Ch.9
After everyone goes to bed, I wake up in a panic. Screams are echoing from my mouth and tears falling down my cheeks. I scare Daryl awake who was sleeping on the other side of the tent.
He gets his bow searching around the tent to make sure no more walkers showed up, then runs back inside. He rushes over and reassures it was just a dream. "You were having a nightmare! There's no walkers!" he shouts.
Tears are sill streaming down my face as I stare into his concerned face. I pull him in for a hug, and he wraps his arms around me this time. "Mae, It's okay. I'm right here. I'm here for ya." he consoles me. Fresh tears form in my eyes from his sincerity.
I'm so happy that he's started calling me by my name. I can't believe how far we've come. He used to think I was so annoying. I agree, I probably was to someone like him. Then we became friends who help each other when we need it. I believe I'm beginning to fall for him.
I stare at his concerned face for a while and hold his hands in mine. I smile, then lean up to kiss his cheek. "Thank you...for everything." I say before pulling back from him. He stares into my eyes after I pull away, his lips slightly ajar. I don't know what he's thinking, but it doesn't look like he denies anything.
Can you do something else for me?" I ask embarressed. "What?" he asks staring at my lips. "Will you sleep beside me tonight? Or at least lay with me until I fall asleep? I feel safer with you. I get this sense of protection from you, and I don't know what I would do without you." I declare to him letting out a sigh.
"You don't have to if you don't want to." I begin picking at my fingers. "Okay" he says as he puts his hand over mine. I look up at him surprised. "Really?" I begin to tear up again. He gives me a small smile, and I return it. Then he gets up to pull his sleeping bag he's been using over to mine.
"Thank you" I say again laying down beside him. I glance over at his body so close to me. We begin talking for a little while before I start to fall asleep staring into his face. My cheeks start to turn red.
In the morning, Daryl wakes up to us entwined in each other's embrace. He stares at my still sleeping face. Untangling himself from me, I roll over on my back. My tank rolls up, exposing my stomach, as I get comfortable.
He studies my body as I move my hand from my hip to my chest. He moves a strand of hair out of my face and smiles. Then he frowns when he realizes how much he cares for me. "I don't want to hurt you." he whispers.
As he gets ready for the day, he continues to glance at me from time to time. It takes longer than normal for him to get ready this time due to the distraction of me in general. He stares at my peaceful face one last time before leaving the tent.
Andrea is still sitting by her sister's dead body when I wake up. Most of the guys are working on rounding up all the dead bodies. There's a pile for burning the walkers. Then there's a pile for burying our own people.
I'm sitting with what's left of the group. Lori sits down beside me with a grim look on her face. Rick walks up to us. "She still won't move?" he looks around the camp. "Won't even talk to us. She's been there all night. What do we do?" Lori shrugs.
"Can't just leave Amy like that. We need to deal with it same as the others." Shane pitches in. Then, Rick offers to speak to her. We watch the whole interaction between them. When Andrea pulls a gun on him, we stand up ready to stop her. Rick backs up towards us, and Andrea goes back to hovering over Amy.
"Y'all can't be serious. Letting that girl hamstring us. The dead girl's a time bomb." Daryl walks up to us stopping before he reaches me. "What do you suggest?" Rick asks. "Take the shot. Clean in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance." he responds.
"No! For God's sakes, let her be!" Lori says angrily as she sits down. Daryl scoffs and walks off without a single glance in my direction. I look at Daryl a little hurt. He didn't say 'hi' to me this morning, let alone look at me. I'm beginning to wonder if I did something wrong. He hasn't done this since the first day we met.