Daryl was driving on route for the stores where the items needed were located. He hadn't calmed down much from earlier, he knew he would have to calm down a little bit before he got to the stores otherwise his thinking wouldn't be too rational.
He hadn't been driving long and didn't speak to anyone apart from Glenn but that was only Daryl yelling at him to open the gate of the prison. Glenn had tried to talk to him but Daryl wasn't having any of it. Daryl himself wasn't completely sure what coming out here would do for him but the only way he thought to calm down was to kill something so what better to do than go out and kill walkers while getting things needed at the prison.
His mind drifted back to the prison and soon found himself thinking about Beth, had he really just been getting himself set up to fall or did he really feel a connection with her. He then thought back to her saying that she didn't mind who trained her, surely if she wanted to spend time with him then she would of said something. Based off this thinking Daryl was pretty much convinced that he was the one who allowed himself to fall.
He felt another rush of anger in him, he was angry at himself and only himself, that was his first rule nowadays. Don't get attached no matter what or who especially with what happened with Sophia but he had broken that rule, he wasn't completely sure how he felt about Beth but he does know he feels something and he wants to figure out what. That was when he thought that maybe she wanted something like that too.
His thoughts proceeded like that until he reached the stores and he was ready. He parked the bike in the car park, got off, and headed straight for the nearest walker.
The walkers turned around after hearing the footsteps and was greeted with a knife in the skull killing it instantly. Daryl let the body drop, put his knife away and pulled out his crossbow. He fired an arrow into a female walkers head and it fell. He quickly loaded his next arrow and fired again which was another kill shot.
By now all walkers in the lot had noticed Daryl and was heading for him but compared to when he got the car the numbers had gone down so he wasn't worried. If anything he was disappointed. He fired his third arrow and killed his fourth walker.
They were getting closer now so he hit the closest one with his crossbow to give him time to put his crossbow on his back and get his knife back out, he turned to his right and stabbed another walker in the head. He looked around to see he was slowly being surrounded so he started to back off slightly towards his bike.
A walker lunged for him and Daryl caught its head with both his hands and threw the walker to the ground and stamped on its head which broke the skull and killed it. He could only see four walkers now and they were making their way towards him.
"Come on then" he said aggressively and once again started to run at them.
/
Beth was sat in the common room with Judith in her arms drinking from her bottle. She was still feeling a little upset but taking care of Judith was helping her mood slightly.
Sat around the same table as her and her father Hershel but other than that the room was empty.
"You really are a natural at looking after her" Hershel said looking at his daughter holding the baby.
Beth smiled towards her father "thanks, you know I always wanted a family of my own one day but I don't think that's going to happen now" she said with a saddened tone.
"Why do you say that?" Hershel asked confused and that confused Beth as well, was her father being serious? Or was he just messing with her?
"Because of how the world is daddy, I'm not exactly going to meet anyone while we're in a prison" she nearly felt weird talking about her future with her father of all people but she figured she had to talk to someone.
"Bethy, I admit that this world is different than the one we had but look at the beautiful girl in your arms" he said softly as Beth looked down at Judith who was slowly closing her eyes while still drinking her bottle "when this all started did you really think we would be able to keep a newborn baby alive and healthy?" he asked.
Beth didn't answer but she shook her head for no "see my point, if you keep believing then anything is possible and like I always so Bethy, follow your heart" he said as he got up and left his daughter alone.
'follow my heart huh?' she thought to herself.
She was pulled from her thoughts when Sasha walked in "hey Beth hows it going?" she asked as she sat by Beth.
"I'm fine" she replied standing up while giving Judith to Sasha "I'm sorry but can you watch her I got something I have to do" she said in a hurried voice. Sasha looked a little confused but agreed anyway as Beth took her leave.
She was making her way down a hallway and was headed for the common room looking for Daryl. She wasn't sure what she was going to say but she wanted to talk to him. It wasn't going to be a love confession, she wasn't at that stage yet but if anything she would think of a reason as to why they should spend time together.
She opened the door to the common room and saw that only Michonne was left in the room. Beth walked up to her "hey Michonne" she said sweetly "do you know where Daryl is?" she asked.
Michonne sighed, this was the second time she would have to tell this girl that Daryl was out doing something by himself. She gestured for Beth to sit down next to her and when she was sat down Michonne spoke "Daryl left awhile ago" she said in a calm way but like last time instantly saw Beth's face drop.
"What do you mean left? Where did he go?" Beth asked almost in disbelief, why would he just up and leave again?
"He will be coming back don't worry about that but he was upset about something and came in saying he was going to go get my katana and the baby stuff we didn't bring back from the store" Michonne explained.
Beth could feel tears forming but was determined not to let them fall "did he say why he was upset?" Beth asked trying to make her voice not sound like she was on the verge of crying.
Michonne gave a small smile "this is Daryl we're talking about" she saw Beth nod her head understanding that only once in a blue moon with Daryl talk about his problems. Beth's mind was racing trying to think of a reason but was completely at a loss.
She felt Michonne gently lift her chin up so she was looking at Michonne "I think we need to have a talk" Michonne said as she used her crutches to stand up and headed off towards her cell with a confused Beth following behind her.
/
Daryl stood in the middle of the car park his clothes covered in walker blood. He was the only thing left standing but he was breathing heavily but had finally got most of his anger out. He started walking back towards his bike, stepping over all the motionless walkers on the floor.
As he walked making sure all of them were dead. He retrieved the arrows that was in the walkers heads, wiping them off before he put them back on his crossbow. When he was sure all were dead and he had all his arrows he started walking towards the baby store.
He wasn't trying to be quiet, the fight he had just had with the walkers was more than enough noise to draw in others from the stores but kept a knife in his hand just in case. He checked all the isles before he came to ones that were fallen on its side and had a few walkers on it. He looked down the isle and saw the basket full of baby stuff and not too far away from the basket was Michonne's sword.
He gathered up the items and made his way to the front of the store where he moved all the baby items from the basket into bags, it would be easier for Daryl to transport them this way. He was about to leave the store when he heard a noise behind him. In one movement he dropped the items he was holding, turned around and got his bow out and was pointing it at the figure behind him.
The figure jumped slightly but Daryl was aiming at an old man but just because this man was old it didn't make Daryl lower his guard "easy there" the old man said in a weak voice, the old man looked like a regular senior. He had white hair with a small white beard but looked liked he had seen better days, he looked very weak.
"Is anyone else with you?" Daryl demanded as he took a threatening step towards the old man, his crossbow still aimed.
The old man looked down "no it's just me" Daryl could hear the sadness in his voice but could also hear the truth in his words. The man then looked at Daryl "Please you got to help me" he said and then staggered a little bit before falling to the floor.
Daryl waited for a second before lowering his crossbow, he slowly walked over to the man and placed two fingers on the man's neck only to feel a weak pulse. The man's eyes slowly opened "please you got to help me bury my granddaughter" the man said softly.
Daryl couldn't help but feel this old man was telling the truth so he helped the man up and sat him down so he was leaning against the sales counter. Daryl looked at the man in the eye "now tell me everything from the start" he said in a calmer voice than before.
The man took a while to answer "when all this happened, I had my nine-year-old granddaughter visiting my house. I kept her safe and we made it to her parent's house only to find them gone" he paused for a second to catch his breath, Daryl waited in silence for him to continue "after that we kept trying to survive and was going well until.." he stopped again as tears started to fall from his eyes "until I was unable to protect her, we came here to try and get food from one of the stores but there were too many walkers and she got bit when we were escaping so I had to kill her" the old man at this point burst into tears, crying his heart out.
Daryl believed the guy and he was rarely wrong about these things. He truly felt sorry for the man in front of him and against his better judgment he asked 'where's your granddaughter too?' he asked.
The man didn't stop crying for a while but that was no problem for Daryl he could see that the man was truly heartbroken so he had no problem giving this man time. The fact that he had been at this point himself, the only difference is that he had the people at the prison when he lost his family. This man had nothing.
The man recovered and struggled to his feet "not far, it honestly on the other side of the road" the man said as he started walking out of the store. Daryl grabbed the bags and sword and followed him out. They walked over to Daryl's bike where Daryl put the bags on his bike's handles and put the sword on he bike's seat.
"It honestly just over there" the man said pointing and Daryl could see a little bit of smoke coming from where the man was pointing.
"All right" Daryl said as he started pushing the bike across the road until the two men reached the other side and Daryl saw that there was a small fire going with a small body covered up near it and over to the left of the body was a shovel and small hole that had started to be dug.
Daryl left his bike and the two men walked into the small campsite, Daryl went straight to the shovel and started digging understanding what the old man needed help with. The man himself sat down near Daryl "I can't thank you enough for this" he said gratefully.
"Like I said, its no problem" he said as he hurled another bit of earth from the ground.
The man, however, was truly grateful "what about you? Do you have a group?" he asked curiously. Normally Daryl would not talk to anyone he met that was new but he truly felt sorry for this man "yeah, but don't even think about asking" Daryl said sternly.
The old man chuckled a little "no need to worry about that, I have no desire to join you" he replied and Daryl swore he heard something in his voice.
"Sounds like you've given up old man" Daryl said smirking slightly he turned his head to look at the man and saw his face and knew that he had.
"Unfortunately, I got no choice" he said as he pulled up his sleeve to show a bite on his arm which immediately put Daryl on edge but the old man quickly raised his hands "its ok, I only got bit an hour ago when I went to get that shovel" he said.
Daryl still wasn't completely convinced "so what you going to do?" he asked as he carried on digging but more on edge.
"I was going to ask you when you finished but I want you to kill me after we bury my granddaughter" he said in a calm tone and moved back a bit to try to calm Daryl's nerve. Daryl only nodded indicating that he would do it which caused the man to smile.
Daryl had finally finished digging the whole, during the time the man and Daryl hadn't spoken at all. They picked up the little girl's body and lowered her into the hole that Daryl had dug. The man and Daryl were standing over the open grave, the man saying a prayer. When he was done he turned around and saw Daryl holding his crossbow at the man.
The old man was confused "what are you doing? I got to fill this hole before you do that" the man argued.
"I have never been one for soft spots but I don't believe that Lil girl would want to be alone do you?" Daryl asked with a small smile which the man replied with a full smile.
"You are a good man" the man said and braced himself but suddenly held up his hand to stop Daryl "I can see in your eyes that you are struggling with some trouble, so take some advice from an old man, follow your heart" he said with a heart-warming smile and closed his eyes.
Daryl thought for a split second before smiling at the man as a thank you even though he knew the man couldn't see it and pulled the trigger.
Daryl gently put the old man in the hole with his granddaughter and filled it. He gathered all his things and was on his bike heading home. It was late in the afternoon and was starting to get dark but more importantly, he was heading back to the prison and knew that he needed to speak to Rick and more importantly Beth.
Any Reviews would mean so much to me and would let me know how i'm doing and if people are still reading.
Hope you enjoyed.
I in NO way, shape or form own the walking dead.
