Chapter 2:

  Alicia woke up with a pounding in her head.She slowly sat up, but it didn't help. The pounding seemed to come through even harder. Her eyes slowly opened and quickly closed as she made a sound that could only be described as.

  “SQWARK!” Followed a few seconds later with.”FOR FUCKS SAKE!”

  Covering her eyes she slowly opened them again, slowly adjusting her hand so the light came to her in small bursts. In time she could see again. She disliked the pain in her head but knew it would quickly pass as she looked around.

  A dingy cell, cracks in the walls dripping water from the pipes and multiple other signs of time and misuse. Cell bars rusted in some places, and a familiar figure leaning against the wall nearby.

  “...Cup of water on the floor,”Dashwood said to her.”Along with some food.” Alicia looked down and saw exactly that. A sandwich with who knows what between the slices of bread. Alicia picked up the mug and gave it a sniff while glaring at Dashwood who continued. “The guy who grabbed your ass will be here for a cell of his own. Getting his arm in a cast right now. You broke his arm in two places.” As she motioned to the closed door to the side.

  “You know,” Alicia began, not drinking from the mug.”If your boys had not pulled the guns on me, I might have come quietly.” Dashwood chuckled hearing that.

  “You seriously expecting me to buy that?” She said, seeing Alicia still sniffing the water.”It’s clean, you’re already here so…”

  “Good point. I probably would have tossed them.”

  Dashwood nodded, “That’s why I did that to your drink. Couldn’t send more people to see the doc.”

  Alicia chuckled.”Fair enough, still a shitty thing to do.” She took a drink and immediately spit it out. “There’s actually water in this!” Dashwood had to laugh a bit at the comment.

  ”Yep, drink up. That mickey we slipped ya will dry ya out.” Alicia took another sip and paused.

  “Just realized I’ve been doing this wrong. Why drink when I can just get some of that stuff?” She held out the mug to the sheriff as if to request some. Dashwood sighed and looked at her.

  “No,” she began before shaking her head.

  “What are you doing to yourself kid?” She looked at the woman behind bars. A note of genuine concern laced her voice. “ You go out to pick fights with whatever mutations are out there in the outlands, or here in town. Come back bloodied, barely walk away from those and dive right into bottles that are half moonshine, half paint thinner.Seems like you’re trying to fill a hole next to your dad and Rosie. “

  Alicia looked down at the floor. “Are you telling me there’s anything else? You see these people out there. Majority of them either fear me, wanna fight me or wanna fuck me.” She shakes her head.

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  Dashwood shook her head.”You know your dad raised you better.” Those words struck a nerve in Alicia.

  She was angry that Dashwood would bring it up, but also knew she was right.However Dashwood's next sentence hit her harder than anything.

  “What would Rosie say?” The care and concern was still in her voice but Alicia still stood up, crushing the mug in her hand and throwing the food to the side. She charged the bars of her cell and looked at the sheriff with pure rage.

  “You don’t know what she would say!” Alicia bellowed as she gripped the bars tight. She pulled the bars apart enough to get her head through with a look of rage that would cause most people to cower in fear.

  To her credit Dashwood did not flinch. She knew how strong Alicia was. Whatever made her skin tinged with green and gave her those pointy ears also gave her the strength of fifteen horses. She also knew of Alicias temper. If she kept like this and her anger got out of control, those bars wouldn’t stop her, and Dashwood knew it.However, she stepped forward and slapped Alicia right across the face. If anyone had seen that they would have feared for the sheriff's life but Alicia just stopped moving.

  “She was my daughter. You fucking know that.” Dashwood said through gritted teeth. Her voice never rose, but anger was laced through every word. The look on Dashwood's face was one of barely contained rage. She knew Alicia didn’t mean her words.When she gets angry she loses a lot of control. That did not help how the sheriff felt hearing them. Dashwood took a deep breath as Alicias head drooped.All the anger deflated from her.

  “Shit, I.. I’m sorry.” She said as her head hung low. Alicia pulled her head back in the cell trying to pull the bars back together, before sitting back down. “Sorry.” she mumbled again as she looked to the floor. Dashwood couldn’t help but soften as she looked at Alicia.

  “I know kid, I know.” She took a moment to breathe before she started talking again.

  “You know when you and Rose got together, I thought of you as family. You two made each other so happy. When she and your dad were caught up by those raiders…”

  Dashwood stopped to collect herself. Old wounds still open and it truly hurt her. After a moment she continued.

  “I was the one who found them.” She said before making a small chuckle.” They were in your dads garage. Rosie and your dad took a few of them along for the ride but…” Dashwood paused as the image replayed in her mind. After a few moments she began again.

  “When that happened I still thought of you as family. You were my daughter in law even though you two never tied the knot.” Dashwood sighed a moment before continuing.

  “Problem is kid, you walked from their funeral into attempted self destruction. I don’t see you eat, and see you packing Wyatt everywhere you go as if looking for a reason to use it. Look I know you miss her but trying to join her aint gonna help you. You know she wouldn’t want that for you. You gotta go out and live again, live for you and live for her memory… I dont wanna bury two daughters.”

  That last bit hit Alicia hard. She knew the sheriff cared, but she had no idea how deep that went. She knew Dashwood was right too. This is not how she should be. She knew the fighting used to be for fun, a bit of roughhousing, but she had gone overboard. She also knew why she did, and Dashwood's words shook her to her core as Dashwood opened the cell door.

  Alicia was off the cot like a rocket. Her arms wrapping around Dashwood, and tears coming from her eyes. She did her best not to crush her but there was a bit of a squeak from the sheriff. After a minute of this, Alicia released her.

  ”I’m gonna do my best, but I make no promises. I may not be able to get over her butI’ll do right by them, and you. Dashwood nodded before Alicia went to pick up Wyatt and walk out the door.