep overtake me.

I jerked awake when I heard gasping and felt the bed shaking like crazy. I looked up to see Beth, panicking and pulling at the IV's in her arm. "Beth! Beth, calm down. You're okay. You're okay." She saw me and sat back. "What happened? How long was I out?" I smiled at her, glad to see she was alright. She slid over and wrapped her arms around my neck, catching me off guard. I put my arms around her as she buried her face in my neck. I could feel her tears starting to soak through my shirt. "A walker pulled you down. You hit your head. . . hard. I thought I lost you." She squeezed my neck tighter. "You didn't. I'm still here." She pulled away from me. "Where is here? And how did we get here?" So I told here we were in the James' house, and that I'd dragged here through the tunnels in the bunker. She was silent for a long time, thinkin'. "How long ago?" I looked down. "You've been out for almost two days. Your skin was grey, you lost so much blood." She smiled at me, tryin' ta let me know that she really was okay. I forced a smile back. She hugged me again and I couldn't help grinning.

{Beth:}

Had I really been unconscious for almost two days? Soon, four people came into the room. There was a middle aged man and woman, a boy probably about eleven years old, and a brown-haired girl about my age. I smiled at them. "Hi!" The woman stepped toward the bed and put her hand on my shoulder. "I'm Evelyn, and this is my husband, Andrew." She then turned and hugged Daryl, who nodded and whispered a thank you in her ear. She smiled at him and walked back over by Andrew. The boy stayed where he was and introduced himself. "I'm Noah." I nodded to him and the girl came over. "Hi there! I'm Aleigha, but most people just call me Leigh." She beamed at me from ear to ear then hugged me. "I'm Beth. And, I'm guessing he didn't introduce himself yet." I said, nodding to Daryl. "That's Daryl." She looked over at him. "Nice to meet you, Daryl." He grunted and nodded, tugging the corners of his mouth into a barely visible smile. Then Leigh turned back to me, examining the back of my head. "If you want, I can teach you how to hide that." I put my hand up to the back of my head, wincing, and noticed that the area around the cut had been shaved. Leigh laughed at the look on my face, and explained. "Daddy had to shave that spot to sew it up. But, don't worry, I know how to disguise it. I had brain surgery a few years before the dead started walking around, so part of my head was shaved too." I smiled and nodded. "That sounds great." Andrew cleared his throat and I looked up at him. "How're ya feelin'?" I laughed. "Like I really wanna get up and walk around." He nodded and took the needles out of my arm, taping a gauze pad to each spot. He turned to look at Daryl. "You might wanna walk with her, she'll probably be unsteady, she's most likely still pretty weak." Daryl nodded and walked over, sliding an arm under mine and around my back.

"Hey, my clothes would probably fit you. You wanna go upstairs to my room and change out of those? The whole back of that sweatshirt is covered in blood." I nodded and Daryl helped me up off the bed and my knees immediately buckled under me. With Daryl's help, I regained my balance and we followed Leigh upstairs. . . slowly. I tripped a few times, but Daryl was always there to catch me. When we got to Leigh's room, she pulled out a purple sweater, a pair of gray leggings, and a black stocking cap. "Winter's almost here." She said, holding them out to me. I hadn't even realized how cold it had gotten outside since the attack on the prison, and it had only been a few days! "Thank you." Daryl helped me to the bathroom and Leigh helped me change. She brought me back to her room and I sat down on the bed. "Okay. So here's what we can do with your hair." She brought out a hairbrush, a small gauze pad, and a few hair ties. She gently put the gauze pad over my stitches and put a small strip of cloth tape over it. "This will protect your cut." Then she gently brushed my hair back into a ponytail, and braided it, wrapping the braid around the hair tie into a bun and stretching another hair tie over the bun. "Ta-da! All done!" She brought me a hand-held mirror and I checked out my hair. "I love it! Thank you!" I hugged her. I almost couldn't believe how nice these people were with the world being the way it was. She grinned from ear to ear, inspecting her work.

We had been in Leigh's room talking and laughing for almost an hour, Daryl just looking uncomfortable, when Evelyn called us for dinner. We talked and ate, and everything seemed. . . normal for a while, but the normalcy ended with shattering glass as a window was smashed in the bedroom where I had been sleeping.

{Daryl:}

I ran to the bedroom and slammed the door shut as walkers started to climb through the window by the bed. I yelled to the family to grab what they needed or could get to and quick while I barricaded the door with a china cabinet from next to the front door. Andy ran to the OR-like room and filled a duffel bag with medication, bandages, and gauze. Leigh and Noah ran upstairs, and Evelyn went to the kitchen and got a bag of food and water bottles. We regrouped in the living room and ran for the door, just as the china cabinet went crashing to the ground and walkers swarmed the living room.

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***END CHAPTER 5***

Well their safety didn't last long, did it? What's gonna happen to them? Until next chapter. . . ~kitkat9g Thanks for reading! <3