Dixon's Baby Girls

Part 58: Story Time

Hayley's POV

I'm out playing around with a soccer ball, with Carl, Patrick, and Jacob.

I kick it into the 'goal' which just happened to be the area between one part of the fence and another part.

"Great job, Hayley!" Patrick, who was on my team, high fives me.

I turn around doing a victory dance in Carl and Jacob's direction. They shake their heads at me with amused smiles.

I then notice Jacob glaring at Patrick for some reason. I turn around to look at the latter, seeing him immediately evert his attention elsewhere. Strange.

"What the hell are they doing?" I hear Carl ask, pointing over at a group of kids by the fence.

They seem to be yelling at the walkers on the outside.

We walk closer hearing them calling walkers names.

"You're naming them?" Carl asks them, making them all turn around.

"Well, one of them has a name tag, so we thought all of them should." A girl named Mika explains.

"They had names when they were alive. They're dead now." I argue.

"No, they're not. They're just different." Mika's sister Lizzie disagrees.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Carl asks in disbelief.

"Okay, they don't talk. They don't think. They eat people. They kill people." Jacob adds.

"People kill people. They still have names." Lizzie says. Seeming pretty confident in her thinking.

"Have you seen what happens? Have you seen someone die like that?" Carl asks.

"Yeah, I have."

"They're not people and they're not pets. Don't name them."

"We're supposed to go read. Come on." Lizzie gives up, and her and the other kids walk away.

"Can you believe them?" Jacob scoffs. "Stupid."

I notice Mika had stopped, glaring at Jacob before looking to Patrick.

"You coming to story time tonight?" She asks him.

"Uh, yeah." He says looking embarrassed.

"See you then." Mika smiles before running off, to catch up with the others.

Jacob and Carl start giggling at him. I smack Jacobs arm, whose beside me.

"I go sometimes. I'm immature. You guys wouldn't dig it. It's for kids." Patrick defends.

"It's okay, Patrick. You don't need to defend yourself to these assholes." I playfully glare at the other two. "I'll come with you."

"Catch you later young sirs." Patrick says turning to leave. I shake my head at him being dorky.

"Come on." I say to the other two.

"What?" Carl and Jacob say at the same time.

"You're coming. Punishment for laughing at the poor guy. And God knows you two boneheads can use some literature every now and then." I say, and turn to leave with no room to argue. They follow like I knew they would. Cause I got both wrapped around my finger.

"The children fastened their eyes upon their bit of candle and watched it melt slowly and pitilessly away. Saw the half inch of wick stand alone at last. Saw the feeble flame rise and fall. Climb the thin tower of smoke. Linger at its top a moment and then..." we hear Carol read as we walk in. A man standing at the entrance walks out, as we walk into the back of the library. Jacob doesn't really pay attention, browsing, undoubtedly looking for comics. But me and Carl listen.

But she closes the book.

"Ma'am, Should I take watch now?" Little Luke asks. I'm confused.

"Yes, you do that." She tells him, and he runs to the door. As she takes something out of the chest she was sitting on.

"Today, we are talking about knives. How to use them. How to be safe with them." She says. Laying out an array of knives in front of the children. "And how they can save you're-"

"Ma'am can I be dismissed?" Patrick cuts her off with the request.

"What is it?" She asks him.

"I'm not feeling well." He explains.

"Sometimes you're gonna have to fight through it. What if you wind up out there alone? You just give up because you're feeling bad?"

"No, it's just I don't want to yack on somebody."

Him saying this makes the other kids scoot away from him.

"Go." Carol grants his request. And he leaves.

"Okay, today we're gonna learn how to hold a knife, how to stab and slash and where to aim for." We walk closer, as Carol begins to teach the kids, but she stops when she notices Carl and I. "Please don't tell your fathers."

Carl leaves the library, and I follow after him, not even giving Carol a chance to explain.

"We should say something." I say, but he ignores me at first. So I grab Carl's hand to stop his walking. "We should tell our dads."

"I don't know if we should." He sighs.

"We have to, Carl."

"Do we?"

"Yes. Her doing this, without parents consent, could break up the peace we have, break the trust of a lot of people."

"But her doing this also could save the other kids, or maybe someone else one day."

"It doesn't feel right, Carl."

"Just don't say anything. Let me think it over and maybe I'll tell my dad. Okay?"

I just stare back at him.

"Okay?" He asks again.

"Okay." I give in.

"Swear you won't say anything."

"I swear."

He then walks away, and I hear footfall behind me. I turn and see Jacob.

"Thanks for ditching me back there." He says, completely clueless.

"Sorry." I give him an apologetic smile.

Daryl's POV

It's later in the evening and after Arriving back from the run and after losing Zack. I'm going to inform Beth.

I knock on the bars to her cell. She looks up from her journal.

"Hey." She greets.

"Hi." I say back. Leaning against the 'doorframe'.

"What is it?" She asks me.

"Zack."

"Is he dead?" I just nod. "Okay."

I give her a look, confused why she's so unaffected by the whole thing. She stands from her bed. And takes the '30' off of her 'no accidents' board.

" What? I don't cry anymore, Daryl. I'm just glad I got to know him, you know?" She says to me walking closer.

"Me, too."

"Are you okay?"

"Just tired of losing people is all." I say, and she hugs me. I go stiff.

"I'm glad I didn't say good-bye. I hate good-byes."

"Me too."

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Kind of a filler chapter, but I Hope you enjoyed it! If you did please leave a comment and vote!❤️