Daryl Dixon

I got out of the chair I was sitting in and followed where Daryl had gone. He was outside by one of the trucks, fixing arrows and cleaning his crossbow. I hesitated to walk up to him, trying to ignore my thumping heart and shaky hands. Wiping off the sweat from my palms onto my jeans, I slowly walked closer to him, watching him work in his sleeveless plaid button-down shirt and light blue jeans.

I stuck my hands in my back pockets and kicked a pebble in his direction as I approached the truck. He glanced up at me to acknowledge my presence then continued cleaning his weapon and arrows.

I watched him work without speaking, unsure of what to say in the first place. I wanted to thank him for protecting me again, but I could tell he was still a bit cross with the fact that I had wanted to leave the farm.

I took a deep breath and spoke, “Hey Daryl… d’you—d’you remember when we met?” that question caused him to look back up at me.

“O’course.” He answered, “You’d think I’d forget?”

“No… but it just seems like it was forever ago. Things were… different then.”

He didn’t answer, he knew I was right.

“It was such a stressful day… so many things were going on, and you just came out of nowhere…” I said as I went back nearly two weeks ago…

Flashback

“I have to tell you something I never mentioned before.” I stepped up closer to Daryl and leaned against the truck. “The rotter you saved me from was my dad…”

I hung my head at my choice of words. I had sworn to myself to never use the word “rotter” again. It was a term my dad and I coined after having an encounter with a rather horribly decayed walker. After he’d turned into one of them, I stopped using it.

Daryl didn’t say anything. He’d stopped cleaning his bowgun and slowly looked up at me.

“Lin, I’m sorry…” his voice lowered. “I had no idea. But, you know I had to—”

“Yes, I know you had to kill him alright?! I know. I… I know.” I tried to hold back tears; I didn’t want Daryl to see me cry.

“Listen that really wasn’t why I came here okay?” I said, quickly wiping away a tear that had managed to escape my left eye.

“Okay.” Daryl had gone back to wiping his arrows off with a rag.

“What I really wanted to say was—” I stopped and thought. What did I want to say to him? I’d already told him thank you and even reminisced on how we met, but there was something in my gut telling me that I needed to say something else to him. I just didn’t know how to say it.

“Was… uhhh…”

“Yah know, yah treat me like I’m more than what I am.” Daryl suddenly spoke, “The way you look at me, the way you talk to me… it’s like I’m worth something…”

I was taken aback, “Of course you’re worth something… you saved me. More than once actually, you don’t think I’m grateful for that?”

“That’s the only reason?” he had stopped cleaning again but was staring at the ground.

“Well… I dunno…” I suddenly got nervous and crossed my arms, following his gaze.

“Hm.” He grunted then finally hoisted his crossbow over his shoulder. As he passed by me he said, “Just so you know, I never really liked that Shane guy. You’re too good for him.”

I stumbled back in shock as the screen door to the house opened and closed. I remembered Shane was still in the field, that only Rick, Carl and I knew what happened.

“Daryl!” I exclaimed, following him into the house. Instead, I came face-to-face with Rick.

“Ready?” he said quietly.

“I don’t have any more ammo.” I answered back in the same volume.

“Well…” Rick hesitated on taking something out of his back pocket, “Then you can have this. It was Lori’s and she’s obviously not using it now.”

He handed me a small revolver and I took it. I pushed the cylinder open and found that five out of the six rounds remained. I flipped it shut and looked up to see Daryl maneuver in between Rick and the door. He had gotten a backpack to put stuff in just in case we found anything.

Rick and I went outside, meeting up with Daryl and Andrea.

“Let’s do this.” I said with a newfound confidence and we headed down the stairs and into the car that had once been Shane’s.

Continued...