Eve's POV

Before I knew it, I was running towards the well, away from camp.

My muscles cried but everything else told me to go faster. My head, the prickle of every hair on the back of my neck. The paranoia even though I knew it was paranoia. The incessant feeling of being chased— all of it.

All of it pushed me faster & faster until I was panting a storm and came to a skidding halt at the well, kicking up dust in my wake that was swept by the wind and carried to be dispersed over the wide open fields, with grass too tall for my liking.

My eyes constantly moved. My head was on a swivel as I collected water, soaking it up into the cloth, and cleaned the blood from my skin like it was burning me.

I finally slowed down when my skin wasn't noticeably red anymore; though from the sting I probably scrubbed a good two layers off and it's almost undoubtedly an angry red. But red of a different sort I can handle over its predecessor.

I checked my throbbing shoulder but the bandage is still white, so it isn't bleeding. That means the stitches are intact; Thank Merlin's magical overalls.

I wiped the cloth over my skin, dipping it in the bucket a few times as I cleaned the blood and perspiration from my dirty skin.

Part of me wanted a shower, a stronger part wanted to be as far as possible from the house.

I have to calm down.

This place is okay. I can handle anything that pops up out here. It's alright. Breathe.

I won't be able to sleep like this, even if I go back.

Perimeter check?

I nodded to myself, and draped the cold damp cloth around my neck.

This time I started running with proper form, and kept a steady pace, still checking my surroundings in a constant sweep; like a sentry.

I ran a lap all the way around without seeing anything, and running put my mind at rest enough that I stopped feeling like I was being watched about halfway through.

Until I was coming back on the final length and stopped to breath, seeing an orangish light.

Daryl's camp is over there.

He isn't still awake is he?

My feet carried me that way before I fully made the decision and another short minute or so run later, I was slowing down at the edge of his campsite.

I was right. He is still awake.

He looked up from the fire he was staring at and I saw his hand go for his crossbow the next second.

My hands came up instinctively, in surrender and he relaxed; fully seeing me.

He shook his head, releasing a breath. "One a these days, ur gonna end up with a bolt between the eyes."

Yeah… I don't have any room to argue there. It's probably a matter of when, not if. And it'd probably be my own damn fault.

His eyes flickered over me, and I watched his shoulders tense so much it straightened his spine.

"Did somethin' happen?"

I glanced around before shaking my head; not entirely sure if he means 'something' like the camp is under attack, or someone died, or 'something' as in… yeah let's not go there again. I just got away, I'd like to keep it that way for a little while at least.

Daryl looked at me and I had the strangest sense of being able to read his mind. He doesn't think I'm telling the truth but also looks like knows I'm not lying.

It would be Hella creepy(and maybe, like, sorta cool) if that's actually what he's thinking but I'm not gonna chance finding out, because that would require cluing him in on my train of thought.

"Then why you runnin?"

I opened my mouth, just to psyche him out by blowing air out, and wiping the sweat off my brow with my towel. Hey that rhymes.

He gave me a dead-panned 'really' look. Sheesh, I gotta stop inadvertently teaching him my ways or it really will be like reading each other's minds.

Don't get me wrong, that's useful in a lot of aspects, but obviously not for hiding what's on your mind. If this is gonna be a two way street though, I petition we call it 'Eve speak'.

I shrugged, waving my hand as I walked over. "It's relaxing."

He scooched without fuss, and I plopped myself on the log next to him, leaning over to let my elbows rest on my knees.

"She speaks." Daryl mocked, stoking the fire with the long stick in his hand.

I shoved him with my elbow, the corner of my lip quirking up, but he was looking at me now. The same way he does when he's studying someone's expression.

I wonder if he knows he does that. I'm gonna guess no; either that or I'm the only person who's noticed that face isn't just a blank stare.

I admit, the subtle differences between his contemplative faces are tricky. I wouldn't be surprised if no one else has noticed. He's not exactly an open book. Took me forever to figure them out, and I still can't tell what he's thinking— Hell, I still mistake 'em for something different sometimes.

"The Hell you awake for anyway? Shouldn't you be unconscious or somethin'?"

My eyebrow furrowed, one side dipping lower than the other with the slight opening of my jaw. Why would I be unconscious?

"Ya didn't sleep yesterday. Spent all night runnin' round town like a buncha headless chickens."

Eve speak strikes again.

You know, there's something about just watching a fire that brings peace of mind. You can sit and turn off your brain for a while without actually turning it off.

Daryl took my silence as a cue and shifted, taking his gaze back to the burning wood.

"Thought about going after ya."

I looked over to meet his eyes.

"Thought bout where you'd go and shit, if ya weren't at the bar." He averted his gaze from mine but not off of me for another second.

"Why didn't you?"

I watched him pick something off the stick and tossed it at the fire.

He was quiet for a long moment before shrugging. "Thought you could handle yerself."

"I can."

He looked at me.

"Doesn't mean I don't need someone there. Or that I can't get unlucky." I lifted my shoulder a bit, glancing at the bandage wrapped around my arm.

He looked down between us, like he was thinking about something bitter-sweet and muttered gruffly, "...I know"

There was a long pass of silence, but it's eating me. Which is an uncomfortable feeling in and of itself.

I'm not used to silence making me uncomfortable, but it feels like he's got something else to say and isn't saying it.

Is there a moon-walking bear I've missed somewhere in here?

"Ya don't always gotta help, ya know. They can take care a themselves."

"I know." A deep exhale passed through my nose as the ache in my legs began stretching to the forefront of my mind. My hand slid down my calf, rubbing it.

"Why do you?" Daryl's face portrayed the most unmasked curiosity I've ever seen on him.

"Why don't you?" I countered.

"I ain't no babysitter" he scoffed, pushing a log back into the flames; sending cinders into the air in a flurry of tiny red fireflies, vanishing as quick as they came.

My face pinched towards my nose in mostly confusion but also somewhat disbelief. "You think it's babysitting to watch someone's back?"

"..." Daryl glanced at me but remained silent. Eve speak pings that as a yes. At the very least it isn't a no, or he would've said so.

"Does that mean you think I've been babysitting you?"

"No. I don't need no babysitter." He raised his far leg up, propping it on a smaller log in front of him, so his knee was closer to his chest and he could rest his arm over it.

"Why do you think it's babysitting when it's someone else, then?"

"Cause we're always pullin' them outta shit they got themselves into. All of 'em actin' like we're a goddamn safety net. Like we can't get lynched or some shit." Daryl stabbed his stick into the ashes built up underneath the fire, his core tightening and sending a visible cascade of tension through the rest of his muscles. In his neck, especially when he gets angry.

"That's what a group is for, Daryl."

He looked at me, jaw clenched.

"Being together is what makes us strong. We don't abandon one another when we're being crushed. We share the load. Some of us are stronger than others right now. We may need to take more, and it sucks ass, but there will always be times you just have to grit your teeth and dig in."

"I'd rather have even just one other person there with me, than try to take it alone. Wouldn't you?"

Hello, beautiful Chinchillas~ I have a few questions for you guys today if you don't mind. I've been thinking about them for awhile now, and I'm really curious.

Who's your favorite Walking Dead character?

What's been your favorite chapter so far?

What do you like most about Sneaky?

And what would you like to see more of?