Saving Dixon Chapter 3
This was real, yet it almost seemed surreal. Here they were standing in a rundown barn, chaos in the world all around them and yet somehow it seemed as if they were exactly at the point they were supposed to be at in this moment. Daryl felt her soft lips on his and he began to tremble, Carol could feel the nervousness rolling off of him in waves. She gently stepped back and looked up at him, he was almost in a daze. He reached his hand up to feel where her lips had just been, as if he must be dreaming this moment and there was no way that it could be Carol actually kissing him. Carol was beginning to wonder if she had done the right thing here. Daryl looked about ready to have an anxiety attack and she felt responsible for him feeling that way. She couldn't help it, when he said he thought he was in love with her, she just had to kiss him. It was an automatic reaction. What was she thinking, she always suspected he had never even kissed a woman and here she was ready to jump his bones. She knew he would be like trying to tame a wild horse. All of these things were running through her mind, when Daryl let out this animalistic sound. It was the sound of predator after his prey and he grabbed her tiny waist with his hands and jerked her towards him. Her body was pressed up against his and there wasn't even an inch spaced between them. His whole body engulfed hers as he leaned into her and nipped at her neck. She was shocked into action, was this her Daryl? The Daryl who wouldn't let anyone get close to him? She roughly pulled him to her mouth by his hair and the kisses became hungry. She could feel his teeth scraping against her tender lips and she started to feel like they were moving too fast. There were people back at camp and they would soon wonder where they had gone. As much as she wanted to stay and figure out what this was, she knew they needed to return.
Carol pulled away and both of them were left gasping for air. Daryl's eyes had darkened to the deepest shade of blue and he looked like he was in a trance. Carol had to get through to him, "Daryl, Daryl we gotta stop." Daryl was almost in a state of shock, but her words were starting to get through. He started retreating back into himself. She could see him shriveling before her eyes. "No, Daryl, I'm not regretting any of this. I just know the rest will be wondering where we are. We have to get back before they come looking for us." Daryl realized she was right and he was relieved, for a moment he thought she was sorry about what happened. He was trying to regain his composure and he glanced in Carol's direction, he was glad he wasn't the only one fighting to try to get hold of himself. Daryl took a deep breath, "I know ya right, we need ta get back. Just so as ya know, we ain't done here." Carol didn't know what he meant, but she had no doubts when he quickly jerked her towards him once more and planted a quick, hard kiss to her lips. Then he started walking to the door as she stood frozen to the spot and he glanced back, "Ya comin' or what?" Carol numbly shook her head and started following until she was back walking alongside him. Now this Daryl was the one she had known at the prison, confident and assured. He had that stride of his back in his step and when they approached the camp, Carol didn't know what to expect.
The first to see them was Rick and he glanced between Carol and Daryl and he knew that something had happened, Daryl looked almost content and Carol looked flustered. He knew better than to ask questions. Neither of those two would be too willing to say anything, but he was glad to have his old friend back. He didn't have to know what was going on there, he just knew that whatever Carol had done had Daryl returning to normal and that was enough for him. He approached two of his most trusted confidantes and began speaking, "We're all trying to decide where to go next, this endless walking is really starting to strain everyone. Daryl, what do you think we should do now? I'm trying to figure out what our next move should be, but with everyone going through all this I'm hard pressed to know what we should do now? Any ideas?" Daryl shrugged, "Reckon, first thang we need ta do is find some safe place to hunker down for tha night. Where that oughta be well, I don't rightly know, but it needs to be soon, I agree." Rick was relieved to have his friend back and he knew they'd be alright. Daryl was back to his normal self and whether he knew it or not, he was a key to their very survival, always had been. He knew without Daryl, they would have many times been in deep trouble of not surviving this whole thing. "Well, let's talk to the group and let them know what we need to do now. We need to find shelter so a little more walking is in order and then we'll go from there."
They all trudged along, and Daryl couldn't help but notice the occasional glances being thrown his way. Carol calmly walked alongside him as if nothing was different, but he'd glance in her direction every now and again and see her glance back. This was driving him crazy, he wanted nothing more than to grab her small little wrist, pull her into either side of this road into the woods and hash out all these pent up emotions. At least, he now knew. He knew that this thing was not one-sided. She was feeling this thing that he was and when they got to some sort of shelter, well he'd find some way to get her alone. He had meant what he said, they weren't done here and he would finish what they started.