protected || book 2 of 'she's a dixon'

chapter 4

today was the day that the rest of us were gonna head to the farm.

finally. we'll all be back together.

dad and i rode merle's motorcycle. dale followed with andrea and carol in the rv and in another car.

the farm is big. and beautiful. it looks peaceful. and most importantly, it seems safe.

we pulled up to the large white house that stood in the middle of the farm. i got off dad's motorcycle right as rick came outside. i ran up to him and he held his arms out for me. once i reached him, he gave me a bear hug and rested his head on mine.

"is he ok?" i immediately asked. he lightly nodded. "yeah. he just woke up if you wanna go see him" rick said. i nodded and lori took me inside.

"hey" i said to carl as he opened his eyes. he smiled. "you're ok. i was worried about you" carl said.

"worried about me? why?" i said lightly chuckling. "you're my bestfriend. i don't want anything to happen to you" carl said. i smiled.

"ok baby, you need to sleep. come on reagan." lori said putting her hand on my back.

i went into the kitchen area where t-dog was along with hershel's family. "here. take it. help your blood stream" i said tossing a pill bottle to t-dog. "thanks" he said looking at it.

"how do you know this?" hershel asked. he was the owner of this farm. "i like medicine" i admitted. "i can teach you some more if you'd like. i mean i'm a veterinarian, but it's essentially the same" he offered. i gave him a small smile. "sure" i said nodding.

i joined my dad back outside. a short time later we had a 'funeral' for someone that hershel's family lost.

later, we discussed the disappearance of sophia with hershel and his daughter. hershel said that rick and shane can't go and help look for her.

"looks like it's just me and you dad" i said looking up at him. "no. you're staying. you're safe here" dad said looking at the map. "i'm going" i said in a serious tone. "no you ain't. stay here with rick" dad said looking me in the eye.

"you can keep carl some company. i know he'll want to hang out with you. plus i need you here with me to...discuss some things" rick said looking at hershel in the end. i sighed. "fine" i said plainly. i wasn't happy about this.

"i'm gonna head back to the creek and head my way back from there" dad said. everyone agreed with that plan.

then shane offered to go check back on the interstate. hershel told us he didn't want us armed on his property.

rick put his gun on the car hood and so did shane. rick then looked over at me. i sighed and took my pistol out of my holster and sat it with theirs. "i ain't turning over my bow" i said looking over at hershel. "you can put it in the rv" rick said nodding his head.

i looked at dad and rolled my eyes.

rick then suggested we have someone on lookout with a rifle. "reagan, you and dale can do that" rick suggested. i nodded.

i then went over and helped set up where we would be camping. make myself useful.

after helping for a bit, i tagged along side my dad before he left. rick was sitting on some steps when he called my dad over. "you ok on your own?" rick asked walking over. "better on my own. best when i'm with rae but you are still gonna stay here" dad said talking to both rick and i.

"i'll be back before dark" he said walking off and leaving me with rick. dad then left.

hershel came out to rick and i. "this isn't permanent. i hope you realize that. and reagan, you want me to start teaching you some stuff now?" hershel said. i nodded.

hershel then led me through the house. we sat down at his dining room table. "so tell me what you would like to learn and i'll see if i can help you" hershel said looking me in the eye. "i need to learn first aid. stitches and stuff like that" i said. "i can definitely help you there" he said smiling and getting up.

he went over to get the materials needed to teach me. "i'm happy that a young person like you is interested in learning this kind of thing." he said coming back with a smile.

the next 45 minutes, hershel taught me how to properly do stitches on a person, how to cover them up and make sure they won't get infected, and briefly went over what kind of medicine to use even though i somewhat already knew that.

"thank you" i said smiling once we were done. "anytime reagan. want to do another lesson tomorrow? maybe i can explain in detail on what i did to save carl?" hershel suggested. "sure" i said smiling.

i then went to go find rick. but instead, i found glenn being lifted down in a well. "the hell is going on here?" i yelled once i heard the snarles of a walker down in the well.

"getting this walker out of the well to help pay our part of staying here" dale said. "where have you been?" shane asked looking directly at me. "hershel's been teaching me some things" i said going over and observing the situation.

everything was going ok until the water pipe broke. i grabbed hold of the rope as fast as i could to help glenn.

we were all holding it for dear life and trying to pull him back up. it was a group effort but we eventually got him back up.

one he was back on the surface, i put his head in both of my hands. "thank god" i whispered resting my forehead in his hair. "i'm ok reagan, i'm ok." he said panting.

we managed to get the well walker mostly out of the well. right when it got to the surface, it's body ripped in half and all of its guts went down into the well. i sighed. t-dog killed the walker.

a little later that evening, dad can back. i was with rick and hershel when he came back. dad walked over, gave me a hug, and planted a kiss on my forehead. "i'll be right back. i gotta give somethin' to carol" he said.

that's when i noticed that he had a cherokee rose with him. i smiled at the thought. he always told me the story of the cherokee rose when i was little. it's a symbol of hope.

when he came back he smiled when he saw me. "i got you one too, i know how much you love these" he said. he tucked my hair behind my ear then put the flower there.

"i love you reagan" he said. he sounded like something was bothering him. "i love you too dad" i said hugging him.