Disclaimer:Not mine! Poo.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
(Fin POV)
He's following me again.
Well… technically I've still been following them; but let's not argue semantics.
I should have just kept going when I left earlier. I almost did. Should have known he would track me down…Literally.
If I hadn't run into a group of ten Walkers about a mile from them I probably would have just kept going north, hit a different highway and never looked back.
But I couldn't do it.
Instead I cursed; a lot, and rather inventively I should add before I slipped right back into what I was doing before he found me.
I've been circling them slowly all afternoon keeping them safe because apparently I am an idiot despite my claim that I want nothing more to do with them.
But I'm not the only Dumbass it seems. Because I succinctly remember telling him not to look for me. And I'm quite certain that he still hasn't slept in almost two days. I'd be even more furious about that if I didn't know for a fact that we're the only things out here. Regardless, he left them camped in the middle of nowhere just before dusk to find me anyways.
I know when he left them and where because I was close enough to them when they stopped to hear him tell Glenn he was doing exactly what I told him Not to.
I could have cursed him out right then and there from about 200 feet away.
By the time he circled out to find my footprints I'd had a decent head start but he's seriously skilled even in the near dark. I could keep quiet and just keep moving but he's going to catch up to me eventually.
I was really hoping it wasn't going to be quite so soon.
"Go away!"
I know he can hear me.
I'm not sure exactly where he is yet; but I know he's there.
"No!"
Over there.
I turn, hate to do it but I grab an arrow, nock it but keep my bow pointed down, no tension on the string, the ends gently pinched between my fingers as I move, spinning every so often to look around me as I try to put more distance between us. I listen for his footsteps, movement, something in the low light.
"Go Away Daryl!" I turn and practically slam into him.
"No."
I don't scream, but I do nearly fall on my ass.
"Jesus Christ!" I jerk back, "Don't do that!" He kicks out at my bow with his foot, uses the toe of his boot to knocks it out of my hands. He hasn't shot me yet…
…wait.
"Where the Hell is your bow?" Is he out of his freaking mind?
"I didn't think I'd have to track you this far."
Bully for me.
"Well, you should have gone back." Coming out here without his damn crossbow, even if he has a gun and a knife…
"I thought you were done saving our worthless asses."
"I am."
He stares at me, doesn't call my bluff out loud at least. He pulls something from behind him previously wedged in his back pocket, its bigger than the handkerchief he usually carries the same way. He shakes it out.
Tosses it at me, I catch it. Hold it in my hand between us.
His flannel.
"Put it back on."
My stomach betrays me with a flip.
This feels like a hell of a lot more than just a shirt…
I almost forgot the exact shade of blue his eyes turn at dusk.
I drop my eyes to the patterned cotton. My long sleeve shirt's kinda been repurposed with holding my head together…
I open it with both hands, wince putting my arms back into the sleeves. I tense when he steps closer, can't breathe when he pulls the collar up against my skin. He freezes head tilted, staring down at me the back side of his fingers warm against my neck.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
And then my stomach is in my throat because he's kissing me, and I can't breathe. Feel myself leaning into him, can't stop my traitorous hands from pressing against his chest.
Until he pulls away, steps back, reaches around the back of the tree he was standing near and hands me one of my sleeping bags. His mouth does that sideways quirk again.
"Stay warm, I'll check on you again."
:: Walking Dead ::
(Daryl's POV)
She's out there.
This time he knows it, can't help but watch the trees around them for signs; search the ground for footprints that tell him she's close.
Either he's seriously on his game today,
or she's playing with him on purpose.
She must know somehow the way his heart hammers in his chest every time he thinks he's caught a glimpse of red-gold hair between the trees out of the corner of his eye. Has to jerk his head to look; to see if it's her.
He's making Glenn fucking jumpy as Hell he's doing it so much.
He can't stop. Every time he finds a foot print he has to crouch down to check it- gauge how old it is, when the last time she circled through was….his ears echo with every sound in the trees, he's never listened so hard in his whole damn life.
Around noon he knows she's playing with him.
The smiley face she carved in the dirt for him to find finally tips him off.
The stupid curly letters spelling out 'Hi Daryl' under it make him blush. He kicks his boot through it quickly before Glenn or Tyreese can see. Feels like a dumb ass kid back in grade school with his very first pink valentine card from a girl trying to hid it from his buddies.
They keep walking, every time they stop for a short break he spends all of it circling them, staring out into the trees, watching.
Finally Glenn can't take it anymore, pulls him aside.
"Dude, just go out there and find her, you're driving me crazy."
He pulls a face, stares off into the woods. "I'm good."
"Look, Tyreese and Sasha are keeping a closer eye on Lizzie; just get her to come back."
He frowns. "Don't know if that's gonna happen." She seemed pretty damn set on staying out of the group at least right now.
"Look I know she's dealing with some…..some serious shit right now, okay?"
He glances at Glenn mouth tight. They were both there, don't have to say it.
"And God knows the whole Lizzie thing did not help the situation, but she's hurt; and alone and that's no place for her to be."
"What do you expect me to do?" It's obvious Glenn's angling for something, thinks he's got some kind of sway over her.
"Look," Glenn sighs. "If it was Maggie; I'd be out there with her, not here."
"She aint Maggie."
She's fine out in the woods, has three years of hard experience to back it up besides he can't leave the kids, needs to keep an eye on Lizzie.
There aint no way she's gonna let him bring her back to the group; she'd kick his ass or go down trying. She's not ready yet.
Maybe when he's got Rick to help him figure this out…but at least she's still out there, hasn't disappeared yet.
The thought makes him itch to go search for tracks again.
:: Walking Dead ::
They haven't seen a Walker all damn day; and he didn't find any more smiley faces in the dirt neither.
They reach a side road crossing the woods just before dusk.
He stands there for a few minutes picturing the map in his head, trying to decide if they should follow it south, or cross it and keep to the trees.
His heart nearly stops when he looks up and sees her standing on the other side of the road. She tilts her head indicating the direction they should take. Before moving back into the trees.
He knows Glenn and Tyreese saw her, Sasha too; but nobody comments on it. Nobody argues when he turns and follows the road, empty of cars. It will be dark very soon, and cold tonight judging by the cloudless sky and the bite in the wind.
He's looking around him not down so he almost misses the arrow scrawled in the dirt meant for him. He stops almost stepping right on it. It's indicating a gravel drive off the road, moving back into the trees. He takes to the gravel, knows she wouldn't point them this way without good reason, she'd just let them find their own place to camp
There's an old double wide back in the woods, someone scrawled a smiley face on the front door with berries, fortunately no note.
"That your girl?" Tyreese is standing next to him.
He grunts in response hefts his crossbow up to check the house.
He goes in first Glenn and Tyreese on his heels, but the house is empty, blessedly clean, and at least blocks the wind from outside. It's walls they haven't had for days. They all need sleep.
He ushers everyone inside. Finds himself siting at the table chewing at his fingernails staring out the glass doors into the woods while the others fuss over beds and couches and blankets.
He didn't expect to find her sitting in here, not with Lizzie, and the others around…but that means she's still out there.
The flicker of firelight catches his eye in the dark, out in the trees.
"Glenn."
"Yeah?"
"Keep everyone up here. In the house." Glenn is looking out the back door now.
Daryl can barely make out his expression in the moonlight through the glass. "Just be careful."
"Get some rest."
"I was going to say the same to you."
He slides the glass door open, shuts it behind him with a squeak. Pauses to listen to the woods before he moves across the deck, bow slung over his shoulder, and into the trees towards the firelight.
:: Walking Dead ::