"Dream with the feathers of angels stuffed beneath your head. The regulator, swinging pendulum" The song bellowed from the radio.
Daryl reached up to turn it off, Merle swatted his hand away and Daryl groaned.
"I wish you would turn that damn thing off" Daryl groaned, sipped his beer and went back to picking apart his sloppy hamburger.
"Calm down, baby brother. It's a block party. Perfect time to be obnoxious" Merle said as he eyed a pretty blonde who was chatting with her friends.
"Would you just take a beer over there and get out of my face" Daryl groaned. He did not want to be here, all he wanted was to humor his brother for a few hours.
Merle chugged the rest of his beer. "You got it, little brother" He said, picking up two beers from the cooler, flinging the water off in Daryls direction.
Daryl clenched his fist and Merle grinned, shimming over the the blonde.
Daryl watched him flirt effortlessly and rolled his eyes.
He reached into the cooler for another beer.
"Damn it Merle" He muttered under his breath and got up to get more.
He turned to head into there house and he locked eyes with a woman. She smiled at him. Her smile was bright, kind.
Daryl woke up to the sound of T-dog snoring.
They were held up in a small farm house not far from the high way.
He shook his head and sighed. He wasn't used to having dreams. Not any dreams of good things, not of anything that happened before the world fell.
He threw off his blanket and got up quietly. He picked up his crossbow.
Stepping over Glenn he headed down stairs.
He slung his crossbow on his back, half way down the stairs he looked up and locked eyes with Carol.
That same beautiful woman. That same bright smile.
He caught himself before he could grin to big. He hurried down the rest of the stairs to her.
"Are you okay?" He whispered, looking around.
"I couldn't sleep" She shrugged her shoulders and immediately tensed up, noticing his crossbow.
"Planning on running away?" She asked.
He didn't like the trace of pain in her voice.
"And leave behind the only thing left that's keeping me alive? No way" He said, closing the distance between them.
They had never shared a kiss, only slight moments of affection. The thought of his kiss lingered in the back of her mind, but she wasn't planning on him kissing her anytime soon.
"But you have your crossbow. You're set" She said jokingly.
Knowing he was to awkward to keep the sweet moment going. But it was enough for her. She judged by the smile he let spread across his lips, that it was enough for him too.
"If you make a run tomorrow I'm coming with you, I want to pick some things up for Soph and Carl" She said.
He could find no trace that she would take no for an answer in her voice.
And with his inability to tell her no, he nodded.
She smiled up at him, thankfully.
"I'm going to go back and try to sleep" She said, turning away from him and quietly descending up the stairs.
"Coward" he muttered to himself. Wishing he had at least been able to wrap his arms around her.
He sat downstairs most of the night before drifting off in the uncomfortable chair that set in front of the useless TV.
"Daryl?" Rick nudged his shoulder.
Daryl shot up, still half asleep.
Rick looked him over.
"Are you okay?" He asked, handing Daryl his morning ration.
"Yeah" Daryl replied. Consuming his food a little fast.
Rick snickered and went to hand out the rest of the rations.
He saw Carol come down the stairs, Glenn following close behind.
He knew what he had to do, what he agreed to last night.
She didn't have to say anything, just look up at him with those eyes.
He nodded and caught back up with Rick.
"I'm going to make a run with Carol and Glenn, alright?" He said. Searching for approval in his friend, while quietly praying he would refuse to let Carol go. He hadn't come close to losing her and he wasn't about to. Last weeks close call with Sophia was enough for him.
"Alright. Be safe" Rick said. He gave Daryls shoulder a slight pat and went on his way.
Daryl lingered for a minute and then turned to Carol and Glenn.
"Glenn, take the car with Carol. I'll take my bike. Where are we headed?" He asked. Trying to avoid the huge grin on Carols face.
"I saw a sign for a walmart about a mile back. Will that work?" Glenn asked.
"Alright. I'll follow you." Daryl said, walking past them ad out the door.
A mile was long enough for Daryl to blow off his steam and the second he met Carols eyes in the parking lot he was calm.
They picked off a few stumbling walkers before heading inside.
"Glenn, take Carol left and bring it up the back. I'll take the right and meet you back here" He said.
He watched them both walk off, looking through the shelves for anything useful.
He started to look around himself.
Picking through rotten fruit and expired meat. While Carol and Glenn grabbed some clothes and shoes.
Daryl spotted a few canned items. He reached over the stack of fruit, his crossbow hit the shelf and down came the stack of rotten fruit.
"Shit" He muttered to himself.
The groans started. He heard them before he saw them and it gave him enough time to load his crossbow.
A walker rounded the corner and he fired the crossbow. It hit the floor with a thud and he walked over to retrieve his arrow.
He looked up and saw about fifteen walkers crowded in one isle.
"Damn it" He muttered, backing away. His head flew up when he heard Carol scream.
He immediately regretted his decision to let her out of his site when he ran into Glenn.
"Where is she?" He asked, the look on Glenns face was no comfort to him at all.