Sightless

Daryl Dixon

~ Today ~

"Can I have something to eat Mom?" Max called from where he was sitting in the middle of the RV, and I flinched at the sound of his voice. I didn't realize he was awake. We had been driving for a long time, and I had been dozing off, and I was totally unprepared for the silence to be broken by his voice. 

"What time is it?" I mumbled, and Dale answered quickly, letting go of the hand that he still had a grip on and I flexed my hand, stretching it out while he talked. 

"Almost ten. Sunset was awhile ago. We must be getting close." I nodded and turned to look at Max. 

"Yeah love. Hendrix?" I called, and a moment later my outstretched hand was nudged by a cold nose, and then the lead was in my hand. I stood up out of the passenger seat, and carefully made my way back towards Max. 

"Where's the cooler with the food?" I asked, standing still near where I think the steps were, by the sink. 

"Here mom." Max mumbled, and a hard plastic handle was placed in my hand. It didn't take me long to dig out the bread, and some ham and cheese, and after a few more minutes I had made Max a sandwich that he was happily chowing down on in his seat. 

"Does anyone else want one?" I asked, standing still in front of the food for a moment, and after I received three grateful 'Yeahs' I made three more sandwiches for Amy, Andrea, and Dale, and then one for myself. It didn't take me longer than ten minutes, and by the time we had all finished our food, and I had sat back down, we were pulling into the quarry campsite that we would be using as our temporary home. 

"We're here." Dale said calmly from the driver's seat, and it was quiet while he parked the RV and turned it off. I heard Andrea's clicking boots walk up to us at the front, and I knew she would be questioning this decision again. 

"Are we sure about this? Last chance to turn back." She hissed, leaning over our shoulders enough that her hair brushed my arm. 

"Yes Andrea. It will be fine." I said calmly, before standing back up again, taking Hendrix's lead, and with Dale's help, I walked down the stairs and out the door into the cool night air. 

I couldn't see it, but based off the noises around us our new group was frantically running around, trying to set up the camp so we could all go to bed safely. Dale led me over to something, before forcing me to sit down in a chair that he said was one he had dragged out with us. Hendrix lay down on my feet, letting me know he was near, but I couldn't focus on hardly anything. No one was talking, but there were noises of people hustling around me and it was stressing me out. 

"Dale?" I whispered, not feeling the warmth from his body next to mine as it had been, and when he didn't respond I realized I was alone, and as embarrassing as it is, I started to panic. 

"Max? Andrea?" I called again, louder, but still no one answered me. 

I could feel my breaths start to hitch in my throat, and knew the I was heading towards a full-blown panic attack. My left hand was clenched around Hendrix's lead, but my right was digging my nails into the armrest, trying to ground myself but nothing was working, the deep breathing, the pain, nothing was stopping it. But then, a warm, rough hand landed on the hand that was gripping the arm rest, and I froze. 

Who the fuck is that?

~ Daryl ~

I was supposed to be setting up our tent, Merle's and mine, but I was distracted. The old man in the RV, the one Shane pointed out when we joined as the end of our new group, had practically shoved this lady into a camp chair in the middle of the camp, and left her there to do nothing while the rest of us busted our asses to get this shit set up. 

It's some bullshit. 

That shitty deputy practically begged us to join this group, and I wouldn't have if I had known that it'd be alright for some prissy lady to sit on her ass while we took care of everything. That wasn't how this was gonna go. 

Before I could stop myself, I was storming up to her, ready to knock some reality into her and get her moving, but as I got closer I noticed some things. First, she had a big ass German Shepherd sitting on her feet, looking pretty anxious about something. Second, she was calling for something or someone, and she looked beyond scared when no one answered. Third, she had deep scars all across her face. They looked like burns, like someone through oil on her and lit it on fire or something. They were pale, and you could only really see them if you were looking, but they were obvious. 

She was still pretty, but it was a different kind of pretty. Something you would have to look for, it wasn't obvious. But the way the burns were centered around her eyes, and the way she was staring off into space with no signs of noticing me as I stormed up to her finally made me notice the most important thing. 

She was blind. 

I could hear what she was saying now, she was calling for a 'Max' and an 'Andrea' but no one even looked at her as they walked by so I knew whoever they were, they weren't around. I couldn't help it. When I heard her panicked breaths, and saw the tears building in her blank eyes, I grabbed the hand that was gripping the armrest of the chair. 

She froze, and I couldn't tell if I had screwed up or not, but I couldn't go back, might as well move forward. 

"Hey. Name's Daryl. You need to chill out okay? You're fine." I grumbled, squatting down a little bit so I wasn't having to bend over her and invade her and my bubble. When she started breathing again, I pulled my hand away and tried to ignore it when she reached her hand out for me. After a second, she put it back down on the arm rest, but at least now she wasn't clawing at it. 

"What's your name?" I mumbled, trying to distract her some more so she wouldn't freak out again. 

"Megaera Genovese." She said, and her voice was so quiet I almost didn't hear her. 

"That's a mouthful."

"Most people call me Meg." She said, a blush spreading across her face. She was still quiet, but I didn't have to strain to hear her anymore. 

"That's better. You okay?" 

"Yeah. I just... Dale put me here and he normally tells me when he leaves, I guess he forgot. Do you see him?" She asked, moving her face so she was kind of looking in my direction. It was kind of weird, but it was still better than when she was staring over my shoulder. 

"What's he look like?" 

"I don't know... he uh... he always wears this horrible fishing hat? It's yellow... He was driving the RV? I'm sorry, I can't be more descriptive." She mumbled, and I felt my face get hot. God I'm such an idiot, why would I ask a blind person what someone looks like? 

"Shit. Sorry. Uh..." I stood up, looking around but I didn't see anyone that looked like the guy I saw who set her down. 

"I don't see the guy that set you down. Anyone else I could look for?" 

"A little boy, he's nine. His name is Max, brown hair... uhm he goes up to about my shoulder?" It only took me a second to find that one. He was standing about fifteen feet behind me, staring at my back with a suspicious look on his face. He was the only other person not moving around, and I immediately knew this was the kid she wanted. I waved him over, and after a moment he slowly started walking over. 

"Hey kid. You Max?" I asked gruffly, and he nodded, glaring up at me from about five feet away. 

"Who're you?" He asked, and I tried not to glare back at him. Wasn't his fault he was suspicious, I mean he hasn't ever met me, and if he's this lady's brother or something, he's probably pretty protective of her. 

"Daryl Dixon. She was freaking out. Asked for you. Anyway, gotta get back to it, take care of her okay?" I grunted, as I started to walk away, and he huffed as I did. I tried not to let it bother me that he and her Dad left her there without protection, especially since she wouldn't be able to see if one of those monsters stormed camp. I mean, she's not my responsibility. Shouldn't matter to me if they won't protect her. 

Merle and I will only be here long enough to get some trust and leave with their stuff. I shouldn't be talking to anyone here.