oh come on | twd

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Dad had went back inside, joining the others who were starting to settle down to sleep. Something in him had snapped not long after he had been gentle with me, and he was angry again. I wondered if I had done something to cause his anger, but as I stood on watch, I replayed the encounter in my head and couldn't pick up on anything that would of upset him.

I stayed quiet unless spoken to. I didn't show weakness. I didn't challenge him. I didn't ignore his words. I had done everything I was supposed to but that didn't stop him from shoving me backwards by my shoulders and telling me to stand watch so he could sleep.

I froze when the door opened, but didn't turn around. I relaxed though when I didn't hear the familiar sound of my father's work boots pounding on the floor. I couldn't remember when it was that I had learned how to tell his footsteps apart from anyone else's. He had heavy boots though, so it was easy to tell when it was him since it was always low thumping footsteps.

Another thing I had noticed when I was young was that he never dragged his feet; in fact that was one of his biggest problems with me when I was younger.

"Pick your fucking feet up and walk properly."

"Stop shuffling like you've shat yourself and be quiet."

That was my favourite line he'd ever used to scold me. Even though at the time he had me shaking, looking back on it always made me want to smile, especially since I knew that him saying that had made me want shit myself.

"What'chu doin' out here? Hank's back inside, why'd didn't ya go in with him?"

I noticed the southern accent and turned slightly even though I knew who it was. It was Daryl, standing there with his hand holding the strap of his crossbow on his shoulder.

"I'm gonna stay on watch tonight. I don't like the fact the Terminus pricks could still be out there."

It was true. I hated the fact that the rest of the group decided that we shouldn't go back in and finish the job for ourselves. They're as good as dead anyways. I couldn't believe the words that Rick had let flow out of his stupid mouth. Even he didn't seem like he believed them.

"Well ya can go back in now, I'll take over," Daryl stood by me now, having walked forward expecting me to turn and head back inside.

That didn't happen though, instead my feet stayed planted firmly in place, as I scanned the tree line from where I stood. My mind was in a state of turmoil as the fatigue I felt battled with the orders I'd been given.

"Go on now, it's fine. You need to sleep anyways," Daryl shrugged and I realised he thought I felt bad about leaving him to be on watch.

I didn't want to say no and then get into bother, but I also didn't want to go against Dad's orders. I weighed out the consequences of each one and decided I'd just stay put. Dad was scarier than Daryl.

"Nah it's okay. Not tired."

I looked up at him then, and saw his eyes were already glued to me. But they weren't looking at me so to say. They were looking at my cheek and I had to hide the panic I felt when I realised that Dad's right hook had left me with a bruise.

"What happened there?" His voice was stern as he prodded his finger at my cheek, making me want to move away because of the pain but I knew better than that.

"Got in a tussle with a walker."

I repeated my father's words from earlier with ease, the lie rolling off my tongue quicker than I could even register I was talking. I didn't break our eye contact, knowing that as soon as I did I would be scolded for backing down.