CHAPTER THIRTEEN
     just for one day

⠀The people who were left prudent enough to speak, and function within their own dispositions ━ not the remnants of a small, ingenuous personality ━ were faced with a individual curling into his own tears and a girl who gently clutched whatever was left of Lori.

⠀"Rick?" Daryl knelt down unhurriedly, the presence of Marley right beside him, trying to wave some sort of rejoinder from his comrade. But it was to no avail as the incoherent leader stared at nothing in precise.

⠀The grief was slowly eating away at him, and like with physical injury, it got to a point where there was no more screaming to do.

⠀"Let me see the baby." Daryl retained Hershel's unyielding voice from far behind him, and the subordinate of that made him revolve on his heel and quickly loom over Marley's image.

⠀She didn't even appear to regard him, except too preoccupied with taking in every element of the cherub in her arms. Her bloodied skin, the gums in her mouth opening wide to a steep wail. The redhead he knew so well was not unsettled at the noise for even a second, as she only delineated her small hands over the baby's soft skin, in utter reverence.

⠀Like a mother bear, the way her arms gently encased the child seemed to be hazardously protective.

⠀The pitch of Hershel's crutches parroted across the courtyard, and he perceived the girl's need to move before she even did, and he let her slip past him as she gawked wildly at the crowd in front of her. The worry in her eyes was gradually swelling to a horrific crescendo.

⠀She didn't need to voice her desire not to be interrupted from her ardent saneness... she needed to stay in this dream where everything was good. Where the presence of the child wasn't a shadow of the calamity that had forcefully cracked itself through each member of the group.

⠀And everyone was familiar with the impression of Marley's impending collapse. How when you saw her this way ━ warning: do not touch. She was a dangerous and all too caring creature Daryl had gotten to know too well for his own inclination.

⠀And as her shoes abraded against the concrete, he kept his face half towards her, and half towards what she saw as the enemy. People that could shred her dream away with a simple sound, or touch. Marley was asleep. They must let this visie take her place for now.

⠀"Marls?" He didn't look at her, using the never-tired nickname to revive her mood. And he deemed it worked when she acknowledged him with a cutting, distressed smile. The tears and marks of outcries still stamped themselves across her cheeks. Eyes dark, and hooded ━ worn out.

⠀Marley was continuously trying her best to pick up her own pieces, so other people wouldn't step on them and cut their feet. Burn their legs with her past and her unformidable mood.

⠀It was his turn to do that for her.

⠀"Hey," was his greeting as his shifts were imperceptible like he was approaching a rabbit to hunt. But all he wanted to do was keep her in the illusion she so perilously needed. He let his crossbow to the ground, showing it off obviously as it bounced.

⠀But, still, she didn't look to welcome him. More steps backward.

⠀So this time, his knife. To the floor. His handgun. To the floor.

⠀In this new world or even the old, he didn't like to be unarmed. But when this girl challenged him, everything would fall to the ground.

⠀Hands up, in complete submission, she stalled her escape as Daryl neared her ━ trusting that this was the way to take care of her mind. (He'd had a lot of practice.)

⠀With that, even she started to move towards him, joining him in the middle to share the hope and exhilaration she felt for the child. How in her heart in that instant, nothing else mattered, and she believed that nothing else ever would. And she practically embraced him as she turned her back to him so he could watch over her shoulder at the newborn. Drawing the blankets from her face to reveal a very hungry, and plump character.

⠀Marley's words were solely for the two of them. "She's like her. Ze is zoals zij!" She's like her, she reiterated over and over. In English and her native tongue. Making it unclear who she was. But Daryl presumed she was talking about Lori.

⠀And the idea of that woman made Daryl's stomach clench and he gave a concise glance to the man crouched within himself.

⠀"Ik hou zoveel van je," was her ensuing chosen sentence, and all the man beside her understood was the first word.

⠀I. She was still raving in a delicate voice when Hershel started to proceed his way over. The heavy stomps of his crutches dismaying her, as she took no mind to them but to move back into Daryl's stance, looking for security.

⠀Soon enough, Hershel had arrived around the side. Marley's stormy eyes darting between the child and the old man, hooding them, eyeing his actions in case he tried to steal her from Marley. There was no spiteful intent when he glimpsed over the baby's sheets, to see she was thankfully healthy.

⠀And when he had a good enough look, he left the redhead in peace.

⠀She kept her back to her audience, and it made Maggie swallow heavily as the deranged girl only evoked her of why she was becoming that way. Of all the things she had put together over time, and the horrific thing she just had to do.

⠀Lori was dead, and this is what said mother had left in her path.

⠀"She looks healthy," the vet proclaimed, turning to his daughters, Daryl, and the young boy idly lurking under his hat. He was too old in his own soul to try and cry against Marley for holding the baby apart from him.

⠀Daryl now veering apart from Marley, picked up his weaponry as he marched over to the forming assembly. He felt a grimace as the prisoners he had spared looked onto their misfortune and held no expression. They should feel guilty, he thought to himself.

⠀Hershel continued with his understanding and mostly common sense. "But she needs formula, and soon or she won't survive." That time, he directly addressed the crossbow-wielder, knowing he was the comprehensive, and driven man for the job.

⠀Daryl only felt a twist for a moment ━ as he recalled to himself that the people around him scarcely knew Marley balanced to how much he had beheld, and learned of her fatal backstory -- leaving them with her, was an uncertain tale he didn't feel like walking in on when he got back. But, nonetheless, it was his job to preserve and provide for the group. He was going to do it against all his gut instincts. "No," he ultimately replied. "Not her."

⠀He glanced onto Marley for two simple, brief seconds. "We ain't losing nobody else." He wasn't certain who to pinpoint when it came to 'else'. "I'm going for a run."

⠀Maggie stood her ground, glaring into the sunlight. "I'll back you up."

⠀"Me too," Glenn gave up his employment for the duty, with no skepticism. He could still hear the tears on his girlfriend's tongue.

⠀"Okay, think where we're going," he waved a hand to the seventeen-year-old to his right. "Beth." And she bowed her head down to listen. "Kid just lost his mom... his dad ain't doing so hot. And..." He couldn't put into words his plea to look after Marley. "Her. And her."

⠀"I'll look out for them."

⠀With his mind at frail ease, he secured his crossbow over his shoulders, driving into effect with quick steps. "You two get the fence. Too many pile up, we got ourselves a problem!"

⠀"Glenn, Maggie, vámonos!"

⠀With Daryl in the rear of her ears, Marley took the opportunity to slowly make her way back into the cellblock. She didn't look or pay mind to where he was going, but she was sure it was necessary. Something she can rely on him for.

⠀A hard glance over her shoulder, and she scanned the rest of her group watching as the three soldiers ran onto their mission. No eyes on her. No regard. All but the boy in the sheriff's hat, wishing for a long look at his new sister.

⠀Marley ━ like a ghost ━ faded away back into the curtained gloom, seeking asylum in a new cell, as her's was too riddled with her nightmares and not fit for a newborn.

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⠀"I don't know any lullaby's, sorry."

⠀Marley kept her frozen smile as she painstakingly undid the bloody jacket covering the baby, in commerce for some spare sheets she had snagged from Lori's cell. She thought it would be wise to give the child something of her blood.

⠀They still smelled of that cheap, used up perfume Maggie had found in a pharmacy not too far away from the prison. It smelt of rubbing alcohol, and wilting poppies.

⠀The crows had started to get to her, scratching away at her bones, and turning them icy. She felt numb, and ineffective as the warmer covers were soon cocooned over the flailing, pale limbs.

⠀Marley had done her best to wash her, furiously rubbing her hands and holding a wet cloth between them to try and warm them up. Even with the bright, Georgian heat, she discerned that the warm would keep her safe.

⠀"Shh, shh, shh," Marley cooed, pouting her lips close the baby's forehead, praying to ease her craving screams. "It's all okay, we're safe. I won't let anyone hurt you." She rattled her brain for a song, a story. That's what she always adored when she was younger. She loved fantasies, and she loved lies. She liked to think that she could accept everything her father embellished.

⠀Stories of her mother coming from a kingdom residing in the clouds and the reasons she's always sad are because there's too much air weighing her down on the earth. Stories of her brother being made of steel and the reason he's so closed off are that his thoughts can't escape through the bolts holding him together.

⠀And she made stories herself, of how she was made of cotton candy. Whirled through the air that was her mother, and encased in the steel made from her brother. To be put on display, consumed, or just whittle into nothing with the slightest touch of water.

⠀But being older, the lies were all too much, and knowing the hidden significance behind her father's tales for bedtime, simply made her feel sick.

⠀How could Marley mother this child, when she was born from a sad womb, fathered by fantasies, and discarded by a steel man?

⠀She had no sense of where her attention had gone. She was brought back down to earth when the baby seized her thumb. It wound its members around her wrist, almost exclaiming for relief.

⠀Within this dream, Marley was struggling to keep the specter in front of her eyes. So she did the only thing she could remember. She wouldn't settle for an untruthful story or an overused lullaby. She thought back to car radios, glass being hit by a snow she now loathes. Going to her brother's graduation from college, and letting her eyes fall asleep to a song.

⠀"I wish I could swim..." She knew she wasn't much of a singer. Never was. She poured a little melody onto some words and hoped the thickness wouldn't make her throat close in discomfort.

⠀"Like dolphins," she knelt further into the edge of the bed, circling her arms around the makeshift wrap around the child. This time, it turned to a whisper. For only the baby. For them both. This song would remind Marley that what the song denotes, she would be for the little girl in front of her, with no suspense.

⠀"Like dolphins could swim," the baby countered with a cry, and it brought a smile to Marley's eyes, even if that was written with tears. She felt as if the tiny thing was singing along.

⠀"Though nothing will keep us together," as she got more relaxed on her knees, the song turned more into the ambiance of a poem. Her dad loved poetry.

⠀She remembered aching her back on the banister to her stairs, staring down the hall, with her eyes on the dimly lit silhouette of her father. Short, rhyming words, only for his wife... to make her happy.

⠀It never normally worked, but in this case, her words to the baby felt like they were working. She only hoped but didn't know for sure

⠀"We can beat them. Forever, and ever, and ever."

⠀The tiny thing gripped her skin, and Marley let her short nails delve into the veins.

⠀"Oh... we can be heroes, just for one day."

⠀Maybe Marley's heroic occurrences would only last an abrupt while ━ she shook her head.

⠀"Oh... we-we can be heroes... just for one day."

⠀One day. Maybe this was the day. And her time was running out to be good. The wails still painting the walls told her... it hadn't worked. The song didn't work. Not even for Marley.

⠀"Just for one day."

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⠀When Daryl entered the cellblock once more, it was night time. His heart was galloping. Not grasping what to expect when he walked in. But, when Glenn led him with the sentence, "We got her into the main room," his feet only seemed to move more rapidly, and so did his chest.

⠀Maggie soon zipped open her bag, exposing three containers of formula, surprisingly sealed, and intact. They were just sitting there as if they were waiting for Lori to die. But that was a ludicrous thought that Maggie swept out of her mind the minute she had a baby bottle in her hand.

⠀She didn't witness how the masses were placed, but Daryl did as soon as he walked through the door. The turmoil was practically hurting his very skin.

⠀Everyone besides the lonely, hearty youthful redhead, was situated against the caged rooms that lined the hall. All eyes on her. And listening closely, he heard those familiar coos he was so sure he had heard her speak in her sleep.

⠀"Marley?"

⠀"She hasn't spoken," Beth stated, turning to look at the man seeking the other girl. A shameful look crossed her face as she ducked her head down to prepare the formula more quickly. "Not to us. Not in English.

⠀Marley's foot was rapping up and down on the floor, too quick for a steady rocking. As if her life depended on that one leg to keep her breathing.

⠀Hershel looked over to Daryl. "How much formula did you get?"

⠀"Three. Found some clothes too. They're clean..." His head tilted as he paid all his mind to Marley. "Hey? We got some food for her."

⠀"Stop it," the young woman spoke inaudibly, turning her head to him. Her arms bobbed up and down as the cradled baby that still had yet to stop crying.

⠀"Stop what?"

⠀"Trying to take her from me," even though he was taller and stronger, Marley's orders felt like a slit in his skin.

⠀"I'm not trying to take her from you," Maggie hurried to stand beside Daryl, cold bottle in her hand, palm up in serene pity. But Marley's chest heaved as she felt shadows cast upon her. She felt as if she was being ganged up on.

⠀Then her eyes met the bottle, hungrily eyeing it, and the tilt of her neck straightened out, and so did her back. Mouth opening to say something.

⠀Maggie deciphered that as in invite but thought wrong as Glenn had to stop her with his grip when Marley clenched her jaw.

⠀"Hey?" Her attention now to Daryl, who reached for the bottle, taking it from Maggie. And boldly strode over, giving no time for Marley to even slap him with an insincere mockery.

⠀Daryl pushed the dummy of the bottle into the infant's mouth, placing Marley's hand over it. And the cries stilled. It was quiet, and even Marley's leg stopped bouncing.

⠀The soon to be named child sucked on the food, its stomach filling. The milk spilled down her chin, and her eyes amply opened to look up at Marley's. A dark, ominous brown. It made the redhead smile, and it made her laugh.

⠀Marley's hair fell onto her cheeks, tickling her skin.

⠀"Take her," Marley abruptly said. Real, and hurried. Looking to Daryl's appearance. "Take her... from me!" She didn't need to scream to get her point across, but it was so close to being.

⠀Glenn rushed over, burrowing his hands under the baby's covers, now cradling the newborn. The third to do so. And none of those people was its own mother.

⠀Marley thrust air out of her lungs promptly, as if this whole dream she had closed up her lungs. As she let nothing, not even the oxygen around her disturb the peace in her mind.

⠀But now that was decaying.

⠀The group practically bombarded Glenn now, getting their first, proper look of Lori's daughter.

⠀"Thought of a name yet?" Beth asked Carl, and that was enough for Marley.

⠀She practically fled from the room, reaching outside in seven seconds. Daryl made it in ten, giving her a headstart.

⠀He found her, hands fastened on the wiring surrounding the stairs that led them to the courtyard. No heavy breathing. No panicked screams. Just Marley, or at least what left of her mind for that day.

⠀He didn't say a word as he crossed his arms, going to stand directly to her left, being careful not to touch her.

⠀They stayed there for a while. She looked into the night sky, and he kept an eye on her respiration. One faulty move of her chest and he was ready to do something... even if he wasn't sure what that something would be.

⠀Minutes went by, what felt like hours. The reverberations of the rest of their assemblage coming through the closed front door. It would soon turn pitch black, save for the moon, if the clouds gave way.

⠀After all that time, she spoke first. "Do you have a cigarette?"

⠀She didn't give a single look, just those words and he answered with a simple nod and dug around his pockets for some, actually fancying one himself.

⠀He swiftly recaptured the time where she used this cigarette ruse to gain something from him, but he was sure this time it wasn't in the slightest bit malevolent.

⠀He lit it for her, passing the cigarette over to her. And instead of using her hands, her lips encased the filter, and he got apprehensive when they got so close ━ so much so, he pulled back quickly as to not break their current barrier.

⠀Even with one in his own hand, ready for fire, he gave her a warning. "You don't stop doing that, it won't be good for 'ye."

⠀"We're all dying anyway."

⠀That sentence filled his veins with frost.

⠀"I can't cry anymore," she conceded. "Crying doesn't do anything but... make me remember everything a little more."

⠀"Tell me about her." The man invited, words soft to her ears. Nothing but the sounds of their voices came their way in those seconds.

⠀Marley finally looked to his shadowed look, that ever-vigilant guarded face. "Who?"

⠀He treads lightly on the name, as if he were cursing everyone he knew, and especially her. "...Alice."

⠀"There's nothing to tell," Marley replied. "She wasn't even ever there." She took her cigarette to the mouth, and breathing out all it gave her. The nicotine rush made her body feel malleable.

⠀"Then just say what you want." Need.

⠀The cigarette was almost forgotten, as she detailed to story of how Alice ━ a bloodied bathtub ━ was never even really there. And that maybe, Alice was just the embodiment of a child inside of Marley she needed to care for more than ever did before.

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note ⛈

hey guys i hoped you enjoyed
this chapter .

and the song she "sang" was heroes ,
by peter gabriel ( originally by
david bowie )

the peter gabriel version has more of
the feeling i was going for , so it's
best to check that one out .

what are your predictions for the oncoming chapters ?

how will marley deal with the governer ? how will she react ?

will marley learn to care for the embodiment of a child inside her , or will she fall like she has done many times before ?

anyways , i love her , failure
or success . she's my babe .

words : 3451
2018 / 26 / 02
edited ✓

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