Eve's back touched the tree. Her head resting right beside the blade stuck at eye level in the trunk, as she slid down.
Her boots slid in the dirt until she on the ground. Her muddy soles almost touching the stones around the firepit as her knees lined up with her shoulders.
Daryl grit his teeth, glaring at the dirt.
He knew she'd almost died out there. He had too. A lot of 'em almost bit the dust for it.
They did it cuz they thought—...Daryl kept telling himself the whole time that if they found 'er, it'd all be worth it.
It was dumb. It was dumb of them both to think that way. For the others, maybe not but for them two of all people to fall into the 'hope' trap?
They both should'a known better, and they knew it.
Neither of them wanted to though. They just wanted something to go right for a change. But fate is not inclined to give favors.
Daryl looked at the dying fire at his feet and couldn't help a small part of him linking it to the woman sat against the tree.
She's good at hiding it —downright lies about it sometimes—, but nothing can be truly hidden forever. They both thought they were gonna find 'er.
It's been days. They should be over this by now. They got bigger things to worry about.
As unfortunate as it may be, they were both keenly aware that just because the world flipped on its head doesn't mean the way people handle grief does.
For survival, your brain can tuck just about anything away. But it's the quiet moments where it creeps back in. The times you're allowed to think, no matter how much you don't want to.
Eve regret letting her curiosity get the better of her. Something she never thought she'd experience. Asking questions had always been her saving her grace, had always allowed her to come to terms with anything that was thrown at her.
Not this time.
Maybe curiosity isn't as good as it used to be. Some things are better left where they lie. Some details are best left unknown. Like a magic trick.
Knowing the trick is fun and all, but it ruins it for you. All the wonder it once brought is gone, never to return.
Eve always thought she was the kinda person who wanted to know the trick so she could give that wonder to others. But this is more like a sick joke.
She couldn't even ask what they'd done to deserve this because she knew. Pick up any human history book and the evidence is all there. They destroyed this planet, can you blame it for finally fighting back?
Daryl sank down in front of Eve. Her boot almost touching his knee.
He vaguely noticed her black jeans had ripped at her knee, as she shifted, taking off her jacket.
She tossed the offending object to the ground beside her; almost getting one of the sleeves in the fire.
It was a little weird to see any of her skin aside from the neck up & her hands, when she's clad in her hunting gear.
Eve is so unconsciously wary of her shoulder that most often she doesn't take off her jacket in the presence of others but right now it just itched.
Her shoulder was burning like that sizzling fire and she scratched it by rolling her shoulder against the tree but winced when her ribs pulled a certain way. She forgot those weren't fully healed yet.
In the midst of everything that's gone down, she actually forgot she was still healing. Or maybe she was deliberately ignoring it all this time.
She didn't want to think about the bruises that were still there on her back, so she had pushed herself to focus on pretty much everything except herself.
The problem with that is, eventually you run out of distractions.
Daryl noticed the way she winced and the reflexive curling of her hand towards her side, only because he was already looking at 'er.
His own side still ached a little when he twisted. Eve had taken more of a beating externally, wheras he'd taken more of a pounding internally but comparing who took more of a hit was pointless. It was undeniable they'd both been through Hell on this near mindless crusade, and neglected to look after themselves.
If they hadn't been looking out for each other, one or both of 'em might have actually bit it.
Worst part was, they both knew that too.
He saw the oil paint-like bruises days after she fell from the tree, and her dumb ass was still goin' out.
She knew he hadn't told 'er the whole story when she was with him the night after impaling himself with his own bow. That it was a lot worse than he let on.
He saw the little cuts & scrapes, and how she dragged herself when she came back every time she left this jinxed ass farm. How she worked herself to exhaustion, and neglected her own wellbeing when she was back in camp.
It don't take a genius to know why she almost died out there. To see she was being more reckless than usual.
You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out he was in worse shape than he said. That an impalement like that doesn't heal in a day— even a couple days.
An injury like his takes weeks to heal. Her internal injuries(ribs) ironically take about the same amount of time. Longer now that both of them had been pushing their physical limits for days.
He knows she didn't sleep much, because he didn't either. He saw her that night she scrambled outta 'er tent like it was on fire and sat in the dirt; Just starin' up at the sky, all night.
"You know what the worst part is…?"
Daryl looked at the woman beside him, coming out of his thoughts to realize he'd moved next to her, like he was on autopilot.
"The Greene's didn't know she was in there."
His eyebrows knit together.
"Odis died that second day of our search. When Carl got shot." Eve stared ahead. The orange-lit features of her face, blank and hollow.
"If he truly was the one who put Sophia in the barn… that means she didn't make it a single night on 'er own."
Daryl's shoulders dropped; realizing what Eve already knew. What she'd been carrying on her shoulders all day. A bitter truth she spared everyone else from knowing. Even Rick when she put the pieces together after their conversation.
"She died less than 24 hours after we lost her."
Daryl thought he'd felt like he'd been punched in the gut before. That it couldn't get worse. He was wrong. No matter how bad something gets, it can always get worse.
"The second she veered off path back into the woods, she was already gone. Beyond our help." Eve paused, her mind's eye going back to that telltale fork in wood-bound trail, that sealed a little girl's fate.
"Absolutely nothing we did since, would'a made any difference. Too little, too late..." She trailed off.
Silence which had once been their friend and a harbinger of companionship, was beginning to turn itself into the enemy.
It festered around them hanging like some dark cloud. But after everything that had happened, all the truths that had come to light, everything they'd done, and everything they'd sacrificed or had let be taken away from them, Daryl was not willing to let this.
This was the one thing that had kept him sane through all these months —especially when his brother wasn't around.
This was the one thing— Eve was the one thing that could make him & everyone else smile, after all this shit.
She was the one thing that never changed, that he could count on, and she's being pulled down with the rest a them.
He couldn't accept that.
If he has to live in this world and make nice, so does she.
Daryl's POV
"Yeah. You could'a gone back, and maybe that would'a changed things but you know what, you ain't the only person 'ere who can kill a walker without a gun."
Eve looked at me, somewhat startled at the sudden outburst after the long quiet.
"Truth is, ain't nobody here is to blame." It made my teeth grind not having admitted this sooner. That it took all a this dramatic bullshit to accept it. "It ain't nobody's fault. We did everythin' we could for that little girl, but sometimes there ain't nothin' you can do."
"Blamin' ourselves ain't gonna do nobody any good. It ain't gonna change what happened. It ain't gon' bring 'er back. It's a waste a time."
"Shit happens. We don' gotta like it. It's just the way it is."
Eve looked down at her hands, and I watched the gears in 'er head turn.
I nudged her with my shoulder and waited till she looked at me. It's weird seein' sadness in amber but the rest a her face said she knew exactly the point I was tryna make.
You can be whatever you need to be, but you can't get stuck, or we'll end up just like 'er.
Eve grit her teeth and swallowed, closing her eyes but nodded.
I never thought I'd see Eve cry without tryna hide it, but that's what she did.
She cried, buried her eyes in her knees, and I just sat there. Not knowing what to do. Somewhere down the line, I awkwardly put my hand on her shoulder but she didn't do nothin'. Didn't shake it off, didn't jump like normal; so I left it there.
When ten minutes almost exactly(not that I could actually tell seein' as I don' have a clock or nothin) had elapsed she sniffled, raising her head up.
She wiped her nose on the back of her hand, swiping the salt water off her cheeks, swallowed, and breathed deep through her nose several times.
It's almost like what she does after a panic attack.
I watched her exhausted shoulders & chest fall with the deepest sigh I've ever seen. "It's time to let go."