omg this was an emotional one for me, let me know what you guys think in the comments
oOo
It was gonna hurt like a motherfucker. Diana wouldn't be the only one coming out of this deliberate falling out unscathed. And without her, he saw no sense in staying; he was barely tolerated by the others. Imagine the shunning when they catch wind of what he hadn't done yet.
Daryl tightened his grip on the reins of the horse the Greenes had lent him, glaring at nothing in particular, his eyes keen on his surroundings.
Why wasn't there a way to do it without having to be a complete asshole to her? Easier if he could walk up to her, tell her she shouldn't associate herself with a piece of shit like him and have her nod and shake his hand one last time, relieved that their sham of a friendship has come to an end.
He huffed fondly, lip quirking; she'd never accept that. She saw too much good in him. He could bet that if given enough time, she woulda found something in Merle worth salvaging. If only his rotten brother had stuck around.
Daryl had also given that situation a whole lot of thought; he figured Merle hadn't come back to the Quarry simply because he'd seen no profit for himself down the line.
He had come to terms with that. He'd left before, no reason why he wouldn't leave now, injured or not. It was stupid of him; he could die of his wounds, the moron. He had been angry at first; hurt, but Merle was Merle. He'd do anything to ensure his own survival, even if it meant leaving his brother in a hostile environment.
Maybe he'd try to find Merle when Sophia was safe with her mother and they couldn't see a reason to keep him around. Yeah, he'd probably do that.
He wiped the sweat off his forehead, scratching his brow in the process. He oughta clear his head. He'd found Sophia's rag doll down by a creek before, and his purpose was finding the little girl, but it was hard to keep his mind on track when it was up to the brim with other thoughts.
The horse stopped abruptly, braying and stomping on the ground, and Daryl noticed a snake wriggling in the leaves right ahead. He breathed a string of curses and tried to hold onto the reins as the horse bucked under him.
The little son of a bitch uncoiled and jumped at them, spooking the horse. Daryl lost his grip and tumbled backward, right off the horse and down a cliff-side, rolling down the rocky flats, bumping and bruising every body part on the way, finally landing with a splash in a shallow river.
He had hit his head right at the top, a pain so acute that he only took notice of the rest of his sore body once he was at the bottom. His right shoulder and hip. Both his forearms and the back of his neck, not to mentions his knees. But his side stung something special, reminding him of when he got stabbed.
His hand came back bloody. He hissed and looked down at the damage; he saw the head of one of his arrows protruding from little below kidney level on his left side. From his quick, pained assessment, it didn't look like it had pierced anything vital, but it still hurt like a son of a bitch.
Daryl dragged himself through the water, hissing at every wrong movement until he reached the shallow shore where he'd found the rag doll. He could feel the blood running warmly down his side, mixing easily with the water. He unsheathed his knife and cut the sleeves off his shirt; lucky him for choosing to wear sleeves that day. He wrapped the fabric around his abdomen and around the arrow shaft to secure it in place. The last thing he needed was that son of a bitch to move around and tear through him completely.
He briefly wondered if there was any chance of Rick or the others stumbling upon him since they were also out looking for Sophia. The answer was a round negative for three reasons. First, the plan had been that each group sticks to their given perimeter, second, they knew he was capable on his own, so they wouldn't come close to where he was, third, he'd told them he might only come back the next morning, so no one would notice him missing.
That was a lie, he knew there was at least someone who'd notice his absence and worry her pretty, curly head.
Twigs cracked and shrubbery rustled, coming from his right. He knew those sounds and what they meant and cursed his goddamn luck. Where the hell was his crossbow? He looked back at the murky water he'd fallen into and a muscle twitched in his cheek from trying to hold in his annoyance.
He picked up a stick he could lean on and went back into the water to find his weapon; no way in hell he'd be traipsing around unarmed like little Red fucking Hood just waiting to fall right into the wolf's sharp teeth.
By the time he found it, his vision had begun to blacken at the edges from the pain and his hearing started ringing. He shouldered the crossbow and took the stick in hand, knowing if he wanted to get out of that death trap, he'd have to climb up that hill with nothing to grab onto but half-rooted trees.
Foot, hand, foot, all finding a semi-stable perch or flying away when it crumbled underneath his weight. Daryl kept chastising himself, talking himself through the pain and the strain he was putting on his side. Cold sweat beaded on every part of his skin that wasn't already wet and his heart pounded in his ears like crazy, almost louder than his own voice.
A recurring thought went through his mind; Diana was going to kill him when she saw the state he was in. Then his foot slipped on the loose earth; he was too sluggish to grab onto the nearest tree and fell head over heels.
His world went dark before he reached the bottom.
oOo
"Did we lose her?" Felix asked from behind Alice's significantly smaller frame as both peeked from around the corner of the farmhouse.
Alice shushed him and swatted blindly at him. Beth's feet made the wood of the porch creak as she climbed down the steps, giving her position away. Alice pushed her brother away and out of view when she saw the teenager's blonde ponytail, luckily, she facing the other way.
Felix was mouthing something right next to Alice's face, pulling on her arm for attention, and she glared at him to stop. Felix glared back but stopped his fidgeting.
Triumphant, Alice listened as Beth's soft footfalls became more and more distant.
Alice had been found experimentally strumming Beth's guitar, and the girl had held her hostage, trying to bond over their love of music. She had this blind naïve quality about her that left a strange aftertaste in Alice's mouth. Not even Diana was as annoying, and that was a feat.
But she had to put up with Diana; she didn't owe Beth anything. Her 'debt' was towards Hershel, and even there she didn't feel much of an obligation.
Then, Felix's timing had saved her ass. He had seen the desperation in her eyes and momentarily forgiven her for her earlier 'well' stunt. He'd told Beth that her father had called for her over from Carl's room, and when she left, Alice and Felix hightailed it out of the house. It was unnecessarily mean, but Beth's friendship was also unnecessary to her, and Alice felt no hint of remorse about it.
Beth had had that self-absorbed, fake altruistic vibe about her. The kind that screamed: 'Look at me befriending the black orphan girl, ain't I just the sweetest?' and Alice was really not about to put up with that.
"She's gone. Let's get the fuck away from here before she comes this way."
"Ja, where, genius?" Felix asked, exasperated and already looking around. He gasped loudly and his head whipped around to face her. His stupidly long arm was outstretched, pointing at the barn. It loomed in stark contrast to the forest behind it. "I've been dying to go explore in there."
Alice shrugged mockingly and stared at her brother. "Why not? It's not fucking creepy at all. It's not like white country people out there hiding weird-ass shit in their barns. Horror movies always get it wrong somehow."
"You scared?" The fucking pot calling the- or the kettle calling the pan- She didn't know how the expression went precisely, but that.
She knew what he was doing; goading her into it – and she was falling right into the trap because if there was one thing Alice couldn't turn down, was a challenge.
"Bruh, sicher nöd! Are you?" she asked just to mock him, but the falter in his silly grin gave her pause. "You know we don't gotta-"
"I'm not, I'm not. Bruh, it's 'cause you said all that stuff." And if there was one thing that Felix and she had in common was that competitive trait.
They gave each other a slow-growing smile and took off in a run toward the barn.
Felix's long legs gave him the advantage as he led the race until they were hiding behind the barn, where no random passerby would spot them.
Alice looked up the back wall with its decrepit looking faded and peeling paint while catching her breath. She made a face at Felix when she saw how high up the window was and there were no convenient objects around that she could climb onto.
Felix leaned steadily back against the wall, right under the window, and interwove his fingers at knee level. He gestured with his head. "I'll give you a boost. Bet I can reach just by jumping."
"Always flexing." She shook her head at her brother's conceit over his height and cursed her shortness.
She stepped back for a small running head start and hoped she'd get it right at the first try. She wasn't trying to humiliate herself in front of her little brother today.
She ran, stepped onto Felix's cupped hands, and felt herself be thrown up in the air. For a millisecond she forgot what she was supposed to be doing and enjoyed the feeling of taking flight like a baby bird that had stepped out of the nest for the first time. Then she began to freefall, and her hands fought to find the window ledge.
She grabbed on, but her body slammed against the wall. She tried to reduce the impact but turning away but only ended up hurting her hip. She heard Felix comment something about grace and her lack of it, but she ignored it; what mattered was that she'd grabbed on.
Felix gave her feet a push, and she kicked them against the wall to help her climb; no way she'd make it on upper body strength alone. She pushed herself up until her belly was caught on the sill. When she saw the hay piles on the upper level, including under her window, she let herself roll forward, head over heels, thus falling onto the hay.
She lied there, breathing heavily with adrenaline and strain, feeling the individual straws prick her skin and slipping into her underwear and under her shirt. Okay so, hay, nothing too sinister so far, everybody got that in their barn. As long as she didn't see any scarecrows, she'd be cool.
Did they have animals in there? It sounded like something alive was on the ground level but her heart pulsing in her ears, and her heavy breathing was making it hard to hear. It stank way worse than livestock.
She rolled over and crawled over to the edge. Please, please, please, no sentient scarecrows.
Felix called her name from outside and banged a fist against the wall, and Alice saw them.
Their heads perked towards the back wall, and they rushed in that direction, below her.
A pair of milky-white eyes among the many bore up into hers, and Alice retreated, laying down flat, welcoming the itchy needles.
Felix's voice held full-blown panic as he frantically called for her. The walkers roared directly below her, sending a shiver down her spine. Her heart was in a frenzy. Walkers. The Greenes were hiding walkers in the barn.
Even worse:
Sophia. She'd seen Sophia.
Red tinted her vision; angry, angry, angry.
All in vain, everything they'd done and sacrificed had been for nothing! She had been here all along; dead, undead, whatever!
Had Hershel's people caught her and shoved her in here? Had he been playing them for fools? Were these other victims? Lonesome people they lured in with a fake sense of security, only to throw them to the wolves, locking them in their barn to get eaten alive?
Would that have been her fate if Rick hadn't been there?
Her skin crawled and prickled with beaded sweat, but she felt strangely cold-blooded. Her breathing became fast and shallow. She pushed herself up, sitting, and then standing. She could see the walkers buzzing through the cracks in the wood floor. Her hand fell to the knife at her hip.
Then, Felix's voice. The red screen cracked and fell into shards. She looked at her hand almost accusingly.
This was too much for her. She knew that. And yes, she was impulsive, but not to the point of stupidity. She knew how to pick her battles... most of the times.
She tiptoed to the window and peered down at her brother. He was walking in circles, scratching his head with both hands like he was trying to pull at his hair. His face twisted, and he was muttering to himself, sometimes gasping out a sob.
He thought they had gotten her.
She swung herself out of the window while hanging by the ledge, feet colliding with the external wall. The sound alerted Felix, whose head snapped up in alert and surprise. His wide eyes found her, and Alice was almost certain he'd break down crying. He didn't.
She dropped down hard into a crouch, wincing at the pain in her knees. Fuck superhero landings, tbh. When she straightened herself, Felix was standing in front of her. His face was marred by pain as he stared at her with watery eyes.
She anticipated one of his bone-crushing hugs or a reprimand of some sort, but he just swallowed hard and said, "Why are there walkers in the barn?"
"Shit, sorry bro, I forgot to ask them," Alice replied, tone contrastingly somber. Her hand wrapped around the hilt of her knife, tightening until her joints ached. "Sophia's in there," she whispered.
Confusion, disbelief, fear, and horror. All of those micro-expressions showed on Felix's face in the matters of two seconds. "What?"
"She's one of them."
"How?"
"You think I'd know? She just is, I saw her." Alice could still hear them inside, pressed against the wall behind her, their nails scratching against the wood. She closed her eyes and bit on the inside of her cheek, containing her anger, tasting blood.
"We gotta tell Diana," Felix suggested.
Alice chuckled sardonically; as if there was anything Diana could do about it now.
oOo
Diana had run inventory and had given Glenn a list to take on his run with Maggie. He had seemed somewhat nervous about it, and Diana could relate. Being alone with Maggie for an extended period of time would make her nervous, too. Man, she would blush just by holding eye contact with her for more than five seconds; she was seriously pretty.
Now she had finally sat down to scribble down updates on Carl's condition in her medical records notebook, relieved to let her mind rest with a menial task.
A brown hand with chipped nail polish interrupted her by blocking the page. She pursed her lips with a sigh and looked up through her lashes.
Alice's expression didn't betray anything; it was Felix's that got her worried. She straightened in her chair and faced them properly. "What's wrong?"
Alice simply took the book from her hand, flipped back and forth through the pages until she found what she intended, then handed it back to her.
Diana stared at Sophia Peletier's record; the last entry still from back at the Quarry. She frowned at it, then at her brother and sister. "I don't get it."
"I saw her in the barn," Alice whispered in their native language, glancing around the camp.
Diana blinked rapidly, trying to process her words, but her mind seemed to have purposefully blacked out the core information. "Wha- bish, why were you in the barn? Hershel said it was off-limits, he said that thing's falling apart. You guys thrill-seeking? Regular nowadays life not enough?"
"Bruh, did you not hear what I said?" Alice hissed and grabbed Diana by the arm, dragging her into their tent with Felix in tow. Once inside, Felix zipped it up, and they were encased in the tarp walls, away from prying eyes and eavesdropping ears.
"Diana, the barn's full of walkers," Alice began anew, and this time Diana listened intently.
Alice and Felix told her of their intention of poking around the mysterious pad-locked barn, and what Alice had seen once she'd gotten in. All the walkers, among them Sophia. She relayed her thoughts to both her siblings: that the farm was a trap and they were welcoming people to their deaths.
It was disturbing. And it had Diana going for a second, ironically, feeling betrayed by people she didn't even know. Hershel had seemed like a somewhat trustworthy old man.
She then recalled something she'd heard Patricia say in passing. "We're just waitin' out this insanity," she'd said, "Our loved ones will be coming back to us soon enough, restored by the hand of the Lord." It had struck her as odd. The conviction in her words had run from somewhere deep.
And Diana had thought her to be delusional and in denial until now. "There's no cure."
"Yeah, we know," Felix said matter-of-factly, glancing at Alice.
"But they don't. They don't know. I think they believe the dead might resurrect, like resurrect-resurrect, not walking-dead-resurrect. That they can be cured, healed. Patricia called it an 'insanity', I think they think the walkers are just ill."
"So, what, they- they what? Keep them quarantined in there waiting for it to blow over like it's a common cold? And Sophia? They know our people out looking for her like madmen. They've been playing us like fucking Bratz dolls."
Diana digested everything while massaging her temples. When she reached a solid theory, she couldn't bear to look her sister in the eye, they were burning with such intensity. She settled for a spot on her neck, bracing herself. "Alice... I think she might've already been dead when they put her in there."
"What?" was the whispered response from Felix that Alice copied in a louder tone.
Diana swallowed hard. It wasn't easy to let it out; pity blocked her throat. "Think about it," she began softly. "If she was bit while she was out in the forest and they found her before she turned, she woulda told them her name. That's like, the first thing you ask a lost child. They woulda known it was her we're looking for. But they don't know."
"So... she had already turned before they found her," Felix concluded with a slow, thoughtful nod.
Alice couldn't sit still. Her hands tightened to fists and her face turned into a scowl. "They could be pretending. We don't know them well enough."
"C'mon, be real. They look like masters of deceit to you? They're farmers."
"You think farmers can't lie?"
"I think you're trying too hard to find someone to blame."
"The fact is that there are walkers in the barn, that's the truth and it's weird as fuck, whatever their reason. It doesn't matter how they got there, they're there! So, technically they are guilty!" Alice yelled in a mélange of languages that only the three of them could decipher, too fired up to filter herself.
While Felix had been quietly observing, listening to the back and forth, he now lifted his hands in a peaceful approach and begged, "Alice, bro, calm down..."
Diana flinched; that had been the absolute wrong thing to say.
"Don't fucking tell me to calm down!" Alice's nostrils flared and her lips pursed tightly. She pointed her finger in Felix's face, which he glared at and swatted away. "It can't be that... that while I was out there searching for her... Can't be that she'd been dead all along."
The desperation had slipped through her cracks, audible in her voice, very likely against Alice's will. Diana knew touching was a no-no but, at that moment, she self-projected her own need of a comforting touch onto her sister, and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Alice..."
It was immediately rejected, shrugged off. The desperation in her voice completely gone, replaced by ice. "Don't fucking touch me." She unzipped the tent flap, her eyes downward, then called over her shoulder. "And don't dare follow me."
There was a moment of silence between Diana and Felix, neither knowing what to say or do. The input of information had been so expansive and the emotional response so overwhelming in such a short time that it left her mind reeling.
Her vision became blurry, and she sniffled; she couldn't believe she was tearing up again. There must be something really wrong with the emotion center in her brain, what with it opening the dam at every single little thing that upset her.
But that aside, she could begin to understand her sister. And seeing Sophia like that had likely been traumatic to her. Alice had cared about the little girl. Which meant she had lost yet another person. She didn't hold the same emotional value as mom and dad, but the succession of events that had led to this moment was enough to make anyone want to burst.
"So, what the hell do we do now?" came Felix's defeated voice as he sat with shoulders slumped and a questioning eyebrow raised in her direction.
"I don't know yet..." She wasn't sure if telling Rick the news was a good idea momentarily, but it also felt wrong to keep such a significant development from him. And Carol, shit, she couldn't even begin to know how to break it to her.
Her headache only grew worse, making her wince; she desperately needed her bow to pulse its healing vibes into her flesh and bones, help out with the physical stress so she could focus on the fixing the other factors.
"What about Alice?" Felix asked.
Diana sighed and shrugged loosely. "Let's give her some time, you know her. Can you keep an eye on her, though? Stop her from doing anything too 'Alice', like accidentally trip and stab someone or herself?"
His brow furrowed and he rolled his eyes at her. "The fuck? Why won't you play babysitter?"
"Hey, please, alright? Be reasonable, Felix, I've got... I've got some thinking to do."
"Yeah, you're not the only one, but sure." His tone was the most passive-aggressive she'd heard from him in a while.
And while cowardly and selfish, Diana didn't feel like confronting him about it. It was shitty, yes, there was no excuse; she just wanted to cry in peace, for the umpteenth time that day... "C'mon, let's not do this right now, alright, bro? I got a headache the size of Russia by now, and just as ruthless."
Felix scoffed with a curled lip. "So, she gets to throw a fit and everything's a field of roses, but I can't even say if something's bothering me?"
Diana's patience snapped at his tone of voice and she straightened her back, wiping her wet lashes. "If something's bothering you, then by all means, let it all out! Tell me what's wrong!" She only realized how insensitive her words had been until she heard herself say them.
"I don't know!" His hands lifted in exasperation. "I don't know what the hell's wrong, just that something is! My chest hurts all the time and I feel like I'm always a wrong word away from fucking bursting into tears." He grimaced while clutching the shirt over his chest like he could physically grasp the pain and drag it out. Oh, how Diana could relate. "I just wanna stop feeling like I'm about to drown all the fucking time."
The back of Diana's eyes prickled with even more tears over her brother's confession. She also burned with shame at her behavior. So much for all the promises she'd made; her little brother needed her and she'd been seconds away from telling him she didn't care about his predicament. She didn't mean it, of course, but the words would still have wounded both of them gravely. "Felix..."
"I feel like we buried mom and dad months ago, but it's literally been only days. Sometimes I forget, I look around thinking I'll see them somewhere around camp, doing whatever, but then I don't. And that shit hurts, you know?" He kept his eyes downward and shrugged as if it was nothing, letting his shoulders sag even more, appearing smaller than he was. His hands were still like he'd lost the strength in his body. "I'm tryna keep strong like, shit, I never had to try so hard. And I joke around or-or say stupid shit, but it feels... I don't know. At night I still fall asleep feeling like someone punched a hole in my chest.
"I know you're carrying a lot, I see that, people look to you for help and comfort. Same as me. And when I feel like I'm- like I'm gonna break under all my shit, I just need someone to be there. To listen to my voice, to tell me everything's gonna be just fine." He breathed out a humorless chuckle, lifting his eyes to hers. "Fuck, to lie to me even."
Diana blinked and wiped away the tears as they fell. She should've seen it. She should've known. Felix was an emotional boy, he needed someone by his side through this. And she thought she'd been doing okay. But as it turns out, it wasn't enough.
"I-" her voice cracked and she cleared her throat, strengthening herself. "I didn't know... I wish, I kinda wish you'd told me this sooner, Felix. I'm so sorry you had to- to keep this to yourself."
Felix shook his head, his gaze holding hers sheepishly. "It's not your fault; it's not Alice's either." He covered his face with his hands in a very 'Diana' gesture and his voice became muffled, "This is so fucking awkward."
"Language," Diana let out a watery chuckle, her hand caressing his cropped curls. "Felix?"
He hummed vaguely behind his hands, then dragged them down his face until his eyes were visible.
"Please, don't ever wait this long again. If you wanna talk, just come to us. I'll drop everything, no matter what, and you know Alice; she's terrible at taking advice but she's great at dishing it out. She'll listen, even if she pretends it's a pain." Not to mention the extensions to their family that weren't blood-related but cared just as much. Diana took Felix's hand and held it between hers, squeezing. "I think T-Dog is more than willing to help out his little bro, too, and the same goes for Glenn. You'll never not have someone by your side. Too many people care about you for that to happen."
"You're making this really fucking cheesy; I was tryna avoid that." The teasing was back in his voice, and it made Diana's chest a little bit lighter, a little easier to breathe. "This ain't a telenovela, Diana."
She laughed and wiped her face completely on the hem of her shirt, finally putting herself together. "Boi, this is like, my talent. Don't come at me for doing what I do best." She waved her finger at him playfully. "I don't come at you for only knowing how to play video games and being obsessed with Pokémon."
He put a hand above his heart, acting wounded. "That hit where it hurts. But it's so true."
Diana watched the small, hesitant smile grow on her brother's lips. She'd do anything to protect that smile.
oOo
Before he opened his eyes, Daryl thought he might've died. Then his consciousness slowly returned, accompanied by numbing pain, and he wanted nothing more but to sleep it off. Fuck knows he hadn't had a good night's sleep in almost a decade.
He stared up at the canopy of the trees, his vision blurry, the only thing he could see were blobs of color. Then a voice, familiar, and the face that came with it; Merle. So, he'd found him.
He felt himself drift in and out of consciousness. Merle stayed, mocking and taunting him, saying how all the others saw in him was an errand-boy and a freak; redneck trash that they'd scrape off their shoe once they saw no use for him.
Daryl wanted to fight back, to say he was wrong, but it was a pain to talk and an even bigger pain to lie to himself.
Then footsteps, another voice. "The nerve of this guy. Dude, seriously, piss off. Go like, take a shower or something."
His eyes focused enough to see Merle retreat while someone else took his spot, crouching next to him. The brown skin and pulled back curls were unmistakable, even through his struggle. He called her name weakly, relieved to see her, a comfort after all the harsh truths out of Merle's mouth.
She only looked at him with a raised brow and a curl to her lip; disgust. "You know he's right, though, right? Oh, sorry did you expect something else from me? Ah, poor little Daryl with the shitty mommy and abusive daddy, let me cure you with my magic hugs. Ha." Her words twisted the knife his brother's own words had stabbed in his chest. "Like I'd ever really care.
"I needed someone to teach me and you fit the bill. Don't flatter yourself, pal." She looked down at him with pity in her too-dark eyes, cocking her head. "I feel nothing but pity. Did you know you were such a pathetic creature or did I help you find that out? I'm curious."
If Merle had planted seeds of doubt, Diana had tossed the shit on top that made them grow twice as strong.
"Don't think I haven't seen your goo-goo eyes," she sneered and rolled her eyes. "Disgusting, really, what are you, fifteen years older than me? Keep dreaming, buddy." She seemed to have read the shame in his face. "Yeah, I know how you wanna hold me, and kiss me," she hissed out while climbing to straddle his middle, jostling the arrow in a flash of pain. "And fuuuck me," she dragged out.
Daryl closed his eyes exhaustedly, not being able to face her expression of absolute repugnance.
Then her breath hit his face; putrid and inhuman, and Daryl's heartbeat picked up in realization, adrenaline jostling him fully awake. Her hands clawed at his shirt, straining the buttons, and Daryl finally focused on who was on top of him.
Not Diana; a walker, and he never felt so relieved. It was quickly replaced with panic as he struggled to kick it off himself, weakened by his injuries and the blood loss. He wrestled with the walker but overthrew it, grabbing hold of his knife at his hip to slash at it, hoping to stab.
Once the walker was off him, it wasn't easy to kill it. His reaction time was sluggish and his hands shook. Another one made its appearance out of nowhere, limping up to him.
The adrenaline was slowly wearing off, leaving him jittery. He felt around for his crossbow but saw no arrows. The implication of what he had to do hit him when his hand was already wrapped around the arrow impaled on his side. He set his jaw, clenching his teeth, and pulled it clean through, feeling it move through his flesh with mind-numbing pain.
He didn't linger much on it. His priority was shooting the walker dead. Loading the crossbow was a task in itself, but once he got it done, the walker fell at his feet, much too close for comfort.
The edges of his vision threatened to blacken and dizziness caused him to hold himself upright, but he persisted through it. He ain't no damn quitter, like hell he would go down without a fight.
He got up, patched himself up, and began climbing again. Halfway through, Merle appeared again, looking down at him from the top, but no Diana; a small mercy. His brother continued taunting him, throwing in his face that nobody but him cared for his worthless ass, emasculating him, saying he'd never make it to the top if he kept on being a pussy.
Daryl used them to fuel his spite. His muscles burned and the skin on his side felt like it was tearing like paper, but he kept on going, foot after hand after foot, Merle's dreamed up words falling on deaf ears.
When he reached the top, Merle was gone, and Daryl began the walk back to the farm.
so we all know what big moment is coming up.
how are you liking the things i'm changing?
i literally stressed so much over those changes because i didn't want to deviate too much from canon and have ppl criticize me about it, but then i thought: you know what? fuck it, it's my fic, and i can do whatever the hell i want with it
but i still need validation tho lmao
