REVIVAL 𛲕 DARYL DIXON

nine ➳ i promise

After spending just a couple of weeks with them, I had grown to be extremely thankful that my gut had led me to this particular group. For the most part, they were strong, brave, kind people. There were a few exceptions – mainly Ed, Carol's abusive husband. I hadn't had any altercations with him yet, as my timidness had led me to keeping to myself and not interfering. But I still couldn't help the rising sickness I felt when Carol emerged from her tent with several new bruises and, along with everyone else, I ignored it.

Out of the group, I'd hit it off with Glenn most. He was the guy I'd assumed to be Chinese the first time we'd met the group, but he turned out to be Korean. He was closest to my age, and, for lack of better words, seemingly warmer than the majority of the group. He was very sweet, and made sure I was okay for my first few days.

Nobody really talked to Daryl or Merle, besides to go on runs or go hunting. With them, it was mostly business, and they kept to themselves. They shared a tent, and rarely came out to socialise with the rest of us except to eat. On the first day, they'd been slightly more open to converse, with Daryl informing us of the time he swore he saw a Chupacabra. It really lightened the tension that was palpable in the air as the rest of the group tried to decide whether we were trustworthy or not.

I'd really surprised myself, by dwelling with the rest of the group more than I normally would. I wasn't a sociable person, and I tended to be very shy and introverted, and often said the wrong thing. But it was like with this group, I could be myself, and they'd understand. I knew I wasn't much use in the hunting department, nor going on runs, so I would help the other women do laundry, and do little jobs around camp.

Due to my medical background, I tended to any minor injuries people had around camp. Nobody had suffered anything major yet, so it was mostly just scratches and bruises. Sadly, my top patient was Carol, who was forced to come and see me by other members of camp against her will. She always seemed embarrassed about them, as if it was her fault.

I was perfectly content with my group. I felt like I could trust most of them to a certain extent already. What I wasn't prepared for, however, was what was about to happen one fatal day, after I'd finally got my bearings. Glenn, Merle, Andrea, Morales and T-Dog had gone on a supply run up to the city, which wasn't out of the ordinary. Our supplies were dwindling away fast, and we had to prepare for the inevitable – someday, we'd have to move on.

I honestly didn't know how everything went wrong so fast. It all started when I visited Carol in her tent, to check up on a particularly bad cut she'd got from a glass bottle. Carol claimed she'd fallen on the shattered glass, but around camp, we had our own theories that Ed had something to do with it.

As soon as I'd finished my meagre breakfast of tinned sardines (we were low on food) I headed straight over to Carol's tent, noticing she hadn't come out for food. Tentatively, I reached out to pull back the tent flap and peer inside, checking that Ed wasn't lurking somewhere. Although I'd avoided having altercations with Ed, and he'd never hurt a woman in the camp besides his wife, I still wasn't keen on being in a confined space with him.

"Carol?" I said meekly, after securing the inside of the tent. "You in here?"

I heard the shuffling of bedsheets which told me that Carol was in fact here. She didn't respond, however, which should've been a warning flag to me, but my curiosity wasn't satisfied. I stepped into the small tent, and crept over to Carol's small sleeping bag. The petite woman had her back to me, sheets pulled all the way up to her chin, and her breathing was ragged.

"Carol?" I said slowly, nearing on her.

"Pl-please can you go?" Carol said, her voice quivering.

I blinked. I couldn't understand what could possible dissuade Carol from wanting me to remove her stitches. She'd been asking me to do it all week.