Red ~ TWD (Daryl Dixon)

Lightening Before the Thunder

"Hot water." Lori.

"Cheeseburgers." Glenn.

"Electricity." Maggie.

"My Xbox." Carl.

"Central heating and air." Carol.

"Music." Beth.

A series of 'mhmms' followed each admission, all of us remembering better times in an effort to block out reality. We were holed up in another abandoned house, sitting in the living room practically on top of each other, too scared to venture into the bedrooms after our last experience.

"What about you Alex?" Beth asked.

"Keeping Up with the Kardashians," I answered without hesitation. Six sets of eyes swiveled to me, varying degrees of amusement and disbelief on their faces. "What?"

The room quickly descended into laughter I was still confused about.

"Only you would miss something like that," Maggie commented.

Really? That couldn't possibly be true. That show was practically America's new pastime. Who needed baseball when you could watch rich people with questionable "talent" sit around do...nothing. As I looked around the room I realized I was on an island with this one. Jeez, these people were so weird.

"What's Keeping Up with the Kardashians?" Carl asked, looking towards me.

I sat up straighter, slowly stretching out my legs as I sat against a wall, getting ready to school the young lad on one of the Eighth Wonder of the World. I might even use drawings. I wonder if anyone could rustle up a pad of paper and pencil.

"It's..."

"Trash," Lori interrupted me.

I gasped, horrified as I pointed at her. "You better take that back right now Creator of Life."

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head as Glenn ignored the entire conversation, instead opting to keep describing the perfect cheeseburger. When he got to the part about bubbly, melting cheese I couldn't stop my mouth from watering, my stomach rumbling painfully. Food was scarce lately, and we were all feeling it. My eyes shifted to Lori and Carl, the most vulnerable of us all, and anger boiled in my veins at my failure to provide for the group. I gave both of them the lion's share of my food when I could get away with it which meant when Daryl wasn't looking, but it did little to keep the emaciated look off their slowly withering bodies.

Standing up I stretched gingerly, testing out my sore ribs which pinched slightly at the action, but weren't too painful. It had been two weeks, give or take, since we had our close call with the herd at the house of horrors. Since then we hadn't stayed anywhere more than a night or two, if we were lucky. Between Rick's paranoia and the herd of walkers that seemed to track us with Daryl like precision I was happy if we got an hour of rest before moved on.

The really frustrating part was even when a herd wasn't trying to bunk with us more often than not Rick ordered us to move for no reason other than the place "didn't feel right". His mania to find somewhere permanent, something safer, overriding his common sense at times. His role and decisions were draining not only him, but the group as a whole. I'd follow Rick straight to Hell's front door and try to sell Girl Scout cookies to Lucifer himself if he asked, but I could see the cracks in his facade. As days turned into weeks with him no closer to finding the mirage of safety the strain of leadership and the sting of betrayal every time he glanced at Lori made it harder and harder to find any trace of the man I first met. Who knew I'd long for the days when he pointed his Colt Python at my head and threatened to shoot me? Picking up my rifle from against the wall I walked to the door, quietly slipping onto the porch where T and Rick were keeping watch.