A/N: I DO NOT own any part of The Walking Dead. Sorry it's been awhile, it's been difficult trying to get this up with school and everything. Hopefully I can have this up before 2013! I'm on break now, so I'll try and get in about two updates before I return for the semester, and definitely more before the show returns in February. I also want to stress that I'm not trying to write Daryl off as a jerk, it's just Scarlett that brings out the worst in him. We all know what he's like deep down, but when he's around Scarlett all those Dixon qualities sort of come out. That will be changing quite shortly however. So, here we go! Enjoy!
The Beginning of the End
"So, you got a boyfriend? You look like you've got a boyfriend."
Scarlett smirked slightly, removing a white button-down blouse from her duffel bag and unfolding it carefully. It was nice to be around girls again, able to partake in gossip and silly things such as her relationship. Just being in the company of other girls her own age was enough to relax her more than she had been in ages, although she was a nervous wreck inside.
"Yeah I do, his name is Michael." She replied, feeling a slight flush climb into her cheeks. It was one of those things that made Scarlett realize just how much she liked Michael. Never before had the simple thought of any boy been able to make her flush.
Except Daryl Dixon. She thought bitterly, although the heat that flooded her face when she thought of the latter was for a completely different reason.
The arrogant hillbilly ass and his refusal to just let her be nice to him. She of people understood that it was impossible to be liked by everyone, but his simple arrogance put her on edge like nothing else could.
Then there was what had happened that morning. Scarlett had decided to go for a quick hike and elected for a refreshing dip in the stream after getting herself all sweaty, only to discover that she was not as alone as she thought. His fall meant the obvious: he had been watching her, and Scarlett did not know for how long, all she knew was that it felt good to catch him in the act. After shoving insults and spitting ignorance in her face, it was nice to see that he wasn't above voyeurism, and from the looks of his flustered face he just may have enjoyed it.
Michael had been kind enough to lend Scarlett his truck, insisting that he had gotten along without it before, and certainly could now. After all, most of his day was spent at Harry's and the walk back wasn't far from his place. After much arguing about it, he all but shoved Scarlett into the car and bid her farewell with a kiss on the forehead.
So, here she would stay for the next two days getting to know the campus and exploring what lay in store for her future. She would be rooming with two girls named Jennifer and Natalie, both out-of-state seniors who were completing the nursing program and who were both equally friendly.
"Ooh, Michael. Sounds cute. What's he like?" Jennifer asked, sitting cross legged on her bed.
"Jenny stop you're going to scare her off you're so fucking nosy. Don't mind her Scarlett, she has to know every single detail about everybody's life."
"Shut up Natalie." Jennifer shot back and the two giggled lightly, making Scarlett even more at ease. Setting her things down on the spare bed in the corner which once belonged to a girl who had dropped out, she sat down on the bed and bit her lip. She would have a tour around the campus in about twenty minutes, and after would meet with an adviser on planning her schedule for the upcoming semester.
"So where are you from?" Natalie asked.
"Ohio originally. I went to Syracuse then moved down here with Michael. I've had my heart set on this place though."
"Really that's cool. You know we were planning a girls night out tomorrow night you should come. Jenny knows this guy that works the door at a really cool club downtown and we were going to head down. You could be a new member of our group!" Natalie exclaimed and immediately Scarlett's walls went up. Of course she would enjoy such a venture, after all she loved dancing and the nightlife but interacting with people in a group? She wasn't sure if she could handle that just yet. She was already trying to adjust to being on a campus full of people as compared to a mountain.
"Thanks. You're from Arizona right?" she replied, avoiding accepting her invitation at the moment.
"Yeah, and Jenny's from Alabama. You know you're really pretty. I know that sounds weird but you're like really pretty. What are you?"
"Mostly black and Italian, then French and Cherokee Indian." Scarlett replied before standing up, suddenly uncomfortable once more. She generally didn't like people to comment on her looks, it gave her the impression that they say her as just that and not what she truly was. The thing about Michael was that unlike other guys, he listened to what she had to say and knew she had something to say in the first place. She wasn't just a pretty face, and she wanted people to know that.
"Wow that's such an interesting combination. I'm just plain old Polish."
Right in that moment Scarlett's phone rang and she was spared from increasingly uncomfortable conversation. Pulling her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans she looked down to see it was none other than Michael himself.
"Hey honey, I was just talking about you." Scarlett said, immediately drawing looks from the girls across the room. They glanced at each other and Scarlett could almost see their ears pricking for a chance to listen to the boy she had just talked about.
"Good things I hope. I was just calling to see if you got in okay. Everything alright? You liking it up there so far?"
"Well I hardly think I can scope out the place in the twenty minutes I've been here but yes, I like it. I'm staying with the two nicest girls. Hope you're surviving without me." She joked.
"Don't know how I will. Really though, I'm going to have to bartend for the next two days, people sure as hell are gonna miss you."
"You know I don't think I mentioned it, but you'll never guess what happened before I left this morning. I went hiking for a bit and took a dip and guess who I ran into half-clothed and spying on me?"
"Who?"
"Your dear friend Daryl." Scarlett pursed her lips. In all truth had she not loathed him so much she never would have brought it up, but at this point it would be good for Michael to go kick his scruffy ass. Served him right for being such a dick.
"What?" Michael all but screamed furiously through the phone.
"Yeah. I heard this big crash and found him on the ground. The guy was watching me naked."
"You know we used to always think he was gay. Never showed interest in a girl. Ever. Guess we were wrong. Well next time I see him around I'm going to kick his ass, but I've gotta go babe. I'll talk to you later."
"Okay bye!" Scarlett exclaimed then hung up the phone. There was something that disturbed her however, a small matter that continued to bite in the back of her brain all day since that incident in the woods.
As Scarlett had walked away, as she had gotten into the car she found herself the slightest bit…excited. She thought it was just her anger that made her heart race and all parts of her body flush, but she knew she could not deny the simple fact that being watched—more particularly being watched by someone who she felt so strongly about—was exciting to her. She wondered how much he had seen. Had he seen her naked? Had he fantasized about her? What would it be like to be laying beneath him? Would he fuck her in ways that Michael never could?
Fuck! She exclaimed internally, upper lip curling in disgust. Why the hell was she even thinking about him? He wasn't even that attractive. Well, he had a certain way about him. The way his biceps bulged beneath his skin and his brown hair framed his face.
You're with Michael. You've been dating him for months and you just might love him, not the disgusting piece of shit creep who can't even exhibit common courtesy who's probably never even fucked a girl. Scarlett thought bitterly then stood up quickly. The more she kept her mind occupied the better off she would be.
"Hey guys I'll see you later I have to take a tour of campus."
With that Scarlett departed, although much to her frustration she did not leave her thoughts of Daryl Dixon behind.
Daryl lay on his back, staring up at the dark ceiling of his dingy bedroom. The sounds of squeaky mattress springs from across the hall tore through the walls as Merle went to town on some whore. Brushing his hair out of his face he found his thoughts once again violated by what he had seen that morning.
He had never been with a women before and it never bothered him up until that point. Not because he was ashamed, but because he wondered what it would be like to feel a soft body so close to his own. Skin on skin, lips clashing.
Sex was animalistic. The way two people growled and screamed aloud, rubbing up against each other and grasping at flesh. Without thinking, his calloused hand drifted into his underwear and he grazed his member. He didn't touch himself often, but the simple thought of imagining how it felt to be inside a woman dominated his mind. The way Scarlett's body looked, he wondered how her breasts would feel in his hands. Merle's conquest continued to scream loudly and obnoxiously, and Daryl wondered if Scarlett would too.
Did she fuck Everheart like that? Did he make her scream when they were together? More importantly, what did it feel like inside of her? Unless she opened her mouth she had the ability to be sexy as hell, the way her large tits sat atop that small waist. And more than anything she was fit from hunting and hiking.
Suddenly, the door swung open and Merle entered, clad in nothing but his skin. Sitting up quickly Daryl removed his hand from his pants and looked away so he would not be graced with his brother's junk.
"What the hell are you doing?" he asked and Merle chuckled. Daryl had been so busy thinking he hadn't even noticed the absence of noise from down the hall.
"Well look at you, hand down your pants. Should've come on over. You know I didn't finish Barb off yet. You want a run at her?"
Angrily Daryl stood up, not wanting to hear anything his brother had to say. He was pissed that he had both been caught in the act, and that he had initiated the act in the first place. Sex was for the weak, people who couldn't control their baser instincts and acted more like animals than human beings. He wasn't weak, he was not slave to his body.
"You know little bro I think we really need to get you a nice girl to come on in here and play with you. What about that one that came by with that sweet ass? What was her name? Scarlett?"
Immediately Daryl tensed, clenching his jaw. Without a word he crossed the dingy bedroom he had grown up in and grabbed his crossbow, slinging it over his shoulder. A little hunting would take his mind off of everything.
"Man I tell you what I'd like to do to that tight little body of hers: just bend her over and ram her real good. I bet she likes it rough you can tell by the way she walks around just begging to be fucked. You know I reckon she'd let us both go to town on her at once if you get my drift."
Unable to listen to his brother and longer Daryl pushed past him, storming down the creaky hallway. Behind him Merle's voice continued to echo obscenities after him and before he knew it he was out of the house and stealthily navigating through the foothills of the mountains.
Listening to the dead leaves crunch softly beneath his boots, Daryl found himself reminiscing about his sad childhood, remembering the crush he once had on a girl from school named Madison. She was a petite blonde girl with rosy cheeks, whose father was currently Daryl's employer. It was the first and last time Daryl had romantically set eyes on any girl.
She wasn't just like any girl though. At eight years old she played just like the boys, getting dirt all over her plaid dress and messing up her pigtails. She was rough, not like the other girls who spent their time in the corner simply staring as the boys played. More than anything, she gave Daryl a chance. The other girls (well most of the kids in general) ran the minute they saw him coming, but he could recall clearly one day when she approached him with a sandwich made by her mother and presented it to him.
"Why are you giving me this?" Daryl asked incredulously, taken aback by her kindness. Even the very few children he considered his friends would never do such a thing.
"I don't like peanut butter and jelly. My mom knows I only like ham. You can have it, you never have sandwiches."
Indeed he didn't. His mother was always too busy passed out drunk or sleeping, then again what else would she be doing after his father beat the shit out of her mercilessly? Once she couldn't walk for three days he had banged her up so bad, but his sympathy stopped short. After all, being beaten didn't exactly qualify you to stop taking care of your children did it?
He could recall the way his heart started beating quickly in his chest every time she ran past, her blonde hair bouncing. He hadn't thought about her in a while, and wondered what she was up to these days. He remembered her father mentioning something about her marrying two years ago. As independent as she was when they were kids it seemed she fell into the trap of marriage anyway.
Everyone fell trap to society in some way. Marriage, work, children. But Daryl knew he didn't stand a chance, not at becoming a slave of the "normal" American vision. He would never have children with a wife in a grand house in the suburbs, and he didn't want to. He was fine with his life as it was and wouldn't have changed it for anything else.
"I'm so glad you're coming out with us, this is going to be so much fun. Don't worry, we're going to show you a great time!" Jenny squealed excitedly, and Scarlett grinned. It had been so long since she'd been to a club, and she hated to admit it but she was kind of looking forward to cutting loose for once and having some fun. She almost didn't want to leave.
As expected, Scarlett had fallen in love with the campus. She had fallen in love once more with the fast pace of the city, and even more so she had made great friends. Initially she found her roommates to be quite annoying but after two days she was more than happy to spend every spare moment of her time with them. They were fun! Was this what normal college co-eds felt like? She hadn't known a good time in so long that the feeling was quite foreign to her.
"I'm glad I could fit this dress. I'm really excited it's been awhile." Scarlett said honestly, tugging at the bottom of the extremely-short gold sequin dress Jenny had let her borrow. To say it "fit" was a bit of a stretch, literally, but it was the only thing either girl had that didn't make Scarlett look like she was walking the streets. Jenny was short and Natalie was extremely thin. With Scarlett's body she knew she wouldn't be borrowing clothes from either too often.
"Oh honey you can borrow absolutely whatever you want. You know, Nat and I are renting next semester with a few other people. You should totally stay with us, it would be awesome."
"I'd have to think about it a little but that sounds pretty cool. We'll definitely see." Scarlett smiled, still surprised how friendly the two girls were. Already they were asking her to move in with them after only knowing each other for a grand total of two days?
"Okay, you ready to go?"
Scarlett nodded, and after a few more moments of running around the girls finally left the room. Piling into Jenny's small car they drove downtown, singing loudly to songs Scarlett didn't know and had no shame admitting. After battling the city traffic and finally making their way to a club which seemed to be overflowing with people the three met up with a group of guys and began their night out.
"Come with me!" Natalie exclaimed after an hour of dancing. A sweaty mess, Scarlett grabbed her hand and allowed Natalie to drag her through pumping and pulsating bodies as they made their way to the bathroom. Barging through the door Natalie pulled a small case out of her clutch then tossed it onto the counter in front of the mirror.
Tossing her hair out of her face Scarlett bent down and ran cold water in the sink before splashing a little in her face to cool down. She was thankful she was wearing no makeup, knowing that she would have streaks going down her face had she done so. Glancing over she watched as Natalie unzipped the case to reveal a small baggie of white powder.
"You want some?" she asked, turning to face Scarlett. She grabbed a paper towel and dried her face then looked back over at Natalie. She had to leave early in the morning to make it back to Michael's place, and the fact was she never did well with coke. The first time she used it she threw up and went on a bad trip which scared her off the drug forever.
"Um I don't think so. I've got to cut out early in the morning and I don't really want to get fucked up." She shrugged.
"Okay. Hope you're sure because I promised David some even though he owes me. "
Scarlett remained quiet, watching as Natalie produced a razor and cut the powder into fine lines. Leaning down, she pressed one of her nostrils before inhaling the powder.
"You got anything else?" Scarlett asked. Hell, she was here to have fun wasn't she? What was a night out without a little imbibing? Especially after months of doing nothing.
Natalie glanced at Scarlett then smiled slyly, as though she had some sort of secret. Tossing the case back into her purse she procured a cigarette case which surprised Scarlett who had been self-conscious about smoking, unsure what their reaction would be. Opening it, she revealed several cigarettes and a few small colored tablets which slid around the case freely.
"Would you like to meet Molly?" Natalie wriggled her eyebrows and Scarlett grinned, grabbing one of the pills before hesitating, remembering an incident back in high school when she went out with a group of friends and one ended up in the hospital.
"Where'd you get this?" she asked.
"Miami. Don't worry I know the guy who made it, it's pure." Natalie assured her before snapping the case closed and slipping it back inside her purse. Scarlett stared at the little pill before tossing it into her mouth and swallowing, taking a deep breath. Let the party begin.
Daryl walked into the kitchen, staring at the shabby room which only held some semblance of the kitchen he knew growing up before the fire. Glancing around he opened the dinky yellow fridge which was broken more often than not with some strange hope there would be something there.
There never was.
Slamming it shut he sighed, his stomach growling. He was hungry and the sun had set long ago. All the birds would be up in their nests, squirrels hidden way in trees and food out of sight until morning. The only place around was Harry's and he sure as hell wasn't going there. He had gone without food for days before. He could go a few hours now.
Glancing into the living room Daryl looked on as Merle snored on the couch, an empty beer can on the stained carpet beside his limp hand. Walking over he gazed down at the brother he both hated and loved, the picked the can up off the floor and rolled Merle over on his side in case he got sick during the night.
Across the room, the ancient television blared and Daryl crossed over, meaning to turn it off before stopping in his footsteps as he glanced down at the screen.
He rarely watched television. As a child, he enjoyed his fill of silly cartoons but after realizing all that was in the outside world Daryl spent more time climbing trees and hunting down food than he did playing video games. Besides, with his mother always passed out on the couch, his father drunk, and his brother either in jail or arguing with their dad, he tried to avoid the house as much as possible.
Rarely did anything on the box capture his attention, but as Daryl moved to turn the thing off he could not help but lean in closely and listen to what was before him.
"…Witnesses say the man simply attacked the 42-year-old Gunmar, grabbing his arm and ripping it from its socket then eating his flesh. The attack was unprovoked, and authorities were forced to fire several times before Ray Winston was finally killed. I have here Amelia Lysa who witnessed the attack, tell me Amelia did Frank Gunmar do anything to provoke Winston?"
The camera panned to a middle-aged woman of about 50 or so, with short grey hair and wrinkled skin. Holding bony hand to her chest and adjusted her glasses. Behind her a crowd milled about, occasionally parting to reveal yellow police tape. The headline read: CANNIBALISM IN CONNECTICUT? Man attacked in the street.
"Well I saw the guy just coming out of the bar then this man kind of staggers across the street like he was drunk or something. At first I thought he might rob him but then he grabbed his arm and kept pulling. I think everyone was just too stunned by what was happening to react. Then he started…eating and people were wondering what was going on. A guy tried to yank him off and he bit him and hurt a few others. Not a doubt in my mind he was crazed."
Indeed, the world was going to hell. Turning off the television Daryl padded up the stairs to his bedroom and fell down in his bed, shedding his clothes and pulling a thin blanket over himself. As he did so he stared up at the ceiling as he did so many nights, imagining the night stars up above him.
His mind flitted back to what he had just seen on the news. Situations like crazed lunatics did not warrant national news attention, in his opinion. Especially given the distance between Connecticut and the rest of the states, but it was nevertheless interesting. The way humanity showcased its darkest depths always reminded Daryl of how much he longed to shy away from it and remain one with nature.
Rolling over he clutched a pillow and closed his eyes, attempting to fall asleep. Something felt wrong, he couldn't quite describe it. It was almost as though there was a heavy storm lingering on the air, some massive force that was going to come in and release complete and utter destruction. Silently, Daryl wondered if someone close to him (as if there was anyone) was going to die.
After rolling over repeatedly for thirty minutes Daryl finally threw back the sheets and got dressed, getting out of bed and grabbing his crossbow. Some fresh air would do him some good. Quickly, he grabbed a worn leather jacket and pulled it on before departing from the house.
The past two days he had been absorbed with work. A restoration had come in, with some jackass too lazy to do it himself. He had no time to hunt or even spend some time out in the wilderness. As Daryl walked out into the darkness, blades of grass bending beneath his feet he wondered if there was any chance of him running into Scarlett tonight. She had a nasty habit of showing up where she wasn't wanted.
Each time she crossed his thoughts he got angry for even giving her the time of day. She was nothing, of no importance, so why was he even letting her weave her way into his mind?
It had surprised him, not seeing her around at all the past two days. It was like she had disappeared. Even when he saw Everheart driving through the foothills he was alone in the front seat of his car, no hint of his bird-brained bimbo in sight.
Glancing up at the sky Daryl hiked through the familiar wood which he could now navigate with his eyes shut. As he stalked through the cool trees he found another tree he sometimes frequented. Scaling it with ease he settled against a branch, nestled between the tree's massive trunk and the thick branch he set his head back as he had so many times when he had been out at night, too tired or fearful to return home.
And closing his eyes, Daryl feel asleep faster than he thought possible, giving no thought to what would await him.
Happy New Year! XX!
