We leave the new group alone in the common area for the night to calm down and collect themselves. I wake up first having not slept through the night and so I go to speak to them.
They watch me apprehensively as I walk in but don't make any sudden moves. "Hi, my name's Selene." I start off as they all continue watching me. "I'm sorry about last night but you guys have to understand we don't know you, we don't know what you're like and so you're not gonna be able to come through to our block." I explain calmly, they seemed like nice people but we couldn't just blindly trust anyone.
"We're willing to help you, give you shelter and food at least until the rest of our group comes back and then we'll decide if you're allowed to stay." I finish waiting for them to say anything. They share a glance and Tyreese speaks for the group, "thank you." I nod and am about to turn back when I notice the youngest member of the group, Ben I think his name was, was injured.
"Are you okay?" I ask him, seeing the blood on his leg, "it's just a scratch." He says quickly making me nod, "alright we can patch that up for you." I head back to grab the first aid supplies when I see Hershel and the others leaving their cells. We were all in agreement about helping this group and letting them stay here until Rick was back and then he had the final decision I guess.
Everyone starts to settle around the new people. "You can take those stitches out yourself in a week or so." I tell Ben as I finish up with the stitches on his leg, "thank you." He mumbles softly, I shake my head and get up ready to get myself some food when I see Sophia brings me over a plate. "Thanks."
I tune out the others as I eat only paying attention again once Beth brings Judith out with her. "How old is the baby?" They're in awe at seeing a baby again. I see the amazement on their faces as Saha gets up and walks over to get a closer look. "Barely a week."
"To be honest, we never thought we'd see another baby." Sasha says before looking down at Judith. "Beautiful." She says to Beth who nods, "Thanks."
"How are you feeling?" Beth looks confused for a second as she looks at Sasha, "she's not mine." She answers simply making the woman turn to me, I shake my head. "Where's the mother?" None of us answer, I look to Carl to see him look down. "I'm sorry." Carl leaves then, he goes back to the block probably wanting to be alone at the mention of his mom.
"Man, you people have been through the mill."
"Haven't we all?"
"It's only getting worse out there. Dead are everywhere. And it's only making the living less like the living. You're the only decent folks we've come across."
"You've been out there all this time?"
"Our neighbor Jerry, he was one of those survivalist nuts. Everybody on the block thought he was crazy. Always preparing for the end of the world." A thought of the basement flashes through my mind making my stomach churn as I push my plate away and get up.
"Who knew?"
"Jerry knew. He had a bunker under his shed in the backyard. Sasha and I stayed there until we ran out of supplies. Allen and Ben were the first two people we ran into when we finally crawled up out of that hole around Jacksonville. Used to be a bunch of us. 25 at one point. Our camp was overrun six, seven weeks ago. And-- and Donna, she, uh..."
"We'll see that she has a proper burial."
I'd been inching towards the door without realising, my fingers grip one of the bars painfully tight before I force myself to let go. Letting out a breath I decide that I need some fresh air and so I make my way towards the exit.
Once I've escaped all the walls I feel like I can finally breathe again. I hated it in there, I knew it was safe but I couldn't stand it. My burning face finally lets the cool air calm it as I walk towards the guard tower. I ignore my thoughts as they intertwine, squeezing their way through my brain.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
I stay up in the tower for hours, my feet swaying gently as I sat on the edge, my head resting against the railing. I try not to think of anything, every thought that does pop into my mind souring instantly.
Finally the low hum of a car quietens my mind, I get up and see Rick leaving the vehicle. My legs start moving before my mind does, my mind now lighter as I run towards the yard to reunite with my friends. I hoped Maggie and Glenn weren't hurt and that everyone had gotten back okay.
When I get there everyone aside from Rick and Hershel have already gone inside. He turns and smiles in relief when he sees it's me approaching. I don't hesitate in throwing my arms around him, they'd been gone for what felt like such a long time and I'd been so worried.
He hugs me tight, and something feels off, this felt like he was trying to comfort me or say sorry or swim thing bad had happened. My fears are confirmed once I pull away to see the look on his face, he looks like there's something he needs to tell me but the way he subtly tries to avoid eye contact let's me know whatever it is, he doesn't want to say it.
"Is everyone okay?" The only thing I can think is something happened to someone. "Everyone is okay," he assures me, "well not Oscar, he didn't make it." I feel upset for Oscar, whilst I didn't know him well he seemed nice and I'm sure if I got to interact with him more I would've liked him.
I go inside as Hershel explains the situation here to Rick. I ignore the new group completely, my aim being on seeing my friends. Once I get in the block I see Maggie first, she looks okay at first glance but one look at her face and I could see whatever happened there, it'd been awful and it was weighing her down.
"Hey," I don't know what to say to her, she tries to force a smile but it's weak and crumbles immediately. "I'm so glad to see you again." Is all I can get out as I walk up to her and hug her. "How are you?" It's a stupid question because she's obviously not okay but I don't know what else to say. She doesn't answer, she doesn't say anything as I pull away. Instead I get her stuff so that she can go and freshen up and let her know I was around if she needed me. She takes the stuff from me and gives me another hug before walking away.
Hershel had walked in shortly after me and was tending to Glenn as I saw Carol up on the stairs. "What's up?" I ask her seeing the frown on her face, she looks at me then away, not speaking. That was odd, "do you know where Daryl is?" I ask her having not seen him at all, maybe I'd missed him when I was outside or maybe he was doing something I'm not sure.
The look she gives me invites a panic to gnaw at my stomach, "ask Rick." She says softly making my brows furrow. Rick said everyone aside from Oscar was okay, so Daryl had to be okay. I walk back down towards Rick who was holding Judith, "where's Daryl?" I ask making him sigh, it looks like he was expecting this.
"Selene..." He starts off like he's about to say he's dead or something, "you said everyone else was fine." I will my voice to stay steady even though I could already feel the lump forming in my throat. "He's fine, he's fine." His words are meant to reassure me but they don't, if he was fine, where was he?
"At Woodbury, we ran into Daryl's brother Merle." I can't stand the way he's looking at me right now, whatever he's gonna say next is going to be bad. "Daryl left with him." I shake my head, "no, no Daryl wouldn't leave." He specifically told me he was coming back. "Why didn't they just come back with you guys?" I don't get why he would leave.
"Merle, he isn't a good man Selene, we couldn't bring him back not here and Daryl wouldn't leave him." I nod, it was his brother of course he wouldn't just leave him out there. Not when he felt guilty about losing him in the first place.
"So he's just gone? He's not coming back?" I don't believe it, more like I don't want to believe it but he couldn't be just gone. Rick nods looking at me in such a pitying way it just makes my stomach turn more. "He didn't even have a goodbye or anything for me?" I feel stupid asking but did he really just leave me with nothing, no goodbye, no sorry?
Rick simply shakes his head making me scoff under my breath, of course this would happen to me. I just had the worst luck in the world and I really thought I'd get to be happy, have some sort of a life out here. I was stupid and I shouldn't kid myself anymore. Rick reaches for my arm but I shake my head and step back, "I don't care." I mumble, "I don't." I don't know who I'm trying to convince but it doesn't seem to be working.
He goes to say something but I turn and leave before the words even have the chance to leave his mouth.
