Playing For Brains

"Hey, I'm heading out on a run with Rosita and Denise. Are you going to be okay while I'm gone?"

Daryl stood in the doorway to Arlie room at the top of the stairs, not wanting to enter into the room and invade Arlie's space. Arlie had been distant since the group meal, staying in her room for the past four days, not having much to say to those that stopped by to check in.

"I'll be fine, just be careful out there. If you get in trouble don't be a hero okay. She isn't worth it"

Daryl grunted in recognition, their doc wasn't all that good at defending herself and taking her out there was a big risk, but she knew her stuff about what medical supplies they needed so it made more sense. Arlie wished she could have gone with them, but Rick had made it clear to take it easy and keep out of everyone's way until things cooled down and going on a run wasn't the best of moves right now. Leaving Daryl with the less able individual.

But if Arlie was honest to herself, she wasn't in the mood to go out there anyway. She had lost a sense of purpose over the last week. She felt like she was a burden to the group, and she didn't know where she stood with them anymore. Sasha wasn't the only one that she was worried about.

"We gotta play our part and pretend we belong right. Means we gotta try" Daryl stated as he walked out the door. Arlie wondered when the redneck had accepted his new place in the community. He had changed so much over the past months. He was the most unexpected ally in this place. After their rocky start. It reminded her to check in on the youngest Green when she had a chance. She hadn't been the chattiest when Beth had come to check in on her the past few days.

Beth came over around two as she had been doing the past couple of days. Arlie came down to meet her in the kitchen where she was dropping off supplies for the week from the pantry.

"Hey, you teach anything fun at the school today?" Arlie called across the room as she got to the entrance of the living room. Beth turned with a smile as she saw her friend across the room.

"We've been learning about the different states. It's nice to see you up and out of your room. You feeling up to making some cookies?"

Arlie nodded returning the smile. With everyone else out of the house it was peaceful, she knew with Beth that she was accepted no matter what, she didn't have to pretend around her.

The two spent the afternoon baking and chatting, helping the older blonde relax and relieve some of the worry that had been building since the meal. Suddenly the door burst open disturbing the peace, as an angry redneck came storming through the door followed by Rick, Glenn, Maggie and Carol.

Daryl began to pace the room, throwing his bag and crossbow onto the floor. He was covered in blood, sweat pouring down his face. Carol closed the door as everyone watched on, questioning what had brought on such behaviour.

'I'm gonna kill him' he muttered under his breath.

"What happened out there?" Rick began "Where is Denise?" he began to rub his hand through his hair and pace the room, mirroring the redneck's anxiety.

"She's dead because of that prick, I'm going to kill him" he shouted, balling his fists.

"Hey, hey, hey, you need to calm down. Tell us what happened, and we can sort this" Arlie tried to get through to the angry redneck resting her hand on his arm. He whipped his head to look at her, fist raised before his eyes found hers. He saw the way she flinched and quickly unclenched his fists. He stopped pacing and stood staring at the woman in front of him.

"The guy from the forest when we led the heard away. We ran into him on the way back. He shot Denise. She died because of me" his voice broke a little at the end, but he quickly corrected it.

"Hey, it's not your fault" Rick began, taking Daryl's attention away from Arlie "it's late, I will head over to the clinic to check on Eugene and speak to everyone tonight, then tomorrow we will have a meeting. All of us. Take the time to calm down and think of any information that might be useful" he glanced behind the redneck towards Arlie who gave him a small nod. She knew Daryl wouldn't get any sleep after this, he would blame himself until he found this guy.