Zedler, M.D. // Daryl Dixon

Chapter Seventy-Two: Poncho

•seventy-two•

Beatrix

"We need to split up, watch for a while," Rick says, backing away from the fence. "Spread out, but stay close."

With that, the rest of us listen to him, going off in different directions. I definitely don't go by myself, though. I walk beside of Daryl as we make our way toward the left side of the compound. We watch for about an hour, looking through the fence for anything we could possibly see, but there is nothing. We don't see any sign of movement for the whole hour, and after sitting in silence I decide to break it.

"What happened to you?" I look up at him from my spot on the ground. "After the prison, I mean."

"I got out with Beth," he mutters, biting his thumbnail. "We looked for you, Trixy, we did. We just couldn't find you."

"You got out with Beth, but she isn't here now," I say as my heart sinks. "Is she dead?"

"No, just gone," he replies, avoiding looking me in the face. "I let her down, Trixy. I let you down. She's your best friend, and I didn't protect her."

"Hey, I'm sure you did the best you could," I stand up and run my hands over his very-healthy arms. "We will find her again. Don't worry."

"What happened to you?" He asks, and even though I knew he would, I dreaded the question.

"I got out with Lucas. Bob was about to kill me when he saved me. We finally killed him and got out together. I was messed up, Daryl," I shake my head, trying to push the memory out of my head. "I thought you were dead and pretty much had a meltdown, but Lucas kept me sane. After a couple of days we ran into Joe."

"You don't have to talk about it," Daryl assures me, but I shake my head.

"I know, but I want you to know," I gulp before finishing my story. "I think they wanted to rape me then. Len tried to "claim" me, but then I told them that Lucas was my husband. They wanted me to prove it, so I showed them my ring and kissed him. He protected me from them. They said some of the most wildly inappropriate things I've ever heard, but Lucas defended me. We finally got away from them when we ran into Michonne and Carl. And you pretty much saw how it went from there."

"Don't cry, Trixy," he whispers as he wipes the tears from my eyes. I hadn't even noticed that they started falling. "It's okay. You did what you had to do to stay alive. I'd much rather you kiss Lucas than let those fuckers take advantage of you."

"You're not mad?" I question, almost a little bit surprised. I know he's had issues with Lucas in the past, so seeing him so calm about it now is a little shocking, even considering the circumstances.

"Course not," he kisses the top of my head before pulling away. "I'd never be mad at you for that. Ain't like you wanted to, is it?"

"No, definitely not," I let out a small laugh, and Daryl smirks.

"Then don't worry about it," he reassures me before turning back to where we split up from everyone else at. "Come on, let's head back now."

A huge weight feels like it has been taken off of my shoulders after that conversation. I'm not sure why I thought Daryl would have been so mad, especially considering he knew how vile those men were, but it doesn't matter now. I am still very much traumatized from the past week, but at least now I have one less thing to worry about.

"Just in case," Rick looks up once he sees us coming. He's burying a bag of guns, ammunition, and arrows just behind the fence. I have to give it to him, though, it's a pretty damn good idea to do that.