Sightless

Rick Grimes

~ Today ~

That night, after all the introductions had been made, we all grouped up around the fire to listen to Rick tell us his story. We had done this before, the second night we were all together and honestly it hadn't been that interesting since nothing had really happened yet. But I have a feeling that Rick's story will be a little more interesting. 

Max was cuddled up in my lap, his arms curled around my neck and his feet dangling over the side of my chair. Hendrix was laying calmly on top of my feet, and we were surrounded by Dale to our left, and Amy and Andrea to our right. Everyone else had managed to squeeze in except for Carol and her family. Her husband had refused when we offered, which apparently meant his entire family couldn't join in on the bonding. 

Even without seeing that man, I have a horrible feeling about him. 

"Disoriented. I guess that comes closest. Disoriented. Fear, confusion... all those things but... Disoriented comes closest." Rick was saying, and when he took a long pause, I figured he was probably trying to figure out how to say what he wanted to. 

"Words can be meager things. Sometimes they fall short." Dale said kindly from my side, and I smiled. He used to say that to me when he didn't know what to say about what I had been through, or when I couldn't find the words to apologize for snapping at him. Really it was his catch phrase I think. 

"I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else. For a while I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from ever." Rick continued, but he was cut off by the weak voice of his son. 

"Mom said you died." Max shifted slightly, burrowing his head into my neck, and I knew he was probably getting tired, but hopefully this wouldn't continue long. 

"She had every reason to believe that. Don't you ever doubt it."

"When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna med-evac you and the other patients to Atlanta, and it never happened." Lori explained, trying to reason out why they had deserted him in the hospital. But if I remember correctly, Shane was the one that said that in the original story when they told it to us that second night. What are you trying to hide Lori?

"Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell." 

"Yeah." Lori mumbled, and it was quiet for a long, pregnant moment before Rick broke it again. 

"And from the look of that hospital, it got overrun." 

"Yeah, looks don't deceive. I barely got them out, you know?" Shane interjected, and when Rick responded, I almost teared up at how grateful he sounded. 

"I can't tell you how grateful I am to you Shane. I can't begin to express it."

"There go those words falling short again. Paltry things." Dale said and I couldn't hold in the giggle that I muffled into Max's hair at the sound of Dale's catch phrase meeting the air once again. I heard a thump, and jumped a little, but when no screams rang out, I realized it had to have been a log being tossed onto the fire or something. 

"Hey, Ed, you want to rethink that log?" Shane said, and I stiffened. This wouldn't be good. 

"It's cold man." Ed, Carol's husband, rumbled out. But honestly it didn't even sound like he was going to fight very hard. 

"The cold don't change the rules, does it? Keep our fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?" Shane growled out, and I tucked my head into Max's hair, breathing in the scent on the top of his head that was purely him, trying to calm myself down. 

I don't like when people argue. 

"I said it's cold. You should mind your own business for once." Ed growled out, and a moment later the thick, heavy sound of Shane's boots hitting the earth sounded, along with the tell-tale whap of his shotgun hitting his shoulder. 

"Hey, Ed... Are you sure you want to have this conversation man?" Shane said, quieter, so I think he was trying to whisper, but it didn't work out well. 

"Go on. Pull the damn thing out. Go on!" Ed said, yelling out the last two words and I flinched. A hand landed on my shoulder from the left, and I knew it was Dale when it started to rub soothing circles there. 

"It's fine Meg. Don't worry." Dale whispered in my ear and I nodded, but didn't move my head from that spot in Max's hair. 

I could hear what sounded like a log dropping to the ground, and the Shane's hiss of 'Christ!' rang through the air. Carol probably pulled the damn thing out with her bare hands. That bastard. There were some stomps, maybe to stifle the flames?

"Hey, Carol, Sophia, how are y'all this evening?" Shane asked, in a still stiff, but much nicer tone. 

"Fine. We're just fine." Carol said, but I could hear the waver in her voice. The waver of a woman who is afraid to be alone with her husband. The waver of a woman who knows she's going to be punished. 

God, I wish someone would do something, something that no one ever did for me.

"Okay." Shane said, and it was quiet for a moment, and it seemed like he was waiting for something. 

"I'm sorry about the fire." Seriously Shane? You're such a dick. 

"No, no, no. No apology needed. Y'all have a good night, okay?" Oh shut the fuck up Shane. You were obviously waiting for an apology. God, you can't even be decent for once in your life?

"Thank you." Carol murmured. 

"I appreciate the cooperation." Shane said, and then the heavy sound of his boots started again, before the sound of him plopping his shotgun against something, and I realized he must have sat down when Dale started talking again. 

"Have you given any thought to Daryl? He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind." Dale started, and T-Dog jumped in pretty quickly. 

"I'll tell him. I dropped the key. It's on me."

"I cuffed him. That makes it mine." Sheriff Grimes said firmly, and I knew I was right about him. Good Cop. 

"Guys, it's not a competition. I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy." Glenn's voice rang out over camp and I stiffened. Daryl isn't racist! I mean Merle, maybe, but Daryl isn't like that, right?

"I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide it from him." T-Dog said, sounding very assertive, but Amy's soft voice broke the calm that had built at the end of his statement. 

"We could lie."

"Or tell the truth. Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed. Your husband did what was necessary. And if Merle got left behind, it is nobody's fault but Merle's." Andrea said sharply, and I suddenly felt incredibly defensive of the Dixon brothers. Yeah, Merle had done jack-squat for me. But Daryl had done a lot for me, and for Max and I wouldn't stand for them to treat him like a wild animal who needed to be controlled. 

"And that's what we tell Daryl? I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you? Word to the wise... we're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt." Dale said, a mean tone to his voice, and for the first time since I was a teenager, I argued with my father figure. 

"Y'all need to stop treating Daryl like he's some wild animal. He's a human. And yeah he's gonna be pissed that you all left his brother up on a roof to die. That's inhumane and no-one, nothing should die like that. Anyone of us would be just as angry if our loved ones were left to die like that. If you're all so scared to talk to him then I will. He's done a lot for me and my son, and I know he won't hurt me. So if you're so scared of him. Let me do it." It was quiet for a long time, and T-Dog's voice broke it. 

"I stopped long enough to chain that door. Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It's not enough to break through that... not that chain, not that padlock. Dixon's alive and he's still up there, handcuffed on that roof. Meg's right. No-one deserves to die stuck like a rat in a trap. If he dies, that's on us. And Daryl's anger? That's on us too."