It Comes With The Name

Chapter 4: A Debt Owed

Dinner was spent around the campfire, asking Rick a million different questions. "Disoriented". That was the word he used to describe what he had been feeling. Disoriented. He recalled the whole story, from the moment he woke up in the hospital to the moment he reached that rooftop in Atlanta. Which brought up another question.

"Have we given any thought about Daryl Dixon?" Dale finally asked. "He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind. How are we supposed to tell him"

"I say Lauren should tell him." Amy said.

"What? Why me?" Lauren responded almost defensively.

Amy shrugged, "You're the only one here that he seems to tolerate."

"She's right." Andrea agreed. "He likes you."

"Please." Lauren scoffed. "He doesn't like me. He likes my dog."

"Either way, it'd probably sound better coming from you." Glenn said. Lauren's mouth fell open. She thought Glenn of all people would've backed her up, but here he was throwing her to the wolves. So it was decided. Lauren was the lucky girl who had to tell Daryl Dixon that his brother was probably dead. Awesome.

The following morning seemed to run smoothly. Everyone was pitching in as usual. Well, almost everyone. Ed was sitting on his ass per usual, watching everyone else work. Lauren was too exhausted to chew him out this morning, so she simply rubbed the sleep from her eyes and continued laying out clothes to dry. She had been up since the early hours of the morning, riddled with guilt about the previous day.

Merle sucked. He was rude, obnoxious, sexist, and racist, and he was constantly objectifying the women in the camp. But being left to starve was no way for anyone to die, no matter how scummy.

"Sleep well?" Lauren was jolted from her thoughts at the sound of her brother's voice.

She laughed lightly at his sarcasm. "Is it that obvious?"

Rick gave her a knowing look. "You've been thinking about it too. About the man we left." She hated the way he could read her so easily.

"It's not right." Lauren shook her head. "He could still be alive up there."

Her brother nodded. "Yeah, I've been thinkin' bout that too. I reckon we ought to go back for him. I'll run it by Shane."

Lauren was about to tell Rick that there was no use asking Shane, he'd barely allowed her and Glenn to make runs before. After yesterday, there was no way he was letting anybody back into the city. Before she had the chance to explain, a scream echoed through the camp. But it wasn't just a scream. It was Carl.

Lauren's feet were moving before she could even process what was happening. Along with Carl's screams, she heard the familiar sound of Tank barking. Which could only mean one thing; Daryl was back.

Lauren and Rick ran towards the edge of the camp where the scream had come from, a million questions running through her mind.

Why is Carl at the edge of camp? Where is Lori? What is he screaming at? Why was no one watching him?

She saw Carl run out from the trees and into his mother's arms. Rick, Shane, Glenn, Dale, Morales, and Jim continued running into the woods where he had come from. Once Lauren confirmed that Carl was alright and instructed Lori to go back to the middle of camp, she took off after the men.

Lauren reached Tank first, stopping for a moment to give her dog a welcome back before they both continued. They reached the group of men only to find Daryl kicking the everloving shit out of a fallen walker. The half-gnawed deer corpse beside it gave her a pretty good idea as to why he was so angry.