To celebrate the return of The Walking Dead television series this month, some writing friends and fans decided throw a Blog Hop. The hosts, Ruth Long, Sarah Aisling, & Lisa Hollar are keen Daryl Dixon fans, so the main theme consisted of a piece of flash that contained zombies and Daryl.
I found it tough initially to come up with something, and then after I read another writers entry, I was inspired and had trouble keeping within the word count! Here's my entry, which won me a surprising 2nd place. Hope you enjoy.
Family Life
Jeanie liked the night shift. Up in the tower she had a good
view over the compound, and the landscape beyond; the moonlight made it seem so
undisturbed.
Unlike the elders, she didn’t know any other type of
lifestyle, and this was the safest she’d ever been. She loved the commune they’d
created up here on Dixon’s
hill. They could survey every inch of land around it. Her father had been no
fool in picking it; there was no way anyone could surprise them up here.
They had restored the ruined mansion that had stood on it
and made it their own, fencing themselves in and making a fortress. The tower
she sat in had been her father’s favourite, and although he was too old to take
turns on the night shift now, he still came up from time to time to practise
with his crossbow. ‘You’ve gotta keep you hand in or you’ll lose it’, he’d say.
There weren’t as many walkers anymore and the herds had
become rare, so the risks were much lower than when Jeanie had first manned the
tower. Although when she spotted one stumbling along the peripheral fence, she was
quick to dispatch it with her crossbow, planning to collect the arrow when her
shift was over. Jeanie remembered when she was little and her dad teaching all
about crossbows and knives. She’d picked it up fast. Her mother hadn’t always
been happy about it, and had said so in front of her from time to time.
“She’s too young Daryl, please stop with the knives.”
“Carol, she’s gotta be able to hold her own, we might not
always be able to get to her.”
“She’s only five for Christ Sake! Let her be a child for a
little while.”
“She might not have a little while if we don’t teach her – I
won’t take the risk.”
“I don’t want my little girl thinking it’s normal to be a
knife wrangler.”
“Carol there is no ‘normal’ anymore! I’d rather she be a
live knife wrangler, than a dead princess!”
“Oh Daryl, that’s not what I meant.”
“It might not be Carol, but if you don’t let me do this it
might be her future. She’s my daughter too. Let me do this; teaching her is all
I’ve got.”
Jeanie missed her mum, but she was grateful a walker never
got her. Sometimes people just got sick, and the best they could do was tend to
them. The elders always talked about medicines and places called hospitals, but
those days were over, or least they thought they were.
Jeanie saw headlights through the trees and stood up,
looking through the sight on her crossbow. There wasn’t just one set of lights,
but several in a convoy. She rang the bell on the tower. She wanted everyone up
for this. The last time she’d seen these cars was when they left to go and find
medical supplies, and after several months everyone assumed they weren’t coming
back. Jeanie wanted to be joyous, but
caution was always warranted; it might not be their family driving.
She ran down the tower meeting her brother at the bottom.
“Is it them Jeanie?”
“I think so Merle, but we can’t be sure. Where’s dad?”
“He’s coming; you know he’s not as young as he used to be.”
“Yeah, but don’t tell him that!”
Jeanie grinned at her younger brother; he was the spit of
his father and named after an Uncle they’d never met.
People started pouring out of the house as the headlights
approached the main gate. Her father came to the front, his crossbow posed and
ready should the wrong people get out of the car.
Then the lights flashed twice, and everyone cheered. This
was the signal they’d been waiting for.
Jeanie’s heart surged as she watched Carl climbed out of the
driver’s side, and raced to the fence so she could run into his arms. And it
was lucky she did as he fell into them, barely able to stand.
“Carl, what is it?”
“It’s okay Jeanie, it’s nothing, just a scratch.”
But she knew he was lying as she virtually carried him
through the gates.
“Did you find a hospital?” Daryl called as the group
stumbled out of the cars, several more clearly wounded. “What happened?”
“We found a hospital, but it was occupied.” David replied.
“Occupied? By who?”
“Not sure, but he knew who we were, said ‘any enemy of the
governors was an enemy of his’.”
“Governor? That’s gotta be twenty years ago?”
“He ran us off. As you can see they were well armed.”
“Shit, this is not good. I thought those times were over.”
Daryl cocked his crossbow. “Did they follow you?”
“No, they didn’t leave the hospital.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. We camped outside town for a few weeks, most of us
weren’t fit enough to travel – especially Carl.”
Daryl looked round. “Darren, John, Evie?”
David shook his head. “They didn’t make it.”
“So no medical supplies then?”
“Some, but not enough.” David handed Daryl a duffel bag, it
was half full.
Daryl helped David through the gate with the rest of their
haulage.
“What do you reckon David, should we go back and give it
another try?”
“You’d have to convince me there’s something worth taking
first.”
“What do you mean?”
“They beat us due to quantity not quality; many of them looked
sick, and there weren’t any young people.”
“That’s good.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah, it means we don’t have to do anything. We can stay
put and decide what we wanna do.”
“There’s got to be other hospitals.”
“Yeah, we’ll look into that, but first lets get you lot
healed up.”
They all went up to the main house and gathered in the hall.
Despite the sorry state of those that had returned they were all pleased to be
together again.
(983 Words)
