The Walking Dead isn`t mine just my OC Annalise belong to me. Please Read and Review :)
Chapter Five
Day 54.
Things had been different between Daryl and I since I woke up in his arms;
'Snuggling deeper into what must of been the most comfortable, well rested sleep I`ve had since the world crapped in on its self. I breathed in deeply as I slowly begin to wake up, I pause when something tightens around my middle - I frown as I rub the sleep outer my eyes. Carl`s sleeping next to me peacefully so I move my arm down to my stomach when my fingertips brush against a hairy forearm. I tensed briefly but realizing that it was Daryl`s arm I slowly relaxed as I took the only comfort I could from the reluctant redneck.
Flutters of butterflies erupted deep inside my belly as my heart pounded in my ears as I thought about the crush I had on him. It had been growing stronger day by day as Daryl and I spent hours together everyday, with Merle tagging along on occasion. Daryl wasn`t much of a talker or liking physical contact but I`ve become extremely fluent in the Dixon grunting system and the occasion brushes of skin have my heart race and my face blushing.
My head was resting on his bicep which was surprisingly comfy, I raised my free hand to his forearm as I trace around a faint scar on his skin. I was so absorbed into the feeling of his skin that I missed him waking up till he shot up like a bull out of the gate.
"Jesus" I cursed as he flung me off him and onto Carl who cried out in shock. "Whats wrong sissy?"
Daryl grabbed his boots and crossbow and without looking back he stormed out leaving Carl and I in shock.
He barely spoke to me after that. Now it was pushing on a week now and I had,had enough of his dodging me.
So here I was waiting for him outside his and Merle`s tent as they readied themselves for the long day ahead. Merle was heading into Atlanta with a bunch of the others to scavenge up some more supplies, I was suppose to go too however I was hoping that Daryl would let me accompany him hunting - so we could sort whatever went wrong between our buddy friendship.
It wasn`t long before the Dixon brothers exited their tent,
"Morning Princess" Merle grunted awhile Daryl avoided my eye.
I nodded morning back, "I was actually hoping to speak with you Daryl about going with you today."
"Good luck with that Princess, he`s in a mood this morning." Merle added.
Great just what I needed a grumpy Daryl I thought sarcastically.
Merle may be a racist, a druggie, a foul mouthed redneck but under all that he was actually a pretty funny gent to be around and he showed it again when he looked between his little brother and myself, "Gotta take a piss."
As soon as he was out of ear-shot I rounded on the other Dixon ,
"Daryl this has got to stop whatever`s going on, we`re friends right? So lets just go back to normal okay." I rambled a little.
He was looking at me with a weird expression on his face but all he did was simply nod before he walks off;
Disappointment hits me; while he may have nodded I desperately wanted to hear his voice.
He pauses at the edge of woods, "Ya coming?"
A large grin appeared on my face, "Yeah just let me tell Carl and the others."
I immediately darted off to the main center of camp where the others were getting ready for their journey into the city, I spotted Carl sitting next to our mother who was chatting with Andrea.
"Hey little brother," I ruffled his hair in greeting
Carl growled as he attempted to flatten his hair back down,
"Just letting you guys know I`m heading out with Daryl to hunt some dinner" I informed them.
Lori frowned "Daryl said he was going to be gone for at least twenty-four hours if not longer as he wanted to bag a dear. Are you sure that`s safe?"
Our relationship over the last month and a bit had slowly gotten back on track the only speed bump was catching them in the act again but I`ve chosen to forgive but never forget.
"I`ll be with Daryl so I`ll be fine." Which was true because Daryl and Merle were properly the most equipped for this new world now.
"See you in a day or two, stay safe little brother." I kissed his forehead goodbye.
Lori swiftly grabbed my hand, "Be safe love."
"I will" I nodded as I ran back to my tent grabbing my pre-packed shoulder bag it carried two bottles of water, a bag of trail-mix, a bag a jerky for us to share. I doubled checked my knife which was attached to my belt before grabbing my baseball bat and headed over to meet Daryl.
_THEWALKINGDEAD_
Hours past in silence as I followed behind the brooding hunter who had so far only bagged two squirrels and a possum. Sweat was dripping down my back at the continuous fast pace that he had us marching too.
"Daryl can we please stop for a minute?" I begged him
He paused as he looked over his shoulder at me, he nodded before he eased himself down against a tree trunk. He kept his eyes on the surrounding woodlands however I couldn`t copy him as I stared at him all while sipping from my water bottle.
"Psst" I hissed as I threw him the spare bottle seeing as the man tends to forgot to bring the essentials like food and water when out on the hunt.
He nodded thanks.
I gave the man a few minutes before taking a deep breathe;
"Daryl I need you to stop avoiding me, I get that waking up the way we did is weird and embarrassing but it wasn`t the end of the world. Also if I`m being honest it was the best nights sleep I`ve had since this whole shit fest began. I miss my friend and I`d like him back please." I laid my heart out and prayed he wouldn`t stomp on it.
Silence rained around us as my heart dropped as the minutes dragged on past until he finally spoke;
"I aint good at this but I want things to go back to normal too" he seemed embarrassed as he still avoided eye contact with me.
A mountain of weight eased off my shoulders at his tiny confession,
"I get that Merle and yourself are emotionally stunted but I don`t mind it, I just don`t wanna lose this whatever it is between us" I gestured wildly with my hands as I blubbered on "Your friendship means a hell of a lot to me."
He nodded with a grunt which I took as 'Me too'
I dug around in my bag for the packet of jerky as a thought hit me;
"Carl and I are starting a new book when I get back - its called the 'Shannara Chronicles' if you wanna stop by." I offered.
Tearing open the packet and placing a couple of pieces in my mouth as its something to suck on for a while before offering the packet to Daryl, he hesitated as he too ate some of the teriyaki flavored meat, "I`ll think about it."
I smiled as that was better than a flat out NO.
_WALKINGDEAD_
Back at Camp
"DAD" Carl screamed in shock/happiness as he ran towards his father
He crashed into him as his father wraps his arms around him "Oh god Carl it`s really you."
Carl looks up to see his fathers face however his father is looking back towards camp and he breaths out "Lori" and that`s when Carl feels his mother wrapping her arms around them like a giant Grimes sandwich. That`s when his dad speaks,
"Lori where`s my daughter"
_WALKINGDEAD_
In the woods
After our talk Daryl offered me another chance to use his beloved crossbow and take the lead in tracking. It was a lot of pressure knowing that if I fail it`s really the whole camp that loses. Daryl set me up on a easy trail and set me loose.
I took my time in examining the impressions in the dirt and come to the conclusion that I had a deer trail.
I looked up at my silent guardian, "Is it a deer?"
His eyes flicker down to the ground before resuming his watch over the forest, "Dunno you tell me" he shrugged.
Glancing back down I felt positive that it was a deer but I had a small glimmer of doubt.
Breathing in deeply I stood with my arms heaving the crossbow up, "Its a deer."
"Yes it is." He grunted as we moved in sync as we followed the trail eastward.
The adrenaline soon faded just like the sun did and soon enough it was too dark to safely hunt so Daryl called time and we worked in setting up a mini camp for the night. I went to work in clearing a small area and digging a hole (about the size of a dinner-plate) for a fire pit all while Daryl collected the kinder-ling. A circle of rocks finalized my fire-pit as Daryl took over in lighting it, I moved on to skinning one of the squirrels for our dinner - after spearing it with a sturdy stick I let Daryl bury the guts and other yukky bits as I set the squirrel over the open fire.
It was comfortable sitting around a fire with him, with no need to fill the silence with chit-chat just pure comfort. Dinner was soon ready just as the sun completely set leaving us with just the light from the camp fire. We ate our fill till all we had left was the bones, I wasn`t shy as I licked the grease from my fingers because it turns out I really like squirrel.
Daryl spoke up, "We`ll take turns in keeping watch, its gonna be a cold night so I reckon we should keep the fire going which means we`ll have to be more vigilant."
"Constant Vigilance." I added which had Daryl looking at me like I was crazy.
"What? It`s from Harry Potter." I defended as I cocked my head to the left.
Daryl shook his head, "Your a dork."
"Proud of it, you know you really need to read the series since I know you enjoyed listening in last time - so whenever your ready to admit it just ask and you can borrow them." I offered.
Daryl looked down briefly, "Ain`t a fan of reading."
I briefly wondered if he could but dashed the thought, "Well I can always read them to ya if you like."
"Didn`t ya just finish them?" He asked
I nodded as I settled back against a tree trunk and brought my legs up as I wrapped my arms around them - as it had gotten quite chilly all of a sudden and I had forgotten my jumper.
"I love it too much to care, besides I firmly believe that everyone has to know the story of Harry Potter even if its just the basic understanding of the story-line- just because the worlds gone crazy doesn`t change the fact, although I could say that about Tolkien and Game of Thrones books too."
I paused as I look over at him as he has a confused look on his face, "Please tell me you know about the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and the Game of Thrones series!"
"Wasn`t there a TV show on the last one and it had a lot of porn in it?" Daryl muttered "Merle watched it."
"Oh my god, yes there was some nude scenes but its not based just on the sex, theirs dragon, wars, basically a lot of deaths and the story-lines with the family histories its amazing. You my friend have a lot of books to read because you are going to read them all before I die." I ranted a tad. (I love my books so sue me).
He grimaced and for a split second I thought that maybe I was right about him not being able to read and just as I open my mouth to speak he gritted;
"Don`t talk about your death like that."
Oh tickle me pink.
"Sorry, I get a little carried away when it comes to books - I can read them all too ya cos it ain`t like the worlds gonna right itself out anytime soon." I added.
Silence covered us like a blanket and after a while Daryl muttered "Get some sleep Princess, I`ll wake ya in a couple of hours."
"Okay, If you get sleepy you can wake me up earlier." I offered as I slouched down a bit as I tried to find a comfy position.
"Goodnight Daryl, don`t let the walkers bite." I giggled to myself
"Night Dork."
_WALKINGDEAD_
Noon the next day
We were still trailing behind this bloody deer as we made our way back to camp, I groaned as I stretched out my sore tender back from having slept wrong.
"You alright back there Princess?" Daryl called back.
I scowled at the back of his head, "I`m fine" I wasn`t fine turns out sleeping on the ground is deeply uncomfortable and having only four/five ish hours of sleep isn`t enough but what really pissed me off was that Daryl seemed unaffected by it all.
The hunter had pulled ahead by about 100 meters which didn`t worry me as we were basically back at camp and still no deer however we had eight squirrels and three possums which should feed everyone back at camp.
A shout broke me out of my musing only to discover I had fallen further back than I originally thought, I jogged for a couple of minutes before I heard Daryl shout out;
"Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! We got us some squirrels! Let`s stew em up."
As I approached closer I heard more voices but the sight of the dead chewed on deer made me pause as did the sight of the decapitated walker. Damn all that work for nothing, I crouched down and pulled out Daryl`s bolts before heading back to camp when an angry Daryl Dixon's voice reached my ears.
"He either is or he ain`t!" Daryl growled at someone.
The next voice hit me like a feight train;
"There`s no easy way to say this, so I`ll just it." A voice that sounded extremely like my fathers.
Daryl was like a raging bull, "Who the hell are you?"
"Rick Grimes."
"Rick Grimes, you got something you wanna tell me?" Daryl hesitated for a millisecond at the surname but still the anger was overwhelming everything else.
Dad used his police voice, "Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on the roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. -He`s still there."
Daryl looked furious as I stood on the edge of camp as he paced around; "Let me process this. You`re saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!"
'Oh shit this can`t be good' I thought to myself.
Daryl sprung like a live wire as he attacked my father,
"Hey watch the knife!" T-dog shouted out in fear
There was lots of shouting and a lot of grunting before Shane overwhelmed Daryl by putting him in a choke hold.
"You`d best let me go!" Daryl grunted as he struggled to release Shane`s hold, watching Daryl struggling snapped something inside me as I stalked up behind Shane bypassing T-Dog as I unstealthed my knife with one hand and grabbed a hunk of Shane`s hair with the other and brought my knife to his throat.
"LET HIM GO!" My voice turned dark and I knew when I`d get a chance to think this over I wouldn`t recognize myself.
"Annalise what the fuck." Shane swore but froze his movements.
"Let him go" I repeated into his ear, I felt T-dog move up closer to me, "I wouldn`t get any closer there T as my knife here might just slip." I threatened.
"Annalise honey lower the knife." My father spoke calmly to me,
I shook my head and closed my eyes briefly because I knew if I looked at the man I`ve been grieving for the last 61 days I`d break and I needed to be strong - Daryl and Merle have taking care of me and have taught me so much this past month and I wasn`t going to let anyone hurt them.
"No, release Daryl and I release Shane, its simple." I gritted out.
It was like a Mexican stand-off Dad spoke up, "Shane let him go."
However Shane hesitated a little too long so I threaten him;
"You know Shane I don`t like you much anymore and I`m sure I wouldn`t lose too much sleep over it if my knife slipped so let him the fuck GO." I shouted at him.
I could see Dad look at us in confusion but I wouldn`t out our families dirty laundry in-front of everyone just yet.
Shane swore but released Daryl who immediately came to my side and laid his hand on mine,
"Hey give me the knife Princess, you don`t gotta do this. Cause karma`s a bitch and he`ll get what`s coming to him." Daryl`s voice calmed my mind and my hand fell away from Shane's neck who immediately started swearing;
"You fucking bitch, you`re fucking mental - I knew it was wrong for you to be living up there with those fucking Dixon's." He ranted before Rick cut him off.
"Go cool off Shane I`ll handle this."
Shane scoffed, "Oh yeah how you gonna handle it Rick, she`s been fucking wild since we got here, hunting and going off with those Dixon rednecks. You need to take her weapons away until she can be trusted again."
Daryl growled "You aint touching her weapons, if your forgotten she helps keep you guys feed and unless you wanna get into why she`s been living with us I suggest you shut your mouth sunshine."
Warmth enveloped me as Daryl defended me as I sent him a small smile however Daryl wasn`t done;
"Now where the fuck is my brother?"
Rick stepped forward as he rested a hand on Shane`s shoulder "Go calm yourself down and I`ll fill them in." He looked over at us and frowned at our closeness; "Now I`d like to have a calm discussion , do you think we can manage that?"
Daryl nodded as my hand shakes slightly as I stealth-ed my knife and crossing my arms, as much as I`d love too wrap my arms around my miracle surviving father I needed to know about Merle.
"Now what I did was not on a whim, Merle does not work or play well with others - he nearly beat T-dog to death, not to mention his general dislike of authority." Rick informed us.
T-dog added "It`s not Rick`s fault, I had the key - I dropped it."
I frowned at his confession as Daryl snarled, "What you couldn`t pick it up?"
"It fell down a drain."
My gut dropped at the realization, police cuffs are extremely difficult to cut off as I had played with them when I was little.
Emotions welled up in Daryl, "Look, I chained the door to the roof shut, nothing is going get to him except us not with that padlock." T-Dog added.
Daryl swiftly wiped his face as he growled "Hell with all of y`all! Just tell me where is so`s I can go get him."
I tuned everything out after that and just took in that fact that my father was standing in front of me, tears welled up and fell down my dirty pale cheeks I jumped when a hand delicate wiped them away.
"Pumpkin are you alright?" Daddy stood directly in front of me and I quickly closed the gap as I wrapped my arms around him.
I cried in his loving arms...
Later that day
I readily my bag stuffing in a fresh bottles of water, my first aid kit, an jumper as I sat in my tent having changed out of my dirty clothes into some fresh ones and lacing my boots up tight;
"Your going too aren`t you?" Carl scared the crap out of me.
With my heart pounding, "Jesus Carl don`t do that - Yes i am, Merle`s my friend and I wanna go with Dad."
"I get it, I didn`t leave his side at all yesterday. I can`t believe he`s here alive and that he found us." Carl said amazed.
I stood up and enveloped him into a giant bear hug, "I know"
We stood like that for several minutes before I pulled away, "I gotta go lil brother."
Sending Carl off to our mother I stealthy made my way to the white box van when I overhear Shane bloody voice;
"So you`re gonna risk three men, huh?"
"Four" T-dog added as Daryl huffs "My day`s just getting better and better, don`t it?"
T-dog shrugs, "You see anybody else stepping up to save your brother`s cracker ass?"
"Why you?" Daryl asks him
T-dog climbs into the back of the van, "You wouldn`t even begin to understand, you don`t speak my language."
Shane sighs, "That`s four."
"Five" I piped in as I rounded the corner and heaving my bag into the back after T-dog.
Dad stepped forward "No Anna no"
I stepped up with my hand up to stop him from speaking;
"I love you daddy but right now you guys are the pricks who locked up my friend so I`m mad at you- so I`m going to go help rescue him and hopefully stop him from going bat-shit crazy like trying to kill you. So let`s just go alright." I kissed his cheek and turned around a climb in the back and sat down beside Daryl.
Settling down I look over towards Daryl who is already staring at me,
"What? He`s my friend."
Daryl shrugged as he grew impatient as Shane and Rick continued on delaying the rescue trip.
I yelled out, "Quit talking and let`s go folks we`re wasting daylight."
Rick climbed up and pulled the rope as the door slide down so he could lock it before jumping into the cab with Glenn.
"Alright we`re going, any last minutes doubts or pee breaks... Alright were off." Rick started the engine and we headed down the quarry and on our way to Atlanta.
THE END.
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