Chapter 12-Misunderstandings
Ryder sat at the fire on the side of the road. They had been running with no place to go now for a few weeks. The group was steadily making their way to Noah's hometown in Virginia. She sat with her crossbow on her back and with her knees up to her chest. She was hungry, but she wasn't the only one. Her group was running on empty. Daryl and she had been trying to find animals, but they hadn't been having much luck and when they did it wasn't much food. It was enough for them not to starve but no one ever felt like they had a semi-full stomach.
The blonde looked over across from the fire over at Daryl. He hadn't spoken to her since what happened to Beth. He had said maybe a few words to her for weeks. She was confused because he had been quiet, but he still talked to everyone else for the most part. She assumed it had something do with what he said when they were trying to rescue Beth and Carol. She sighed looking back down at the fire. She felt like an outcast in the group. At least when Daryl was talking to her she felt a little more welcome. Everyone talked to her enough, but she didn't get along with everyone especially well. To her, Daryl was the one that understood her. That's what she thought anyway. She had tried to talk to him to figure out what the problem was but he blew her off each time, so she had stopped trying. The idea that she should leave kept creeping back into her mind. This time it wasn't because she thought she was better off though. This time it was because she was at a loss. She didn't know how long she could be around Daryl and have him hate her.
Ryder stood and started making her way into the woods. She couldn't keep sitting here. The dream that she had, when she was shot, kept coming back to her. The feeling of loss kept making its way back into her heart. Obviously, she didn't love Daryl. She hadn't known him long enough, but her heart had had a taste of what it was like and that hurt her. It was bearable when he was talking to her, but she just couldn't now.
She grabbed her machete from her leg and walked with it. To be honest, she didn't know what she was doing. She could try to hunt but it was the middle of the night and not many animals would be out and about. Maybe she wanted to find a herd of walkers. Instead of fighting them she could just walk into them and all her problems would be solved.
She sighed again and found a downed log. She sat down holding the machete between her legs. She missed her brothers-in-arms. Matt and Justin were everything to her. She didn't have any family. She really didn't have any friends either. Once she left for the army she lost touch with everyone. Those guys were what kept her sane. She could feel herself slipping. It was easier to flip her switch in her brain and feel nothing then it was to feel everything. She looked down at her ankle and the moonlight made a piece of metal glimmer. She grabbed the dog tags from her boot and held onto them. She didn't carry them around her neck because she didn't want to lose them. She had wrapped her dog tags around her ankle and hide them in her boots, so she didn't lose one the only things that reminded her of what her life was like with her brothers.
Daryl had finally found the blond. Rick had told him that she had disappeared a while ago and he was starting to worry about her. He didn't want anything to happen to her, so they didn't have to have another funeral. Daryl didn't want to go find her, but he was the best one to track at night. He also didn't miss the advances on Rick's part trying to get them to talk out their problems. He didn't do that shit and he knew that Ryder didn't do that shit. He couldn't help it though. He didn't hate the blonde he just needed his space from her for now. In his heart, he blamed Ryder for Beth's death.
He was quiet except for when he stepped on a branch on purpose signaling that someone was behind her. He was expecting her to turn around at the ready, but she didn't. He knew that she had heard the branch, but she didn't move. What the hell? There could be a walker behind her or something trying to sneak up on her to hurt her. Finally, after too long, she stood up with a loose grasp on her machete. He noticed that her face looked terrible. He wondered if she was sleeping or even eating. He saw surprise flash across her face, but it disappeared and a flash of sadness then nothing. She went back to her passive face that had been her only real emotion since they buried Beth and left the church.
She grabbed her machete and turned around. She was surprised when she was met with steel blue. She didn't bother saying anything. She knew why he was out here. Rick had probably sent him to come find her. Rick had noticed the tension between the two and apparently, he didn't like that there was drama between group members. It seemed like he was trying to get them to figure out what was happening. He made a couple mistakes though. He underestimated how stubborn Daryl was and he also didn't see that Ryder had given up trying to figure out that exact problem herself. Ryder started walking back to the campsite without a word. There wasn't any point.
Daryl watched her pass him. He noticed that she had stopped trying to talk to him. He couldn't bring himself to do it yet. She had told Beth to attack Dawn and it got her killed. When they were standing in the hall of the hospital he didn't want Ryder giving herself up for Noah. She shouldn't have had to do that. Beth wanted to say goodbye to the person who was giving herself up and one of the people saving her. He saw Ryder whisper into her ear but after that Beth went over and tried stabbing Dawn. Ryder had told her to try to kill Dawn and ultimately it killed her. His heart didn't want to trust her or giver her any chance. His brain, on the other hand, knew that it wasn't only her fault. Beth didn't need to do what she did. She could have just left, and they would have come to save Ryder.
Daryl walked behind Ryder watching her back. His brain was telling him to talk to her and straighten everything out, so they could make up. He was still worried about her deteriorating. He had noticed that during her outburst at the abandoned building. He just couldn't yet.
Ryder left the woods walking over to the side of the road closely followed by Daryl. The two missed it but the entire group of adults looked somewhat expectantly at the two. Everyone seemed to have noticed the tension between the two and they didn't know why. Daryl had been giving her the cold shoulder and Ryder wasn't taking it very well.
Ryder went to sit down away from the fire and everyone around it. She sat against the car they had been traveling around in trying to get to Richmond. She should sit by the fire to keep warm, but she didn't care anymore.
Ryder heard someone sit next to her. For half a second, she hoped that it was Daryl, but she squashed that feeling because she knew it wasn't. She looked over at Carl who had decided to join her.
Carl looked over at her, but she didn't move. She kept looking ahead watching the tree line for nothing. She could feel his eyes on her and he wasn't going to stop so she rolled her eyes and kept looking forward. "What do you want kid?"
Carl scoffed at her. "Don't call me a kid."
Ryder smiled somewhat. "Yeah, I guess that title doesn't belong to you anymore. What can I do you for?"
Carl looked down at his hands. He was fidgeting with a branch. It didn't seem like he wanted to ask what he came over here to ask. "A…are you going to leave?"
Ryder finally took the chance to look over at the young man. "Why do you ask?"
"I've heard my dad talking to Carol about it. They think you're going to leave. They were trying to figure out what's wrong and how to keep you from disappearing on us."
The blonde looked back at the woods thinking. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I'm not going to lie to you. I have thought about it. It's crossed my mind more and more." Carl didn't bother saying anything because he knew that she wasn't done talking. "You guys really don't need me anymore. I was just around helping you."
Carl felt a small surge of panic shoot through him. He didn't want his dad and Carol to be right. "You can't leave. We do need you. The entire group does."
Ryder let a sad smile slip onto her face. "If you haven't noticed not everyone thinks that."
"Daryl is still dealing with Beth's death." He paused missing the other girl. "We all are. He just deals with it a different way."
"Well, it seems like he blames me. Which I guess I can't blame him. Everyone around me has an untimely death."
Carl's face grew angry. "So, what? The world is different. It's not just you that has problems. You aren't the only one who has people die anymore."
Ryder looked over and Carl stunned. He got up from his seat wiping off his butt getting as much dirt off as he could. Before he left he turned back around looking down at Ryder. "Just rethink saying please. My dad was right. You are family to us and sometimes family just needs some space to think. You can't just give up on us." Before she could say anything to him he left and walked back over to the fire to sit next to his dad.
Ryder watched him leave stunned by his words. The kid wasn't shy about telling people how he felt. That was for sure. She leaned her head back against the vehicle closing her eyes. She didn't want to sleep but she didn't have a choice. Her body was getting weak with her missing sleep and food. She couldn't help much with the food part, but she could do something about the sleeping even if she didn't want to.
Ryder woke up, but she wasn't outside. She was blindfolded again. She felt the pain that she had felt over and over by being tortured. The blindfold was ripped off of her and instead of seeing Matt across from her it was Daryl again. She felt a weight on her chest. She wanted to cry because she knew what was going to happen. The terrorists were torturing as usual, but it didn't bother her. She felt numb to their pain because she had been through it so much. The time came to when she was going to watch him die.
Her head lifted, and she was met with steel blue. His eyes were hard. He didn't care about everything she was going through. "This is all your fault. You deserve this. You deserve to never leave this place."
Ryder couldn't stop herself. Tears finally broke her barrier. She pulled at her restraints yelling at him. "What did I do! What did I do to you? What's my fault? I don't understand. Stop blaming me for something that I didn't do!" when she got done yelling her dream ended the same way that she had always known it to end. Daryl was shot in the head.
The blonde didn't wake up like she usually did after her dream. She was back in a dark place and before she could do anything she saw Beth standing there. She was holding Judith and she was happy. It was like the first time that she had seen her standing on the catwalk. Ryder dropped to her knees. Before she could say anything, Matt showed up next to Beth. People kept popping. She knew all these people. Her mom and dad. Everyone that she had killed in battle surrounded her. They were all yelling at her, but she couldn't hear anything they were saying. They were screaming, and she couldn't do anything. She folded in on herself crying and screaming covering her ears. "Stop! Please! I'm sorry! There's nothing I can do for you! I can't do anything! I'm sorry you're all dead. I don't know what to do!"
Ryder was shaken awake by Carol. Ryder pushed off the vehicle she was still leaning against wild-eyed and scared. She was looking around trying to figure out what was happening. She didn't know where she was. Her eyes finally focused on Carol and she started to control her breathing. Her heart was still pounding through her chest, but she remembered where she was, but she also remembered her dream. All those people had died because it was her fault. That was the dream that had been haunting her since Beth died. She couldn't do anything about it.
Carol walked up slowly to the blonde not wanting to scare her away. She didn't mean to scare her awake, but she sounded like she was having a nightmare. She was screaming for something or someone to stop and shut up. She kept asking why and telling someone that she couldn't help them. Both Carol and Rick had been watching Ryder. She hadn't been doing well since Beth. It seemed like she blamed herself which she shouldn't. Beth made her own decisions and she shouldn't have tried to kill Dawn herself. They only reason why she was able to wake Ryder up was because she was on watch for the group.
Carol kept watching her and finally, she seemed to be calming down. "Come sit down with me."
Ryder hesitated but she could tell that Carol wasn't asking her if she wanted to or not. She was telling her to come and sit down because they were going to talk. Ryder sat next to Carol but didn't say anything.
Carol looked over at the blonde woman. "What's wrong? You haven't been acting like yourself lately. You're making the entire group worry about you."
Ryder scoffed at what she said. She was amused that Carol thought the entire group was worried about her. "Are you sure that the entire group cares?"
Carol watched her face. She was confused by what Ryder was stating. "What are you talking about. Of course, we all care about you."
"There's one person that doesn't seem to care anymore."
Carol's brain finally kicked in remembering that Daryl and her, hadn't been talking. It was more that Daryl hadn't been talking to her. "Daryl."
Ryder didn't say anything. She knew that Carol understood what she was talking about. Before Carol could keep asking questions she stood up and walked over to the front of the van. "You can go to sleep. I can keep watching. Not like I'm going to be able to sleep anymore tonight."
Carol stood and was watching her. If wasn't good for Ryder to be running on no sleep and no food. She wanted to protest but she knew she couldn't. The blonde wouldn't listen. She was on a path to kill herself and the one person that seemed to be the one to help her didn't want anything to do with her. Carol nodded her head and went over to her sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep.
Ryder didn't bother waking anyone up that night. She let them all get their rest, so they weren't running on empty. The dreams were draining her body and her mind.
A few days later the group was piled into two cars. Ryder, Daryl, Maggie, Carol, and Sasha were packed into one of the three cars for their group. Ryder was sitting in a seat by the window behind Daryl. They still hadn't talked, and she was done expecting him to talk to her. They were close to where Noah had said his camp was. While they were driving Rick radioed into Carol. "Hey, Carol."
Carol grabbed the walkie responding back to Rick. "I'm here."
Ryder looked over to Carol who was sitting in the passenger seat. She waited to hear what Rick was going to tell them. "We're halfway there. Just wanted to check the range."
Carol glanced back at Ryder for a split second. "Everybody's holding tight." Ryder rolled her eyes. Ever since Carol woke her up from her dream she had been hovering even more than usual. "We've made it 500 miles. Maybe this can be the easy part."
Rick's voice crackled over the walkie. "Got to think we're due. Give us 20 minutes to check in."
"If we don't hear from you, we'll come looking."
"Copy that."
Carol put the walkie back in her bag. Daryl followed them for a little while longer and then pulled over on the side of the road. The car behind them also pulled over while the car with Rick and the rest of the group kept going ahead. Everyone piled out of the car stretching since they had been driving for what seemed like forever.
Ryder jumped down next to Daryl but didn't even look at him. She had completely given up on him trusting her anymore. He had made it painfully obvious that he was done with her. She turned and went to the back of the van and sat on the road looking into the woods.
Carol looked over at Ryder who wasn't doing anything. She then looked over at Daryl who was watching the blonde. She went over to Daryl and grabbed his attention. She didn't talk too loudly so Ryder didn't hear their conversation. "Come here."
Daryl followed her over to the front of the van out of range of Ryder, so he didn't hear. He didn't know what Carol wanted him for, but he went with her anyway. Daryl grabbed his strap from his crossbow looking at Carol waiting for her to talk.
Carol looked over to make sure Ryder didn't move and wasn't watching them. She turned back to the hunter standing in front of her. "What's going on with you?"
Daryl fidgeted with the strap. "Whatcha talkin' 'bout?"
The woman squinted at him crossing her arms. "Don't play dumb with me. It's obvious you're avoiding Ryder."
Daryl just shrugged his shoulders.
"What's the problem? Ever since Beth died you have been ignoring her." Daryl still didn't respond to her. Carol sighed. "Have you heard her through the night?" Her comment about Ryder caught Daryl's attention. "She's been having nightmares every night. Daryl, she's a mess. Some nights she calls for you and she doesn't even know it. She screams bloody murder thinking she's dying. I don't know what she dreams about but they seemed to start acting up when you started ignoring her."
Daryl looked down at the ground kicking some dirt still not saying anything.
"I'm not saying that it's your fault she's having problems. It's fine if you don't want to talk to her for whatever reason. Just let her know. She thinks that you blame her for Beth's death and I think that's what is bothering her the most. I can't know for sure because she doesn't talk to anyone."
Daryl looked over at Ryder who hadn't moved from her spot. "'m goin' huntin'. Be back later. Call if you need me." He walked over to the side walking into the woods. He looked back at Ryder. He could see her face now and it was pale. She had huge black bags under her eyes, but she didn't move from looking at the ground. He turned and walked into the woods.
Ryder was sitting on the road still. She had grabbed a sit and was making marks in the dirt. They were just waiting right now, and she didn't feel like doing anything. She noticed that Daryl had gone hunting a while ago. She thought that maybe she should go with him but then decided not to. She knew that she should give up on trying to figure out what was wrong but there was still an inkling of hope that everything would randomly go back to normal.
The blonde sighed bored from drawing in the dirt. She leaned back and laid down on the road with her eyes closed. She wasn't going to sleep but she wasn't staring off into the distance anymore at least.
A few more minutes passed by and the bright sun that was shining in her eyes was blocked by something. She opened one of them and Daryl was standing over her. He had a handful of squirrels on a string that he had gotten. She just closed her eye and went back to doing nothing. She heard him talk to her for the first time in a long time. "Help me clean these?"
Ryder didn't move. He was forcing himself to talk to her. She assumed that Carol had talked to him about making peace. If he still hated her or blamed her for Beth's death, then she didn't want to hear about it from him. She would prefer that he just go back to ignoring him.
Daryl looked down at Ryder. He scowled slightly at her. He wasn't good with this kind of stuff. He agreed with Carol. He needed to talk with her. He had been giving her the silent treatment for too long now. Of course, he didn't know that Ryder had been having so many problems mentally. She hid stuff so well that everyone could see something was wrong, but they had no idea. Daryl sighed. "Ryder. Come with me." He still didn't get a rise out of her. "Please?"
Ryder opened her eyes with his, please. She didn't think she had heard him use, please. Ever. Maybe in her dream but in real life? She couldn't remember. Finally, she sighed and got up from the ground. She grabbed her bow and followed him back into the woods to help him with the cleaning. It was obvious that he wanted to talk to her since he didn't have many squirrels and him needing help cleaning them was bullshit.
Ryder followed Daryl over to an area where he sat down on a long and pulled his knife out. He handed her a few squirrels and she grabbed them and sat across from him to clean them. She was done trying to talk to him.
Daryl stopped his cleaning and looked over to Ryder. She was doing what he asked her to do but she didn't stop. Daryl sighed. "Ryder." She didn't respond to him. "Will ya talk to me?"
Ryder stopped what she was doing and looked over at the hunter. "Why?"
Daryl looked away. He thought he would have to do more convincing. He didn't know how to do this. He wasn't very good at conflict unless it was fighting with someone. He didn't want to fight with Ryder. That wouldn't help their situation.
Ryder watched him, but he didn't say anything. "Why should I say anything? You're the one that pulled me out here. You're the one that's been ignoring me for no goddamn reason."
"Ryder. Calm down."
"Daryl seriously? Me calm down? Try having the only person who you thought you could connect to ignore you. Try having him not explain to you why he was ignoring you. Try talking to him and he blows you off for nothing. Then tell me to calm down."
Daryl watched her blow off steam. He couldn't blame her. He needed his space from her to think but he could have said something to her instead of giving her the silent treatment for so long. "I should 'av said somethin' to you. I'm sorry about that. I needed to ta think."
"Think about what exactly?" Daryl stayed quiet. Ryder's voice rose. "Think about what Daryl?"
"I had to get over the fact that what you said killed Beth." Daryl looked down at the ground. He didn't want to talk about this anymore, but he couldn't back out of it now or run away from her.
Ryder was speechless. She had been thinking that he thought he blamed her for Beth's death, but she didn't know for sure. Him saying that answered her thoughts. He did blame her. She needed to leave. She couldn't do this. She stayed around for hope that it was a different reason but now that she knew he blamed her she couldn't stay around anymore. She couldn't be around him. She stopped what she was doing. She stood up and started walking back where they came from back to the cars. She didn't have much stuff, so she needed to leave with everything she had.
Daryl looked up and noticed she was leaving. He almost didn't get up and go after her, but he had a feeling if he didn't he would never see her again. He didn't want to chance that feeling. He got up and ran after her. When he caught up her he grabbed her hand. He did notice that she didn't flinch away from him when he touched her. "Wait. Where're you goin'?"
Ryder stopped when he grabbed her hand, but she didn't turn around. "I'm leaving."
"Leavin' where?" He needed to ask her.
"Wherever I want. You don't care where I go. Right? Why would you? Just let me go so I can leave."
"No."
Ryder balled her fists up. "Daryl. Let me go."
"Not goin' to happen."
"Why do you care!" She finally lost it. She ripped her hand from his grasp turning around. "You made it painfully obvious that you think I killed Beth. I can't keep being with this group and having you hate me for killing her. Just let me leave and you will never see me again."
Somewhere deep down in Daryl started to panic when she said he would never see her again. "All I said was I needed time to think. I don' think you purposefully said those things to kill Beth." He was going to continue when he noticed Ryder looking at him weirdly. "What?"
Ryder just now noticed that Daryl kept commenting about her saying something to Beth that got her killed. She had barely said anything to Beth before she decided to do what she did. "How did I kill Beth?"
Daryl rubbed his face. "I don' know. You tell me. You're the one that said somethin' to her."
Ryder stared at him and finally, she understood what was happening. A wave of anger washed over her. "You mean when I bent down to talk to her right before she killed Dawn?"
Daryl squinted his eyes watching her. He didn't miss her change in mood. "Yea."
Ryder exploded. She pushed the hunter away from her. She charged him about ready to deck him in the face but before she could Daryl blocked her punch. "Ryder! What're you doin' god dammit." She charged him again. He was ready to block another punch, but he wasn't expecting her to talk him to the ground. He hit the ground had with Ruder on top of him. Before he could catch his breath, Ryders fist met the corner of his mouth. "Ryder! God dammit. Fuckin' stop." She didn't she was seething too much to stop. He noticed she was going to come at him again for another hit but as she shifted her weight he rolled her over, so he was sitting on her torso and he had her hands pinned to the ground.
Ryder was surprised by his movement. She tried lifting her torso but he was too heavy. She would have been able to get him off easy but she was weak from no sleep and from hardly eating. "Get the fuck off of me!" She screamed.
Daryl just looked down at her. He didn't say anything. She was screaming at him and trying to throw him off. He was lucky she was weak or else this fight would have turned out much differently. He waited patiently for her to stop.
Ryder thrashed around more. She was pissed off and annoyed that she couldn't throw him off her. Finally, she stopped moving and looked up at him breathing heavily.
Daryl noticed she had stopped. "You done? Why did you attack me?"
"Let me go."
"Not a chance in hell."
"You fucking dumbass. If I wasn't so damn weak I would kick your fucking ass."
Daryl didn't comment. He was waiting for her to tell him what was wrong. Obviously, something that he had said set her off. He mood did a full 180 in a couple seconds. "We'll sit here all night if we 'ave to."
Ryder seethed underneath him. "I didn't tell Beth to attack Dawn."
Daryl looked down at her confused. "What?"
"When she came over to hug me I told her to keep an eye on you motherfucker. I didn't tell her to try to kill Dawn. Dawn had said something that pissed her off and she decided to do that on her own. I told her that I would find my way back to you guys."
Daryl looked down at her stunned. When he had seen her whisper something to Beth he thought for sure that Ryder had told her to do it. He needed to get over that fact before he could talk to her, so he didn't mess up and say something stupid like he did about Matt.
"Are you happy now! Let's just blame Ryder for everyone's death!" Ryder started thrashing around again.
Daryl looked down at her but didn't release her. If he did she was either going to deck him or she was going to leave for good. He didn't want either of those things to happen. "Ryder."
He wasn't getting through to the blonde. She was moving trying to get out, but she was frustrated. She was tired and angry and finally, she just broke down.
Daryl watched her, and he noticed she was crying. He felt terrible that he had been treating her so bad. There wasn't any reason for her to be treated that way. She already dealt with so much and he made everything worse. "Ryder… I'm… sorry. I didn't know."
She stopped moving but tears kept falling from her eyes. "Of course, you didn't know. How would you? I thought you trusted me! I would never purposefully put someone in the way of danger. You've been icing me out and I hated myself for it. I thought I did something that made you hate me. I was tempted to leave the group so many times.
Daryl just looked down at her sad because he had never seen her look so broken before.
"I know it's my fault Matt died. With the way you have been acting, I second guessed myself and thought that Beth's was also my fault even though I didn't do anything."
Daryl didn't take his eyes off of her. "I'm sorry. Your friend's death wasn' your fault."
Ryder blinked the tears out of her eyes. "You said back at the warehouse that it was though."
Daryl just shook his head. "You weren' listening. I was… scared for you. You kept wantin' to kill everyone. I didn't know how to make you see reason." Daryl gently released one of Ryder's arms. The hand that was free moved down to her cheek and his thumb wiped some tears from her cheek. "I didn' know how you were feelin'. I'm sorry. If you don' forgive me then I understand."
Ryder looked up at him. "Don't do that again. I was lost. The rest of the group sides with you over me. If you hate me then they will for the most part. I felt so lost."
Daryl sighed. He moved hair out of her face that had landed there when she was thrashing around. "I won'. I'll trust you from now on. I'll talk to you if I get somethin' messed up."
The blonde breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
"Will you stay with us?"
Ryder smiled somewhat and nodded her head yes. She never wanted to leave in the first place. She just thought it was the best option for the group if there was distrust among the members.
Daryl kept watching her. He was relieved that she was going to stay with them. He was panicking when she was going to leave. He had grown accustomed to having her around. He looked at her eyes. They were so blue. They reminded him of the ocean. He had never been there but there were those scenery pictures on computers. The pictures where they had such vibrant colors. Her eyes reminded him of the blue oceans in those pictures. Her skin was so tan. They had been outside a lot after Terminus and the church. She had been in the sun about as long as any of them, but she was so much tanner then everyone. Except for him at least. Her hair was almost silver also. He guessed that because of the sun her already bright blond hair lost a lot of the color because of the sun.
Ryder kept looking at him watching him. He wasn't saying anything. He wasn't moving. He wasn't hurting her, but he hadn't moved off from her either. She didn't know what was going on. The long that he stayed on top of her the faster that her heart raced. She was confused because she had never seen him do anything like this before. It looked like he was in a trance. "Daryl?" She called. He didn't answer. "Daryl, what are you doing? We should get ba…" Before she could finish what, she was saying he leaned down and kissed her.
Ryder's eyes grew wide. She never thought that he would kiss her. She finally closed her eyes and savored him. His lips were smooth but rough at the same time. She could feel the scruff around his face. Up until now she never thought that she would want him to kiss her but now that it was happening she never wanted it to stop.
After a few more seconds Daryl pulled away from her. He kept watching her without saying anything. She started to smile, and she was about ready to say something but that's when the sound of Carol yelling for them broke them from their trance.
Daryl snapped out of it and he had noticed what he did. Instantly his face turned red. He scrambled off of Ryder considering he still had her held down. He grumbled he was sorry but before she could say anything to counter that sorry they heard Carol yelling for them again. She sounded frantic.
They looked at each other. They grabbed the squirrels and their weapons and ran to where the cars were. They busted out from the tree line and they saw that Carol had tears in her eyes. Ryder and Daryl looked around at everyone. They were all crying. Ryder grabbed Daryl's wrist and made him look over in front of the car. There laying on the ground was Tyreese's lifeless body. Rick and Sasha were standing over him. Sasha looked lost.
Daryl and Ryder walked over to the big man. Ryder brought her hand up to her mouth. Another one of their group members was gone. This man had helped save her life. He was so sweet. He didn't want to kill or anything. All he wanted to do was live his life and protect everyone in his life. Ryder squeezed Daryl's wrist.
The hunter looked down at Tyreese. He didn't deserve to go out that way. He didn't deserve to die because of walkers. Hell, none of them deserved to die that way. He felt Ryder squeeze his wrist and without thinking he moved his arm out of her hand and held her hand instead. They kept losing people and they didn't know what to do.
Later that day Ryder stood next to Daryl and Rick. She was just standing there with a shovel because she helped Rick dig the grave for Tyreese. Daryl said he would do it, but she wanted to because he had helped save her life. Gabriel was giving him his last rights and praying for his soul. Everyone had said their peace to him. She couldn't stay around and listen to Gabriel. She didn't believe there was a God around that would do this to them. She didn't believe that if they did have a God that he would make them live the way they do and take away the good people and leave the people who didn't deserve to live in this world. She walked over and sat in the car she was in originally waiting for everyone to be done. She still felt empty, but it was for a different reason now. Instead of feeling empty because of Daryl now it was because she didn't have any hope left for their group. They were just going to keep dying until the last person stood alone and eventually fell also.
Well everyone here is chapter 12. I know this chapter is a little different then the other ones I have written. I just wanted to give Daryl and Ryder a chance to figure their shit out. Let me know if you liked this chapter or not. Thanks, everyone! Also, if you guys have any ideas or comments then let me know! I love hearing them.