Adult-FanFiction.org : Television / Streaming

A woman's worth.	By : SpikesSlayer08 Category: S through Z > The Walking Dead Views: 4517 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The walking dead or its characters. This is not for profit only fun.

Chapter List
- 17
- 18
- 19
Big thanks to all those for reading so far and to Jaded79 for beta-ing this chapter for me, let me know your thoughts.
Chapter 18
Haunted memories
It had been over a week since the attack on Carol. Daryl had returned to the Governor’s compound to prove or disprove if Ed was in fact still alive but the whole place had been levelled and was now crawling with walkers. He just hoped Ed had died in the explosion and if not Daryl would be ready for him.
Carol had been released from the clinic a few days ago but she had hardly talked to anyone. She mostly kept to herself working in the kitchen or garden. She couldn’t seem to look at Daryl and she had snapped more than once at both him and Sophia, but they knew she had been through hell and they needed to be patient.
She spent most of her days alone. Sometimes he saw Lori or Andrea approach her to try and keep her company but she eventually always walked away wanting to be alone. Sophia spent most of her days with him and Merle, not that Daryl minded she had even started calling him dad, but he just wished Carol would talk to him. He sat on the wall with Merle who was silent mostly these days too, unless he was talking with young Beth. Surprisingly they had become close friends quite quickly.
“She’ll talk to you eventually, just gotta give it time little brother,” Merle said noting Daryl watching Carol as she worked in the garden alone.
“What like you will?” Daryl turned his voice coming out harsher then he intended. “I’m sorry I’m just frustrated,” Daryl sighed, Merle shrugged nodding.
“I get it,” Merle replied. “Not a lot to tell really, once I got off that god forsaken roof I found a truck…”
“Our truck,” Daryl interrupted.
“I didn’t know that at the time,” Merle replied. “Was headed back to camp when the Governor and his men cut me off, they seemed alright at the time so I went with them, figured I could get settled in and then find you, bring you back to this safe compound they were talking up,” he sighed remember how foolish he was to think that place was safe.
“What happened?” Daryl tried to push him on.
“At first it was all good, but then I started to notice things, all men at the camp even though I had seen woman and kids brought in, started hearing rumours about lock ups and I went looking found a young girl and her daughter… kid would have been no more than five, they had her locked in this little cage and the mum was strapped to the table naked and bloody,” he whispered choking up as he remembered that day. “I got them out and into a car but I guess they realised they were missing so I gave the woman my gun and the keys and told her to get out of there… she got away but I stayed behind as a distraction.” Hot tears slipped from his eyes as he put his head down embarrassed.
“You did a good thing, you saved them,” Daryl replied. Merle looked up nodding wiping the tears from his face. “What happened then?”
“I tried to fight them to keep them distracted from the woman and her daughter, killed three of them before they overpowered me, they tossed me into a cell and left me there with no food or water, not sure for how long, days, weeks, finally they let me out and made me promise to behave or they would feed me to the walkers they had on the grounds… after that I tried to not see what happened or the people they brought in but when I saw Carol I knew I had to do something… I tried to get him out of the room, telling him we had walkers close by but he refused to leave so I had to wait till they left her alone.”
“You have no idea how grateful I am for what you did for her,” Daryl said laying a hand on his brother’s shoulder.
“I didn’t do much, wish I could have done more… just give her time.” Daryl nodded looking back at the garden noticing she was gone, he looked around seeing Sophia with Hershel and Beth; Maggie was with Glenn and Lori and Andrea with Carl.
“You alright to watch for a moment?” Daryl asked standing.
“Yeah,” Merle nodded as Daryl climbed down the ladder and headed inside the prison. Hershel noticed the man rush inside and followed him in.
Daryl moved towards their room. As he headed down the hall, he noticed the room door was shut which made him panic even more. Picking up the pace, he all but ran past Rick and T-Dog who were walking down the hall.
“Hey Daryl everything alright?” Rick called out but Daryl ignored him. Something was wrong he could feel it. Jerking the room door opened, he saw her stand from the bed turning fast to face him. He saw the bloody knife in her hand and noticed she had blood dripping down her right leg.
“Carol sweetheart…,” he spoke softly, trying not to scare her but her hand was shaking as she pointed the bloody knife at him.
“Don’t come any closer… please I have to get rid of it,” she sobbed. He felt Rick and T-Dog come in behind him.
“Oh god,” he heard T-Dog gasp.
“Please Carol just put down the knife,” his voice begging her.
“You don’t understand, I just have to get rid of it then everything will be better,” she sobbed trying to get him to understand but she wasn’t making a lot of sense. Before he could speak again, she turned her attention back to her leg, he didn’t even get half way across the room and she had already cut a large chunk of flesh from her leg.
He grabbed hold of her trying to get the knife from her hand but she fought against him, screaming and thrashing in his arms. Rick and T-Dog moved to him finally getting the knife from her hands. Hershel moved into the room sticking a needle in her shoulder and he felt her go weak in his arms as she passed out. Scooping her up, he rushed her to the clinic.
Daryl sat watching as Hershel had patched her up. Despite the amount of blood, it turned out she hadn’t cut too deep and she wouldn’t need stitches but she had removed a large area of skin. Hershel had quickly realised what she had been trying to do, she had been trying to remove Ed’s name from her leg and she had been successful. An hour later, her eyes slowly fluttered open and she looked to see Daryl sitting beside her.
“I wasn’t trying to kill myself if that’s what you think,” she spoke, his head jerked up at the sound of her voice.
“Hey, I know.”
“I just had to get rid of it,” she whispered feeling tears start to rise up in her eyes.
“I know,” he nodded.
“Seeing it there every time I showered or got changed… it was a constant reminder,” she cried. He wanted to say something, anything but he could tell she was starting to open up so he just nodded. “He laughed when he did it, said it was ironic because of how I once said to him I would rather be your whore then his wife… when I first saw him at the compound I told him you and I were married now, I don’t know what I was hoping to achieve, maybe I just wanted to piss him off… guess I succeeded,” she sobbed letting the tears flow from her eyes.
“So he found it funny that now I was your wife and his whore as he put it… he wanted to make sure everyone knew that.”
“You’re not a whore and you’re not his anything, no matter what he said or did… you’re my woman,” Daryl said trying to reassure her, grasping her hand tighter in his and placing a soft kiss on it. She nodded chin quivering.
“I don’t know how you could want me, how you can even look at me after what they did.”
“What they did to you doesn’t change who you are or how I see you, just confirms that their sick, cowardly bastards… I love you for who I know you are, nothing and I mean nothing will ever change that.” All she could do was sob as he moved to hold her, letting her cry it all out, hoping with time she would open up fully and leave it all behind.
Later that night, Carol sat out on the wall. She didn’t have watch, Rick and Glenn did, but she liked sitting up on the wall it was quiet and peaceful. No one bothered her they just walked the wall and did their job. Hearing someone walk up the ladder she figured it must be Daryl looking for her and was surprised when Andrea took a seat beside her, a bottle of Jack Daniel’s in hand. She took a sip before handing it to Carol. Taking it, Carol took a quick sip cringing when the liquor burnt her throat.
“I understand what you’re going through,” Andrea spoke taking the bottle from her and taking another sip for herself before continuing. “I was nineteen and was heading home after a late study session when I realised I had left my headlights on and my car battery was dead… I couldn’t afford a tow truck and I didn’t want to wake my roommate up so I figured I would just walk back to my apartment and get my roommate to give me a jump start in the morning.” Taking another large gulp, she handed the bottle back to Carol.
“I was maybe five minutes from home when I was attacked by two men, they beat and raped me before strangling me, they must have thought I was dead because they left me there… it was hours before I was found by a couple of early morning joggers, half naked, bloody and barely alive… I thought I would never be able to move past what they did to me and even after they were caught and locked up; it still didn’t change what had happened that night. It took me a really long time to let go of what had happened but eventually I did.” Carol couldn’t believe her ears; taking a deep breath, she looked at the ground below before speaking.
“They took turns raping me while the other watched, sometimes the one watching would get up and hit me, cut me but I guess it got boring because after a while they started to rape me together,” she confessed taking a large gulp of the bourbon. She couldn’t believe she had just said that; she hadn’t told anyone anything about the attack aside from the little information she had given Daryl earlier that day. But for some reason knowing Andrea had gone through something similar seemed to make it easy to talk to her about it.
An hour later, Daryl got up from his bed, looking over at Sophia’s sleeping form he couldn’t help but worry about Carol. She had said she was going to sit on the wall as she wanted time alone. Rick had promised to keep a close eye on her so he had agreed to let her go but now he was starting to worry. Moving out of the room, he stopped seeing Andrea and Rick with Carol balanced between them. She was giggling and stumbling and that is when Daryl noticed the half empty bottle of Jack Daniel’s in Andrea’s hand.
“You got her drunk?” he snapped.
“It’s not what you think big guy,” Andrea tried to explain as they laid Carol down on the bed. She was out before her head even hit the pillow. “She didn’t have a lot but it turns out she can’t hold her liquor at all.”
“That’s crap!” he snapped at her again.
“No, it’s true I was keeping an eye on them, she really didn’t have a lot,” Rick defended Andrea. “I better get back to watch,” he said as he left the room and Daryl and Andrea glaring at each other.
“Get out Annie Oakley,” he snarled and she couldn’t help but sigh as she headed for the door, but before leaving she turned to face him.
“I didn’t mean to get her drunk, if I knew she was such a lightweight I wouldn’t have offered her any, I just wanted her to relax maybe open up a little.”
“Did she?” he asked needing to know, his voice softer and not nearly as annoyed.
“Yes but before you ask, I can’t tell you, that has to come from her.” He sighed nodding.
“At least she is talking to someone… thanks,” the last word coming out as a soft mutter she only just heard; she smiled nodding.
“Look I know it’s not my place but I’ve noticed how she keeps snapping at you and Sophia, trying to push you both away… it’s normal.”
“I thought you were a lawyer back in the day not a shrink.”
“I was, but I was also a rape survivor,” she admitted, his head shot up at this. “Everything she is doing is a very normal response to what she has gone through but just be strong. Don’t let her push you away no matter how hard she tries; she will need you more then she realises… it’s one thing to be depressed and scared but it’s a whole other thing to be depressed, scared and alone, believe me I know and that way leads to badness,” she whispered running her hand across her wrist and for the first time Daryl noticed the twin scars on her wrists where she had clearly tried to take her own life.
“Thank you,” he whispered amazed at everything he had just learned. She smiled softly nodding before leaving them. Shutting the door, he turned sighing and slipping under the covers with Carol, cupping her cheek he prayed she never tried to do anything like that. If he lost her it would be the end of him.
- 17
- 18
- 19
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

A woman's worth.