Because of the recent blizzard that fell here, it's causing me to fall asleep at random times. Those who don't know, I am Anemic and it's a condition that I have a lower blood cell count. Meaning the cold LITERALLY hurts me on a constant bases and makes me fall asleep at times. I've fallen asleep in the middle of writing this all week. Now, I start math classes after the weekend, so no chapters until the following week. Enjoy!
The Redneck hunter was finding it aggravating that he hadn't found a single thing. No tracks, no blood, and no indication anyone besides walkers or critters had passed through here. He felt finding a deer was going to be easier than finding the teen.
Daryl counted back the days- eight days have passed since the search was formed. He thought back on how long he was lost in the woods as child, nine days it was. Angela said Kaylee was taught survival and camping by their big brother, had a better chance in the woods than Angela herself.
Daryl took note to finding blueberry bushes now and again. He used his red do-rag, always kept in his back pocket, to bring back. It wasn't much, but he thought it was something the group would like. More like, Angela would like them. Just as the kind gesture he made on bringing that Cherokee Rose to Carol, bringing something like this would be good. He did have to make it like was hunting so no one get on his ass about searching far on his own. Hearing some birds didn't seem worth loosing an arrow in the high trees, and spotted no squirrels.
Pocketing the do-rag filled with berries, Daryl continued along the stream. He found there was a good amount of mud around right part of the water, maybe some footprints would be found. The dry crusted mud he walked along, proved not many have stepped through to make any creases the past few days. Something had caught his attention though. Daryl jogged further up the stream, spotting deep grooves proving something crawled out of the mud. Kneeling down, the hunter pressed his fingers against what looked like a footprint that slipping through the mud. It was a guess, but this had to have been done over three or so days ago. He measured the width with his fingers, too small to be from Sophia. He saw no sign of mud on her when she emerged from the barn, either. It looked like someone fell into here and scrambled out in a hurry. She might have been chase, but no signs of blood were found.
Daryl lined up the direction the prints were going and he sprinted off.
Lori managed to get Maggie, thanks for Andrea's help. Turns out she was walking with Glenn when Angela asked for her. Lori thought it would be best to get Hershel, but he was busy with the generator today so they kept it amongst themselves. Maggie was not too keen to hear her sister possibly attempting suicide.
"Are you crazy? What if dad finds out?" Maggie questioned, glaring at the younger sister on the bed.
"What's he gonna do? Kill me for committing suicide." She remarked.
Maggie sent her a look, he marched over and sat on the bed with her. "Stop being such a brat. He'd die. So would I."
Angela observed it all, Andrea assumed they'd want privacy but Maggie insisted that she stay there to help. She didn't know how she could help in a possibly growing fight between sisters though. Maybe she thought it would help, knowing what it's like being a sister herself.
"We all lost mom."
"We'll lose each other and I couldn't stand that." Beth told, feeling it justified her actions.
"So you give up?"
"Beth," Angela spoke, gaining the younger sister's attention. "What if it was the other way around? What if it was Maggie that wanted to give up or your dad?"
She saw the glare being sent, but deflected it. "We saw the way you reacted to that ordeal, how do you think they would be if they found you dead?"
"This isn't even any of your business." She hissed.
"Hey." Maggie scolded, "She's helping."
"No, she's not." Beth argued, sending more glares at Angela. "She's nothing a nosebag who just acts like she's helping."
"You need to stop acting like a brat." Maggie told, her voice raising with Beth's.
"Why can't you people just leave me alone!?"
"Because you decided to think of yourself instead everyone else!"
At this point, it became a screaming match between the sisters. Angela crept around them and left the room without a word. Giving her head a shake, she patted her ears to make sure her hearing wasn't faltered. It had been a long time since she heard a screaming match, probably back before Angela moved out from home. This was indeed not her business, deciding to head into the kitchen where it echoed even to there. Damn thin walls.
Andrea and Lori spotted her coming in, to earn a shake of the head as if Angela was distorted by the yelling. "Yeah, not my jurisdiction anymore."
The blonde seemed highly bothered by the yelling. Lori and Angela weren't too bothered, as if they'd witnessed this before in their life- family boutings. "It's a family affair." Lori told, taking a cucumber slice and munching on it. "We'll let them work it out."
Angela nodded in agreement, pouring herself a glass of iced tea that was freshly made that morning. Beth screamed something unintelligible catching Andrea's attention. "That's working it out?"
"When Beth stops fighting, that's when it's time to worry." Lori told, hopping off from sitting on the counter.
"You are being so selfish!" Screamed, whoever. It was hard to tell who was yelling what at this point.
"This could've been handled better." Andrea told.
"How so?" Lori asked. Angela leaned against the counter next to the fridge, sipping her drink.
"Angela shouldn't have taken the knife away."
Lori and Angela's heads looked to her in shock. What-What did she say? "Excuse me?"
Angela's brows knotted, as she placed her drink down and crossed her arms. "Yeah, elaborate, please?"
Her eyes were straight at the dirty blonde. "You were wrong, like Dale taking my gun. That wasn't your decision." Angela scoffed, picking her drink back up and taking long gulps now. "She has to choose to live on her own. She has to find her own reasons."
"I didn't hear you say that." Angela shook her head.
"Want us to tie a noose for her?" Lori asked, taking Angela's side on this. She platted some food and placed it in the fridge.
"If she's serious, she'll figure out a way." Andrea told.
Lori returned back to the sink to clean some dishes. "Doesn't mean we can't stop her or let her know we care."
"That has nothing to do with it. She only has so many choices in front of her, and she believes the best one is suicide."
"Oh, that's a load of bullshit." Angela hissed.
"No, it's not." Andrea argued, giving her a look. "She doesn't need to be yelled at or treated like a child."
"Guess what, that's what she is- a child. And no child should be thinking suicide is okay when she has her family."
Andrea tilted her head, as if she found something to raise her argument to be valid. "So, if her entire family was dead or turned to walkers, that makes it okay?"
Her head shook, putting the glass down again. "Don't put words in my mouth." She said lowly.
Lori looked between the two, "You'll understand if I don't send you in there."
Andrea gave an offensive look toward the mother. "I came through it and became such a productive member of the group."
A sudden clap of the hand almost made the women jump and looked toward Angela. "That's what I was waiting for." Her grin was wide, almost like she was amused by Andrea's words. She took a step and leaned her hands on the island, staring at the woman across from her.
"You want a frickin' gold star for your efforts? No, wait, that's not it. What you want is constant praise for something Dale got out of your head."
Andrea glared at her, crossing her arms. "Dale didn't do shit, he ruined the chance I had."
Angela cleared her throat, looking to the side then looked back up at her. "You just want people to see what a hero you are for 'overcoming' your troubles and how much you've improved on being an annoyance."
"I contribute. I help keep this place safe. What exactly have you done around here but bitch about Shane left and right?" Andrea accused getting Lori's attention.
"I haven't bitched about him at all. You need to get your facts straight." She told, pointing a finger at her. The only people she's told to is Daryl and Dale, how would she know anyway?
"The men can handle this on their own. They don't need your help." Lori told, walking past Angela wiping her hands on a towel. She was noticing how much Lori was defending her and highly appreciated it.
She glared at Lori now, her silence before giving a word out was putting Angela on edge. Andrea reminded her of girls she used to fight with back in high school, a right hook is what she needed.
"I'm sorry. What would you have me do?"
Lori spun around at her. "Oh, there's plenty of work to go around."
"Are you serious? Everything falls apart, you're in my face over skipping laundry?" She throws a finger at Angela who wished to break the digit right off her hand. "I don't see her doing any lady work around the camp. All she does is wander around like a lost puppy."
She was seething at this point, but Lori was fast enough to beat her to the punch. "She has a healing wrist, she tried to help with laundry on day one and couldn't do it. Angela's offered to do work, and does best she could."
Lori gave a short glanced to Angela, she returned a look of regard for her constant defence. The mother continued, "Puts a burden on the rest of us, on me, Carol, Patricia, and Maggie. Cooking, cleaning, and caring for Beth. Which, Angela helped largely at that, by the way." she added. "And you- you don't care about anything but yourself. You sit up on that RV, working on your tan with a shotgun in your lap."
"No, I am on watch against walkers. Which Angela could do to, if anyone trusted her with a gun in her grip."
"Hey, whoa." Angela snapped her head giving an intense glare. Now finding her temper reaching its limit. "Don't make it as if I'd shoot anyone all willy nilly, like some trigger happy lunatic."
Andrea scoffed, shifting her footing as if to prepare for the rising bout between them. "Did you forget how you were at the practice? You could barely fire that thing, you almost shot someone."
"I wasn't close to shooting anyone." Angela rose her bandaged hand up at her. "I couldn't do a thing because of this injury!"
"You're obviously faking it for attention, one day it's fine the next you're injured mysteriously. I wouldn't doubt it if your sister wasn't really out there, lost in those woods."
"Andrea!" Lori hissed, finding she had gone way too far now.
Angela was silent, a heavy expression of anger was clear on her face. She breathed through her nose to try and calm down, but it failed as she rounded the counter. Andrea took a step back from her advances.
"You think you're all brawn and brain just because you can fire a gun. Did you forget how you nearly blew Daryl's head off when he got back from his search? Now you want to have a sixteen year old girl kill herself!?"
The bark of Angela's voice caused the room to grow dead silent. Not even the screaming match between Beth and Maggie that had died down was noticed. Angela slammed her hand down, feeling the need to release her boiling anger more.
"You think just because you faced the thought of suicide, it makes you an ultimate hero like in some comic book. I've seen hundreds of people commit the deed- hundreds. Parents, grandparents, children, babies." Her voice was firm and even, and it was low with venom. "Did they have many choices? No, they did not. Because they were forced to do it, they didn't have a choice. Beth, she has that choice- the choice to keep going with her family."
"Taking that chance for her to decide is not your call."
Angela growled angrily as she screamed out, "It's not yours either!"
The two glared heavily, Lori was silent. Angela's scream jolted her, not daring to say a word. Andrea suddenly smirked, shaking her head at the woman. "You'll never be one of us."
After that, Angela marched off hearing Andrea still berating her about running away and Lori's voice telling her to stop it. Angela slammed the door open and stepped down from the porch, she stomped toward her tent and climbed inside shutting the flap. She paced back and forth, letting out low curses and frustrated sighs, picking up clothing and throwing it about. God, she wanted to just give that bitch a clip around the ear. Just one punch, enough to see the pleasure of her nose bleeding. Her chest heaved up and down, as sweat dripped from her face. Releasing her energy and anger out on her belongings now strewn across the tent floor. Once her fit was over, she looked around her space seeing the mess she made.
"...Now it's a mess in here." Angela grunted, and knelt down to clean up. She wished she had gone hunting with Daryl today.
Now, this was a sight the hunter hadn't seen in ages- a bear trap. Kneeling down, he inspected the open trap, thankful he had just stopped short before stepping into the damn thing. Daryl took a guess these were used to catch any stray walkers. It wasn't a bad idea, until the thought that the group would have caught themselves in these death traps made them dangerous. His blue eyes scanned the ground, he found a stick and slammed it down to activate the trap. The teeth snatched the stick snapping it into two, Daryl snatched his hand back not wanting to risk losing fingers.
Had Kaylee actually gone this way? Who knows how many more bear traps there were. She might have avoided them by a miracle or was trapped in one somewhere. Daryl stood, keeping his crossbow up, now shifting his eyes between the ground and the tree lines. His boots slowly crunched past leaves and twigs, very slowly he moved. Passing a few trees, he spotted more bear traps, setting them off by tossing sticks and rocks. Rounding a bush, he coughed at the stench of something horrible. He looked around and spotted a walker's leg had gotten trapped in the bear traps' teeth.
"Well, worked in the end." Only trouble was, where was the rest of it? Daryl looked around, and found the rest of the rotting corpse, with it's once was head crunched into another trap.
Now, this boggled his mind a bit. Something had to have caused the walker to want to get out from the trap, someone came past here. Daryl walked over, holding his breath as the flies buzzed by around on the rotting corpse. Traces of the walker's dark blood was all over the place, along with what was left of its brain. Daryl stepped around, keeping an eye out for any more traps nearby while also searching for any indication Kaylee was here. With a grimace, he tilted the gore covered trap, looking around for any other sign of such. So far, it just looked like the walker broke free by the leg and tried to reach something. Only to lead getting it's skull crushed in a trap, killing it for good.
With a grunt, Daryl got to his feet finding the trail had gone cold here. His eyes squinted at the sky, seeing the sun's position. If he wanted to get back before Rick and Shane, he better head out now. Daryl turned, indicating his direction to trace back to the farm. Better find some squirrels, he thought.
Angela had fixed her tent and was content to not have anyone bother her. She had caused a good amount of noise, but most of the group members weren't close by. Some were in the RV, others were taking walks along the property. Angela was sitting on the porch steps waiting for Daryl's return by this point. She wanted to vent, and as much as Daryl didn't seem like a listener, he'd do for the time being. Angela grinned to herself at the thought that he'd not want to hear her 'bitching' as some would call it- Andrea. But, she'd for sure play the 'you owe me' card on him.
Keeping her eyes on the property gate or the trees in a far distance, she expected to see the hunter's figure any second. Someone else came into her view, spotting Hershel wiping his greased covered hands on an old rag. He greeted her with a smile, she returned it.
"Pretty quiet today, don't you think?" He asked, pausing at the step.
"With Rick and Shane gone, it can get pretty peaceful." She agreed. "How's the generator?"
"Working well, there was some problem with it last night. Shouldn't cause any trouble tonight." He assured.
Angela chuckled. "It's better than the one my dad had, it would last about maybe four hours before shutting down for no reason."
Hershel joined in with his own chuckle, stepping around her to head inside. "Hershel!" A cry came from the house, Angela turned as Hershel found Lori running out the door. "Hershel, it's Beth!"
The suddenly concerned father hurried inside, Lori and Angela following after. Angela was about to ask what was wrong, but was shocked to find a hysterically sobbing Beth with blood covering her left wrist. Angela covered her mouth in shock, what happened? Was no one watching her?
Sudden guilt waved over her, she was supposed to be helping this and she ran off after a stupid tuss with Andrea. Beth cried in her sister's arms, who kept soothing her and telling her she wasn't mad at her. Her father didn't scold her, but took her into his arms ignoring the blood staining his shirt. Once Hershel lead her into the bedroom to get stitched up, Maggie wiped her face of the tears that escaped.
"Maggie, I am so sorry." Angela said, her eyes shifting between the room and the sister. "I was supposed to help and-"
"No, no, Angela." Maggie took a deep breath, shaking her head to the woman. "Andrea was supposed to be watching her."
"What?" Lori questioned, had she snuck into the room without her knowing?
"She said she would sit with her, letting me take a rest. She was insistent on it." Maggie explained.
Angela crossed her arms. "Lori and I argued with her how Beth shouldn't have been left alone. She was all for Beth to try and kill herself."
A sweep of anger flared in Maggie's features. She stomped toward the front door, Lori and Angela trailing after. Outside, Andrea was found jogging up to the house looking greatly concerned. Lori and Angela stood by the screen door as Maggie approached halfway down the steps.
"Where were you?"
"I heard. Is she alright?" Andrea asked between pants.
"She would be if you had stayed with her. Where were you?" Maggie questioned again.
"How bad is she?" Andrea answered with her own question.
"It wasn't deep."
Andrea smiled, "She wants to live." she nodded and beamed at Maggie as if this was great news. It caused Angela's stomach to churn. "She made her decision."
"She tried to kill herself."
"No, she didn't." Andrea argued.
Angela stepped up, "What do you call this than?" She pointed at the door. "Her arm was covered in blood."
"My father is stitching her wrist right now."
"She'll live." Andrea moved to walk past, wanting to check on Beth.
Maggie instantly blocked her path, Angela took a breath standing by the door. Andrea looked up, finding the glare sent downward toward her. "Stay away from her. From both of us." She growled, "Don't you dare step foot inside this house again."
Andrea shared a look from Lori and Angela, who looked at her with disgust. Taking a few steps back, the blonde decided to turn away and leave the house back to the encampment. She had a look of betrayal in her eyes, but no sympathy was given to her. She was lucky Angela didn't confront her, she wouldn't slammed a fist in her face without hesitance, for sure.
Maggie turned back up the steps, she sighed and tried to calm her anger down before entering the house. "Want me to sit with Beth? I should've been here, I still feel partially responsible."
"No, no. I think she'll want to be with dad for now." Maggie assured.
Angela nodded and stepped down the porch, she turned back. "Don't hesitate if you need me to talk to her. I want to make sure she's alright."
"Thanks, "Maggie smiled.
The sun was setting as Angela sat at Daryl's camp, she noticed he had set the necklace of walker ears hung up on a line. Some left over squirrels hung along with them. Angela shook her head, giving the gross thing a flick of her finger, as they dangled about. She spotted Daryl's bike as well, he was really keeping everything far from the others. Angela wondered if she should move her tent far as well, on account of the recent argument with Andrea. But, she didn't want to crowd Daryl like that. Curiously, she approached the motorcycle looking it over with her hands tucked behind her back.
Her memories came to her, remembering how her granddaddy loved motorcycles, while her father hated them to death. The closest to a motorcycle she rode was an ATV, and she didn't know if that counted. The structure of the bike boggled her mind with how far the handlebars were from the seat. What alerted her the most was the sticker insignia on the side of the bike.
Walking on the other side, she spotted it on both sides of the bike. It was a typically known Nazi symbol, but one she knew. "The Sig Rune symbol, Siegel rune." Angela mumbled to herself, crouching down beside the bike.
"Hey!" Angela jumped back finding Daryl treading back, a string of squirrels and his crossbow over his shoulder as usual. He eyed the bike up then back to her, "What were ya doin'?"
"Nothing, didn't touch it. I just spotted the Siegel Rune symbol on the bike and it's a rare symbol to see these days. Sometimes forgotten about." Angela explained hastily.
Daryl was confused by this 'rune' she mentioned. Angela pointed at the sticker of the symbol on the bike. "Oh, that thing." He walked past her, hanging the squirrels up and placing his bow down against the stone pillar. "Blame my brother for that."
She watched him look over the old squirrels that hung up, seeing if they were worth eating or not being hung for a few days. With recent events, he pretty much forgot about them. "Do you know the true meaning, before the Nazis ruined it?'
"Don't care." He muttered, deciding the just skin them now. Daryl took them down and sat down against the stone, taking his knife out. "Just know it means Nazi."
Angela tilted back and forth ready to rebuttal, looking over the bike again with interest. "Well, it really means- or meant- Goddess of Victory, until it was used for the Nazi party. It actually divided into branches, this one unit called Waffen-SS is the most known of Nazi enforcement."
Angela hadn't noticed she was rambling on until she heard no reply from Daryl. Peeking over her shoulder, she saw he was too focused with skinning his critters to listen to her history lesson. It didn't appeal to him, he didn't care. Angela felt out of place, she walked over and sat on a grass watching him.
"Find a good amount on the hunt?" She asked, counting the fresh squirrels he brought back.
"Yeah." He muttered, grunting at his skinning. He just then remembered something. "a'most forgot."
Daryl leaned, over fishing for something in his pockets. Angela rose her brow, what had he forgot? He got out the small wrapped red do-rag and held it out to Angela. She hesitated, but stepped over and took the ball feeling something lumpy inside. Angela unwrapped it, surprised to find blueberries inside.
"Blueberries, you found these?" She asked, smiling at the sight of these beauties.
"Found bushes of them." He told, slicing his knife down the stomach to gun the critter.
"You managed to get a good find, then." She smiled, taking a bite of a blueberry and smiling at the flavor. She loves fruits, "Thanks."
The appreciation may have been for the berries, but his real search was a dead end. Daryl debated on telling her, the question was how would she take it? Would she want to join in another search tomorrow? Would she tell him to stop searching like Carol did?
Daryl decided to keep quiet, not wanting to have her start off on anything. He watched her enjoy the blueberries, his chest growing warm at the sight of her smile. He scoffed to himself and continued gutting the critter. Angela stood up offering her some berries now and then. He gladly took them, ignoring the animal blood on his hands. To keep her hands free of the blood, she dropped it into his hand. Angela got sick of leaning and reaching over, that she simply sat next to him on the ground. Daryl took noticed, but kept an eye when she offered him a fifth berry. Not wanting to grow too full, she wrapped them up, and placed them between the two with a sigh.
"That was a serious treat." She told, licking her lips to savour the taste. "It's better than getting candy, that's for sure."
Daryl grunted with amusement. "Good luck finding any chocolate bars out here."
Angela chuckled, the shade cooled her down as the sun started setting. "When do you think Rick and Shane will get back?"
"Don't know." Daryl muttered.
Angela brought her knees up, heaving a sigh. The sun was straining her eyes causing her to blink rapidly at it. Her hand reached up to pull the cap down, but forgot she didn't have her hat. In fact, she hasn't had her hat since Shane took it. Angela didn't want to keep hold of Daryl's bandana for too long, she'd have to make sure to clean it before handing back to him. Since the material was absorbing sweat and dirt.
"Beth tried to kill herself." She told, not really expecting a conversation out of the hunter. But, Angela wanted to tell someone how today was, may as well be someone who wasn't here all day.
"That so?" He asked, though he knew Angela would continue even if he didn't respond.
"Lori and I kept her from hiding a kitchen knife. Andrea went on this tangent about how 'she should make her choice, because I couldn't' or some shit."
Daryl sighed with annoyance, for a moment she thought it was at her. "She's goin' off on that shit again?"
Angela glanced up at Daryl. "What happened exactly? She keeps blaming Dale about taking her choice away."
"When we were at the CDC, this doctor there locked us in. He tried to tell us optin' out was the best way." Daryl explained, taking a second squirrel and started skinning it. "When he let us go, Andrea stayed behind. Dale convinced her to get out, just before the whole damn place blew up."
Angela shook her head, pressing her palm to her forehead. "That doesn't give her a right to encourage others to go through what she did. She was making it as if she was some hero now for the group."
The hunter struggled skinning the second, using his knife to try and loosen the skin more. "Shit like this is why I stay out." He grunted at his work, ripping the skin off and chucking it off carelessly.
Angela watched, "She says how much I'm a burden. How I won't be one of you guys."
"Do you believe her?" He asked, slicing the middle, and tossing the organs and guts to the grass.
Angela didn't answer, she just sighed and rested her head on her knees. Daryl didn't say anything as well, the only sounds were distant bugs and birds from the trees and the the splatter of the guts piling on top of one another.
Daryl started a fire and began cooking the two squirrels. Angela didn't leave, the two sat in content silence by the fire. It was unknown if Rick and Shane had come back, but the two didn't move or bring it up to find out. Angela didn't want to be by the house for a while, with Shane a danger and now Andrea against her, she felt outnumbered somehow. She counted those who had her back, Daryl, Dale, Lori, Rick, Carl, Glenn, and she was sure Carol and T-Dog were counted as well. It may have actually outnumbered Andrea and Shane, but she felt comfortable being here with Daryl. The redneck didn't mind her there, it was obvious the second squirrel cooking was for her. The crackling flames and now the crickets echoing around them signalled the day was done. The two sat across from one another, watching the flame roast their dinner.
"Can I stay here?"
Daryl glanced up seeing her staring at the flames. Stay as in a little while longer or did she mean stay the night? Her green eyes shifted up to him, waiting for a response to her question. He took the squirrel off the fire with a stick run through and held it out to her. She took it, waiting for it to cool as he took his, instantly ripping the meat off the leg and nibbling on it.
"I'll sleep outside, keep space between us." She added.
"You can stay." Daryl muttered, "Ain't sleepin' out here, though." Daryl bit into the thin meat, not giving her eye contact.
Angela nodded, softly biting into the her own meal. "Thanks." She felt her chest tighten when he allowed her stay, she'd be sure to sleep soundly as best for him. "A bit over cooked." She muttered teasingly.
Daryl glanced up, only to scoff at her words with a grin. "Shut up."
When Rick and Shane had returned, it meant a few things. Lori knew the deed of taking care of Shane wasn't dealt with. It meant to the others that they were safe, until they saw Randall was hauled into the slaughter barn. It rose a large amount of questions, leading to them discovering the kid knew the farm's location from the get go. Rick explained that he used to go to school with Maggie and knew the Greene family. Finding that too huge of a risk, Rick decided to take him back to be questioned tomorrow. He thought he himself should question him, but thought Daryl could do a better job of getting answers out of him.
Grimes was walking his way toward Daryl's camp, seeing the small fire still lit indicating he was there and awake. He was surprised to find Angela curled up by the fire asleep. He looked her over, she seemed fine. It just perplexing to find her out here, he looked around to see if Daryl was here.
"Don't wake her." Rick looked behind the stone to see Daryl emerging from his tent. He had a blanket bundled in his arms.
He watched Daryl drap the blanket over her, she murmured a bit and pulled the blanket tightly around her shoulders. Rick was astounded to see Daryl doing such a kind gesture. He has seen these two together a few times, and didn't expect they would get along that well. Daryl was an inconsiderate redneck, with a short temper and disgust to others. Seeing him soft to someone was a rare sight, especially since these two started off on the wrong foot.
"Somethin' ya want?" Daryl asked, breaking Rick out of his thoughts.
"Yeah." He nodded Daryl to step away to speak, not wanting to wake Angela. The two walked over to his tent, the shadows engulfing them. "We had to bring Randall back, he knows where we are."
Daryl narrowed his eyes at him. "How the hell does he know that?"
"He said he went to school with Maggie, knows her and Hershel. So, we can't let him go off when he knows this place." Rick explained, pacing left and right as he felt restless.
Daryl shrugged. "Then what, put a bullet in him?"
Rick shook his head. "I want you to question him tomorrow."
"Why not have Shane do it?" He asked, a hint of disdain in his voice.
"You know Shane wants him dead." He told. Daryl noticed his face looked more bruised than before he left, clearly got into a scuffle while out there. "I need someone who can get answers out of him. In any way possible."
Daryl thought on it silently. If this guy had more dangerous people, Daryl wanted to know as well. "Done." He told with a nod. "Ya sure ya wouldn't want it done tonight?"
"Nah, nothing under wraps. We got people on guard, both on Randall and on the property." Rick assured, pausing his pacing which was driving Daryl up a wall. "Just wanted to go by you on that."
Daryl grunted in response, Rick walked toward the fire seeing Angela still asleep. Seeing this, he went back to Daryl. "There's else something you gotta see."
The hunter found Rick's words meaning he had to follow him somewhere. Not wanting to leave Angela out in the open, he rubbed in chin nodding to him. "I'll meet ya at the cars."
Rick nodded and turned to head back. Daryl watched Rick's back fade into the darkness. With a sigh, he walked over to the fire and knelt down to Angela. Carefully, he picked her up, cradling her in his arms as the blanket almost fell off her. She resting her head against his shoulder as he adjusted her, taking her to the tent. He ducked down to get in the tent, then placed her down in his cot not caring to take the floor. Daryl heaved a sigh once her weight was off, Angela curled up in the cot contently, snuggling her head into his pillow. He shook his head and left the tent, closing the flap securely. Daryl didn't think any walkers would invade the property, but just to be sure they couldn't get in.
The next morning, Angela found herself a warm pillow to sink into. Birds chirping replacing the crickets indicated she slept the whole night. She was in such a peaceful and deep sleep, she didn't want to even acknowledge that morning had arrived. Angela turned onto her other side, sighing as she hugged the pillow.
Wait, she doesn't have a pillow. Her eyes shot open and sat up seeing she wasn't in her tent. Looking around, her green eyes stopped on the sleeping hunter on the floor. Why was he on the floor? Angela took in her entire surroundings seeing it was Daryl's tent and his cot she slept in. She remembered sitting by the fire last night pointing out stars to Daryl. She grew tired and curled up staring at the fire, must have fallen asleep.
Real question, how did she get into the tent and cot? Well, obviously someone put her in here. And the said culprit was currently sleeping on the floor like a dog. This was his tent, she was meant to take the floor, not him. With a sigh, Angela didn't feel the need to leave the comfy cot. She laid back down and closed her eyes for about four seconds before she opened them again. Damn, she had to pee.
Heaving an annoyed sigh this time, Angela undid her wrappings in the blanket and placed her feet on the floor. Daryl was on the other end of the tent, so she wouldn't climb over him if she needed to get out. Thankfully she slept in her clothing, so no need to slip her boots on. Angela got up, and knelt down to unzip the flap finding it stuck.
"Oh, come on." She grunted, trying to flatten out the lining and yanking at the zipper. She did this repeatedly, feeling her temper rise. "Stupid plastic shit. Un. Zip." She hissed, the sound of the vinyl material growing louder.
"Could ya not break it?" Muttered Daryl tiredly behind her.
Angela looked over seeing his rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. She honestly thought he'd be up earlier, but she guessed he stayed up late last night. "Your zipper is stuck."
"It ain't stuck." He said, muttering at her to move. She stood and stepped back as he sat in front of the zipper. He pulled, finding it won't move either. "The hell d'ya do to it?"
Angela put her hands on her hips. "I wasn't the last one to enter, so I didn't get it stuck."
"Nah, made it worse." He told, scraping under the slider body in case something was lodged in to keep from moving. She huffed at his attempts to blame her.
"Can you hurry up?" She asked, sitting on the cot at this point.
His brows knotted at her rush and at the slider to figure the problem out. "What, eager for breakfast? I doubt anyone else is awake."
Angela felt her face flush, mumbling something incoherent.
"What?"
She mumbled again, only hearing 'I need' something. He threw a look over his shoulder. "Can't hear a damn thing yer sayin'. Speak up."
Her cheeks grew redder when she blurted out, "I have to take a piss." and looked away folding her arms.
Ah, that explained it. Daryl turned back to try and get the zipper unstuck again. A little more hasty than before since her reason was justified. He scratched at the thing for about a minute before yanking roughly at it like Angela was doing. Soon, he heard the sound of the plastic zooming up the teeth. "Got it."
"Finally- out of my way." Angela grabbed the tab and opened the tent completely and bolted out toward the trees.
Daryl almost fell out to get out of her way as she ran off to take care of her business. He shook his head leaving the flap open as he slipped his boots and gear on. He had thought to eating breakfast as he had a job to deal with. Leaving the tent, he walked toward the farmhouse seeing the other members awake and having breakfast. His direction changed to the slaughter barn further down, he felt his temper raise.
Marching to the small wooden barn, he opened the door seeing Randall tied up and sitting on the floor as if waiting for him. His eyes squinted at the light, Daryl shut the door and watched him like a cat ready to pound. Randall's bag resting on the table as Daryl eyed it up. He had to get answers, he now needed the answers more after what Rick had shown him last night.
"How many people do you have?" He started, when Randall didn't answer Daryl threw a punch without a word.
The kid sat up, almost falling over from the surprised punch. "I swear, I'm not a bad guy." He pleaded.
"Like hell." He growled, sending another flaring punch, earning the kid a bruised eye. "Attack anyone else out there!? Huh?"
Daryl was pissed, he was beyond rational on how he was going to originally handle this. He questioned and slammed his fists into the kid's face repeatedly. With a possible black eye, swelling face, and bloody mouth, the kid was getting what Daryl believed good punishment.
"I told you..." He panted, spitting blood onto the floor.
"Ya told me shit!" Daryl took him by the shirt and slammed him into the wall earning a pained cry from the kid.
"I barely knew those guys. I met 'em on the road."
"How many in yer group?" He questioned again. And like before, Randall didn't answer. Just shook his head or tried to beg to stop it all. Daryl had enough, he slid his buck knife out, which caught Randall's attention instantly.
"Uh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Come on, man." He begged as Daryl gripped the knife tightly.
He slammed it into the ground by his foot. "How many!?"
"Uh, Thirty! Thirty!" He finally confessed, not wanting him to slam the knife into him instead.
"Where?"
Hesitant with the answer again, Daryl ripped the bandage off his healing leg earning another cry of pain. "I don't know! I swear! We were never anyplace more than a night!"
Daryl pressed the tip of the knife against the wound. "Scoutin'? Plannin' on stayin' local? Did ya ever pick off a scab?"
"Come on, man! I'm-I'm trying to cooperate."
"Start real slow at first. Sooner or later, you've just gotta rip it off."
"Okay! Okay!" The kid nodded willing to say anything to not get hurt anymore. "They-they-they have weapons. Heavy stuff, automatics. But-but-" He stuttered and wanted to cry seeing he didn't move the knife away. "I didn't do anything!"
"Yer boys shot at my boys, tried to take this farm." He growled in his face, wanting to slide the knife and make the wound bleed. "Ya just went along for the ride? Yer tryin' to tell me yer innocent?"
"Yes!" The kid yelled.
Daryl finally stood, stomping over to the bag. He rummaged and threw a bloodied plaid shirt down in front of him. "That belonged to someone, one of us! She was out there lost on her own! We searched for days to find her, and we find this in yer bag instead! Explain that!"
Randall's brows furrowed, he shook his head at Daryl. "I swear- I swear that I never saw that before"
"Don't lie!" Daryl yelled, slamming the knife into the wood beside Randall's head.
"I'm not! I swear to God, I never had that!"
"Doesn't explain why ya got it." He growled. "What, like killin' lost girls? Get off on it? Where is she!?" He slammed the knife again. Randall yelled in fear thinking it was going to be plunged into his skull.
"I never hurt any girl, I swear! The- the men in the group- my group!" Daryl's eyes narrowed, waiting for him to continue.
"These- these people took me in. Not just guys, men and woman, kids too. Just like you people. Thought I'd have a better chance with them, you know?" Daryl stood, stepping back as he paced in front like a feral cat. "But, we go out, scavenge, just the men. One night, we- we found this little campsite. A man and his two daughters, teenagers, you know? Real young. Real cute. Their daddy had to watch while these guys…" Randall shook his head, reliving the horror he witnessed the men do.
"They- and they didn't even kill him afterwards. They just- they just made him watch as his daughters... They just-just-just left him there." Daryl glowered at him, knowing exactly what he was talking about. Randall saw the look and lowered himself in fear.
"No, but-but-but I didn't touch those girls!"
Daryl gave a swift kick to his injured leg. "Did they do that to her?" He questioned, when Randall didn't answer, Daryl kicked him harder. " Brown hair, slim, young. Did they!?"
"I-I-I don't know! I never saw that shirt before! Even-Even if they did, I had nothing to do with it!" He kept crying.
Daryl paced about, his eyes fell on the shirt. He bent down to pick it up, looking it over in his hands. "She was just tryin' to save another girl, and got herself lost. Seventeen and out on her own without any defense." Daryl threw the shirt onto the table, pointing his knife at the kid. "How do I know ya didn't kill her? Rape and leave her dead, did ya do that!? Huh!?"
The boy sobbed at the accusations. "No, I swear I didn't... Please. Please. You gotta believe me, man. I'm not like that. I ain't like that." Daryl sheathed his knife, eyes falling onto the blood covered shirt. "Please. Please, you gotta believe me."
Daryl's rage roaded within, as he continued to beat and kick the kid unlessly. The truth and lies were hard to figure out. Daryl was angry, Rick showing him that shirt made him want to go in and kill him the night he discovered it. Rick found the shirt when taking Randall into the slaughter barn, things fell from the bag and thats when he saw the shirt. They knew instantly it was Kay's as they remembered her wearing it the day she went missing. Sight upon the blood made Daryl want to slam the kid's head into a cement wall until nothing was left. For now, Daryl punched and beat Randall, even after his knuckles were bloody with his own blood.
In Rick and Daryl's eyes, Kaylee was dead.
Thanks deathXbeforeXdisco, AnimeNut47, Ohimeko-Kou, SilverSnape, for the favorite and follows!
Bruna Pereira- Yes, this will be SLOW since Daryl isn't a confident kind of guy. As Normal has said in many interviews, he's a very inclosed and self-conscious character. He actually created this personality from his first day of filming, feeling like the new kid in town since he came in towards the end of season 1. While everyone already knew one another, he felt out of place, and put that in Daryl and it works! Angela is an intelligent northerner, so Daryl feels he's way beyond ever being equal to her. If you ever read my Sherlock story, it took about I think 30 or so chapters to get feelings shot out between OC and Sherlock. I can't STAND love happening at rapid speeds like some Disney film. It takes time, I love emotional love and this gives the same feel as my Sherlock. Thanks for looking deeply into it, your reveiws made me beam and encourage to keep going!