Done as a drabble fic challenge! The prompt: Put a number and two characters from the same fandom in a comment, and get a drabble. This drabble was asked for on my Live Journal account by FicWriterJet to write: The prompt: a childhood memory with Daryl and Carol. If you would like to participate, check my profile page here for the link to my Archive account and go comment!
Walking Dead - Daryl and Carol a lost childhood memory
The hallway was musky and smelled of rot and the lights flickered dimly Carol vaguely took note of as Daryl's sinewy arms wrapped gently around her frail form and drew her off the ground.
He had rescued her when she thought she was lost to the tide of constant death that surrounded them in this unforgiving world they now called home. Carol had not always been a fighter, and up until recently had been just the opposite, but this man knew her at her weakest and had seen her mature in to whatever she was now. She was still debating on some level if she considered it better; stronger perhaps, but not necessarily better. It didn't really matter at the moment. All that did matter was survival, and these two had become quite adept at that skill.
At this instant all Carol could think of was how Daryl carrying her in this fashion reminded her of a distant memory. She had to have been about seven she recalled when she had tripped careening head long in to the diving board. She really shouldn't have been running as the signs prohibited she supposed, but when do kids ever take in to account the dangers of such antics? Everything had gone black briefly before the blossom of pain to her temple registered as a dull aftershock. She didn't recall when her father had jumped in, but she remembered her body being thrust upward in a jarring sensation as the water departed and a deep intake of breath filled her hungry lungs. The sun had seemed so bright that day reflecting blindly off the water's surface. She dimly registered moving across the pool, but what stood out to her was that feeling of weightlessness as her father sprang rapidly up the concrete pool steps cradling her to his chest.
That same sense of urgency and concern she read in Daryl's countenance now. For the first time in a long time she let her body sag and release the bottled tension that had kept her stomach in a knotted mess since being separated from the group. She didn't fear now; Daryl had her, and everything was going to be okay. She felt insubstantial in a sea of haze, but mostly, she felt safe.