Chapter 6

(Vibe: Can I exist by Missio)

There were traces of his old self lingering in his eyes and touch. Even though his hold on her was firm, she could feel him trying to soothe and reassure her and that reminded her of how he used to be and other times when he had attempted to soothe her.

When she had seen Daryl faced with danger in the past, she'd seen him visibly push his fear down, until there was nothing showing in his features, except his focus on survival. And that's what she could see right now.

"I left my gun over there" she admitted bleakly, knowing how stupid she had been.

Maybe she was reading into things far to much, but as she voiced her confession, Daryl's thumb ran over her wrist with a bit more pressure then it had before.

The tent was to her right and they had sighted the man to their left. She had a chance of getting it, before whatever was about to happen, happened.

His head turned slightly and he looked at her face with his hard narrowed eyes, as his hand slowly unwrapped from around her wrist. She glanced down at the loss of contact and noticed his hand was out flat, and she took the gesture as a sign that he didn't want her to move yet.

When she looked back to his face, she found that his eyes were still on her. He nodded his head in the direction of her tent and she knew what he wanted her to do. What she didn't know, was what he himself was planning.

Before she could open her mouth to ask him, he growled out a vicious sound and shoved her in the direction of her tent, just as he got to his feet and ran to their left.

There was no time to tell him to stop and she knew it would be stupid to go after him when she was unarmed. So she scrambled to her feet, almost tripping forward in her haste to move.

She ran as quickly as she could towards her tent, hoping she could get her gun and catch up with Daryl before anything happened to him.

It took her only a few second to get there. She dropped down roughly onto her hands and knees and started tossing around the the blanket that she sat on, the jacket she had been wearing, and her bag that had been left sitting there.

She quickly realized that she must have misplaced it and that she didn't have time to figure out where she had put it. She peered into the tent and saw the bag Rick had packed her, knowing that it had weapons tucked away inside of it.

With that familiar rush of adrenaline pumping through her veins and all of her thoughts on getting to Daryl, she crawled forward ready to get what she needed.

That was when she noticed more movement out the corner of her eye, just as she had minutes before. She saw the same streak of dark denim coming towards her, before she had a chance to make a single move towards the weapons.

The kick came at her hard and fast, without any chance her of blocking or avoiding it. She guessed he was aiming for her stomach or ribs, but instead he slammed into her upper arm, knocking her face first into the dirt.

The second hit was just as hard and this time he obviously struck his desired target.

When his boot collided with the side of her head she was instantly knocked out, only regaining consciousness when she was being lifted of the ground.

"Where is he?" the man spat as he held her up with obviously no effort on his part. She could feel the big arm twisted around her, holding her back against his broad chest.

She could barely consider the question he'd asked her.

She couldn't think about anything but the black spots fading and reappearing, blocking her vision and trying to pull her back under again. And maybe if she wasn't fearing for her life right now, she would be able to give in and let herself drift off into the blackness.

But she did fear for her life and that fear only intensified when she felt to the pressure applied to her temple.

"You're gonna come back with me" The man suddenly yelled far to loudly, considering her ear was only inches from his mouth.

She lifted her head and tried to pull herself from her dazed state. She wanted to know where he was taking her, what he was planning on doing to her. It wasn't until her head dropped back against the mans chest, that she realized that he wasn't talking to her.

That fear that he usually pushed down was on full display right now. His eyes danced over her and his head was shaking frantically to himself. She was worried that he was going to slip away into his unresponsive state and leave himself open to an attack. That this man would be given an easy opportunity to hurt him. Even more then he'd already been hurt.

"You come with me and she doesn't get hurt." the man promised, while pressing the gun even further into the side of her head.

"But if you want a fight Daryl? Ya gonna get one. I'll blow this bitches brains out and you'll still be comin' with me"

It was then that the fear evaporated from Daryl's eyes. He stopped looking her over and stopped shaking his head. A deep crease formed in his brow and his lip curled slightly as he snarled at the man.

"Look Daryl, I fucked up today. I messed up a big play that Negan planned. I went out with ten guys and they're all gone now." The man explained bitterly before letting out a dark and humorless chuckle. "I can't go back empty handed."

Daryl made no response and the man didn't seem to be expecting one. He was waiting for some kind of recognition to appear on Daryl's face, something that would let him know that Daryl understood and that he was going to cooperate.

"You were gonna have to go back eventually. You knew he was gonna find you sooner or later. You're Negan's, you belong back there."

She noticed the slight flinch at those words and she she couldn't help but shutter at them herself. Her blood had run cold and her mind raced with what could have happened to him there and what would happen to him, if he was taken back to that place. They'd already taken so much from him and she couldn't bare the thought of them taking a single bit more.

"Daryl, just run. Get out of here. It's ok" she pleaded, hearing her own voice brake as she spoke.

Daryl's eyes fell on her again. He held her gaze while she silently begged him to leave. But her pleading was pointless, even as she spoke the words she knew it was useless, she knew that he had no intention of going anywhere.

"Daryl, please don't-"

Before she could finish, he let out a loud and frustrated grunt, tossing his knife to the ground.

"Good. That's good" the man praised, as though he was talking to a dog who had finally obeyed him.

"Keep going Daryl."

Daryl nodded and chewed his lower lip.

There was shame and pain mixed into his now defeated expression. She could feel the tears in her eyes spill as he folded both his hands behind his neck, lowered his head and dropped to his knees.

She didn't know how many times someone had made him fall into this position. He looked vulnerable and frightened, but as usual there was nothing she could do to help him.

"You know the drill. I'm gonna tie your hands up and cover your eyes. You don't fight back and we don't have any problems. Then your gonna come back with me" the man said as he tightened his hold on her slightly. "If you cooperate, I promise to make sure she's not hurt. You understand?"

The slight nod of Daryl's head was the only response the man got. Daryl kept his head down, but she could see him stealing glances at them, before he darted his gaze back to the ground.

"Don't move bitch. I meant what I said. I'll put a damn bullet in that pretty head" the man barked as his arm suddenly fell from around her. She could see Daryl's jaw tighten at the threat, but other then a faint guttural growl, he stayed quiet and still.

She looked over her shoulder at him and watched the man move. He cut the rope that anchored the tent, grabbed her jacket from the ground, all while keeping his gun on her.

It was the first time that she had gotten a good look at him. He was huge. Any thoughts she had of fighting back were quickly forgotten and she found herself frozen in fear as he yanked her back against his chest again and started shuffling her towards Daryl.

"Lucky me huh?" the man laughed as he slowly walked her over to where Daryl was kneeling in the dirt. "I mean what are the god damn odds. I came here to hide. I was unarmed...alone. I thought, shit, I better go somewhere no fucker will find me. I guess you were thinking the same damn thing huh?"

When they were looming over Daryl his eyes glanced up at her once more. The defeat she had seen was gone. The fear had vanished. But that familiar drive for survival was there once again.

The man continued talking as he dropped her jacket to the ground and began unraveling the rope. Daryl's shoulders were no longer slumped forward, now they were stiff and flexed. She could see his chest rise and fall as he took in each hard breath.

"Guess I should thank ya." The man admitted with a smile as he pulled his arm from around her, trying to get a better handle on the rope. "Saved my ass finding you. Negan would have skinned me like a cat if I went back there and told him I fucked everything up-"

The man was big. Much bigger then Daryl. But the man was also clearly very stupid.

He was more interested in running his mouth, then focusing on what he was doing. It wasn't hard to believe he had been the one to mess up some major plan, especially when he couldn't execute this simple task before him.

The man rambled on as he shoved her aside, training his gun from her to Daryl without much thought. Maybe the man had thought that Daryl would be just as compliant with the gun pointing at him, he obviously hadn't considered that Daryl had been patiently waiting for that.