Chapter 5

The girls little body waves through trees and ducks under branches. Daryl is hot on her heels.

'Get away!get away! Get away!' her mind screams. 'But which way?' She asks back and comes out blank.

She trips over a big root which knocks out cold. Daryl stumbles to an halt and lands on his knees next to her.

"Hey! Hey!" he says as he taps her cheek. She feels even hotter to the touch.

"You got her !?" Rick calls from behind.

"Walker !" Carl warns and Daryl picks her up and pushes off the ground. They came out here without anything.

While running back, the girl mumbles nonsense in her unconscious state and Daryl picks up his speed.

"Oh my god! You got her! You got her!" Carol whales.

"Is she okey?" Maggie asks but Daryl ignores her and runs inside.

"Alright old man! Now that yall had yalls damn proof, can you actually help her ?!" Daryl screams.

He is so angry. The scars on the kids back Makes him want to go out and find the Punk that did that to her and feed him to the walkers.

He puts her on the table for Hershel to tend to and Rick comes in. Daryl charges at him and pushes him up against the wall.

"You son of a bitch! Are you happy now?! Look at that kid!"

Maggie pulls him away. "Enough Daryl! He couldn't have known!"

"So what?! He is a fucking cop! He saw how she acts! You saw her sleeping under the bed instead of in it! Girl doesn' trust her own shadow! Weren't that enough red flags for you?!" Daryl rants swinging his arms frantically . "Even if she hadn't been- what ever! Fuck yall!" he thinks about leaving but when he thinks of the kid, how she would feel when she gets up, he couldn't.

"I ain't got all day doc! Whats The matter with her?!" he asks Hershel. "Well looks to me as if she got a cold. Nothing serious. She needs rest and some pain-meds to sink down the fever and ease the soreness. Where did she come from again?" Hershel asks.

"Don't matter! Could you have a look at her feet?" he asks and Hershel noods. He goes around the table and looks at them.

"Well i need them clean. Would somebody be so kind ?" he asks and Carol hurries to mix some boiled water with cold to get an pleasant temperature.

Hershel cleans them of the dirt and blood and asks Beth to get him something to sterilise the little cuts.

"Should be Fine." he says and as soon as Daryl hears this he picks her up and carries her up the stairs.

Glen rushes to get the painmeds and follows after Daryl. Daryl walks into her cell and puts her into bed.

"Im sorry." She mumbles with half-lidded eyes and drifts off again.

"Shhh. You're safe." Daryl soothes, seeing the kid version of himself.

Glen clears his troat and Daryl glares when he sees who it is. "I- i broght the meds." he stutters and Daryl snatches the water botle and meds from him.

"Piss off." he throws over his shoulder and places the items on the ground. He leans under the bed and pulls out the blanket from there and puts it on the kid. He takes the other blanket from the upper bed to place it on her also. He then goes and pulls his own matress all the way to her cell. He rests his back against the wall and goes to sharpen some arrows.

Hours fo by and she shoots up with a gasp. Carol is there, she took over for Daryl a few minutes ago so that he can eat.

"Shhh Sweety it's alright. You're okey." She soothes.

"No, no, no, no! I can't be here. Why am I back in here?!" The girl panics.

"Sweetheart you need to calm down. you're sick. You shouldn't work yourself up like this."

"don't Tell me what i should and should not do!" The girl screams.

Heavy footsteps echo through the cellblock and the girl presses herself into the corner of the cell.

"I heard screaming." Daryl says as he leans into the doorway.

"Yeah she's up." Carol answers and looks back at the girl.

"Shit. Kid i'm sorry. But you were burning up." The child still pants.

"I want to leave. Let me leave." The girl tries.

"We can't do that Sweetie. It's to dangerous out there." Carol says.

"I can manage just fine." The kid hisses and Daryl can't fight her there. He saw the badass that kid could be with his own eyes.

"We need you. You're skilled." Daryl tries a new aproach.

"I don't give a fuck. I don't know you." the kid growls and Carol gasps at the potty mouth.

"At least let yourself get better. It would be dumb to go out there in your condition." Daryl reasons.

The girl realises that he is right. She feels weak and lightheaded. Her Body is sore all over.

"Here take this. It's for the fever." Carol says and picks up the bottle with the painmeds. She inspects the meds sceptically and then pops them in her mouth.

"Good girl." Carol goes to touch her head but the girl flinches away.

"What are you doing?!" She asks weirded out.

"I-I was going to stroke your hair." She explanes.

"Why?" The girl asks confused and Daryl gives a sad smile.

"Come Carol. Let her have some space." he says and Carol looks at him with betrail. She hurries out and leves Daryl with the kid.

"These people are weird." The kid mumbles catching Daryl by surprise. He huffs a chuckle.

"You'll get Used to it." he says and sits on his met with a groan.

There is a long silence. "Why don't you sleep in a cell like everybody else?" She asks out of nowhere.

"Why do you sleep under the bed and not on it like everybody else?" he conters sharply.

He is still not used to beeing les rough but somehow the kid seams to prefere that over the soft touch the others have, when talking to her.

She is used to this, she doesn't know how to act when they use that voice with her. It gives her shivers.

"Im used to it. Feel safer." She says, picking at her nails.

"huh." he grunts. "I never like beeing boxed in, i guess." he ads after a while.

Commotion downstairs pulls daryl out of their little conversation.

"Whats going on down there?" he asks looking down through the metal rales.

"Glen and Maggie are going for a run. We need formula for judith." Rick answers.

"Oh. Want me to Go?" he asks and turns back when he hears shuffling. The kid is holding on to the bars of her cell, her eyes desperate.

"No it's fine!" Glen calls up to him. When the girl sees Daryl settle down again she relaxes too.

Daryl hears steps near them and looks up to see Carl.

"What'cha want?" he asks him.

"I wanted to see the new girl. See if she'd like to play?" Carl says, directing the last part to her.

"She's sick. Go play by yer'self." Daryl waves him off.

"It's only a card Game. We can play here." Carl says hopeful. "I'm really bored." he ads.

Daryl shruggs after a while and Carl looks at the girl. "You wanna?" he asks and the girl shruggs also.

Carls face lights up. "Cool! I'll get the cards!" and runs off. He is back in no time and steps over Daryls legs with no hesitation.

They play for a while until Daryl notices the girl geting tired. He breaks off the game and tells her to rest and Carls face falls. "Okay. This was fun. Let's do it again soon!" he smiles and waves Bye.