Chapter Three
Third Person POV
A couple days later...
Daryl sat by himself on the edge of the plateau that overlooked the main trail, his broad shoulders drawn down due to stifling worry.
He had just finished putting a pickax through the heads of the walkers as well as their fellow group members that had been killed the previous night, and he needed to rest for a moment.
He chewed a little on the inside of his bottom lip, wishing he had had a cigarette instead, as his mind thought back to the previous couple of days, the details still vividly clear.
Daryl had been devastated to see that his brother had not been on that rooftop after all, finding only his dismembered hand in his wake, and that Merle could now be anywhere or dead for all he knew.
Not knowing was the thing that was eating away at him.
However, when Glenn had been taken, and they had been left to rely on Rick's judgment only, Daryl could not help but feel a little impressed with the new guy's ethic under pressure.
Rick had stepped up, kept them all together when they had not known what to do, and had actually handled the situation better than Daryl would have guessed.
Rick Grimes, as he had introduced himself, had said to Daryl's face that he understood his pain about wanting to find his brother and that he knew what Daryl was going through since he himself had been looking for his family.
At the time, Daryl had wanted to rampage and stomp that Latino kid's ass, but he had heard Rick's words to him...had heard their sincerity and genuine concern being expressed to him.
Rick's electric blue eyes had not left his own until Daryl had been the one to look away, agreeing to remain calm and follow Rick's instructions.
Daryl snorted silently as he tossed another rock out of his hand towards the downward sloping terrain beyond him, watching as it rustled up some dirt from the path and knocked over a few stones on its own.
Something about Rick had commanded his attention and gained his cooperation without too much fuss.
He had trusted him...trusted him to know what was best.
Daryl blinked his eyes down to his hands while that one particular thought stuck with him.
He had been right to do so at the time, but when he and the other men had gotten back to camp to see the massacre happening...
Everyone at the camp had said very little this day, still mourning and feeling the sorrow of their losses from the night prior.
Andrea had not left her deceased sister's side, even in spite of Daryl's own protest.
"Hey Daryl...mind if I sit with you a minute?" spoke a friendly, smooth southern voice from behind the hunter, tearing the latter from his wandering thoughts.
Daryl looked over his shoulder, having to close one eye against the too-bright sunshine as he saw that it was the newest member of their camp wanting to speak with him.
"Do what ya want..." Daryl sort of answered Rick's question, but his words were enough for the older male to step closer and then finally seat himself down on the ground next to him.
"I brought you some water..." Rick offered with a wise tone, knowing that Daryl had to have been feeling pretty dehydrated after all that work he had done outside, "...figured you'd need it."
Daryl eyed Rick's handsome face for an unmoving moment, before reaching a dusty hand out and accepting the cup.
"Thanks," Daryl said simply before bringing the cup to his lips and drinking all of it in a couple of gulps.
Rick smirked and looked out ahead at the same scenery that Daryl was, nothing but rolling hills sprinkled with healthy trees and dirt pathways that snaked up and down most of the territory.
"I uh..." Rick began, his voice lowering along with his eyes and he had to lick his suddenly dry lips to continue speaking to the unpredictable man next to him, "...I just wanted to say that I'm sorry we didn't find your brother."
"Yet...we didn't find him 'yet,'" Daryl added his two cents with another side-glance to the former police officer by his side, his jaw clenching as he peered out to the trees again, "...I know that son of a bitch is still out there, and I'll find him...don't care what it takes."
Rick fixed him with a sympathetic look.
"Daryl, at least let me..." he had begun to say to the redneck before a much louder voice booming out in the distance made him swallow the rest of his words.
"There you two are...wondering what the hell happened to you," Shane announced his presence as he hiked up the hill that they were on, not out of breath and wearing a somber expression on his chiseled features.
Rick smirked and acknowledged his friend's presence with a wave, but his gesture was short lived as he saw from his peripheral vision as Daryl sighed quietly out of his nose and frowned.
Rick cocked his head a little more towards Daryl upon seeing such a negative reaction brought on by Shane approaching them.
As far as he had seen, Shane and Daryl seemed to get along okay enough to at least be civil towards each other.
"What's going on, Shane? You need some help with something?" Rick spoke warmly as he got to his feet, not even bothering to knock the dirt off the seat of his pants.
"Yeah I guess I do," Shane answered, his dark-brown eyes immediately landing on Daryl's sitting form, the hunter not looking at either one of them, "...but it's something I need Daryl to help me with."
"Oh..." Rick answered, a little shocked the Shane would disregard his offer so quickly and was, in fact, watching Daryl's profile like a hawk about to zero in on its prey, "...well, alright then. I'll catch up with you later. We need to talk about how we want to do this trip out of here."
Shane nodded, his hands on his hips as he shifted his weight.
"C'mon Daryl, I know you heard me now," Shane called after Daryl one final time, his voice bordering on condescending to the latter, of which Rick Grimes did not miss.
Rick looked towards the hesitating hunter as he stood up to his full height with a huff and began to trek after Shane who had already turned around to walk back the way he came through the woods, both men leaving Rick standing alone with just the sunset in his eyes.
Rick had wanted to say something else to Daryl before Shane had arrived. Anything would have done to quench his need to try to strengthen the shaky lines of communication between himself and the gruff hunter.
Rick watched them all but disappear in the expansive green that blanketed most of the area, and he realized that he had really wanted to tell Daryl that he had done good work with the rest of them over the past two days.
Going back to Atlanta had been stressful on everyone, and Rick might never forget how broken Daryl had looked once they had discovered that Merle was no where to be found.
In spite of that, Daryl had been a tremendous asset in their quest to retrieve Glenn, having stood firm and unyielding by Rick's side the entire time while they had faced off with those other men, ready to die for what they believed in.
Rick had wanted to tell him that he was glad he had met him.
The former policeman sighed and dropped his head, deciding that he would just have to find another opportunity to really talk to the other man.
Ever since the first time he had seen the younger Dixon brother, Rick had admitted to himself that he truly wanted to get inside the hunter's head and know as much about him as he could.
He could not explain it, but it was there.
Rick walked back to the camp, these thoughts weighing heavily on his mind.
X
Meanwhile, further out into the forest...
"I don't know why the hell you're acting like you don't want it..." Shane's voice would have been a tender coo against Daryl's ear if not for the underlying ice that the latter male knew was present in all of those touches pressed to his body, "...we both know you do."
Daryl frowned at that, but otherwise said nothing as he let Shane slide his hands down his hips, the action inching down his trousers in the process.
"Fine...you can say nothing if you want, but that won't change the fact that I'ma make ya feel real good in a minute," Shane continued, using a burst of strength to suddenly bend Daryl over as one hand grabbed his ass and the other took hold of his chin.
"...would ya just fuckin' wait for a goddamn..." the hunter had began to grumble out but his angry words were cut off as two thick fingers were quickly shoved inside his mouth.
"That's it..." Shane smirked from behind Daryl, watching with cold eyes as the younger male almost seemed to be pacified by the intruding fingers that played with his lips and tongue, the hunter's fury dimming down substantially.
Shane freed his other hand from the hunter's body now that Daryl was sucking his fingers in earnest, quickly undoing his belt and popping the button on his pants.
"You hold on now," the dark-haired male whispered before pulling his sopping wet fingers from Daryl's mouth and bringing them down to his ass, "...I could tell you've been needing this all day...ain't no hiding it from me."
Shane circled his fingers around Daryl's puckered entrance before easing them both inside, forcing Daryl to exhale all the air from his lungs and relax his body to accept the unforgiving pressure.
It was never gentle with Shane, but then, that was how Daryl had originally asked for it to be from the beginning.
The hunter's long, strong arms reached forward and Daryl pressed his hands flat against the rough tree bark.
"...just hurry up and do it already..." Daryl's raspy voice had shaken a little bit, much to his chagrin, as his troubled eyes lowered to the ground and he waited for Shane to make the next move, Daryl honestly only wishing to get this over with.
Shrivels and shreds of the hunter's previous thoughts concerning this arrangement and how he ultimately felt about it, were starting to reform in Daryl's mind, even though he knew it was already too late to do anything about it.
Daryl had been feeling unbelievably depressed ever since returning from their failed mission in Atlanta, a crippling emotion he simply could not get rid of.
Awful anger and sadness had been at odds with each other ever since they had reached that rooftop...and he knew he did need something to make some of his pain go away.
Even so, even with all of that information at the forefront of his mind...Daryl realized now just much he hated being with Shane.
This callous agreement between the two of them was starting to take an ugly toll.
"Heh...you got it," Shane spoke too lightly, his tone irritating Daryl all the more, as the former law enforcer retracting his fingers from Daryl's entrance and then spat in the palm of his hand.
Daryl only had a second to hold his breath before he could feel Shane's massive cock push passed his tight ring of muscle and penetrate his body in one, drawn-out motion.
Daryl swallowed his groan but arched his back until his shoulder blades were pressed flush against Shane's large chest, one of the hunter's hands unconsciously reaching back to find purchase on the other man's thigh.
"Ooh, damn..." Shane purred hotly, pressing a hand against the tree before them both as well for better support, "...can't go easy on ya today...s'gon have to be to be a little rough."
It always was.
"Fine...whatever..." Daryl said in between clenched teeth, his dirt-streaked features scrunched up in reaction to the immediate ache coursing through him and he hoped he would, in fact, feel a little better soon.