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

chapter 5

in the morning, we discussed more ground that we needed to cover to try and find sophist

dad explained his plan. he's going to take a horse up to where a cliff is so that he can get a good view of everything. i insisted on going with him but he refused. he wants me to stay back at the camp again.

i don't know what's up with him.

usually he insists on me going with him. now he's insisting on me staying behind. and he said it himself, he's best when i'm with him. so i have no clue what's going on. i don't feel like arguing with him today so i just shut up after he said no to me going with him.

dad brought up his chupacabra he saw. well, dale did. dad felt very offended when everyone made fun of him. rick looked over at me for an explanation. "don't look at me. i wasn't with him when he saw it." i said raising my hands up in the air.

the rest of the day i either spent with hershel or carl. carl and i just talked about random things.

hershel however gave an step by step process on how he operated on carl. it was neat having someone teach me this. hershel must have spent 2 hours on today's medical lesson.

we also decided that as long as my group is staying here, we will have a lesson every single day. all of this will come in handy some day.

once it got evening, rick came back with shane. andrea and t-dog also came back. but my dad wasn't back yet. so i just stayed by rick's side.

"walker! walker!" andrea yelled from on top of the rv where she was keeping watch. i was getting ready to head into action before rick stopped me. "stay here. we'll handle it. just keep an eye out for more for me" he said quickly. i nodded. as some of the boys ran down there, rick yelled at andrea not to shoot. but she kept her gun up.

i decided to look through my scope on my bow to see what the boys were dealing with. it wasn't a walker. it was my dad. he was just covered in blood. "ANDREA! DON'T SHOOT!" i screamed as loud as i could.

i then slung my bow on my back and started sprinting towards them. they were all stopped because they realized that it was dad and that he was living.

i was about halfway to dad when a gun shot went off and dad was on the ground. "NO!" i screamed. i sprinted over to my dad who was on the ground.

"daddy" i said once i reached him. i knelt down next to him. "i'm fine" he grunted. rick and shane helped him up and started walking him back to hershel's house. he passed out.

andrea and dale ran over as glenn picked up dad's crossbow and handed it to me. i lifted it up right to andrea's head. "REAGAN! no!" rick yelled right as glenn pounced on me. he held me down until i calmed down a little bit.

"reagan, i didn't mean to. i thought he was a walker and-" andrea started to say right as i got off the ground. i cut her off by bitch slapping her across the face. it immediately left a handprint. i then gave her the death stare and ran after rick who was holding onto my dad.

glenn ran after me in attempts that he would be able to calm me down. dad and shane carried dad up to hershel's house. i followed.

they layed him on the bed. "all of you out except for reagan. i'm gonna need your help. rick stay on stand by" hershel said. i nodded and went over to his assistance.

hershel fixed up head first. he woke up after that. "hey dad" i said calmly. "hey baby" he mumbled. hershel then moved to his stomach and dad saw the supplies for stitches. rick then came in. "hey reagan, you said you learned how to do stitches. here's your chance to do em" dad said stopping hershel. hershel looked over at me and i nodded.

rick watched. hershel handed over the supplies as i started working on my dad. i panicked at first with the thought of a needle going through my dad's skin, but he showed no pain and that calmed me down. "yep, just like i showed you" hershel said once i started.

i successfully stitched up my dad's stomach. "good job reagan" hershel said smiling. he was proud of me. rick was too. so was dad. they're glad they finally have someone who knows how to do this.

dad then explained to rick, hershel, and i where he found sophia's doll at. and exactly what happened to him. damn, my dad went through a lot today. after everyone left i stayed behind with my dad.

"hey dad?" i said. "hm" he responded. "what's up with you? you always want me to go with you and do things like this but now you want me to say behind?" i said. he sighed. and then he turned to look at me.

"you wanna know the reason why i haven't given up hope for sophia like everyone else? it's because i have a daughter. i understand the love that a parent has for their little girl. i went through what carol is going through. and i don't want it to happen again. i want to know your safe at all times. i don't want to be risking your life by taking you with me. i love you way too much." he said looking me in the eye the entire time. i gave him a sad smile. "i love you too" i said holding onto his hand.

i stayed by my dad's side for the rest of the evening. neither of us saying much. we just wanted to be with eachother. i heard a knock at the door. i looked up and it was carol. "honey, dinners ready" carol said. i nodded and she left. "i'll be back in a bit" i said giving my dad a kiss on the cheek and leaving the room.

at the dinner table i sat next to hershel. i've grown quite fond of him over these past couple of days.

no one said anything at the dinner table. once i finished hershel said "reagan, take your father a plate. and a glass of water". i gave him a small smile. i filled up the plate i just used and got a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

"dad, i brought you some food" i said walking back into the room dad was in. "thanks. did ya eat?" he asked. i nodded. i then sat back down next to his bed.

"tomorrow when shane is teaching shooting, it'll give you a chance to prove yourself to these pricks" dad said quietly. i lightly chuckled. "that's one way to look at it" i said.

i started drifting off to sleep as time went by. that was until rick showed up at the door. "reagan i got your sleeping bag. i had a feeling you would probably want to stay in here" he said. "thanks" i said as he handed it to me. he then left. "nah, you sleep up here with me. there's enough room" dad said scooting over. "you sure?" i asked. "mhm" he said quietly.

i crawled into the other side of bed. i then rested my head on his chest. i didn't care how dirty he was. i felt him kiss the top of my head and i drifted on to sleep.