Consumed | 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐥 𝐃𝐢𝐱𝐨𝐧

twenty-three.

Peeling myself out of bed, I force myself over to the makeshift crib and rub the sleep from my eyes before picking Judith up. I coo at her as she becomes a little more settled in my arms, "Hungry, little miss?" She wails in my arms as I multitask as I make her a bottle. I pop the lid off and begin to feed her as her cries become stopped. Her wails suddenly become silent as she drinks up her bottle. "Little Jude." I smile down at her precious face. Lori would've loved her.

"Hey Jude, don't make it bad." I hum along, "Take a sad song and make it better. Remember to let her into your heart then you can start to make it better." I rock her gently in my arms as I hold her bottle for her. "Hey jude, don't be afraid..." I sing softly, "You were made to go out and get her. The minute you let her under your skin then you begin to make it better." Ever since Carl had told me Judith's name, I couldn't help but remember that one song by the beatles. Little Jude, the rascal. "Hey Jude, refrain." I continue, "Don't carry the world upon your shoulder. For well, you know it's a fool who plays it cool"

I continue to sing to Jude as she starts finishing her bottle and resting her wide eyes. Placing the bottle down, I use my free hand to rub her soft cheek and hum along to the lyrics of Hey Jude. "Hey Jude," I smile, "Don't let me down. You have found her, now go and get her. Remember let her into your heart-" Swaying around, I notice Daryl stood in the doorway of my room and my face immediately drops. What was he doing here?

"No more Dolly Parton?" He says softly, not to wake the baby. Placing Judith down in her crib, I ignore his question and make sure to wrap her nicely in her blanket. Barging past, I knock his shoulder as I make my way into the cafeteria part to start up some porridge for the group. Clearly he didn't understand me ignoring him meant I didn't want to speak to him and he followed me into the kitchen. Pulling the large pot onto the table, I grab the sack of oats and begin to pour as much as we usually have in the morning but making sure to not overpour due to our lack of food here.

"Where's your little boyfriend?" Daryl remarks and I scoff at him. I grab a bottle of clean water and pour it into the oats.

"Not my boyfriend." I reply, deadpan, "And he has a name." Daryl rolls his eyes and scoffs at me. "Ash went back with Andrea. He's there for more information for us."

"More like to tell Phillip everything about this place." Daryl remarks, "He's unreliable. He has been working for the Governor so he's probably snaking us out right now."

"And Merle isn't unreliable." I sigh as I give the porridge a stir, "Ash didn't shoot me in the arm, nearly kill Glenn or let Maggie get assaulted. All Ash has done is help."

"Merle is with us now." He becomes harsh, "He did what he did to survive like the rest of us." But the rest of us do things for the moral good most of the time. Yes we had done bad things and there was no excuse for that. But Merle did things to this group when we did not deserve it.

"And honestly I don't care." I roll my eyes, "If it was to save his own ass or save anyone in this group, well, we already know how that's going to go." I stir the porridge one last time and then grab a clean knife to cut up some of the canned fruit for health. Gotta make sure to have one of your five a day even if it does come from a shitty can of fruit salad. "Also, what has he ever done for you?" I stop and look up at him, waving the knife up. "Huh? Because he sure hasn't saved your ass a bunch of times out here. We did. He didn't care for you like you were his true family. We did. And he sure as hell didn't stay up nights with you on watch in the freezing cold just so you'd have company. I fucking did that. But you still chose him over us and that is a major break in trust."

"He's blood." Daryl repeats himself.

"Blood doesn't mean shit." I scoff, "You and I know that, more than anyone else."