DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of The Walking Dead. This is for entertainment purposes only.
My Disaster.
It was late in the afternoon before Skyler saw Daryl return to the motel. He had just walked back into the parking lot with his crossbow slung over his shoulder. The way he had his hand gripped onto the strap showcased his bloody knuckles, her stomach feeling as though it were doing flips. He was okay.
"Where did you go?—and why on earth did you leave in the first place?" Skyler quickly grabbed him by his arm, making him stop to face her.
"Out," Daryl retorted. "Does it matter?"
"Yeah, it kind of does. We all thought you were still in that room and when you didn't answer us…" Skyler shook her head. "I was worried about you, okay?"
"Went for a walk, didn't know I had to check in to make sure it was alright to go," Daryl scoffed.
"You don't but it would be nice to have a heads up. I talked to Leah. I'm sure she would like to see you now that you're back." Skyler cast a glance back and noticed that just about everyone was still outside. They were all aware that Daryl was back.
Daryl dipped his head down for a moment before looking back at Skyler, "She sounded like she wanted nothing to do with me."
"You know that's not true."
It was shortly after that when a shrill scream pierced the air. And Daryl's words only seemed to confirm the sudden fear that gripped Skyler:
"Where's Leah?" His eyes were searching the parking lot just as Skyler turned to look for herself. She couldn't help but think that this was the second time she had lost track of Leah, the first being when the herd blew through the farm. Leah had taken off with Carl and Sophia then, and Daryl had found them in the barn. But Carl and Sophia were both accounted for. Leah had gone off on her own.
Skyler couldn't even form any words before Daryl took off running across the street and back into the woods. She suddenly felt even more sick to her stomach. Leah had apparently snuck off to try and find Daryl by herself. And now there was no telling how far she got or what she had run into for her to scream like that. There was no mistaking it—it was definitely Leah.
"What's going on?—" Olivia was right by Skyler's side in an instant as soon as Daryl took off.
Skyler could only shake her head, "I don't know…"
Daryl didn't hesitate. When he heard the scream he knew it was Leah. He ran as hard and as fast as he could in the direction that it had come from, almost wishing that she would scream again so he could make sure his ears didn't fail him.
Daryl was weaving in and out of the trees before he came to a halt, three men in view. He could see that the one had a hold of Leah as she tried to claw her way free. He had dark hair with an olive green bandana wrapped around his head pushing his hair back and off of his forehead. He looked to be about average height and build, maybe in his thirties. His style and up kept goatee only made him look like an absolute douchebag.
Without hesitation, Daryl raised his crossbow just as the other two noticed him, raising their guns—assault rifles. Their overall appearance and choice of weaponry only suggested that they were well to do. Not to mention they looked clean.
"Let her go," Daryl growled, his eyes narrowed on the man that kept his hand firmly planted over Leah's mouth while he paid no attention to the other two. He had the crossbow aimed for the man's head with his finger resting on the trigger, his right knuckles still burning. If he shot now, it wouldn't do him any good with the other two men targeting him. He was quickly realizing he had already taken a wrong approach.
The man holding Leah back only displayed a malicious grin, raising the Glock Daryl realized he must have taken from Leah and placed it to her temple. "She your daughter?" When Daryl didn't respond, he continued, "She looks awfully pretty to be yours."
The other two men, who at this point seemed to be the henchmen, began to space out. Their movement caught Daryl's attention in that brief moment as he noticed they were cornering him, trapping him between the three. But he let it slide and didn't dare show any sign of intimidation. The only thing he was concerned about was getting Leah out of there.
The man in front of him jammed the gun further into Leah's temple, making her claw at his hand. A few tears fell from her panic stricken eyes that she had glued onto Daryl out of desperation, the look on her face screaming help me.
"Drop the crossbow and show me your hands," the man bellowed, the grin still lingering on his face as he had the upper hand in the situation.
Daryl hesitated, gritting his teeth before he complied. He slowly placed the crossbow down by his feet never tearing his attention from the man and showed his hands.
"Now the knife." The man nodded his head, staring at the knife that hung from Daryl's belt. And once again, Daryl complied, cursing under his breath. "Kick them away—keep your hands where I can see them."
Daryl glared at the man as he kept his hands up, palms facing forward, and pushed his crossbow and knife out of immediate reach without moving from his location. The guy closest to him on his right—some Asian looking kid—stepped forward and moved the weapons completely out of his reach before he resumed his guard.
The man that still kept a hold of Leah glanced between the two men as though signaling them and gave them a brief nod. "Put your hands on your head. And I suggest you keep them there."
Daryl listened to his instruction as the two men with the assault rifles stepped forward and frisked him for any other weapons. Daryl partially wanted to commend them for having a brain, the sly bastards. They were thorough.
"He's clean," the one to his left announced with a slight tremble to his voice as they stepped back a bit. They stayed closer this time though, not allowing as much of a distance as before. The guy to his left looked like a complete pipsqueak, maybe in his twenties. He couldn't have been too old and he didn't look like he wanted to be there. Regardless, their news received a nod from the man standing front and center.
"Let her go," Daryl repeated himself, using the same menacing voice and glare as before. He wasn't going to let the fact that he was absolutely weaponless drag him down. He could deal with these assholes. He was going to get Leah out of this one way or another.
"Sure thing."
That was the last thing Daryl heard before he felt the butt of an assault rifle crash into the back of his head and everything went black.
Leah stared in horror as Daryl crumpled to the forest floor. She froze in that moment as the Asian looking guy gave him a slight kick, ensuring that he was indeed out cold.
"Better hope he doesn't wake up anytime real soon. Might get your ass handed to ya," the man that still had his hand over her mouth spoke. "Still gotta get back with these two."
"Why do we need them? Can't we just take their weapons and call it a day? I mean, it is getting late…"
"Hey, shut your mouth and help me out," the Asian barked. He had already swiped Daryl's crossbow as his next task was to apparently carry Daryl back to wherever they were set up with the help of his friend.
Leah didn't necessarily think anything through. All she knew was that she wanted to get away from these guys, away from the guy that was holding her. She managed to bite his hand as hard as she could as he finally let up, letting out a slight yelp of pain. She tried to run forward but the guy retaliated almost immediately and snatched her by her hair, yanking her back and sending a sharp pain to course through her head.
"You little bitch—"
Leah didn't stop there though. She couldn't, she knew her life as well as Daryl's counted on it. She dug her nails into the guy's arm that had grabbed her by her hair, knowing full well that she had to have drawn blood. She then kicked at his leg blindly, feeling her foot connect with his shin, getting out of his grasp once more.
She moved forward, set on making a run for it, to grab Daryl's knife that still lay on the ground. But she ran right into the Asian guy as he blocked her path, grabbing her by the shirt. He then took her by both of her arms and pinned them behind her back, shoving her to her knees. She couldn't begin to match his strength and was easily overpowered, the feeling of defeat washing over her. They were trapped.
"She seems pretty feisty to me. Sure you can handle her?" The Asian directed his words towards the guy with the bandana, who was now looking over his arm. She had drawn blood—and who said fingernails were useless?
The guy muttered something incoherently under his breath before he shoved the Glock into the waistband of his jeans. "Just grab the guy and let's go." He stepped forward and took Leah back from the Asian. And even though it was a lost cause, Leah still did her best to give him hell.
After Daryl took off, Skyler was determined to follow after him. Rick and Andrew stopped her before she could step foot out of the parking lot though.
"You can't go out there alone," Andrew grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back. Rick was by his side with the same look on his face showing that he agreed with Andrew.
"I have my gun, and if somebody doesn't start hightailing their ass out there after him then I am. Right now," Skyler pulled her wrist free, narrowing her eyes. "Leah is out there and God knows what's happening—"
Rick raised his hands in a manner as if he were saying 'calm down'. "Then we'll go with you, but you're not going alone."
"Fine. Then let's go before we lose him." Skyler pulled the Browning BDA from the backside of her jeans and started across the street into the woods. She could hear Rick and Andrew following right behind.
"I think we already lost him…" Andrew muttered before he caught up.
Skyler tried to ignore him as the three of them stuck together in search for Leah and Daryl. Of course there was nobody in sight seeing as Daryl took off like a bat out of hell. But Skyler did have one thing: she had the direction that he went in, the direction that Leah's scream had come from. At least it was something.
But the deeper they seemed to go into the woods, the darker it became. The sun was slowly setting and taking the light with it. There was no sign that either of them were even out there. Skyler's original thought of a walker attack was beginning to seem less likely. If either of them had run into any walkers there would be some on the ground.
"I'm sure they're fine," Rick broke the silence. "Daryl knows how to navigate the woods better than any of us combined." Though the words were a bit comforting, they still did nothing to put Skyler at ease. She needed to physically see that both of them were okay. This world was no longer a place where you could just take someone for their word, hope that they're right. She needed hard evidence.
Though what they ended up finding a few steps later could constitute as hard evidence, it wasn't exactly what she was hoping for.
Andrew had bent down to pick up what appeared to be Daryl's knife, "Is this…?"
Rick and Skyler were already staring at the weapon in his hand. Skyler couldn't even find the words to speak. She wanted someone to prove her wrong.
"It's Daryl's…" Rick rested his hands on his hips and sighed as he looked down at the ground.
"Something's wrong—something happened to them—" Skyler ran her hands through her hair on the verge of breaking down.
Andrew only nodded and decided to skip over the whole reassuring speech that Rick had tried for. "Yeah. Somebody else is out here. And there's more than one of them."