A War On Her World | TWD: D. Dixon

Ch. 27

It didn't seem like my joke had been taken negatively, but at the same time, it appeared that it wasn't taken at all. In the end, instead of answering or even responding, Daryl chose to send a sideways glance in my direction before walking off to collect his crossbow and follow both Rick and Hershel back out to the eating area. As soon as I was faced with Daryl's back I began regretting my choice to push for more; the whole lack of reaction left me feeling silly over actually feeling hopeful of him calling me in a more affectionate way.

The man might not have noticed it himself but he was the only one who never used a nickname when addressing me, in fact, I don't ever remember him using my name since the first time we met. It was kind of shocking after I thought about it because it's not like we didn't spend time together- if anything I spent most of my time around Daryl just to make Benji smile a little more throughout the day, and that was before I grew to enjoy his company. I know I shouldn't dwell on the matter any more than necessary considering the type of man Daryl is, not to mention, it wasn't actually that big of a deal, or so the logical part of me says.

The emotional side of me couldn't prevent the oncoming disappointment that made its home perched on top of my shoulders, causing them to sag and make holding my head up high a struggle and a half. Even so, I managed a smile to my face in order to reassure Benji that everything was alright; the last thing I wanted was to place unnecessary worry on his already too-small shoulders. Sucking in a breath, I looked to my son, quietly tucked away in my right side.

"Come on baby, let's go over there for a minute. Mummy wants to ask Beth a quick question." I tried to use a light tone as I gently ran my hand through his messy hair in a comforting motion. Shifting my hand to rest against the top of his shoulder, we proceeded over to where the blonde and Carl stood with the peaceful new-born resting in the older teens arms. Along the way, I couldn't help but notice how much Benji had grown in the time that's passed, it wasn't much, but he now reached to just below my hip.

"Hey, do you know what Rick's doing in the other room? I'm afraid I've been left out of the loop." I gave a small laugh to break any sort of tension, deciding to focus on something other than my personal problems. While I was curious as to what was taking place, I didn't expect much of an answer and definitely not the answer I got.

"A lady showed up outside the fence. She was hurt and carrying a basket of baby formula." Beth replied in her soft voice while bouncing the baby to keep her happy. The information shocked me for multiple reasons, the first one being that there was actually someone else out there, alone, and the second one was due to the fact that she had been out by the fences where all the walkers had built up. I'd say I was shocked over the formula but that part only seemed to confuse me.

Why did she have the formula? It made no sense. It was highly unlikely that anyone in her position would have a child; she turned up at a fence of a prison, alone, surrounded by walkers. Someone like that generally wouldn't have an infant child with them.

Not once had the thought of Maggie and Glenn having been attacked crossed my mind. Even in the war that the world had created, I never imagined for Rick to re-enter the room with shattering news; Maggie and Glenn hadn't been attacked by walkers, they weren't dead, they were kidnapped by some egotist calling himself, 'The Governor'.

"How do you know we can trust her?" Oscar, one of the surviving prisoners, said harshly. We stood in a small group crowding the bottom of the stairs leading to the top floor of the cell area. Rick and Daryl stood to one side, Oscar and Axel to the other side, Carol sitting on the stairs with the baby in her arms and Beth standing at the entrance of the stairs. I stood across from Beth during the conversation, against the wall so that I could be apart of the conversation and still keep watch over my son who took to watching 'Lil' Ass Kicker'. Kind of like how he took to Daryl, Benji had also become infatuated with the newborn. He loved looking at her and touching her 'chubby little fingers' as he put it.