Sightless

Daryl Dixon

~ Today ~

"It's cool that he found them." Max whispered as we lay in our tent. We were in separate sleeping bags, but the tent was so small that we were still sleeping shoulder to shoulder since Hendrix was sleeping in here with us too. 

"Yeah, it is. You don't... you've never wanted to meet your dad right?" I questioned quietly, secretly dreading the answer. He had never asked, and I had never broached the topic, but he was getting older now. And, if I die tomorrow, or the next day, I don't want him to wonder. 

"No. If he loved you, or me, he would be with us. So... no, I don't remember ever wanting to meet him." He answered simply, and he didn't even pause in his answer which is how I knew it was real. When he tries to lie to me, he waits, making sure his breath is steady and that his voice doesn't shake. He didn't do that this time. 

"Well... if you ever change your mind, let me know. I don't want to leave you with questions." I murmured, and he shifted quickly, I think he rolled onto his side to look at me. 

"Leave? You're leaving?" He asked frantically, and I immediately wrapped my arm around him and pulled him into my chest. His arms wraps around my chest, pulling himself as close as he could possibly get and I placed a soft kiss the top of his head in response to the squeeze. 

"Not on purpose. But Max, baby... it was hard enough to be safe before all this happened. I have no idea how long I'm going to last in this world. And the only thing I want to do, is make sure that you keep going. You can beat this world. You've taken such good care of me. I want you to take care of yourself okay? If the choice is between me and you, I pick you. Do you understand? I'm sorry baby, I know this is difficult, but this world is different now. And we can't... we can't be soft anymore." I said quietly, and I knew he was listening, but I could also feel the tears dripping onto my chest and it made my heart hurt. 

"I don't... I don't want to do this without you Mommy." He whimpered, squeezing so tight that I almost couldn't breathe. 

"I know baby. But if something happens to me, you have to keep going okay? Stay with Dale, he'll take care of you. And... if something happens to him, you stay with the group okay? They'll help you." They would, I know they would. This group fought sometimes sure, this was a high-stress environment and somehow we had managed to collect a triple helping of Type-A personalities, but they would never leave a child to die. 

"I don't want to do this." He said again, and I didn't say anything. All I did, was hold him tight, breathing in his scent from that spot on the top of his head, and hoped I would be around long enough to see him beat this world. 

~ The Next Morning ~

When I woke up, it was dark, like always. Max was gone from beside me, and Hendrix was standing faithfully by my legs but I could tell he had been up for awhile because as soon as he noticed my open eyes, he nudged my hand, letting me know he really had to pee. 

I groaned, but stood up, still wearing the clothes I wore the day before, simply because I only had three sets of clothes and these weren't quite dirty enough to warrant hand scrubbing in the lake. I shoved my feet into my tennis shoes that were laying by the door, and then Hendrix led me out of the unzipped tent, and took a sharp right, leading me into the woods where he would pee. 

He was almost finished going, when several child-like screams ripped through the air. Max. 

"Mom!" That was Carl, and a split second later, Max's scream copied him along with a shrill girly-scream that had to be Sophia.