Chapter 22

That night, Glenn gave up his tent to Lina and went to squeeze in with T as usual. To accommodate Lina, Glenn moved the tent to a more central position, with one side against the RV. Although there was no solid wall, he hoped it would make Lina more comfortable.

This is no time for sentimentality, but Lina just can't control herself, and she's trying to overcome it.

“Well, Maggie and Herschel have already said they don’t mind you…” Glenn looked at Lina with a hint of helplessness, “You don’t have to force yourself.”

“I won’t always have a place to stay. I’ll have to get used to it. Besides, I slept in a tree the other night. I think I should give it a try,” Lina insisted.

No, that wasn't sleeping, that was a coma, Glenn thought to himself, wisely keeping his mouth shut.

“Okay,” anyway, nothing much has happened lately and it’s relatively safe, let Lina give it a try. Like she said, she has to get through this eventually.

“Oh, by the way, your knife,” Glenn put it down, “it was a big help this afternoon, I cleaned it.”

"You encountered zombies? Are you alright?" Lina asked with concern. Although she knew nothing bad had happened, she still couldn't help but worry when she heard it.

“It’s alright, Maggie was just scared, but,” Glenn recalled the kiss, “it wasn’t all bad,” he smiled sheepishly.

"Oh~~" Lina looked at Glenn with a knowing look on her face, winking at him.

Glenn ruffled Lina's hair in annoyance and fled the tent under her death stare.

He dared not tell Lina about the barn; she was already very uneasy, and if she found out, she probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

The night was very quiet, except for the occasional snoring. In fact, the men's snoring was so loud it was almost constant.

Lina sat up painfully. She was already afraid to sleep, and now with all this noise, oh my god.

Lina reluctantly lifted the tent flap. Unable to sleep, she decided to go on patrol.

Daryl sat up and saw Lina walk out.

Okay, okay, he hadn't slept at all; he had been observing, and he knew Lina definitely couldn't sleep.

After thinking for a moment, Daryl took his knife and quietly left the tent. Moore was sleeping like a log, snoring loudly.

It was dark, but the moon was bright, so Lina could see her surroundings clearly, but not things that were further away.

Lina slowly walked around the fence. There were no zombies or dead deer. She was safe.

She stopped after a while, turned around and looked at Daryl, who had been following her.

"What's wrong?" Lina was still holding her anger in, and her tone wasn't very friendly.

“You shouldn’t have wandered off on your own,” Daryl said calmly.

"It's none of your business. What, you're not going with your brother anymore?" Lina said angrily.

Daryl pouted, feeling guilty. "That scoundrel, Mor!"

Lina glared at Daryl, then turned and walked away. "Don't follow me. Go be your brother's boyfriend."

Daryl quickly followed without saying a word.

Lina stopped, panting, and glared at Daryl.

“My dad was rarely home. He was either drinking, gambling, seeing waitresses, or working at some kind of brothel. My mom wasn’t much better. She was with Moore as far back as I can remember,” Daryl said. “Later, my mom, she wasn’t much better either. She burned the house down, leaving nothing behind.”

Lena looked at Daryl, whose head was down, clearly indicating that those memories were not pleasant for him.

“Moore left home later too. When I grew up a bit, I ran away too, following Moore. I didn’t know where I should go, or where I could go,” Daryl said somewhat bewildered. Moore’s friends were a bunch of bastards. During that time, all I did was drink and party and go to the police station to bail them out.

Seeing Daryl like this, Lena couldn't help but soften. She sighed. "Glen said I should give you a chance," Lena said, "so I won't regret it." Lena took Daryl's hand. "This is the second time. I want you to stay, okay?"

Daryl hesitated for a moment. He didn't know what was wrong with Moore, but... "Okay." Daryl heard his own voice and was surprised.

Lina hugged Daryl happily, "If Mor tries to persuade you to run away again, I'm going to smash his head!"

Daryl shrugged indifferently. "He's already bad enough as it is."

Lina chuckled. "Let's go back."

Lena happily took Daryl's arm and led him back to her (Glenn's) tent.

What can we do? She's afraid to sleep alone!

Daryl lay stiffly in the tent, holding Lena in her arms. She treated Daryl like a giant teddy bear, clinging to him tightly like an octopus.

The good news was that Daryl soon heard her steady breathing; she had fallen asleep.

"Never mind," Daryl said, closing his eyes groggily. He hadn't slept well these past two days. As long as he got up early tomorrow, he could sneak back...

“Honey, come out for breakfast,” Lori called from outside the tent.

Daryl and Lina sat up abruptly, looking at each other in confusion.

Daryl gradually regained his senses. F*%k, Lina's tent was in the very center, which is where everyone was having breakfast not far away.

Daryl covered his face in disappointment.

“Daryl? Daryl?” he heard Moore shouting outside.

Lina looked at Daryl awkwardly, "Uh,"

Daryl threw the blanket away in despair, stood up, and said, "I'll go out first, you?"

Lina gave an awkward laugh, picked up the toiletries beside her, stood up, and the two of them took a deep breath and walked out one after the other.

"Pfft..." Rick looked up and almost choked to death.

Lowry looked back in confusion, then turned back awkwardly, glaring at Rick.

Glenn glanced at the house, seemingly wanting to say something but then turned back to look at Lina when he heard a noise, his mouth agape.

Lina tried to stay calm. After all, she hadn't done anything wrong, so what was there to be afraid of?

Amy glanced at Lina and laughed. She put down the plate and followed Lina to the washroom. "You two made up?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lina said awkwardly.

“Hmph,” Amy grumbled, “you look much better now that you’re in love.”

“To hell with love,” Lina mumbled through her mouth with a toothbrush, then glanced sideways at Amy. “Aren’t you and Moore together? Be careful Andrea finds out.”

“No, of course not,” Amy looked at Lina in shock. “Not everyone is like you and Daryl, and neither are Moore and me,” Amy lowered her voice. “Do you think I have a choice? I need some entertainment too.”

Lina stared blankly at Amy, thinking Amy was referring to the suspension bridge effect.

“Yes, he saved me, so I want to help him too. I don’t mean, sleep with him or anything. I want to help him integrate into the camp. He’s not completely hopeless, is he? Otherwise, he wouldn’t have saved me,” Amy said softly. “As for that, oh my god, if I could get a vibrator, I wouldn’t choose him either,” Amy said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, and remember to wear a condom," Amy reminded him.

Lina nodded, dumbfounded, while Amy casually left to continue eating breakfast.

Lina felt like her brain couldn't keep up; her views on love had been completely shattered by these foreigners.

Then she noticed that Moore was staring at her from a distance, looking very unhappy.

Lina waved her fist at Moore, then turned her head back to continue brushing her teeth.

Daryl, having finished packing, came out of his tent. Moore was staring intently at Lina's back. Daryl bumped into Moore, who glared at Daryl angrily. The two of them walked over with sour faces and sat down to eat breakfast.

After Lina finished packing and putting her things away, she also got her breakfast: scrambled eggs again. Help!

Lina ate the scrambled eggs in despair. At least it was meat! People shouldn't be so ungrateful. You won't have any food to eat in a while, Lina. Don't be picky about food!

But Lina still ate with a pale and sickly appearance.

Daryl threw a chocolate bar at Lina, who was brought back to her senses and stared blankly at Daryl.

Daryl glanced at her. "Eat." Then he lowered his head and started eating his scrambled eggs.

Lina blinked, then happily began to unwrap the chocolate bars, dividing them into three portions, one for herself and one for Calsofia.

Moore rolled his eyes, while Daryl, standing to the side, remained silent.

“Hey guys,” Glenn stood up with a grimace, taking a deep breath, and with Dale’s encouragement, “the barn is full of walkers.”

The news terrified everyone. Sean and Moore were itching to rush in and wipe out all the walkers. Lina looked at Sean with annoyance, then at Rick.

“We should leave. We’ve been discussing going to Benningburg for a long time, and we should leave now.” Sean ran back, suppressing his anger. Moore was still circling the barn, not rushing in only because he didn’t have a gun.

“We can’t leave,” Rick said wearily, rubbing his temples. “We’re short on supplies, fuel, and three wounded men…” Lowry was pregnant, and Rick’s head was throbbing. “I’ll talk to Herschel again.”

Honestly, Lina couldn't think of a good way to solve this problem either. If she left, she looked at Glenn and thought that Maggie might die on the farm.

If they don't leave, they can only watch Sean go crazy.

"Come with me?" Daryl quietly approached Lina. It was the same here as outside; nowhere was safe. But he didn't want to stay here and live with a bunch of walkers. What was wrong with these people?

“No, didn’t we agree on this?” Lina glared at Daryl.

"So you didn't know there were a bunch of walkers here, living with walkers? Seriously?" Daryl looked disgusted.

“They’ll figure it out, it just takes a little time,” Lina said.

“Fine! I’ll watch you get grabbed by the walkers and beg me for mercy, then I’ll shoot one of them in the head with a crossbow bolt. Then you’ll know I was right.” Daryl said unhappily, wanting to leave.

Lina noticed that his eyes kept glancing at her.

“I have my own knife,” Lina muttered softly. Daryl heard her and glared at her. Lina smiled ingratiatingly and took Daryl’s hand. “Never mind that. Didn’t you say you’d teach me how to navigate? Shall we go into the woods?”

Daryl looked helplessly at Lina, who then dragged him away.

As Lena walked away, she kept glancing back at Sean's retreating figure. Ugh, how was she going to get rid of him now? She'd just knock him out tonight, dump him in a car, and send him far, far away!