Thank you Lydia_Riggs for my first comment on this story! :D
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Carl's POV
I woke up the next morning by Beth shaking my shoulder. I groaned tiredly, but sat up anyways and looked at her. "Whats wrong?" I ask.
"Deryn's awake, and you can go visit her," Beth told me. "Rick said you'd want to know."
It's been about three or four days since we had gotten home. Deryn has been concealed in one of the rooms with Carol, and sometimes Beth at the back of the house, and I was never allowed in. I smiled lightly at Beth and got out of the springy bed.
"Thanks Beth," I told her. She nodded and left the small room quietly. For a minute, I stared around the tan-walled room thinking to myself. I was honestly grateful that Daryl had stumbled across Deryn and I. The thought of being caught by Steve's group again made me slightly sick.
Quickly I got over my brief illness and straightened out my clothes. The room didn't have a mirror, but even if it did I wouldn't look in it anyways. I didn't want to know how long and greasy my hair had gotten, or how ragged my clothes really were.
I hurried out of the room and down the hall, to the room where Deryn was in. I almost just walked right in, but instead I knocked. Carol invited me in a moment later.
Deryn was laying on a bed at the back of the room while Carol sat on a chair at the foot of the bed, reading a book. She then got up from her seat after closing the book she was reading, and gestured towards the chair.
"Here. I'll be out in the kitchen if you or Deryn needs me," she said and left the room without another word. In my head, I thanked Carol a million times over for leaving us alone. if she had stayed, it might've been even more awkward than it was now. I moved the chair over next to Deryn's bed and sat down quietly.
"Hi," she said in a croak-ish voice.
"Hey," I replied. About a minute's silence passed before I asked absent minded, "Does it hurt?"
Deryn rolled her eyes and smiled even more, even chuckled slightly. "No Carl, it tickles." Sarcasm was laced into her voice, and suddenly I realized how stupid that question was. "But it only hurts a lot when I put weight on it."
"Carol has you walking?" I asked.
"Yeah. She said it didn't hit anything too important, and she sowed it up so it'll heal," Deryn explained.
"Did they take the bullet out?"
Pain briefly flashed in her eyes, as if she was reliving it. I knew what it was like, Hershel had taken multiple pieces of a bullet out of my chest when I was younger and his son had shot me by accident. She nodded and sighed softly. I didn't say anything else, only leaned against the back of the chair and looked up at the ceiling quietly. Then, I got up to leave. She needed to rest.
However, I didn't get too far. Deryn had taken my hand with hers gently. "Don't leave," she pleaded quietly. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep without someone here with me."
I sat back down again in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"
"You dont expect me to just forget about they things they did to us, do you? They told me horrible things, Carl, and I realize now that they weren't true, but I did believe them at the time," her voice fell into a whisper as she told me this. "And then I keep remembering that Jasper is dead..."
"I'm sorry, Deryn," I apologized. Honestly, I had always thought Deryn was as hard as a rock. She is, I mean come on; she tried to go off on her own with only a pen for defense when she first came to the group. However everyone has a breaking point, and she's reached hers.
She sighed long and hard and looked up at the ceiling. I looked at her as she raised a hand and wiped tears from her cheeks. "Deryn, please don't cry..." I said quietly and took her hand. She flinched slightly at my touch, but I knew it was just because she probably wasn't expecting me to touch her. She turned her head and looked into my eyes, and I admired her bi-colored ones. I wondered to myself how she acquired one brown eye and one blue eye. She soon fell asleep, and then I did after her.
**A Month Later**
Deryn's POV
A week ago, Carol let me leave the room I'd been confined to for so long. I shared a room with Carl on the third floor niw, which was really only an attic. It was small, but it had a huge window at one end that lets in a lot of light.
My leg still hurt, but I pretended it didn't and helped around the house and outside. However Rick wouldn't let me hunt just yet. Carl was always outside because Rick needed almost everyone's help securing the house. We went for places that had fences - and this one had a very thick black metal fence that was the same height as me. Tyreese was the one who secured the gate, Daryl came up with the idea of guarding on top of the roof (getting up there through the attic), Abraham fixed any problems with the fence, and Heather came up with the idea of digging a hole outside the fence about two or three feet away from it. We were planning on staying here.
Rick and the Order, which consisted of him, Carol, Tyreese, Abraham, Daryl, Micchone, Maggie and Glenn, were coming up with even more ideas to make it a better living space. Here were their ideas:
They were categorizing the group in to sections like hunters, defenders, and 'doctors'. People could be in more than one group.
Daryl lead the hunters group, which consisted of me, Carl, Rick, Sumner, Heather and Luke (who occasionally caught a rabbit or two and brought it back).
There was a defenders group, which consisted of Abraham, Micchone, Tyreese, Sumner, Daryl, Carl, Glenn, and Maggie. Really everyone are defenders, but these are the main ones.
There was a healer group, who consisted of Beth, Heather and their currently thinking about me. I would like to, because I can patch up almost any wound no problem - unless it's me. If I see my own blood I pass out within seconds.
Last but not least, there was a gardening group, which consisted of Carol, Beth, Heather, Me, Carl, Maggie, Glenn and Rick.
We would do our jobs in the morning and then have the rest of the day off. So to start off with the day, I went to the garden to help there. Carol was watering the plants, and Carl was gently picking green beans in the back. I went over and helped him quietly. When we were done picking most of the good vegetables, I had nothing really to do. I wasn't allowed to hunt and they still haven't decided whether or not I could be a doctor-ish person yet.
Suddenly I heard a shout. "Drop your weapons!" It was Daryl. Carl sprinted to see what was happening and potentially help, while I followed more slowly. Two men stood behind the fence with their hands raised in the air, guns in the grass. One of them was vaguely familiar. They both had amused smirks on their faces.
Daryl was pointing is crossbow, Rick, Tyreese, and Abraham their guns. Carl stopped and I stood by his side next to the house, far enough to see and hear what was going on.
"We were just going on a run for supplies. We come in peace," one of them said. The familiar one nodded slowly in agreement.
"Well, move along," growled Daryl. "We don't have enough here to share." Rick flicked his gun in the direction opposite of our house.
The familiar man looked past Rick as he grumbled, "Alrighty then..." His eyes met mine, and his creepy smirk grew, and he turned away with his friend. Then I remembered who this man was. I felt slightly ill, and grabbed onto Carl's arm in fear.
"Carl," I gasped. "Those people are Steve's companions!"
