I hope you guys are enjoying this, here's another update for you, please do review! It makes me update much faster.

Chapter Twenty One

Things were always going to be difficult, in this new world Lila realised everything was strained and short lived. Yet as she stood by Dale's grave with everyone else, she couldn't stop herself from feeling cheated. As everyone said their goodbyes, she found herself unable to say anything, the confusion from her night with Daryl just hours before along with the grief of losing a friend, was too much for her to handle.

"I've never buried anyone before," Lila said quietly as the group listened.

"He was my friend, I can't…" She stopped, "I'm sorry." With that she found herself turning away from the group and walking back towards the farmhouse. She couldn't bring herself to say goodbye to Dale, images of him as he died were still fresh in her mind and the memories of last night were clouding her vision.

Lila made her way to her tent, sitting down inside it and taking in the silence surrounding her. Slowly she lifted her top to reveal the remainder of her injuries, still fresh and painful. She ran her finger tips over the mutated flesh and winced.

"Knock, knock," A voice sounded from outside before Maggie opened the zip of the tent and climbed inside.

"How are you?" She asked, sitting down cross legged on the hard ground.

"I'll survive," Lila shrugged.

"If you need anything, Lila, let me know, from what I've gathered you guys will be here for the winter. Please, don't feel like you have to be alone through all this," The sincerity in Maggie's eyes caused Lila to cry yet again. She found herself reliving the past few months and the cries turned into sobs as she collapsed on the ground of the tent, Maggie stroking back her hair. She'd abandoned her family, tried to kill her boyfriend, been captured, raped and beaten and after finally thinking she'd found a place to feel safe, with a man she could see herself loving…Erik had come back, been killed and then Dale…it was all too much for her brain to handle as she wept. She hadn't even noticed when Daryl took over from Maggie, not until he pulled her up into his chest as if she were a child.

"Quiet now. Ain't no good you bawlin' like a baby," Daryl said, but his tone was lacking in his usual attitude.

"Drink this," Daryl passed her a glass of water and she downed the liquid quickly before taking note of the salty taste.

"What is this?" She asked, dropping the glass as her vision grew fuzzy, "What'd you give me?" She asked again, slurring her words into one another. Daryl didn't answer, or if he did, Lila didn't notice. As she fell into a sleep drenched with nightmares.

Her head pounded the next morning, as she opened her eyes to find a dull light sinking through the thin tent material. She placed a hand to her head as she got up, removing the blanket that had bee covering her. As she clambered slowly from the tent she heard a commotion outside of the farmhouse. The sun was setting, she'd been asleep from a whole day, possibly more. Her balance was unsteady as she tried to stand up, reaching for the gun in her bag she shakily walked over to where some of the group were stood.

As she got closer she noticed Shane's bloodied face and serious expression, Daryl was stood with Rick and Glenn.

"You son of a bitch," Lila said, realising her speech was still slurred. Daryl turned around and Lila lunged at him clumsily, he was forced to grip her wrists to stop her from hitting him.

"Calm the hell down, woman!" He yelled, keeping her restrained.

"You drugged me," Lila hissed.

"It was for your own good, LB," Daryl replied.

"It was my idea," Rick's voice interrupted, "I told him to do it. Was the only way to make sure you stayed here."

"Why would you need me to stay?" Lila frowned, looking between the men.

"What happened to you?" She asked Shane, who pressed a cloth to his head.

"Randall is gone," Shane replied "Escaped, beat the shit outta me and took my gun." That was all Lila needed to here, she pulled herself away from Daryl, staring him directly in the eye.

"You did this to me? Just thought you'd knock me out and get rid of him without me knowing?" She questioned, hurt evident in her voice.
"What would you'a done, Lila? Gone off on another one of your missions, got yourself nearly killed again? Wait for someone to come save you like you always do? Better this way, you ain't hurtin' nobody or yourself," Daryl spat the words like venom, causing a pain to radiate in Lila's chest. Whatever they had shared the a few nights ago had disappeared, nothing but a distant memory.

"Look at all of you, thinking you're doing me a favour? I would have killed him myself, would've saved everyone the effort of hiding things from me!" Lila stepped back, her hands in her hair and tears formed in her eyes.

"Do you people even understand what they did to me?" Her voice broke beneath the strain, "This isn't some mission," She aimed the statement at Daryl, "They would have kept me until I wasn't any use to them anymore, they left me for dead by the road, walker bait. They spent months torturing me. This wasn't a childish vendetta against some moderately bad guy. You took away the only chance I had at sleeping through the night without nightmares and you did that shit behind my back!" Lila threw her gun down on the ground and walked away, she was shaking with a mixture of adrenaline and anger

"Screw you people, I'm finished!"

She stared at the worn photograph in her hands, her family stared back at her, tears ran down her cheeks as she took note of the familiarity of her mother's eyes, the sweetness of Ada's smile. Her heart ached for them, not knowing whether they were alive or dead…or worse. She held the radio in her hands, fiddling with the dials in an attempt to hear something other than static.

"Hey," A voice appeared from behind her and she quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks, she turned to see Daryl stood, his crossbow slung over his shoulder.

"I don't have anything to say to you, Daryl," She replied.

"I ain't about to apologise for shit, just thought I'd tell you we're goin' out lookin' for the boy."

"Was the other night part of this plan too?" She asked quietly, her voice barely audible.

"What the hell you talkin' about?" Daryl hissed.

"Was sleeping with me just another ploy to get me to trust you?" She struggled to allow the words to leave her mouth, too hurt to put effort behind them.
Daryl stayed quiet and still, staring directly at Lila before he shook his head.

"If I find him first, he'll be dead before he can ask for mercy." Daryl said, scoffing about turning away from Lila, who watched him leave with an ache in her chest. She didn't know what to believe when it came to Daryl, so instead of thinking about it she turned her eyes back to the picture in her hands and tried to think of a time she was happy. But nothing came to mind, except for the time she had spent with Daryl. Part of her knew that she was overreacting, yet she couldn't help but feel betrayed by the men of the group. Surely after everything she'd been through, she deserved some kind of retribution.

I made a trailer for bittersweet, it's on youtube so here is the link! watch?v=_ZqcXDjhnuo