Lucy (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

That night I couldn't sleep. Daryl's steady breathing beside me helped keep me sane but it wasn't enough to put me to sleep like it normally did. Too many things were racing through my head all at the same time and it was slowly starting to drive me insane. Sometimes I still wished I could wake up one day and all of this would just be a horrible dream. I tossed and turned over and over again, my mom still on my mind.

What if my she got out?
What if she looked for us?
What if she was all alone?
What if...

I threw the blanket off of me as I sat up. I could think of the 'what ifs' all night but it wouldn't help settle my mind. A single tear fell from my eye, quickly wiping it away I took a shuttered breath, how did the world come to this?

One day everything was normal, I came home from work around eight the night before, Grayson was already home but was on his way out to go see his girlfriend Kylie. They had been together three years and I was waiting for them to finally move in together so I could get my brothers bigger room.

Mom was in the kitchen playing some Time McGraw song softly singing along with it as she cleaned. Which meant that dad had already passed out for the night. I quietly passed the door frame, making my way towards to stairs, I didn't feel like being asked how my day went then when I finally came up with the word 'fine," everyone in the room would follow into awkward silence.

Thats how every night went, unless dad was still somehow awake when I got home. When he was awake I normally would have changed out of my work clothes and try to sneak back out before I caught his attention, or his anger. If none of my friends could give me a reason not to go home I'd just park somewhere and try to pass the time.

I'd text Gray seeing if he had made it home yet, at this point in our lives he knew what I was really asking,

"He's out for the night," I'd always appreciate my brother, more than he would ever know.

If I had known that, that night would be the last night I saw my mother alive, I would have hugged her.

***

I don't know when I tell asleep, one second it was night, the next I was being woken up to screaming. It wasn't just one person either, it was everyone, it sounded like pure panic. Walkers? As I rushed to my feet, I pictured the worse case scenario, Walkers were surrounding us and we were all about to die.

Ax in hand I rushed out of the front of the tent to find that there were no Walkers in sight, and now everyone has their eyes on me.

"What's going on? I heard screaming," I recalled but no one answered me, the all stood frozen looking between Rick and Shane. Daryl came to my side and placed one hand on my shoulder leading in whispering:

"There's Walkers in the barn," and my heart dropped at his words. While we have all been sleeping peacefully, feeling so safe, for what feels like weeks now, there has been danger threatening us this whole time and we didn't even know it.

"Let's just go check it out," Shane hissed, not waiting for anyone to follow him but one by one we were all right on his heels. No one said word, we were all worried about what this meant for us now. What same person keeps a barn full of Walkers? These people must be loons, we've been living on the land of this family and they never mentioned it... Or maybe its just the father, maybe the rest of the family doesn't know what he's been doing? Highly unlikely.

"You cannot tell me that you are okay with this!" Shane hissed to Rick. In that single moment Rick froze, as if he was watching this end, in every way possible. As the different stories played behind his eyes he took a deep breath, still torn.

'No, I'm not, but we're guests here.
This isn't our land!" Rick sneered at Shane.

"God, this is our lives, man!" I hated to admit it but Shane is right, this was a wicked turn of events and I could already tell that this was going to cause so many more problems.

"Lower your voice," Glenn begged. I took a couple of cautionary towards the moans coming from the barn. Everyone started erupting in anger towards each other about how to handle this. Rick and Shane both had good points how to take care of this, then Shane brought up Fort Benning

"Why not, Rick? Why can't we just go?" Shane questioned and before anyone could speak up Carol interested but a whisper:

"Cause my daughter is still out there." Which made a shiver run down my spine as everyone was quiet, for a moment.

Then after a single second of silence Shane looked at Carol and decided to snicker: "Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility," Shane should have known better, his words set off a chain reaction from everyone, especially Daryl.

"I'm close to finding this girl. I just
found her damn doll two days ago," Daryl hissed, his tightening fist made me lay a hand on his shoulder blade, it helped slightly.

"You found her doll, Daryl. That's
what you did. You found a doll."

"You don't know the hell you're talking 'bout!" Daryl screamed at Shane everyone could tell a fight was about to break out, Rick stepped in the middle of them.

"-You know within the first 48 hours.." Shane just would not stop talking, his words still had effect with them but now he was pissing everyone off. I couldn't take it anymore, all of it was too much, I spun on my heels and took off in the opposite direction.