together || book 3 of 'she's a dixon'

chapter 8

for the rest of the night, i sat next to the gate watching over the group that we let in.

carl tried to convince me to come sleep in our bunk but i refused. i stayed awake until the group fell asleep and then i went to sleep resting my head on the gate.

the next morning, beth made breakfast while i once again just watched over the group. we ended up all eating together.

as we hershel was stitching up one of their guys with my help, beth went to go get judith. sasha started asking about the baby and went over to see it. but things got awkward when she asked where the mother was.

i got introduced to tyreese, the buffy black man. he was telling us a bit about his back story. "we didn't know who we were dealing with at first" he said referring to us.

hershel looked back at me. "sorry about reagan, she has a temper" hershel said turning back to tyreese. i rolled my eyes. "i get it. she's just protecting her people" tyreese said looking over to me. i kept my poker face on and didn't say anything.

hershel then informed then that they probably wouldn't be able to stay with the group because the decision isn't his.

we all then went back into the cell and locked it behind us. while everyone else did their own thing, i just stayed behind keeping watch over the group we let in.

i was in the same room, outside of the cell, with the group watching over them. i haven't let them out of my sight. i heard the door open and rick came in. i ran towards him and hugged him once i reached him.

he wrapped his arms around me and put his hand on the back of my head. "you alright?" he asked. "yeah" i said letting him go. he started walking into the cell and we all followed him.

once carl locked the door behind him i realized something. "rick, where's dad?" i asked. everyone gathered around.

rick sighed. "is he dead?" i asked quietly. "no. he's alive. he's just not here. we found merle when we went to that place. and daryl went off with him" he said. my dad is gone. he chose merle over me. i took a deep breath. "ok" i said quietly. i then turned around to walk off. "rae, are you ok?" glenn asked. "yeah" i lied.

i then picked up my pace. no one in this group has seen me cry and i was about to. "carl go after her" i heard rick said. "reagan, wait up" carl said. he grabbed onto my arm and i turned around.

i couldn't hold it in anymore. i wrapped my arms around carl and broke down. carl wrapped his arms around me. i just let it all out. all the tears that i've built up over this past year were finally being released. my dad is gone. and i will probably never see him again.

i felt a hand on my back and i looked up to see rick. "rick he's gone, my dad is gone" i said with tears streaming down my face. i took a deep breath to try to calm myself down. i let go of carl.

"i'll be in the guard tower. i want to be alone." i said. "ok" rick said with concern.

i made a quick stop in mine and carl's cell to get my bookbag. i then made my way to the guard tower. once i made it to the guard tower, i started taking things out of my bag.

within the things i took out was my dad's flannel and a picture of me and him. i put on the flannel which swallowed me whole. i then took a look at the picture. i broke again.

he's gone. my hero. my guardian. my leader. my mentor. my bestfriend. my dad.

he's gone.