It Comes With The Name

Chapter 14: Hayloft

The group seemed to freeze, unsure of what to do. Oddly enough, the walker stopped too. It didn't continue forward or lunge at any of them as they expected it to. Instead, it seemed to be... staring at them. More specifically staring at Rick. Lauren nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard him speak.

"That's the third time you've pointed that thing at ma head." The hoarse but unmistakably snarky voice sneered at Rick. "You gonna pull the trigger or what?"

The group seemingly let out a collective sigh of relief. Damn he really looked dead. They stood there for another moment, taking in what just happened. Suddenly a gunshot rang out from back at the RV and Daryl collapsed.

"Oh my god!" Lauren rushed over to Daryl as he hit the ground. She knelt down, attempting to assess the damage while Rick and Shane hoisted Daryl up between them. She located the bullet wound almost immediately, the blood running down Daryl's face was a pretty good clue.

"I was kidding..." Daryl said weakly. Rick and Shane began dragging Daryl back across the field and towards the house.

"What the hell happened?" Glenn said worriedly. "I mean, he's wearing ears! "

Rick looked down at what Glenn was gesturing at and sighed. Yanking the weird ear necklace from Daryl's neck, he shoved it into his own shirt pocket. "Yeah, let's keep that to ourselves."

Dale and Andrea met them halfway across the field. As Andrea approached, Lauren felt her worry slowly morph into anger.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" She shouted at the woman as they reached the group. Lauren marched forward towards Andrea, getting in her face. "If someone tells you to hold your fire, that means don't fucking shoot!

"I- I was trying t-"

"No. I know exactly what you were trying to do. You were trying to prove that you know better than everyone. It's the same shit you've been doing every fucking day since we left the CDC. News flash, Andrea, firing a gun does not automatically make you a valuable asset to the group!"

"What? You disobey Rick and Shane all the time!" She shot back, growing angry herself.

"You know, I've done a lot of stupid shit, Andrea. But the only life I ever put in danger is my own! So back the fuck up before you do anything else stupid!"

Andrea rolled her eyes and went to shove past her, bumping Lauren's shoulder on the way. Without thinking, Lauren shoved her backward by her shoulders. Not hard, but enough for her to stumble back a few steps.

Andrea's eyes widened. "Bitch!" She pushed Lauren back, harder than Lauren had done to her.

That was the final straw. Lauren swung at her. All the fear, worry, and anger she was feeling at the moment went into that one punch. She hit Andrea hard on her left cheek. Andrea grunted and held her cheek in shock. She was only out of it for a second before lunging at Lauren. They each got a few good hits in before Dale and Glenn were able to pull them apart. Still yelling profanities, the girls were separated from each other. The yelling only stopped when T-dog's voice interfered.

"Guys, isn't this Sophia's?" Sure enough in his hand was the doll Sophia had been given the day the Morales family departed. Daryl must have found it. Taking one last glare at Andrea, Lauren dusted herself off and hurried after Rick and Shane towards the house.

Lauren couldn't for the life of her figure out why she had been so emotional. He would be fine. It was a superficial graze... paired with whatever mystery wound was on his abdomen. Regardless, he would live. Not only that, but Lauren wasn't even entirely sure if she and Daryl were friends. So why did her heart drop when they mistook him for a walker? It could have been that she was just tired of losing people, that's what she was going to tell herself it was anyway, but it felt like more than just that.