"You were right" gritted Daryl. "I found them about a mile outside of camp. I had to practically pry his ass off her. It took everything I had not to kill that son of a bitch."
Dale shook his head. "I just had a bad feeling about it. I didn't like the way he's been looking at her."
Cursing under his breath, Daryl kicked angrily at the ground in front of him. "If only I'd gotten there sooner."
"By the time I found you to send you out there, they had a good fifteen minutes head start. I'm surprised you got there as quickly as you did. It could've been worse."
Daryl glared at him. "Do you think Anna thinks that? Cause I don't. I'm sure the only thing she's thinking about is that Shane was on top of her not that I pulled him off."
Dale studied the drawn features of the man in front of him, watching as he began to pace. "You care about her don't you?"
"She's just some chick I pulled out of the woods" Daryl scoffed. "Shane's a prick who deserved to get his ass kicked. I'd happily do it again and it has nothing to do with her."
"Come on Daryl. You think I haven't noticed how much more time you spend around camp these days. I can't imagine that's a coincidence."
Frustrated, Daryl rubbed his hands across his face. "What difference does it make anyway? It's not like someone like her would want someone like me."
"I've seen the way she looks at you. You're a good man. Nothing like the Shane's of the world. You deserve someone that cares about you. I think you're selling yourself short."
Looking back over his shoulder, Daryl turned to go. "Why wouldn't I? Everyone else does."
That night Anna couldn't sleep. She was replaying the events of the day over and over in her head. She questioned herself. Why did I go? Why didn't I run when I had the chance? Why didn't I scream? The exercise was pointless; she already knew the answers. She went because she wanted to help. She didn't run because it would have embarrassed them both if he had meant her no harm. She didn't scream because he told her not to. Why did she have this incessant need to please, even to her own detriment?
This was a pattern for her, even in college when she had broken up with her high school boyfriend. It was obvious they had grown apart. He wanted something different in life than she did. It would have never worked, but he loved her and was desperately trying to hold on. She didn't want to hurt him so she stayed longer than she should have, devastating him in the end.
Even when she was free to date whoever she wanted, she repeated the cycle. If a man she wasn't interested in asked her out, she would come up with an excuse to spare his feelings. Too many times she ended up on bad dates because she wasn't able to think fast enough on her feet. She started to get angry, not at Shane but at herself. If she was going to make it in this new world she was going to have to change. She made a promise to herself that no man would ever touch her again, unless it was what she wanted.