Taken
A/N ~ This is an alternate story line to what happened in the episode "Better Angels" This is the first thoughts that came to my mind when I saw the sneak peak where Randall goes missing.
"If you hurt her, I swear to god that I will rip your fucking brains out."
Daryl hadn't spoken to Carol since the night that he screamed in her face. He didn't even know how to gather words to start a conversation with her, or if he even really wanted to. After all, what was he supposed to say? "Hey Carol, I'm Sorry about the other night. I was really only suppressing the confusing emotions about you and Sophia that I don't know how to comprehend."
Ha. If only it was that easy. It's not like he didn't try to talk to her, or try to grin to let her know that he didn't hate her. But as soon as he would look at her, with her wide eyes and the way that she would bite on the skin around her nails when she was worried, he could feel the frog in his throat, the way his hands would automatically clam up; the way that he wanted to cry. That definitely wasn't an option. Merle would give him a nice long ass beating if he knew that he even though about crying. Daryl decided that it was better for everyone if they ended any relationship that they ever had; even though he knew that was far from the truth.
"Daryl."
"Fuck." Daryl curses under his breath when he hears his name. He knows right off the bat who it is. The way she had said his name always made his heart skip a beat. "What do you want?" He turns to look at her, and he can already feel his heart breaking. She looks like she hasn't slept in days. Her eyes and nose are red from crying, and her hair is graying faster every day. He's trying so hard not to hug her right now. "I'm busy right now." He really wasn't all that busy; he had spent all morning looking for the gun he had misplaced; he was sure that it was in the satchel of his motorcycle. He has just spent the last five minutes leaning against the truck outside of the house, mindlessly thinking about Carol.
"I just want you to talk to me again." She says, hugging her arms against her chest. She's been thinking about how she wanted to approach him all morning, and now that she's face to face with him she can barely think at all. She's quiet, but when he doesn't say anything, she tries to go on. "You can't pull away like this, please." She cocks her head to the side when he looks down, reaching her hand to her mouth like she always does.
"Why? Because you ain't want to be alone? Because you lost everyone and you want someone to pick up the pieces?" He says, and he's trying hard to sound as cold as possible. "No thanks, I really could care less." He scoffs, looking up at her. "Everyone that gets close to you seems to die anyway." He's looking into her eyes, but when that last comment hits her he looks away fast. She's crying already, he can tell. Neither one of them says anything, and Daryl cringes every time she lets out a shaky breath. He knows that she's better off without him; he just has to convince her.
"That's-, Daryl I-" She says, pressing her fingers into her forearms to keep from shaking. She can't get her thoughts together. "Why are you pulling away like this?"
"Are you fucking deaf, lady?" Daryl says, his voice heightening. "Get away." She takes a step back, her mouth dropping open.
"Daryl,"
"Get!" His head lunges forward like a chicken, and she lets out a loud cry before she turns and stumbles in the opposite direction.
"Shit," Daryl shakes his head, because everything in his mind wants him to run after her. To tell her that he needs her as much as she needs him. He's not even sure why he is pulling away. Maybe because when he looks at Carol he thinks of Sophia. Maybe because he knows that when he cares about a person that they are never around for long. Maybe because he knows that Carol deserves so much more.
"Everyone get in the house!" Rick screams, looking into the empty shed that once occupied Randall. Once Rick says it panic ensues. They look at each other with wide eyes, voicing their opinions all at once. "Daryl, Shane and Glen. Let's go!" He says, and they all nod with reassurance. "T-dog, can you get everyone in the house and make sure they don't leave?"
T-dog nods before he turns around, "Everyone let's get!" He says, and he doesn't have to speak again before everyone is grabbing one another, running back to the house.
Rick is explaining to Daryl, Shane, and Glen that they need to split up and find Randall when Lori lets out a scared "Wait!" The group slows to a stop and Lori looks back to Rick with a scared expression. "Where's Carol?"
Daryl can feel every single bone in his body tighten up. His eyes widen, Sweat forms on his brow, and he tightens his grip on his cross bow. Carol never came back after she ran off today. She's out there, with the fugitive that they almost killed that night.
"God Dammit!" Daryl curses loud enough for it to echo. He is gone right after that, high speed towards to forest. Nothing and no one else matters to him. If something happens to Carol…
He can't even finish the sentence.
Daryl isn't sure where he is running. The trees all look the same, and Daryl could easily stop and use his tracking skills to find out exactly where she is; But his mind his racing to hard and all he can do is run. Run faster than he thinks he ever has. Nothing can happen to her, not Carol. He can't lose her. Daryl almost laughs when that thought crosses his mind. He spent all morning trying to push her away, and now he cringes at the thought of losing her.
"Carol?"
"Carol!"
"God Dammit, Carol!"
He stops. Daryl stands in the middle of the maze of trees, resting his hands on his knees for a moment, letting out heavy breaths as he tries to compose his thoughts. Maybe Carol hadn't been in any danger after all, and Rick was out looking for Daryl to let him know that Carol had just been out by the creek or something. She was perfectly fine, and Daryl had jumped to conclusions. That would be perfe-
"Daryl!"
It takes a minute for Daryl to process the scream she just heard. He stands there for a moment, his eyes wide and his mouth gaping before he realizes that it's her. A struggled, tortured scream that echoed through the trees, and Daryl can feel a chill run through his entire body, down to his muddy cowboy boots. She called his name.
"Fuck!" Daryl's running, and he forgets that he is even tired. He forgot about of things; about his anger, about his pain, about the front he had been trying to put up all this time.
Then he was there, and Randall had her in his arms before he could shoot the little fucker down. They stood in a small clearing in the woods, empty trees surrounding them. She's shaking, her hands down by her sides, and she clenches her eyes shut when she can feel his breath in her ears. She's letting out little squeals that kill Daryl every time Randall even flinches. Randall is holding a surprisingly sharp piece of wood that he must of came across in the woods to Carol's neck, and Daryl can't decide if the look on his face is despicable or confused. Daryl doesn't even know what he intends of doing, if anything, but all that runs through Daryl's mind is the story Randall had told him about the teenage girls when he was beating him up.
"If you hurt her, I swear to god that I will rip your fucking brains out." Daryl says, trying his hardest to sound mean even though he is scared to death. "Toss her over here right now, and I ain't gonna kill you." He says, focusing his crossbow right between the son-of-a–bitch's eyes. "Well, not yet."
"Why?" Randall spits at Daryl. "Ya'll hit me, trapped me, and you almost killed me last night. You ain't deserve to get away without paying for that." He says, and Carol lets out another squeal when he presses the sharp end of the branch further against her skin. "I ain't gonna let ya'll get away after y'all did me wrong."
"Daryl…" She manages to mumble, and just like always, the way she says his name makes his hard skip a beat.
"I will kill you," Daryl threatens. "And I'm pretty damn sure that my arrows are faster than your wimpy ass little stick."
Randall smiles. "Well, I guess we'll have to see."