The Rest of your Life

Chapter 2

"Disoriented. I guess that comes closest." Everyone was sat around the fire pit, crickets chirping as Rick spoke. Rory still couldn't believe it.

Rick was alive. After his reunion with his wife and son, he gave Rory a hug much like he gave Carl, she hugged him back, hard. She had missed the man she liked to call her second father.

"Disoriented. Fear, confusion... all those things but... disoriented comes closest."

"Words can be meager things. Sometimes they fall short." Dale said quietly.

"I felt like I'd been ripped out if my life, and put somewhere else. For a while I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from ever." There was a soft silence before Rory spoke up.

"Dad said you died."

"He had every reason to believe that." Rick said softly, looking at the young girl. "Don't you ever doubt it." He smiled softly before looking to his wife.

Feeling a weight of eyes on her, Rory turned, only to catch eyes with her dad who smiled at her softly and began playing with her hair gently before they both looked to the others.

"When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta, and it never happened." Lori told her husband.

"Well I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell." Rick replied. "And from the look of that hospital, it got overrun."

"Yeah, looks don't deceive. I barely got them out, you know?" Shane told Rick before gently pulling Rory into his side more, the young girl shifted to get comfortable, resting on her father.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane. I can't begin to express it." Rick vocalised.

"There go those words falling short again." Dale joked. Rory jumped at the crackling of a fire just off to the side. Shane noticed where his daughters attention was and spoke up.

"Hey, Ed, you want to rethink that log?"

"It's cold, man." Ed dismissed.

"The cold don't change the rules, does it? Keep our fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?" Shane responded while Rory sat up properly, allowing her dad to move. She looked over to Rick who smiled at her.

"I said it's cold." Ed repeated harshly. "You should mind your own business for once." Shane then got up and proceeded to walk to the other man. Rory didn't pay much attention, this happened often. When her dad sat back down, she curled up against his side again.

"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon?" Dale asked. "He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind."

"I'll tell him." T-dog offered. "I dropped the key, it's on me."

"I cuffed him." Rick spoke up. "That makes it mine."

Rory was confused. Did Rick cuff Merle and leave him on a roof? Well, she wasn't all that surprised. Merle could be a really mean person when he wanted to be. Her dad always told her to stay away from the Dixon brothers, even if they offered to teach her to throw knives. That had started off a whole argument with her dad and the brothers.

"Guys, it's not a competition." Glenn cut in. "I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy."

"I did what I did. He'll if I'm gonna hide from him." T said.

"We could lie." Amy spoke up, as if it was the most obvious thing.

"Just tell him the truth." Rory spoke up quietly. If anything ever happened to her dad, she would want someone to tell her the whole truth, even if it upset her.