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The new names and faces come quickly to you and you think you've got a handle on most of the group's dynamics. Daryl and Carol you knew by name already. Rick, Sasha and Tyreese you got to know as the rescue plans unfolded.
The tough woman you'd left back at the church with the sword has a name that starts with an M, the teenager with the hat is Carl and the baby something like Judy. You didn't catch the preacher's name at first. You didn't expect to ever see any of them again.
You've made some stupid decisions, some desperate decisions, and that's how you got to meet Daryl. Being uncomfortable in the zombie apocalypse is nothing new to you but something about that van ride with a filthy, angry, crying redneck shook you to the core. This was the kind of guy you avoided at all costs back Before. This, you thought as he drove you into the night, was the kind of hillbilly whose ancestors dragged yours behind a truck in the 60s. But then you'd arrived at the church and found that there was much more to the guy than you could've imagined in such a short amount of time. None of it ever involved lynching you.
Up until this point it's been obvious that no one's trusted you or thought of you as one of their own. Something changed when Dawn shot Beth, or just before that really, when she'd added you to the deal. It wasn't unexpected but it was dirty, it was stupid, and you'd resigned yourself out of respect for that girl and her strength that you'd be the final sacrifice to get her out and back with her people. And then Beth died.
This was Beth's family and now it will be your own until you get back home because that's how she would have wanted it. Everyone respects how Beth would have wanted it.
Maggie is Beth's older sister and she's been a shivering, moaning, mourning wreck for about three days now. Glenn is her husband and he's had his hands full taking care of them both. Everyone made camp together on a ridge just outside of Atlanta and unlike the situation at Grady Memorial your help to this group comes willingly. You limp and stumble around the camp but you are genuine and people respond to that. Rick nods at you as he goes about his business. Tyreese has a smile for you as he comforts his sister.
You now know that the lady with the sword is Michonne, the baby is Rick's Judith, and the preacher's name is Gabriel.
Carol is quiet and gentle like Beth but with that same steel and fury in her eyes. She puts a thin hand on your shoulder as she passes by and offers you a tired smile. You like Carol a lot and think back on how you met her. The shame and frustration bubbles up but it's all forgotten on her end. She's good like that.
″Hey, wait,″ you say, and Carol pauses behind you. She's got a few more than two gallon jugs of water in a canvas bag slung over her shoulder and a raised eyebrow. You think about offering your help but she doesn't need it. She wouldn't take the help even if she did. ″Uh, is Daryl okay?″
He'd cried over Carol, (he was still crying over Beth), and showed such open, obvious emotion and attachment to these people and yet had a strength to do what must be done. The lack of cruelty in him is so hard to accept. You've been stuck in Grady for so long that you're still subconsciously categorizing people as abusers and victims. Trying to figure out where Daryl would have fit into that place is impossible.
″Daryl's strong,″ Carol says. Well, you knew that.
You've been thinking about Daryl a lot, trying to square the redneck with the cigarette who watched you struggle beneath the shelf with the man who avenged Beth and then reverently carried her body away. You don't know if you'll ever be used to people having actual depth.
″Yeah, but,″ you stop to smooth down your t-shirt and start over again. ″I haven't seen him in a few days.″
Carol cocks her head to the side, smiles, and then she's shifting the weight of the sack to the other shoulder and walking again. She says over her shoulder, ″Don't worry about it. Rick's taking care of him.″
Like that's an answer. What's that even got to do with anything?