❝My shadow's the only one that walks beside me. My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating. Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me. Till then I walk alone.❞

- Green Day

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CHAPTER THREE - BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS

D E X T E R 

Once again, Dexter was forced into washing clothes as her contribution to the group. She couldn't help but want to murder whoever came up with the idea that the women do all the manual labour while the men were just sat around 'taking watch'.

In her grasp, she had a large bucket half full with soapy water by the fire and a basket full of clothes next to her that she had barely made a dent in. Dexter had always been a clean person, unlike Deb, because of her former lifestyle. Being the Bay harbour Butcher of Miami had effected her life in many ways, and learning how to clean up after herself was one of them.

The sound of Amy's careless and clumsy footsteps as walked over to Lori caused Dexter to look up towards the Grimes woman who was sat opposite her. Amy bent down with a red bucket in her hands and poured the contents into Lori's metal bowl.

"Any luck?" Lori said to the younger girl.

"How do we tell if they're poison?" Amy asked, looking at the mushrooms with curiosity. Dexter looked back down at her task, annoyed by the sudden disturbance from the quiet, but still listening to their conversation. Of course, Lori had tried to talk to the serial killer, but Dexter had shot her down every time by giving her short and vague answers to everything she asked.

"Uh, there's only one sure way I know of." Lori replied, shifting through the mushrooms.

"Ask Shane when he gets back?" Amy questioned, which caused Dexter to scoff quietly to herself and roll her eyes. The only question coming out of Lori's mouth when Shane got back was when they could go sneak off to 'wrestle' in the woods.

"Yeah, you got it." Lori answered, grabbing the bucket and getting up. "Thank you." She walked away, past Dale who was standing on the RV and near her son. "Dale, I'm heading out. Sweetheart, I want you to stay where Dale can see you okay?"

"Yes, mom." Carl said and played with his toys by Dexter's SUV.

"You too!" Dale shouted from the RV to Lori. "Don't wander too far. Stay within shouting distance. And if you see anything, holler. I'll come running."

"Yes, Mom." Lori mocked and walked into the woods.

When she was gone, Dexter picked up her washing bucket and moved it near Carl so that she could keep an eye on him. "Hey, squirt."

"Hi, Dexter! Do you wanna play?" He beamed, holding out a toy car to her.

"Can't." She declined, lifting up a wet red shirt that belonged to her sister. "Gotta do my chores that Shane told me to do."

"I hate chores." 

"Don't we all? But somebody's got to do them. Unfortunately, it happened to be me today." Dexter sighed, slightly amused by his reply.

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The hours went by quite quickly and the the group that had went on the supply run, including Debra, still weren't back. Dexter's worry for her sister was increasing by the minute as she sat on a rather large log by the RV, surveying everyone like she usually did. She liked to observe them, listen in on them to find out their weaknesses. Knowledge was power.

"It's late. They should've been back by now." Amy worried as she paced back and forth.

"Worrying won't make it better." Dale replied, working on the RV with Jim and Amy walked away. Lori had taken over the washing after getting back from the woods with Shane, not noticing that she had leaves in her hair or that Dexter knew what that meant.

Shane was now sat with Carl, much to Dexter's distaste, and trying to teach him how to tie knots. This whole nice guy act he had on was bullshit. She couldn't bear to watch it any longer. Luckily, she didn't have to.

"Hello, base camp!" Deb's voice sounded from the radio, although it was a little distorted. "Can anybody hear me? Dexter?"

Instantly, Dexter shot up from her seat on the log and climbed up the RV's ladder, hoping to reply to her sister.

"Base camp, it's me, Debra. Can anybody hear me?"

The thirty-five year old brunette grabbed the microphone and turned it on, "Hello? Hey, Deb?! The reception's bad on this end. Repeat. Repeat." She said, looking down at the others.

"Dex, is that you?"

"Is that them?" Lori asked from below with her hands on her hips and a concerned look on her face.

"We're fucked, Dex. We're trapped in the department store."

"She say they're trapped?" Shane questioned as he rubbed the back of his head anxiously. 

"There are hundreds of geeks. Everywhere. We're surrounded." Deb panicked. The static was getting worse every second.

Dale came up next to Dexter and took over, taking the microphone out of her hand. "Debra, repeat that last. Repeat."

The radio stopped and Lori chimed in, "She said the department store."

"I heard it too." Dale agreed.

She turned to Shane, "Shane?"

"No way." Shane denied. "We do not go after them. We do not risk the rest of the group. Y'all know that."

"So we're just gonna leave her there?" Amy exclaimed, referring to her sister, Andrea.

"Look, Amy, I know that this is not easy-" Shane tried to reason, but she cut him off.

"She volunteered to go...to help the rest of us."

"I know, and she knew the risks, right?" Shane asked, a bit quieter than before. "See, if she's trapped, she's gone. So we just have to deal with that. There's nothing we can do."

"She's my sister, you son of a bitch." Amy sneered and stormed off.

"Way to go, asshole." Dexter chuckled darkly, glaring at him after she had climbed down the RV's ladder. "You got something you wanna say about Deb too? She volunteered as well. Is she a lost cause like Andrea?"

"Hey, now. No need to blow up on him." Lori defended.

"Of course you would defend him, even though he is in the wrong, Lori. But it's okay, if I hurt his feelings, you can go fuck him in the woods like you did this morning." The bay harbour butcher seethed through her teeth, "Make him feel all better."

Lori was at a loss for words, her jaw hanging open in shock. Shane's eyes had opened wide in surprise, probably wondering how she knew about them. Unfazed by their stupefied silence, she walked away, only just being able to hear the last bit of their conversation.

"Mom?" Carl asked, "What did Dexter mean?"

"Don't worry, sweetheart. She's just upset about Debra." Lori excused, A few seconds later, her running footsteps could be heard getting closer to the retreating woman.

"Dexter!"

"What do you want, Lori?" Dexter said, sitting herself on the ground and resting one of her knives from her collection on her lap so that she could sharpen it. She didn't even hide them anymore, which would probably come back to bite her in the ass, but she didn't care at that moment.

"How did you know?" The Grimes woman quizzed, standing in front of the brunette.

"You didn't hide it very well." Dexter shrugged nonchalantly, refusing to look up at her as she stared down at the metal blade in her hand.

"Do the others know?"

The woman looked up at Lori with a raised brow and a cunning smirk, "I'm sure they have they're suspicions."

Lori nodded silently, "Listen, about Debra- I'm sorry if what Shane said to Amy struck a nerve..."

"You don't have to apologise on Shane's behalf. Although you feel like you do because you're his bitch." Dexter scoffed, putting down her blade. "What would you do if your husband came walking down that path right now. Would you tell him?"

"I-"

"I didn't think so. Go and look after your son like you should have been doing ever since you told him his dear old daddy was dead." She told her, shooing the older woman off with a hand gesture. "Instead of fucking your husband's best friend in the woods mere weeks after you believed him dead. You make me sick, Whori. I feel sorry for your son."

"I want you to stay away from Carl." Lori said with false firmness. Dexter could see the fear in her eyes, almost like what she used to see in her victims before she plunged a knife into their chest, it made her feel powerful.

"Don't worry, I will. When you tell him what you've been doing with Shane. The boy deserves to know that his mother is a whore." Dexter countered and watched as she left in a flash. Obviously, she had won their little stand off.

The only thing she had to think about now was Deb. Was she going to come back to her in one piece?

❝MONSTERS DON'T GET TO LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.❞