Sydney Dixon

Chapter eighteen

Sydney's POV

After several hours of staring at the ground, I decide to glance up.

It has quieted down, the only sound being the crying of a baby.

I furrow my brow, and slowly stand up from my seat. I take a few wobbly steps and bring my hands to my forehead to stop the pounding.

Once I regain my balance and the headrush goes away, I inch my way over to Carl.

He looks up, and when his eyes meet mine, I notice he has the same expression I've had for the past few hours.

Lori died giving birth to that baby.

He doesn't even say anything, instead he runs to my arms and engulfs me into a hug.

I tense my jaw and wrap my arms around the small, broken boy.

He doesn't cry, and neither do I. We both knew that each of us needed this exchange.

I pull away from him, and he goes back to his seat without a word.

I look at all the people in our group, and notice quite a few are missing. I spot Beth and make my way over to her.

"Hey, Sydney" She mutters sympathetically, a small smile on her face.

"Where's Daryl?" My voice is raspy from crying earlier.

"He went on a run to get formula for-- her" Beth pauses to hold the baby up to me. I tense my jaw and shake my head, signifying I don't want to hold it.

"Rick?" My eyes grow wide

"He ran inside the cell block after getting the news. He was pretty upset" Beth rocks the baby.

"T-dog?" I ask.

Her face drops, and I know that's not good news.

"Him and Carol never came back"

I slowly nod my head and begin to walk away from her, but her arm catches my bicep.

"Syd I'm so sorry about--"

"Don't. Just-- don't say his name" I plead, closing my eyes to regain myself.

Her arm gently lets go of mine, and I speed walk away and into the cell block.

~~

I was sitting peacefully inside the cell block at the concrete tables, until the rest of the group came in with the crying baby.

I groaned and threw my head onto my arms.

Luckily the crying didn't last long, because Maggie and Daryl came back with the formula.

The minute the bottle was in her mouth, the annoying crying stopped. Daryl was the one feeding her with a content smile on his face.

"She got a name yet?" Daryl looks to Carl.

"Not yet, but I was thinking maybe Sophia. Then there's Carol, too." Carl half smiles.

"And... Andrea. Amy. Jacqui. Patricia. Or.. Lori. I don't know"

Carl looks to the ground after saying his mothers name.

"Yeah.. you like that? Huh? Little ass-kicker" Daryl changes the subject, trying to lighten the mood.

It works, causing everyone to smile. Except me, I don't think anything could make me smile at the moment.