A/N: Here's to hoping I can at least try to write a bit a day and get a chapter out at the very least once a week!
I'm an optimist.
Prompt:
.o.o.o.
The commotion downstairs woke Daryl out of his deep sleep. His hand shot out from under his pillow with a knife in hand. Anna stomped into their room and threw a pillow at him.
"Get up, we have a situation." She muttered, yawning and then crawling into bed. "It's your turn to deal with it. I'm going back to sleep."
"Nope, you gotta get up when I do." He said softly and she nestled deeper into the worn mattress. He smirked and then tickled her. Her body curled into a protective ball, trying to hide from his calloused fingers. But Daryl was relentless, finding ticklish spots that Anna didn't even know she had.
"Stop, stop I'm awake!" She cried, and his fingers ceased. Slowly, she opened her eyes and found that she was under him, Daryl supporting himself on his elbows. He couldn't help himself.
He leaned down slowly, giving her enough time to turn away or tell him no. She was silent as he pressed his lips against hers. She responded equally hesitantly, pressing her soft lips firmly against his.
"Daryl, did Anna wake you?" T-Dog yelled up the stairs. Separating quickly, Daryl threw his boots on and went downstairs before Anna could even pull on a clean shirt.
"Wha' tha…" Words died in his mouth as he saw the bloody mess that was once Max's head.
"Did you do this?" Rick asked calmly. Daryl met the leader's eyes, seeing the fury within.
"'Course not. Ask Anna, she was sleepin' next to me all night." He defended.
"We did." A tiny voice said from the table. Lori was fixated on her can of peaches, refusing to look anywhere but the silver tin.
"'Sides, he got what was comin', right?" Daryl shrugged, not too bothered by the turn of events. Rick threw his empty can against the wall. it ricocheted off and rolled into the drying pool of blood.
"That's not the point. I never wanted to kill him, only make him realize that what he was doing was wrong." Rick's voice trailed off and ended in a whisper. He stared at the corpse.
"He was rotten to the core." Carol stood at the top of the stairs, still thin, still frail-looking, but stronger, more confident. "And I won't apologize."
"...Carol?" Everyone stared in a mixture of horror and awe. She descended slowly, letting everyone mull over the idea that 'small, frail Carol' killed an evil ringleader.
"Why?" Lori asked, voice still a whisper. She was frozen, eyes wide and still on the empty can.
"Because he was the enemy." She stopped at the bottom and turned back to face Anna at the top of the stairs. Her mouth hung agape. "And didn't you teach me that enemies needed to be taken out as quickly as possible?"
Carol's voice was so filled with conviction, so sure that she was right, that Anna struggled to think of what to say.
"L-Let's just get that body outta here." She said finally. Anna hoped that she didn't sound approving or disapproving of Carol's actions. Rick glared at her as she came down the stairs and surveyed the body.
T-Dog, Daryl, and Glenn, who had at first refused to go down and even view the carnage, dragged the body out and down the street. Knowing that the scent of a quickly decaying body will attract unwanted attention, they hauled it out of the gate and as far as they could before collapsing.
"Hey… is that a tower?" T-Dog stood and stretched his back. Daryl and Glenn looked to where T-Dog was pointing. There was a large stone tower peeping over the horizon.
"Looks like a prison tower." Daryl commented, then instantly regretted.
"Really?" Glenn made no comment as to how Daryl knew ventured up the small hill to find a drop on the other side, revealing a deceiving large building.
"Wonder how fortified a prison is in there…" T-Dog trailed off, his eyes sweeping along the fences and locked gates.
"We better get back." Daryl muttered, flashbacks coming to him. He'd only been locked up once and it was all Merle's fault. The dumbass tricked him into coming along when he 'bought' a new truck with a 'five-fingered discount'. The cops turned up and Merle left him.
"You're right, it's bound to get busy over here." Glenn was all too happy to lead the trio back to the gates.
They detoured to the pond to wash the scent of death off them, then hurried home.
"There's so many…" Beth muttered, watching undead shamble past the gates.
"They must have a really incredible sense of smell." Glenn muttered, eating the last peach from his can.
"Let's all turn in early tonight. We can't do much or we'll alert them to us." Rick shuffled everyone upstairs.
"Hey Dare?" Anna slipped a clean nightshirt on, one of Daryl's old ratty shirts. Across the room Daryl paused.
"Yeah?"
"Why did you kiss me earlier?" Her back faced him but he could tell that she was fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.
"Um well…" It was now or never. "Anna… I'm in love with you."
