Chapter 6

The next morning Daryl graced me with his tired voice." Hey, I'm gonna be on clean up today, thought I'd leave with ya." He said. I furrowed my brows at him, he hadn't slept had he? "Abraham came and took my shift last night." He explained. "Also there's some people I want you to meet." He bit his bottom lip, as he left my doorway.

I cleaned up, got dressed, and took a muffin for breakfast. Daryl was waiting for me out on the porch. "Ready?" He exhaled smoke, and smashed the cigarette into the railing. I nodded with a smirk, as I tightened the strap of my ax over my shoulder, Daryl slung his crossbow onto his back, and the two of us walked down the steps, into the warm morning sun. Daryl led me over to the pantry, where Olivia was, and another woman with short gray hair. The gray haired woman was wearing a button up shirt and cardigan, plus a nice smile on her face.

"Daryl." The woman looked at me, then back at Daryl. "Who's this?"

"Hazel, the new girl." Daryl introduced me. "Hazel, Carol."

"Oh, I did hear about you... a little mouse." Carol laughed lightly, making me feel uncomfortable as she seemed to scan me up and down. "Well it's nice to formally meet you." She smiled as she reached out her hand to me. I took her hand hesitantly, looking at her nervously. There was a powerful aura around her, she had a lioness stature to her that intimidated me.

Daryl and I carried on with clean up, both grabbing our own separate wagons for bodies. After a couple of loads, Daryl and I were stopped by a man and a woman, both happily smiling at us.

"Is this the new girl?" The man asked as he smiled at me, reaching his hand out to me. "I'm Glenn." I wiped my hands and shook his hand warmly. I remembered hearing that name when I first arrived here.

"And I'm Maggie." The woman said with a strong southern accent.

"Hazel." Daryl pointed to me with his thumb, I smiled warmly.

"The girl that can't talk." Glenn nodded his head in fascination. "I heard about her, I wanted to see if it was true."

"You were the one in the truck." Maggie pointed at me, sudden realization on her face. I nodded politely. "You found her where?"

"Inside a tree." Daryl said simply.

"Inside a tree?" Glenn asked confused.

"A hollowed out tree." Daryl added. I fought a smile on my face, the reactions were just getting better and better.

"Well, it's good to have her, she already fits in." Glenn smiled. "Welcome to Alexandria."

"Thank you." I said in my raspy whisper of a voice. Glenn and Maggie looking at me surprised,  probably the fact that I actually spoke.

"So you can talk?" Maggie crossed her arms and raised an brow at me.

"Not much, er, She shouldn't." Daryl struggled to explain the situation. I lightly nudged him, trying to get the two of us out of this awkward situation; he easily complied so we left to take a break for a while. "Thanks for getting me out of there." Daryl let out a small sigh of relief. I nodded with a shy smile on my face.

"Daryl." Rick approached us with a smile on his face something I hadn't seen before. "He's awake." Rick's eyes became glassy at his statement.

"He's up?" Daryl said gruffly.

"Yeah you wanna see him?" Rick said joyously. Daryl nodded and the two of us followed Rick to the infirmary. We went into a bedroom off to the side, where a teenage boy with a large bandage over his eye sat in the bed.

"Dad." The boy pulled the sheets up to his chin, looking at us embarrassed.

"Good to see ya awake." Daryl approached the boy, the two fist bumping. Carl's not bandaged eye stayed glued on me. "This is Hazel, she's new." Daryl said simply to the boy. "Hazel this is Carl." I smiled lightly at him as my hello.

"We'll explain more when you're better rested." Rick spoke up. "Get some sleep, you'll need it." Rick gave us a nod, and we went back out to clean up the rest of our community. The sun started setting when we tossed the last bodies into the burn pile, Daryl handed me a lit torch, and the two of us set the pile of walker bodies ablaze. Everyone started to cheer, some danced around happily. The clean up was finally done, all that was left was to set up our wall.

"Tomorrow we'll be working on the wall. What'd ya say, wanna help?" Daryl nudged me, I shrugged my shoulders wondering if there was anything else I could be doing.

"Hey." I turned around to see Maggie, smiling lightly. "I was wondering if we could have Hazel tomorrow." Maggie looked to Daryl who looked at me. I nodded with a smile, happy to be getting to know the other people. "Okay, meet me at the garden's in the morning." She pointed over to the church. I nodded in response. Maggie waved to us and left, I looked at Daryl, who seemed uneasy.

"What?" I said with my scratchy voice.

"Just don't get comfortable too quickly, not everyone is friendly to newcomers alright." Daryl said quietly. I glanced at a few faces that were in fact glaring at me." I'm on watch again tonight, Sasha 'll be there." I nodded and headed for home as it got dark.

I climbed up the front porch and stepped into the house. The door slamming shut behind me, and I was shoved up against the wall with a knife to my throat.

"Why're you here, who are you?" The person asked roughly.

"Daryl." I croaked out.

"I know you can talk so talk. What were you really doing out there?" I was shoved into the wall again.

"Lost." I groaned. I was then let go, and a nearby lamp was turned on, revealing the face of the threat. "Carol?" I knew that smile was all an act, I knew the feeling I was getting from her was correct.

"I will do anything to keep these people safe, you hear me? Do anything out of line and I will kill you. I won't hesitate, I promise you that." She growled at me. I lifted my hands in surrender and shook my head violently.

"Wa-want... safety." I cringed, fighting with the ability to talk.

"I'm watching you, I want you to know that. Daryl is a sweet guy, don't break his heart. It's happened too many times, you do anything to hurt him and you're gone." Carol threatened. I nodded slowly as she left, leaving me alone in the house that I now felt unwelcome in.