Daughter of a Dixon ✔️

68: Hard-Headed as Anythin'

As day rose upon us, putting the awful events of the previous night in our past, everyone began to clean up Alexandria's streets, taking the bodies of walkers to a place far away to be burned. For awhile, I just stayed with Alex and Lea, keeping them company. She was just as upset as he was; she couldn't stop looking at a polaroid picture I had taken of her, Alex, and Ben a few days ago. She wouldn't speak, and the expression on her face was one of unimaginable hurt.

When the afternoon came, Bailey approached me with the word that Carl was awake, and was asking for me. Without another word exchanged, I rushed over to the infirmary, my heart hammering in my chest.

Once I walked into Carl's room in the infirmary, I saw he was looking at a comic book. There was a hint of frustration in his left eye, the only one that was functional, but it faded away when he saw me.

He set the comic book down in his lap, and watched as I came and sat down in the chair beside the bed. "Are you okay?" I asked him, laying my hand atop his own.

He gave me a sad expression, but nodded his head nonetheless. "Yeah... are you?"

I gave him a reassuring nod, smiling softly in encouragement. Before he could ask where I had run off to the previous day, I went ahead and told him.

"I went on a run with Rosita. There's a building, pretty far from here, though, it had about thirty boxes of weapons; guns, explosives, ammo. We took eight, but there's a lot more when we need them."

"Why didn't you tell anybody?" he asked, a hint of anger making its way into his voice.

"Because if I did, they wouldn't have let me go."

"You didn't have to go," he said, shaking his head. "We were all worried sick... I was worried sick."

My hand tightened its grip on top of his own, but he moved his quickly, making it so our fingers were intertwined. I saw the sadness overtaking him, and his left eye became glossy.

"I can't lose you, Sidney; not you," he whispered, shaking his head lightly.

I sighed, and allowed my eyes to flick away from his before they lifted back up. "I can't lose you, either," I said in reply, and meaning every word of it.

His breathing hitched, but he provided me with a small smile anyway, trying to play off the fact that he was close to tears. As tough as Carl was, he had lost his eye, and had probably been worried beyond belief the previous day about me. He had been through a lot, not even bringing up the shock and trauma from the gunshot. All of that combined was enough to bring the toughest man alive to tears, let alone a sixteen year-old who'd already been through so much.

Without a second thought, I stood up, and took a step closer to the bedside. "Scoot over," I told Carl gently, and he moved to his left, giving me enough space to lie down beside him. I got beside him on the bed carefully, not wanting to hurt him in any way. Once I was comfortable, I draped an arm across his chest, using it also as a cushion for my head. He wrapped his right arm around my back, letting it rest on my shoulder blade.

I let my eyes close, considering I hadn't rested at all the previous two nights, and smiled softly as Carl let his head lie against my own. He exhaled softly, and I felt the even rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.

After everything that happened, it felt good to take a little time for myself, to be close to someone I loved in a positive way, a way that made me happy.

Then, before another thought could cross my mind, I fell into a much-needed, much-deserved sleep.

The next day, Rick and Dad were scheduled to go on a supply run to a nearby sorghum mill, which should've had a surplus amount of food for us to salvage. By then, Carl had been cleared to leave the infirmary; he was still on medication, and his bandage needed to be changed every four hours, but I knew that was better than lying around in bed all day.

Just as Rick was gathering the supplies for their supply run, Dad came over to me at the gazebo, where I was looking at yet another nursing book. Bailey had told me that I was progressing well, and soon she'd let me practice certain things on a dummy they had in the infirmary.

"'Aye," Dad said, walking under the sheltered building atop the bridge. I set my book down in my lap, and looked up to him curiously. "Come on, yer with us today. I already get yer stuff in the car."

"Really?" I asked, my eyes lighting up as I rose into a sitting position.

He gave me a nod, letting out an affirmative hum as he did so.

"Why? I thought you were mad at me for leaving the other day," I said, beginning to walk with him towards the car we were taking.

"Well, I ain't too happy, but I figured yer like me, hard-headed as anythin'. Can't really blame ya for that," he said, shrugging. "So, if yer gonna be goin' out there, makin' runs, might as well be in the company of me an' Rick."

I nodded, smiling softly. "Good reasoning, Dad," I told him.

He scoffed. "Yeah, 'M sure. But, lemme tell ya; you ever scare me like 'at again, you won't see the outside of these walls for a month."

I opened the backseat of the car door, but before I got inside, I turned back to my dad and looked at him. "Well, I'm sorry for scarin' you, but like you said, we're one in the same; hardheaded as anythin'... but, in the future I'll try and be a little more considerate."

He bobbed his head in a curt nod, and smiled quickly as he headed towards the passenger's seat of the car. "'Appreciate it," he said as he slid into the seat.

I followed his actions, getting in the rear-right side of the car and closing the door after me. Rick was already in the driver's seat, and he looked at both Dad and I, smiling when his eyes set sight on me.

"Ready?" he asked, and Dad and I both gave him a nod. He returned the gesture, and turned back around to start the car.

And with that, we pulled out of Alexandria's front gates, and onto the open road of the quiet world.