Double Crossbow (Daryl Dixon) [The Walking Dead]

Chapter 58 ↣ Can one of you put it back in place?

"Because I came here with a load. And it feels so much lighter since I met you. Honey you should know. That I could never go on without you. Green eyes, green eyes."

—Coldplay, Green Eyes

↣ ↢

Daryl

I WAS SITTING on one of the benches outside the prison, enjoying the nice weather, and taking the last drag from my cigarette. A grin crossed my features as I felt a light peck to my left cheek. I looked over, expecting to meet familiar green eyes, but there was no one there. I felt my smile fade. I looked to my right, and she wasn't there either.

"Who are you looking for?" a voice from my left asked. I flinched, and looked over to see Kathryn. She grinned up at me, and I chuckled.

"You, of course."

"Wow, I'm so special."

I quickly captured her lips on my own. "You are."

Kathryn laughed, and pushed me away. That didn't sit well with me. Before she could get away, I pulled her onto my lap. She instantly tried to escape my grasp. I pressed my lips to hers, and her struggle ceased. "Got ya," I muttered, pulling back slightly.

"Shut up," Kathryn said before pulling me down again.

I groaned as a sharp piece of bark stuck into my spine and pulled me back into reality. I rubbed at my eyes. I had to be dreaming still. Dawn was beginning to break though, and she was still here. Kathryn's chest rose and fell in even breaths. When the light filtered through the leaves, and struck her skin, she didn't become transparent. She didn't fade. But I had to be dreaming.

Yes, this image was familiar. Just like the memory of us at the prison. We sat like this once before in a forest outside of Atlanta. Both of us balancing on separate branches, waiting for the light so we could resume the hunt.

I wasn't someone who found things unless it was too late. She had found me though, and maybe that was the loophole. Just like she had found me all that time ago on the farm.

When I saw that blur of black jump from the tree and proceed to take out those men, I hadn't even thought it was her. Looking back, I now knew: how could it have been anyone else? Those movements I had seen over and over before. They were almost unnatural, completely unique to her.

The silver band on her finger glinted, and instinctively I reached over to hold her hand, running the pad of my finger against the metal. Relief shot through me when her fingers tightened around my own.

"Hey," Kathryn murmured without opening her eyes.

"Hey," I echoed. I wasn't dreaming.

"Why are you staring?" Kathryn said, glaring over at me with two green slits.

A warmth came over me. "Because I can."

"If you're so caught up staring at me, I'll win."

"A small price to pay."

Kathryn rolled her eyes. Letting go of my hand, she tied her hair with a band from her wrist. I liked how it made her features sharper when she pulled it back. It had gotten long. Even now in the ponytail it reached around her shoulder and hung past her collar bone. Kathryn met my gaze and stuck her tongue out at me before she leapt from the branch like a mad woman. My heart shot into my throat as I watched her plummet to the ground.

She landed silently and turned back to look up at me. "Looks like I'm getting a head start."

I grumbled some choice words as I began to lower myself to the ground branch by branch.