Protection (Rick Grimes)

Chapter Twenty Six

Chelsea's POV

I walk silently behind Daryl through the woods. He was going hunting and I decided to go with him.

"I'm not going to let those guys get away with what they did to you." I hear Daryl say. He doesn't turn to look back at me. He just keeps walking and looking out for walkers and game.

"Daryl, honestly, I don't care about what they did to me anymore. I just care about getting my best friend back." I sigh. Daryl stops and turns to me. I stop too and stare at him.

"So you're just going to let them get away with beating you?" He asks.

"Yeah." I say in a 'duh' tone.

"That's stupid." He rolls his eyes. He's pissing me off. Why won't he just drop this? I'm fine, just a little sore. There's no need of making a big deal out of this if I'm fine.

"Well what do you want me to do? File a police report? Throw them in jail?" I say sarcastically.

"Chelsea, don't be stupid." He grumbles.

"Don't be stupid? Daryl, I'm over it. Why can't you just drop it?" I ask, sighing.

"Damn it, Chelsea! I don't want to drop it!" He raises his voice.

"Why?" I stay calm.

He sighs, "Because. They hurt you and I really care about you. That's why! Happy?" He gets irritated at the end of his statement. He turns around and begins walking. Now I feel bad. I jog in front of him and turn face him, stopping him from walking any further.

"I care about you, too. That's why I'm saying to drop it. If you go to that camp, unprepared, hell will be thrown your way. It's already been been a day, so if Danielle comes back within three more days, we're not going to that camp. I don't want to go back to that camp." I tell him. He just looks at me. I kiss his lips gently and smile at him. He smiles back, but only letting the corners of his mouth twitch. I begin to say something else, but I hear a limb break, grabbing my attention. I turn and see a deer. Daryl steps around me and raises his crossbow. He shoots the doe in it's head, most likely because he don't want to have to worry about tracking it. The doe falls to the ground.

"Come on." Daryl commands and walks towards the deer. He pulls his arrow out of the deer then faces me. "Get the back legs." He commands, once again. I do as I'm told and help him carry the deer back to the skate rink.

~●~

We decided to skin the deer a ways away from the rink so there won't be any walkers near the rink. We cooked the deer outside in a field not too far from the skate rink.

Right now, we're all sitting inside eating some of the deer. My mind wonders back to life before the outbreak.

My phone begins ringing just as I walk into my house. I look at the screen and see Danielle's name.

"Hello?" I answer.

"Oh my gosh! Chelsea, you have to come over. Like now." She says excitedly.

"Okay, but why are you so excited?" I question.

"You'll find out, just get your butt over here."

"Okay, okay. I'll be there in a few minutes." I laugh and hang up. I turn around, locking my house door and returning to my car.

When I arrive at the house that the three Dixon siblings share, I see Merle skinning a buck deer and Daryl helping when needed. Three year old Lyndon is sitting in his mother's lap and Danielle is clearly smiling.