three mile cabin(the injury compound)
daryl faded in and out due to the continual loss of blood and the throbbing pain in his ankle and his vision blurred and came back. The kingdom men gave him the only bed in the cabin they reasoned saying that he was worse than them he knew that wasn't exactly true but he wasn't gonna fight them on it the bed felt damn good against his bruised muscles he listened to the static of the walkie for a while til he was sure rick was on his own and he spoke softly into the walkie "hey rick sorry I did this man really just couldn't lose anyone else." he waited and listened he heard a soft watery laugh
"i get it brother you had too you just—you hold on a'ight, i'm comin'." rick sniffled quietly
daryl smiled to himself "awe man rick you ain't cryin' are ya." he joked
rick coughed softly and cleared his throat "no—naw never..." rick joked back "...asshole." rick added quietly daryl relaxed back onto the pillow with a sigh "man you didn't say anything to carol did ya." he mumbled softly "no I didn't but daryl next time you go off on a suicide run don't give someone else the job of giving your women a ring a'ight 'specially me she hates me enough."
daryl smirked "my women she ain't nobody's women not yet, but I like the sound of that."
rick laughed "mmhm lets just get you home in one piece huh before ya start with that." he croaked softly
daryl mumbled something sleepily and another voice came over the walkie "hey rick, its rick right."
rick sighed softly "mmhm thats me."
the soft voice snorted softly as a snore that sound like a chainsaw sounded in the background "i'm Shelby um daryl kind of passed out again as you can guess from the sound." rick chuckled softly good daryl never slept enough at least he was resting
"mmm I figured as much. Thank you. Would you keep an eye on him for me til I get there."
the girl on the other end huffed softly "of course he saved my life."
"okay i'm a couple miles out thank you so much." he glanced back in the rear view Jesus was in the van behind him with another man a medic he then glanced at the map and sighed. about twenty minutes later they turned down a driveway and saw the 6 foot fence and on the other side on the small porch stood a kid a bit bruised a bit bloody but standing compound bow resting, arrow knocked, in her hands rick noticed how the kid stood how she scanned the surroundings and the vest she wore had the leather worn and was long and big on her body this kid was like a mini daryl not much older than Carl rick pulled up and parked calling out "hey you from kingdom."
the kid nodded catching movement behind the car, a walker, and shot it in the face with one arrow faster than rick thought possible then looked back at him as she walked over to pull the arrow out of the dead walker sliding it into her quiver "yeah, you rick." rick nodded
"yeah and thats Jesus in the van, hows daryl?" he pointed back
the kid smiled softly "he seems okay even after everything he got hit with..." she seemed envious when she continued "he took on 7 guys at once just to get to negan man it was awesome."
rick looked back at Jesus who shrugged not the least bit surprised to hear that after what he saw daryl do when he escaped that place to begin with "yeah that sounds about right. He awake yet."
the kids head bobbed up and down "wont let anyone stitch him up either." rick laughed approaching the kid
"don't worry about it kid he's just very particular about who touches his body." he patted the kid on the shoulder feeling the kid flinch but shrugged it off as surprise and went inside and inhaled sharply looking at the scene in front of him men laid out on rugs, blankets, sheets and pads anything available all bleeding somewhere or another some lucid some moaning and he glanced over the only bed in the room and there he was the man he came to call brother from what he could see he seemed the worst out of them all but knew that was nothing to daryl who had been through worse then the whole lot of them before this daryl looked in his direction and moved the hair from his eyes and smiled at rick who saw the black eye and busted lip blood running down his cheek rick picked his way through the injured to the bed and sat on the edge "you good."
daryl laughed and groaned grabbing his side softly "i'm alive all of us are 's all I wanted."
rick nodded "'s all any of us can ask right now. So how bad is it apart from the obvious."
daryl huffed softly "got shot again, cut by a knife a couple times during the struggle and that son of a bitch negan crushed my ankle 'fore I snapped his neck, got punched and kicked in the ribs pretty hard 's not broke though and my heads pounding."
rick looked him over his shirt was torn and he was covered head to toe in blood and sweat and his leg was propped up on a pillow a white torn shirt tied around his upper thigh and his boot kicked off on the floor lower leg braced by two wood boards and torn fabric "hey least they where consistent only the one leg not both. you have any walker trouble?" rick asked daryl shook his head and his eyes shot over to the door opening again and they both saw the kid come in rick smiled seeing Daryl's gaze hover on the kid checking for fresh blood "she's good took out a walker in one shot almost as fast as you." rick said watching daryl watch the kid a smile turning up on the edge of his lips but no other reply he didn't even turn his head
the kid kneeled next to one of the other men daryl heard her whisper "Derek where's the bag the one the king gave you for daryl where is it." she seemed tense the job falling to her to keep them safe the man pointed over to the wall of weapons and supplies shakily and the kid smiled "okay I got it." she patted the mans arm and stood walking to the wall digging through the stuff digging out a military style black backpack with bolts sticking out of the side pocket matching the ones in his new crossbow and the kid stood walking over to them cautiously eyeing rick
daryl looked up at her " hey Shel what you got there." he smiled softly at the kid trying to be nice which surprised rick who smirked in his direction
"uh um well the king wanted us to give you this as um a-a thank you for leading us. Said to say your welcome at kingdom anytime you want and that when your better he'd like you to train the guard."
daryl nodded "thanks kid." he held out his hand for the bag the kid passed it to him and turned to walk back to the door rick saw the wings daryls wings and knew that meant this kid took out Dwight alone and daryl let her have it as a thank-you daryl called out "Shelby." she froze and turned looking at daryl "you did good today you know if you want you can come back with us we could use the extra hand that is if you don't wanna be at kingdom anymore."
Shelby blushed and looked down at the floor daryl knew that reaction it was how he reacted to compliments too then she met daryls gaze "really." rick saw the kids eyes light up.
Daryl nodded "course kid I know what its like what you went through so does carol you can stay with us." rick realized now this kid was the one Morgan mentioned Shelby nodded and thats when rick noticed the same look in the kids blue eyes that daryl had when he saw carol in the woods near terminus a look that screamed childhood trauma and a deep connection to pain, a recognition that someone actually understood them rick realized why daryl was doing it didn't want the kid to turn into him or Merle
"you said there where some kids there closer to my age."
daryl nodded "yeah Carl and Enid their good kids you'll like 'em. But really you can hunt, track, your quiet want you with me to hunt and scavenge that kind of stuff we lost some of ours and you know this area." rick smiled
Shelby nodded calmly soft blonde hair falling into her eyes though rick saw in her eyes she was excited but already adopting the Dixon demeanor didn't show it "alright yeah I'll go with you."
rick nodded "alright then. Daryl can you walk with that leg." glancing over to see him shoulder the bag and grab his crossbow setting his feet down carefully "yeah." and stood when he winced softly he reached for the kid who was already at his side to support him rick smiled less than a month with these people and Daryl's connection to this kid was nothing short of fascinating it almost rivaled the bond he had with Carl daryl wrapped an arm around the kids shoulders leaning against her carefully and the kids arm came up around his lower back and grabbed the hand on her shoulder to keep him stable and they walked out passing the pile of supplies and where daryl leaned over and grabbed one of the bags one with patches and buttons the most distinctive and passed it to the kid who shifted it to her back and they continued out the door rick following behind them fascinated they already communicated wordlessly just as well as daryl and carol did when they reached the car Jesus walked into the cabin with a medical kit and another person.
Shelby let go of daryl when they reached the car the latter leaned softly against it and jabbed the kid softly in her stomach noticing the bow on the porch pointing to it "get you bow kid don't leave it layin' around okay." he chastised in the voice usually reserved for carol the more rick watched the more she looked like Sophia he then realized why daryl connected with the girl it was his third chance to save a young girl and he hadn't failed her and it was everything to him
"you care about that girl don't you." rick asked
daryl finally looked away from the girl to him "she lost her brother couple weeks ago man fuckin' saviors did it but she's a good kid who was treated bad when she was younger we just work ya know."
rick smiles "hey I think its great that you bonded with someone man you deserve it you guys could be a family carol, you, the kid."
daryl shrugged shaking his head "i know why your sayin' that man but she ain't Sophia she can hold her own out there killed Dwight on her own after I took out the son of a bitch that grabbed her."
Shelby walked back over and looked up at him "you should look in the bag daryl think you'll like what's in there." she leaned on the car next to him bow resting on the hook on her belt her hands in the vest pockets
he smirked "really."
she nodded "yeah do it come on." she pushed carefully nudging his arm with her elbow he tugged the bag down she held her arms out and he set the bag on her arms and unzipped it tugging out the first thing he saw letting it unfold in his hands a new vest complete with his wings just like the one he gave up to her but it also had the words "apocalypses avenging angel"around the wings the wings a crisp clean white.
he smiled "awe shit kid." he said happily he pulled it on and kept looking through the bag and found the note above the new Bowie knife and other supplies "for the avenging angel of the apocalypse daryl your a great man, Honorable, thank you -Ezekiel." he slumped down and looked at the kid
who smiled softly at him he tugged the bag out of her hands setting it at his feet and pulled her in a hug she spoke "daryl I didn't make this, was the kings idea somebody told him about your vest before." mumbling face nuzzled into his chest squeezing back carefully needing the comfort he gave.
he rests his face in her hair "mm don't care kid your here i'm thanking you." rick smiles at the kindness his usually gruff friend was showing and daryl took a deep breath inhaling her delicate woodsy smell mixed with the death coming off his old vest and sighed pulling back "we should go for we get more walkers around here." rick opens the passenger door for him secretly tucking the rings in his vest pocket and daryl shrugs "nah I'll take the back need to stretch out."
Shelby smirked and picked up his bag zipping it up "your loss my gain I get shotgun." she shoved his and her bags to the floor and hopped in moving her bow to rest on her lap
closing the door rick chuckled "she's got spunk you sure she ain't your kid man."
daryl shook his head "maybe she could be but forget it rick if she was wouldn't I tell you."
rick sighed opening the back door "alright man what ever." daryl sat down carefully groaning softly rick noticed and spoke "hey there's some meds in the bag on the floor there if you need it." daryl pulled the bag up no argument to rick who knew how much pain he had to be in to not fight him on it.
Shelby turned in her seat holding out her water for him and he smiles taking it "thanks kid."
she nods resting her palms on the seat back "no problem." rick closed the door and daryl moved around against the door pulling his leg up on the seat and crossed his arms against his chest pulling the vest tighter around him outside the car he saw Jesus come out of the cabin and walk over to the car to talk to rick.
Jesus rests his hands on the car roof "daryl really is truly terrifying you know fucking 7 guys at once thats insane."
rick smiles "yeah but most of what he does its for the people he cares about." rick taps his fingers against the car
"yeah kind of got that glad he was on our side."Jesus mumbles
Shelby rolled the window down and said "hey come on we need to get him to carol." she rolled it back up.
rick smiles glancing through the back window seeing daryl rolling the rings in his hand "shit already having the kid do his dirty work." rick sighed "alright well we gotta go he's got a women to see about his feelings." he climbs in the drivers seat and Jesus watches waving as they drive off daryl slipping slowly into a drug induced sleep along the way they where about halfway back when daryl started whimpering pitifully in his sleep shaking softly as the nightmares over took his blissful drugged sleep rick pulled over when Shelby grabbed his arm
"let me help him please." she pleaded knowing all to well the kind of nightmare it was he stopped long enough for her to slip over the seat into the back moving their bows into her seat curling into daryls side who calmed wrapping his arm over her shoulders and muttered her name softly curling loosely around her in a protective way and she was dozing right along with him a short while later rick chuckled at the two archers, the two protectors helping each other in the most simple way they could.