บท 17: Dark Night

"Rick, see me outside", Damian told Rick separately after seeing Shane giving him some spare bullets and walked out to his van. Rick came following after him with the others and saw Damian pulling something out from his van. Damian had only kept two assault rifles, three pistols with 12 cartridges each, and some knives, tomahawks and grenades with him before hiding the supplies. He brought out a Beretta pistol, and a M4 Carbine AR with several cartridges and passed it to Rick. "Take them with you. Bring them back safely", he said. Rick looked at the weapons Damian had easily passed to him with astonishment and nodded before saying, "You had weapons", Rick asked questioning Damian who answered with a nod. Rick put the guns in the RV as others arrived and soon, they left the campsite.

Coming inside, everyone had started doing their own stuff. He went to Dale to ask if he could put more wooden fences surrounding the area who welcomed his contribution. Damian cut few trees in the forest with the axe he borrowed from Jim and peeled its skin. He then asked Shane and Jim to help him drag the them back to the camp who came to help. "Hey, you think Rick did right to go back to bring him?", Shane asked Jim who looked unsettled but said, "I don't know. He left his family here alone. I wouldn't do that", as he said that he put his head down. "Yeah. I know right. He has been like that. Always running behind things that are not worth it while leaving those who should be everything to him. What do you think, Damian?", Shane asked him. "Well, I think he felt guilty of leaving a person on his own. Whether the man they left was bad or not, Rick must have felt responsible for tying him up there. I wouldn't want anyone to leave me like that. Would you?", he looked at Shane. "As for his family, he left because he trusts you guys to protect everyone here. He trusted you. You're his best friend after all", he added. Shane nodded but didn't say anything further. He cut the logs and turned them into long sticks and spears, peeling it on the edge with a knife to make them sharper. Soon, Carl came to them and asked Shane to teach him how to catch frog, who looked at others for break and left with Carl.

While working with Jim, he found out that Jim was a family man before all this happened. He lost his wife and child to the walkers. He got depressed and didn't want to talk about it any further as he too left Damian to do the work alone. Damian prepared a trap to capture walkers using the logs and spikes and positioned it in a place. He was about to build more, but he saw Ed entering his tent with a bloody face followed by his wife Carol. He saw Shane coming up in a bad mood towards him, "What happened?", Damian asked. "He was misbehaving with the ladies. So, I told him to behave". Damian didn't pursue any further and continued to build the traps and Shane joined him this time.

After a light lunch, Damian walked out for a bit and saw Carol and Carl peeking inside his van after their unsuccessful attempts of opening it. "What are you guys doing?", he asked the kids as he approached them. They were surprised by his sudden arrival and backed off from the van in an instant. "Sofia said she saw you giving guns to my dad. We were looking to see if you have more", Carl said. Damian looked at Sofia with a serious face which made her flinch and hide behind Carl in fear, holding his shirt's corner. Damian smiled looking at the scared kids, "And why would you need the guns?", he asked them. "We will protect this place", Carl said. Damian picked up Carl and put him on his shoulders saying, "Don't worry you guys, I'd protect you. Let's go back, your mothers must be looking for you", as he walked towards the camp while holding Sophia's hands. "Is your father alright?", he asked Sophia. "He is resting inside the tent. Mom put some cream in his injuries", she said while looking forward. "Don't worry. He'll be alright", Damian assured her while she nodded. As they reached the camp, they saw Dale telling something to the group as they started going to the hilltop following Shane's lead. "What happened?", Damian asked Amy who saw him arriving with the kids. "I don't know Dale says Jim is acting strange. He is digging up in the hilltop for no reason and isn't stopping even though Dale asked him to", Amy said as she as well as

Damian looked towards Hilltop. "Well, it's nothing that serious, I guess. He must be missing his family. Those people should leave him alone and let him bring out his frustrations and sadness", Damian said. Amy looked at him and asked, "Do you have a family somewhere?". "My mom and dad died a long time ago. I only had my grandfather. I don't know if he is even alive. I haven't seen him for years now", Damian went into thoughts talking about his life before all this happened. Amy replied, "I'm sure he's safe somewhere". "Thanks. I believe that too. In this world, we can only have faith", Damian replied as Carl started struggling to come down from his shoulders. Damian put him back down as he ran off with Sophia inside. "Oh, who caught so many fishes?", Damian asked happily. "Andrea and I caught them. Our father taught us", Amy said happily. "Oh great! Dinner's gonna be great tonight. Thanks in advance", Damian said smiling at her before leaving them. "Where are you going?", she asked. "I didn't finish my sleep today. Going to take a quick nap. Will you wake me up before sun sets, please?", he asked her and got a nod in response.

It was almost night, when Amy hurriedly came inside to wake Damian up. "Damian, hey, wake up", Damian opened his eyes and looked at Amy sitting beside him. He looked out and noticed that it was dark outside and then looked at Amy accusingly, "Sorry, I forgot about waking you up. I got busy preparing for dinner with Carol and Lori", she said apologetically. Damian rubbed his eyes and then said, "that's okay. I was going to stay up to keep watch at night anyway. Thanks for remembering me though", he said smiling. "Hey, can I get some water? Glenn's bottle is empty", he told her while holding the empty bottle. "Yes. I have a spare bottle. I'll bring it right away", she said as she stood up. "No need. I will follow you. I am thirsty", Damian said as he also stood up and walked outside with Amy and followed her. Soon, campfire started, and people as always ate together. Carol was also present among them today as his husband was inside the tent resting. Damian was keeping watch standing on the RV as Amy came up and offered him the burnt fish. "It's tasty. Thank you", he said. "Thank Carol, she prepared the food", she replied. Damian nodded and she descended to the ground and entered the RV. Damian sat down eating the remaining fish. A minute later just as he finished eating and was cleaning his hand with water from bottle, he heard a voice from below. As he narrowed his gaze, he saw several walkers approaching the camp. He suddenly shouted loudly, "Walkers... Walkers are inside", and looked down as a walker was just beside the gate of the RV. Amy suddenly opened the door and came out looking up at Damian who was aiming his gun at her. *Bang*. Amy opened her eyes and saw a walker that was just beside her had been shot by Damian. He jumped down and grabbed her hand. "Amy, stay behind me. Everyone, walkers are inside the camp", as he backed away shooting the approaching walkers, he shouted again to alert others. Shane started shooting with his gun while pulling Lori and Carl back while Andrea came running towards Amy. Jim was hitting the walkers in the middle, alone. "Jim, back off. Don't go further", Damian said, but Jim was busy hitting the walkers. Damian shot two walkers in front of Jim, and said, "Hey get back", Jim looked at him, but before he could step back, he got caught from behind by a walker that came out from Ed's tent. "Shit", Damian said, as he aimed to shoot the walker but wasn't able to pinpoint the walker as Jim was coming between the aim. Suddenly, a gunshot came from behind and the walker holding Jim fell down. Rick and his group came out from the dark shooting the walkers. The group shot every walker they could see while others were distancing themselves from the fight. Soon, all the walkers were dead. Daryl and Glenn informed the group that they would look around for anymore walkers while Rick came to his family, hugging them in relief. "No. Mom", a cry came from Sophia who dug her face on her mother after seeing that her father had died due to the walker. Carol didn't cry but embraced her daughter in shock. While Jim looked at everyone and said, "Guys...", showing his bit shoulder. Everyone stepped back in fear from and created a gap from Jim. Damian went close to him and looked at the bite while saying, "Does it hurt?". Jim made a painful but enduring expression and said, "I am okay. It burns a little though". "I'm so sorry, man", T-Dog approached him while he shook his head. "Oh god. Why?", Dale asked. "There were few walkers stuck in the traps outside. We killed them", Glenn said as they came back. The cheerful mood had suddenly turned into one with loss. "How did they reach here?", Shane asked the most logical thing. "There is no food left for them in the city. They're moving out", Daryl spoke though Damian didn't know if it could be possible. "This place is not safe anymore. We can't stay here", Morales said. "He's right. If Damian hadn't alerted us, more would have died today", Andrea said as she hugged Amy. "Thanks man", Shane looked at Damian. "No. I should've seen them coming. I was not alert enough. He died because of my carelessness", Damian looked at Ed's tent and said remorsefully. "I remember my dream now, why I dug the holes", Jim said as he hissed in pain.