Feral

5/10

They reached the prison when the sun was starting to go down. After Daryl parked the pickup with the other vehicles, Dana helped him to drag the old bike out of the pickup, leaving it in a sheltered place near his own bike. He'd start cleaning it and working on it as soon as he had a moment the next day.

On their way to their cellblock, some people looked at Dana covered in blood, asking if she was okay, to which she nodded awkwardly. Carol stopped them too, and Daryl explained briefly that they had found walkers near the cabin but they had put them down with no problem and they were okay, despite the blood on Dana.

"I know you, wouldn't be surprised if you saw a herd and decided that you could take it down yourself, why not," Carol scolded him. "And she's just like you, isn't she." Dana didn't say anything, just shrugged. "Put those clothes to soak before there's no way of taking out the blood, half of our clothes supply is bloodstained already." Dana nodded awkwardly. "I'll save you both some dinner for when you're ready."

They kept going to their cells, and Daryl looked at Dana as she walked into hers, locking the door and already tugging off her shirt and so Daryl looked away. "Hey, um..." He began awkwardly. "You got soaked in blood and guts, why don't you go to the showers?" He still didn't know why she didn't want to, everyone in there seemed to love it when they got the shower system going, but he didn't want to push her.

"No."

"Alright..." Daryl was about to go to his cell when suddenly something came to his mind, and he wondered if that might be Dana's reluctance to shower. "Hey...if you go to the showers, it'll be safe. You know nobody here will hurt you, right? And no walker can get in, we got fences, and walls, and lookouts." Maybe Dana was subconsciously anxious at the idea of getting naked without weapons under a stream of water and without a lock, maybe she felt vulnerable. He could understand that.

"No..."

"I, uh...can take watch on the door while you shower, if you wanna," Daryl offered, shrugging awkwardly.

There was only silence for a moment, but then, Dana spoke. "Okay."

"Alright...alright, grab some clothes I'm gonna, uh...bring you a towel and all that." Daryl rushed to the laundry room and came back with not only a towel but more stuff that Beth, who was working there at that moment, had given him.

"So..." He looked at Dana, who was already holding a change of clean clothes, waiting for him. "Here's the towel, and also soap that someone made, Beth said this one is for you, and also this..." Daryl frowned at a bottle in his hand. "This is Beth's, said is some oil for the hair, that it helps to untangle it or something." He gave everything to Dana. "She gave me a comb too." Dana looked at the comb, scoffing, and she didn't even take it.

Daryl led her to the showers, closing the doors behind them, and then he waved to their shower system. "So...that is, you pump it and some water falls, and...yeah, that is." He felt a bit like an idiot explaining it when she could just see it. "I'll wait outside."

"No," Dana said, leaving all her stuff on a bench that they had there for that.

"I'll be just outside the door, and you really are safe, nobody will barge in, or hurt you, walkers can't get in, you know it," Daryl told her softly, but Dana looked at the door, then at the shower and at him, and Daryl didn't want her to feel anxious, he understood it if she felt subconsciously vulnerable, and if she knew that the danger was not real but she couldn't help her anxiety anyway, she was probably beating herself about it enough already. Daryl understood. He didn't want her to feel bad, or weak, or vulnerable. "Okay, I'll stay." He took his knife out of his sheath too, to show Dana that he meant it when he said he'd take watch, even if there was no need.