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

chapter 7

everything was strange the next morning.

extremely strange. everyone was on.... edge.

there's a lot of secrets being kept within this group. and it's creating a very awkward environment.

when eating breakfast, no one talked. everyone looked uncomfortable. i just clung to my dad. he's the only one acting normal besides t-dog.

dad was sitting in a camping chair. i was sitting on the ground resting my back on his left leg.

carol was passing around scrambled eggs that she made. after eating for a couple of seconds, glenn stood up and awkwardly attempted to get our attention.

"uh, guys" he said fidgeting with his own hands. somethings up. "the barn is full of walkers" he said. i held my breath in for a second. everyone stopped what they were doing.

i looked up at dad and he was as confused and mortified as i was. we all quickly made our way over to the barn to investigate.

shane got the first look. all of us had mixed emotions about this.

shane either wants to kill the walkers or just flat out leave. rick doesn't want to kill the walkers because it isn't our land and he doesn't want to leave. carol doesn't want to leave because sophia is still missing.

shane is convinced that she's dead and thinks that we should just move on from the subject. dad thinks we're close to finding her since we finally have a lead on the situation.

everyone was disagreeing about everything.

then dad and shane started fighting, and rick tried to settle it. shane and dad tried to jump eachother. it was a group effort to hold them back from eachother.

once they were separated, i stood in between shane and dad because i know dad wouldn't risk anything to hurt me.

then rick and shane started yelling at eachother. all the yelling made the walkers inside the barn start to go crazy.

this morning is a complete and utterly mess.

dad wanted to go back out there to go look for sophia again. he needs to rest so he can completely heal up. i tried to convince him to stay, but he claims he wants to do something useful.

he then ran out towards the horses stable. "i give up" i muttered slamming myself down on the camping chair he was sitting in earlier. "i'll try" carol said before running off after dad.

i fidgeted around with a stick that i picked up off the ground. i was pissed off. "don't take it too hard on yourself kid. your dad is just stubborn and really wants to find the girl" dale said loudly from the top of the rv. i looked up at him. "how bout you come up here and hang out with me" dale said motioning me towards him.

i climbed up the rv's ladder. dale patted the chair next to his. i sat down on it. "dad told me the reason he ain't been letting me go search with him. he said he doesn't want to put my life at risk. he thinks i'm safe here. without him. i'm not so sure anymore...." i said.

dale sighed. "well, if it makes you feel any better, i know you can handle yourself out there. you may not realize it but you are a complete bad ass. you intimidate everyone here" dale said looking at me. i gave him a small smile. he did make me feel better.

a short time later, dad started making his way back towards us. he was clearly in pain. i quickly got off the rv and made my way towards him.

"dad lay down and let me make sure you're ok" i said. "i'm fine" he said making his way past me. i caught up to him.

"no your not." i said. "i said i'm fine!" he yelled. he got in my face. "you don't have to be on my back every damn second! if i say i'm alright, then i'm alright!" he yelled even louder.

i gave him a glare, then rolled my eyes, and stared to walk way. "don't you dare roll your eyes at me reagan cherokee dixon!" he yelled grabbing my arm. i yanked it from him and stormed off to the tent.

i grabbed my bow. "reagan, you don't need to be using that right now" rick said stopping me. i threw down my bow to the ground and stormed off to the horse stable.

i opened one of the lots and started petting the horse. it slowly calmed me down. "hey" i heard carl say from behind me. "hi" i said quietly still petting the horse.

"you ok?" he asked. someone must have sent him up here to check on me.

"my dad knows how to push my buttons. and every dixon has a really bad temper so that don't help" i said turning to face carl.

"trust me i know. i was with your dad and uncle a month before you came along" he said as i closed up the lot. "he just needs to give it a break. i know he's tryin' to help but he's gonna get himself killed" i said walking over to carl.
we stared making our way back to camp.

i spent the rest of the afternoon on the rv with glenn. dale like disappeared and he put glenn on watch.

as glenn went off with maggie, i saw my dad walking back with carol. but carol went her own way. "rae, come 'ere" he said calmly once he got closer to the rv.

i climbed down the latter and mat him at the ground. "look, i'm sorry" he said looking down at the ground. "it's alright" i said quietly. the rest of the group was gathered at hershel's house at this point.

dad and i made our way over there. he got mad once more when he realized no one went off to search for sophia today. then shane approached with a bag of guns.

"you two with me?" he asked holding out a shotgun for my dad. "yeah." dad said handing the gun to me. shane then gave my dad a gun for himself.

shane started handing guns out. he then tried to give carl a handgun. lori went off on him but got cut off by t-dog. "oh shit" he said looking off in the distance.

there was hershel and rick handing two walkers. they weren't killing them though, they were walking them. they had one of those sticks that they use of animals. you have to be kidding me.

i trust ricks judgment, but i could never consent to this.

we all ran over with shane leading. dad and i were running right behind him along side of t-dog.

once we got to the scene, dad held his shotgun up so i did the same. better safe than sorry.

shane started shooting the walker hershel was holding with a handgun. but he wasn't killing it. he was trying to make a point.

once the point was made though, he did kill the walker. shane then started yelling and saying how we need to stop waisting time and risking our life's of stupid things. he then ran over to the barn and started breaking the locks. he was going to let the walkers out for us to kill.

dad and i kept our positions. the flood of walkers then started coming out. dad ran closer and started shooting them. i looked back at hershel before doing the same.

the ones of us that had guns shot the walkers that came out one by one. we lined up in a tight formation. i was in between dad and t-dog. we shot al of them that game out. hershel's family were all in tears. but it had to be done.

i lowered my gun right as i saw a depressing sight.

sophia. as a walker.

coming out of the barn.

looking at us as if we were all food.

carol started running towards her, but dad held her back while she was sobbing. i pushed my lips together at the sight. i just stood there in shock.

sophia made her way towards us. rick decided he would do the job that no one else wanted to do. he held his hand gun up, and shot sophia in the head.