Katelyn thought her teeth would rattle out of her head as Daryl sped along the gravel road that led to the forest behind Woodbury. Hiding in the bed of the truck, she lay flat against the metal bottom. She knew Daryl would be pissed when he found her but she wasn't about to let him possibly face her father without being there.
The truck bounded along the road until they came to a perfect spot to leave the vehicles. Daryl turned off the ignition and opened the car door. Rick, Michonne, Maggie, and Glenn came over, with Tyreese coming up behind them.
"All right, so we'll make our way through the woods before dark. It'll be a lot easier that w…" Rick's word dropped at the end as he saw Katelyn stand up in the back of the truck.
"What?" Daryl asked, looking confusedly at Rick.
It wasn't until Glenn saw and started messing with his hat nervously while Maggie dug her toe in the ground that Daryl knew something was wrong and turned around.
Panic, masked by anger swept through him when he saw her.
"God dammit, Katelyn!" He yelled, storming over to the truck as she climbed down.
Katelyn felt badly for upsetting him, but she was afraid that if he wasn't there to watch his back, something bad would happen. She already almost lost him once and she wasn't about to lose him again.
Daryl was too mad to even form coherent words and degenerated into a rant of curse words while he stormed around getting his weapons ready. Glaring at her every other second as he did so.
Katelyn sighed and looked sheepishly at Rick and the others. Glenn just shook his head and Maggie was smirking. She admired Katelyn's courage. Tyreese was the one who took pity on her and brought her a large machete to replace her knife and a gun.
Rick walked over to Daryl who was visibly upset and put his hand on his arm.
"She's already here. Nothin' we can do 'bout that. Let's just be careful." He whispered, trying to calm Daryl down.
"If walkers don't' kill her, I'm gonna." Daryl hissed, slamming the truck door shut.
"She's stubborn and she cares about you. She's got a stake in this, you know." Rick tried to explain, but Daryl wasn't hearing any of it.
He was downright pissed off.
Katelyn watched Daryl, feeling more and more guilty as time went by. He started walking into the woods up ahead of everyone and she began doubting herself. She'd expected him to be angry but not like this. Maggie walked up next to her to keep her company.
"He'll get over it." Maggie whispered, "He's just scared, that's all."
Katelyn turned to look at Maggie with a forlorn expression and Maggie fell silent.
The trip through the woods was quiet.
Reaching the stream, the group decided to take a break and grab some water. Daryl still hadn't said a word to anyone and Katelyn was silent as well. Daryl stayed up ahead, "scouting" but anyone who was watching him could tell he had one eye on Katelyn the whole time. He might be mad, but he was still watching out for her.
The group moved on after twenty minutes and it started to get later in the day. Daryl, who was still up ahead, suddenly crouched, holding up his hand to stop. Cocking her head to the side, Katelyn listened. It took her a second to figure out what it was, but the distinct groaning was obvious.
Walkers.
Daryl pointed up ahead and Rick and Michonne hurried forward. As they did, he dropped back to a support position with his crossbow and angled himself so he could see Katelyn the whole time. Moving slowly, the group came upon the source of the noise and were surprised.
The walker was caught in a leghold trap that had been set out.
Daryl crouched, surveying the terrain which formed a natural funnel into this area but before he could warn everyone, he heard a yelp from Katelyn and the distinct sound of the metal jaws of a trap, slamming shut.
Daryl burst across the way, seeing Katelyn lying on the ground. Panicked, he frantically began assessing how bad the injury was and didn't even realize that both of Katelyn's legs were raised in the air, away from the trap. The trap had been sprung, luckily by a twig that had gotten tangled in Katelyn's legs and not her own leg because it would have snapped it in half.
"Jesus Christ!" Daryl hissed, trying to get ahold of his breathing now that he realized it wasn't Katelyn caught in the trap.
Katelyn was still startled. She heard the sound and immediately fell backward, avoiding the serrated edges of the spring trap. Frightened, her eyes wide, she looked at Daryl who was shaking his head in dismay.
"Are you all right?" He bit out, making sure that she was unharmed before letting his anger at her presence out.
Katelyn merely nodded, too afraid to utter a word at this point. She could see the look on his face and knew that anything she said was going to set him off.
Daryl took a second to calm himself. He knew he was furious and was really struggling with controlling his temper at the moment.
She had been told to stay behind and now she almost got her leg ripped off by booby traps left by her father.
He was not in a good mood.
Grabbing her arm, he nearly raised her off the ground entirely as he stood her up to make sure.
Katelyn was startled when he grabbed her arm and wasn't sure what to expect from him. He'd never been this mad at her before.
"You walk, where I walk. Nowhere else." He told her through gritted teeth.
Katelyn nodded.
Maggie pursed her lips and Glenn watched with wide eyes. No one wanted to get in the way of Daryl's temper at the moment.
"The traps are spread out and hidden all over. I've set three off so far." Michonne said, pointing in the areas she had located them.
Daryl nodded, pulling Katelyn behind him.
Daryl grabbed a long branch and ripped the leaves off of it, creating a makeshift walking stick, before proceeding forward.
Katelyn looked at Rick with wide, startled eyes, but all Rick could do was nod at her.
Daryl began to move, waving the stick on the ground in front of them like a blind man walking in the city.
When Katelyn didn't move fast enough, he jerked her forward with the hand he was holding her with. He must have felt bad though because he glanced behind him to make sure she was walking, before moving forward.
Daryl set off more than ten traps, all of which could have seriously injured the entire group. Michonne swept the area about 10 feet in front of him and Glenn marked trees to show the way in case they had to flee quickly.
Katelyn couldn't take it anymore and stopped dead in her tracks.
Daryl hadn't noticed until the jerk on his arm and then he turned immediately around to stare at her.
Glaring, he cast her he meanest look he could, but she refused to budge.
Watching the two of them was like watching a show down in the wild west, with the two facing off against each other, staring hard into each other's eyes and waiting for the other one to move.
But neither did.
"You're being ridiculous." Katelyn finally said.
Daryl's eyes flew wide as lightning seemed to hit them. Stomping over to Katelyn, he towered over her, glaring down into her eyes.
"I'm being ridiculous?" He demanded, his nostrils flaring.
"Yes." She hissed.
"You were specifically told to stay at the prison." He stated through gritted teeth.
"I'm not a dog!" She nearly shouted, earning her a "Shhhh" from him.
Daryl's eye was twitching and he let his head fall backwards in frustration.
"I'm not a damn burden! I can help you. Especially when it has to do with Woodbury!" She continued, rushing to defend her rash decision.
"No one's saying you're not. All I said was that it was too dangerous!" Daryl spat back.
"Well then it's too dangerous for you to be on without me!" She concluded.
"Dammit, Katelyn!" He growled before turning his back on her with his hands on his hips. He was trying to calm down but he could feel the panic. It had been far too close for comfort last time and he didn't want her dealing with her father if she didn't have to.
"She's here now, Daryl. Not much we can do. Let's just keep moving and Katelyn will be cover for Michonne." Rick tried to reason with the arguing lovers.
Daryl just stared at her for a minute before throwing up his hands.
"Fine." He grated out.
"Fine." She grated out too.
Rick rolled his eyes heavenward.
Fine, Rick throught, before heading further into the woods.