𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 ↠ 𝘤.𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴

3: Dixon Number Two

Everyone sat around the warm fire, as the temperature dropped each night. Elle had spent the day figuring out everyone's names and faces.

"Disoriented. That's what comes closest." Rick spoke, all eyes on him as he told his story about waking up in the hospital and how he got to the point he's at now. He told them about how a man named Morgam helped him and told him what was going on.

Elle sat in her lawn chair just looking at the ground, trying to avoid the few pairs of eyes that fell on her. She dug the toe of her shoe into the dirt out of stress. Could you blame them for staring at her? They watched as Shane pinned her to the ground and announced that he arrested her. Most of them didn't even know her name, yet they judged her.

As if reading her mind, Dale spoke up. "We never caught your name." He took a swig of his beer as all eyes shifted from Rick to her.

Before she could answer for herself, Shane responded. "Elle Clarke. Born September sixth, 1998. She was in sixth grade and taking two eighth grade classes before the dead started walking. She's a smart one. " He sat back in his chair wearing a smug smirk.

"Flattered you remember me." Elle kept a straight face. Her and Shane would never get along, she's accepted that by now, not that she really wanted to be friendly with him at all.

"You're the Elle Clarke everyone talked about at school? I wasn't at school that day." Carl spoke up from his father's side. 

"Yes, I became quite popular after my 'incident'. As I was arrested in front of the entire sixth and seventh grade." She said.  

"Glenn and Elle saved my life. When I was trapped in that tank, Elle was hiding in a bar across the street while Glenn saw from an alley. They radioed the tank and got me out. I trust her. There's no reason any of you shouldn't." Rick said defending her. She smiled at him and he happily returned it. 

"What are we supposed to tell Daryl?" Andrea asked, changing the subject. Daryl was Merle's younger brother and the two of them stuck by each other like wet on water.
 
"We could lie." Amy suggested.

"No, we tell the truth. He was a threat to the group and our safety, we handled it. He was asking for it." Elle argued. "He was high and popping off rounds as if we have unlimited ammunition."

"I'll do it. They were my cuffs" Rick offered.

"No, I dropped the key, its my fault." T-Dog said.

"Look, I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy." Glenn interfered, sounding slightly embarrassed. They understood. People said Daryl went on a hunting trip yesterday before the group left and wasn't gonna be back until tomorrow, meaning they had until tomorrow to figure out how to tell him that his brother was handcuffed to a pipe on the roof of a building in the middle of a walker infested city.

"Well everyone should get some shut eye." Dale said, putting an end to the conversation. As everyone got up, Elle stayed put, she didn't have anywhere to sleep. She never thought about it. Sleep was rare these days and these people acted as if it was normal. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen a single walker since she's been here at the camp. As Shane finished putting out the fire, she built up the courage to walk up to him.

"Shane?" She asked.

"What's up?" He grumbled.

"Look, I get it, I'm a bad influence on the kids here or whatever. But you need to know when to stop talking about it. My intention wasn't to scare anyone when I was hitting that kid. It was to show him that he can't expect someone not to fight back just because he's bigger. He was hurting my friend, so I stepped up. So can you please just not talk about it? I know you don't like me, and we won't get along, but it would help if everyone wasn't seeing me as some hardened criminal." She looked at him with pleading eyes.