Daryl had his eyes set on a rabbit, ready to shoot it down, and just as he sent his arrow through the small animal, another arrow went past his head and into the rabbit.
"What the hell?" he said as he turned around to see one of the men in the group he was stuck with holding his own bow.
"My arrow hit first," the guy told him.
"I've been out here since before the sun's been up," Daryl said as he approached the rabbit and threw the extra arrow to the side.
"Rules of the hunt don't apply out here. That rabbit you're holding is claimed, boy. So you better hand it over before you wish you never got out of bed this mornin."
"It ain't yours," Daryl said. As he held the rabbit by the feet.
"You know, I bet this bitch got you all messed up," the man said. Daryl stayed quiet, not wanting to engage in whatever the hell he was talking about. "I saw the ring on your hand. Am I right? She got you losing your head? I mean she must not have been that great if she was lookin to marry the likes of you."
Daryl started to walk away, knowing he was trying to get a rise out of him.
"At least that's what I thought before I saw that picture in your bag."
"You went through my stuff," Daryl said with a slight growl, not liking that this jackass saw his picture of Camila. She was so excited when she took it back at the prison.
"Darling, look what Glenn found!" she announced as she entered their cell. In her hand she had a polaroid camera.
"You're not taking my picture," he said as he laid his head back down on their bed.
"Oh come on, Daryl, please?" she begged as she sat on the bed next to him. He kept refusing, but as soon as she got him to look in her direction, she snapped the photo. Daryl thought he looked stupid, Camila said she loved it and that he looked charming.
"You get one of mine, only fair I have one of you," He told her as she admired her picture and smiled.
"Alright, though I won't be so difficult." She sat up straight and smiled as she fixed her hair. Daryl snapped the photo immediately. "Wait, I wasn't ready!" She exclaimed.
As the picture began to show, he knew he didn't want any other one. As she had a hand running through her hair, she was glancing slightly out the cell doorway. There was light coming in from the morning sun that hit her face just perfectly. Her smile was soft and she looked more genuinely happy than any prepared photo would have provided.
"Nope, this's the one," he said as he gave the camera back to her and admired the photo.
"Let me see," she said as she leaned over his shoulder to look at it and thought for a moment. "Well if you like it, I guess it's alright," she said hesitantly.
"You're beautiful," he told her as he looked over, knowing she was picking apart every detail of the picture in his hand. "Specially when you're happy like this." She smiled and kissed him.
When Daryl and Beth first got out of the prison, he didn't want to even think about Camila. His entire body ached at the fact that he left without her. He didn't know if she was still alive, and it was easier for him to just accept that she was gone right away, focus on finding food and shelter.
Beth was the one who stayed hopeful that they'd find their family again. It bothered Daryl because he just didn't have any hope left, not after Hershel's death. However, Beth was able to keep him from completely shutting down, and she helped him feel something other than hopelessness and emptiness. Camila was close with the Greene sisters, and he hated himself for letting Beth get taken.
"I wanted to get to know the new man of the group," the man's statement brought Daryl out of his memories and back to his anger at the present. "She still alive? Cause I'm telling ya," he let out a low whistle as he kept running his mouth. "If I saw her out here, I'd claim her in a heartbeat."
His last statement had Daryl reaching for his knife and ready to lung in the man's direction.
"Easy fellas, let's just put our weapons down, see if we can't figure out what's really the problem here," Joe said as he held Daryl's arm back and the jackass next to him just let out a laugh. "You claim it?" he asked.
"Hell yeah," the other guy said.
"There you go, that critter belongs to Len," Joe stated. Daryl wasn't about to just hand over the rabbit, so Joe continued to explain the rules of claiming in his group. All it did was anger Daryl more knowing the full context of Len's statement about Camila. Joe ended up cutting the rabbit in half, giving the head to Len. "Claimed, that's all you gotta say."
"Stay the hell out of my stuff," was all Daryl said to Len as he walked away.
The group walked down the tracks and Daryl hung back, not wanting any of the others to try talking to him. That didn't work for long because Joe decided to hang back with him.
"So what's the plan, Daryl?" he asked
"How so?" Daryl asked back.
"Well you're with us now but you ain't soon?"
"Yeah," he responded.
"So what's the plan?" Joe repeated.
"Just lookin for the right place," Daryl said.
"We ain't good enough for you huh?" Joe stated.
"Some of you ain't exactly friendly," Daryl understated. He was about ready to snap at Len and he knew that he wouldn't feel comfortable with any of these men around Camila if she were there. Beth got him feeling a little bit more of hope that he would find his wife and the rest of his family, but since losing Beth too, he was beginning to question all over again.
Joe just smiled and said "You ain't so friendly yourself. You know you need a group out here."
"Maybe I don't," Daryl said.
"No, you do. You should be with us. People don't gotta be friendly or nice or brothers in arms. We just gotta follow the rules." The two of them went on to discuss Joe's ideas of what should be the rules in this new world and the consequences for breaking them. The whole time Daryl's mind just wandered back to the group he really needed to be with. He needed his family back. "But none of that happens much," Joe said, referring to the consequences. "Because when men like us follow the rules, world becomes ours."
"There ain't no us," Daryl said, looking him straight in the eyes.
"You leavin right now" Joe asked while stepping closer to Daryl. After Daryl didn't respond he continued. "No? Then it sure seems like there's an us."
Daryl hated being grouped in with the rest of those men. Knowing that they would be nothing but danger for Camila, possibly for the rest of his real group, he didn't like the idea of being compared to them. But he knew that maybe it was true. He was nothing but trash just like the rest of them. He was cruel to Beth when she was mourning her father's death and the loss of the rest of their family, and he couldn't even open up about how scared he was to never see Camila again.
"You lose the girl?" Joe asked.
"Huh?" Daryl grunted.
"I heard you with Len, and everyone here knows you had someone. She dead or did she leave ya?" Daryl grinded down on his teeth as he thought. He didn't want to tell these guys the truth that Camila was still out there, but he also didn't actually know if that was the truth to begin with. "That's fine," Joe continued, figuring Daryl wouldn't give him a response. "You don't gotta talk about her. But I'll tell ya this, don't go living a life you ain't meant to live. You ain't the type to be happy playing house, it may be best for you to be on your own here now."
They all went into a nearby garage to sleep for the night. Daryl hung back on the tracks for a moment to process what he said. Maybe years ago he would have thought his life would be best alone like this, not being tied down to someone, not having any expectations to live up to. Now everyday without Camila felt like one of the worst days of his life. The longer he got to know her, the more he fell in love with her, and it made his life better. She made him want to be a better person for her and even for himself.
However, Joe's words made Daryl think about how he often felt like he still wasn't enough for Camila. Everyone saw him as redneck trash, these men barely knew him a day and they already saw it. He didn't know how Camila didn't see that.
"Why are you ignoring me?" Camila asked Daryl one night as he took watch outside the run down house they found about a month after the farm fell.
"I ain't ignoring ya," Daryl lied as he avoided eye contact. The previous day he and Camila shared their first kiss. It was something they both had been longing for for a while, but as soon as it finished, Daryl felt like he needed to wake up. He knew the life Camila used to have, filled with rich parties and fancy people. She was a doctor and the last man she was with was a lawyer. There was no way a woman like her would ever end up with a man like him.
"Oh please Daryl, you haven't spoken to me or barely even looked at me all day! If you don't like me that way, just be an adult and tell me so I stop wasting my time looking like a fool," she said with irritation in her voice that was just hiding her own insecurities.
"Why do you wanna be with me? Is it so I'll protect ya? Or are ya just lonely since your fancy boyfriend left?" he asked harshly and she pursed her lips in actual anger.
"Actually I happen to care very deeply about you Daryl," she snapped, and her emotions caused her to no longer want to tiptoe around it. She knew her feelings for him had been developing for some time, and she didn't want to continue to waste it when they were living each day as if they could be killed the next. "When I'm around you, you make me feel happier than I've ever felt before. You're smart, and you're handsome, and generally I think you're a very kind person, although you're being quite an arse right now actually." He listened to her confession with reluctance and sighed.
"I'm no good for you," he told her as he looked away. Camila froze and then slowly made her way to sit next to him. He didn't say anything else or move away, so she gently took his hand in hers.
"You may not see it, Daryl, but you're a good person," he kept his gaze in front of him as she spoke. "Everything you did for Sofia, the way you look out for people in this group, when you listen to me talk about stupid things and actually take interest in what I say. You make me smile and laugh, you make me happy; you make others happy too. Everybody here knows that you're a good person, and anyone who's ever made you feel differently doesn't deserve you." He finally looked back at her and she was staring closely at him. He saw nothing but honesty in her eyes and it made his heart swell.
Daryl shook his head and went inside but had a hard time finding a place to rest as every place he picked ended up being claimed by someone else. He refused to claim anything himself. He didn't want to be a part of their game.
Later in the night, Daryl was resting on the floor when Len came close to him in anger saying "Give it here."
"You step back," Daryl demanded.
"My half was in the bag, now it's gone." The two of them argued over the rabbit half, Daryl knew he didn't steal it and he wasn't about to give in to the jackass in front of him. It wasn't until Joe went over to settle between them that they found out the half was in his bag. Daryl got pissed, knowing it was planted there.
After Len said he didn't plant it in Daryl's bag, Joe punched him in the face and sent the the other men to beat him up. "I saw him do it," Joe told Daryl.
"Why didn't you try to stop him?" Daryl questioned.
"He wanted to play it out, I let him. He lied, you didn't. You understand the rules, he doesn't."
The rest of the group callously continued to beat Len on the ground, and they wouldn't let up until he died. The leftover bloodstains on the floor the next morning and Len's body with an arrow in his head outside left Daryl knowing he had to leave them as soon as he could. They didn't give a shit about each other and he would never care about them either. He needed to leave and start looking for his family. He decided to keep up with them during the day and head out the next night.
As they walked, they came across a sign on the track that led to a place called Terminus. Joe scoffed at it.
"It's a damn lie," he told Daryl. "Ain't no sanctuary for all. Ain't gonna welcome guys like you and me with open arms."
"So is that where we're headed?" Daryl asked.
Joe then explained that one of their men was murdered by someone else in a town back. They tracked the guy to the tracks and have been following since. All that did was give Daryl reassurance that he should leave, not wanting to get mixed up with whatever fight this could lead to.
I actually took the time to go back and rewatch this episode, and I might do that for future episodes too to make it more accurate. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it's been my favorite to write so far, especially giving 2 flashbacks of Daryl/Camila!