A War On Her World | TWD: D. Dixon

Ch. 16

"-A herd that size would rip the house down." I wasn't present for the whole conversation but I was left staring at Daryl, completely dumbfounded at how calm he sounded while speaking about the destruction of the farm house that we literally just moved into.

If I wasn't so utterly terrified of what was going to happen, I know I would have found myself groaning at not being able to catch a break. Instead I robotically stepped forward on trembling legs, in order to grab hold of the thing that gave me the most comfort. In that moment, that comfort came in the form of Daryl's bicep.

The contact made him tense but with a short glance at me, it appeared he was growing used to my light touches or at least learning to tolerate it at the feel of my shaking fingers.

As if things couldn't get any worse, Lori burst out of the front door in hysterics. Her arms were pulled close to her body as if she were fighting to hold herself together. Carl was missing. He wasn't upstairs where he should have been.

Everyone was instantly on full alert, there was no longer a plan to leave without a plan to find the missing boy. It wasn't the smartest thing, it was the opposite of smart, it was down right insane with how steadily we were being closed in on. But we were all sure that there was no way that we could leave without this boy.

"We're not, we're gonna- we're gonna look for him- we're gonna find him!" Carol tried to calm her down, to reassure Lori and herself both that things were going to be okay. There was no definite in this situation, but if we weren't leaving without Carl then there was no other choice but to look for him. And so Carol led Lori away and back into the house to continue the search for the woman's son.

Glancing over at Glenn I could see the panic rising in him, clearly from the way he gripped his head and scrunched up his face.

Without warning Daryl turned to me, ready to say something. It unfortunately caused me to release his arm but it seems I was the only one worried about that as the man continued to speak.

 
"Get inside. Protect yer boy." He demanded it in a way that couldn't properly be described, his tone was soft yet gruff and stern.

 Gathering T-dog, Andrea, Glenn, Maggie and Jimmy, who were capable of an immediate search party, they took off, split up between the ute, a car and the RV along with Daryl on his bike. They were heading towards the barn that had suddenly gone up in flames.

I wasn't even given a chance to protest or make my own decision, it didn't sit well in my mind but instead of being a pain and possibly making things worse, I hurried inside to where Benji was still waiting on the lounge like the good boy that he was. He didn't look pleased in the slightest, on his face was a look that put across just how bored and confused he was. He didn't know what was going on and there was no time to try and explain.

Breathing out to forcibly relax my body, I made my way over to sit beside my son, trying to act as if everything was okay. 
"Hey baby, you must be bored out of your mind just sittin' here, yeah?" I pulled him into my side, lightly shaking his frame to add further humour to my tone.

Benji opened his mouth wide, about to make his distaste known, only to let out a small cry when a loud bang echoed off a ways away from the house. 

I tensed and tightened my hold on my son. His little body quivered, shaking like a leaf even with me trying my best to soothe his mind with soft whispers. It didn't help any though, with every bang reverberating in our ears, Benji would flinch and curl deeper into me. His hands clutched at the front and back of my shirt in tiny fists to help hold his tears at bay.

I squeezed my eyes shut, It's okay. Everything is going to be okay -we're  going to be okay. I kept repeating in my head over and over as a means to block out the fear of death knocking on our door in the form of decaying, putrid smelling, flesh eating walkers.