The Hunter's Prey

Chapter 15

"No. Negan dies. He's ruined too many lives." I cut Rick off and he nodded.

"You two stay safe out there."

Rick walked off leaving me with Daryl. Rick walked over to Tara, Carol and Morgan and handed out papers. He was probably asking them to do the same thing that he asked of Daryl and I. This was the first time Daryl and I were truly alone since he left. I handed the paper to Daryl. He took it and scanned it.

"We should get going." Daryl spoke without looking at me.

I nodded as he walked towards his bike. I climbed on behind him and we were off. Our first destination was along a wooded area. We stopped a mile out from the lookout's position that way they wouldn't hear Daryl's bike. From the note on the paper the lookout was up in a tree. On a hunter tree stand.

We walked in silence. Every now and then a walker or two would pop up. We quickly took care of them and carried on. The tension between us was weird. The air between Daryl and I used to be so freeing. Almost addicting. Now the tension was driving me insane. I stayed quiet. He made it clear to me he wanted me to stay away from him. I will. After all, I had my own plans. Negan needed to die. If I died with him it wouldn't bother me.

Daryl split away from me once we got closer. The more sight lines we had the better. I soon noticed the man up on the hunter stand. I glanced around and my eyes immediately found Daryl. He had the shot lined up already. It didn't matter if he killed the man. One shot would cause the man to fall and even if the fall didn't kill him the walker below him would. The man would be too dazed from the fall to react fast enough to fight off the walker.

I watched as the man's body fell. The man didn't move as the walker bit into his skin. Daryl had already killed him or the fall did. Hearing the steps of walkers coming up behind me, I pulled my sword from its sheath on my back. I quickly turned and killed the first one. Then ended the final two. I put my sword back in its place. I mentally thanked Michonne for giving me her spare sheath.

I started to head back to Daryl's bike. As I walked I met back up with him. Neither of us talked as we walked. It bugged me a little bit more than I would've liked. Every now and then I would catch Daryl looking at me. He would quickly look away once he realized I noticed. It was almost as if he had something he wanted to say. Reaching his bike, we started on our next target.

I pulled out the paper and scanned over it again. Two more people after this one. Then at the bottom of the paper, it said we're supposed to meet up with Carol, Tara, and Morgan on the highway at 7:50. I followed Daryl after we ditched his bike far enough away. We made our way to our second target.

We split up as we reached the spot. I quickly spotted the guy. I scanned around for Daryl, but didn't notice him. I readied my crossbow and fired. The man's body fell. I looked around for any signs of other life. Clearing the area, I moved towards the body. I pulled my arrow from the man's head and pulled the gun from his holster. That could be useful.

I noticed Daryl as I made my way back towards his bike. We regrouped and silence plagued our walk. Our next two targets were relatively close together. Reaching a spot in between the two, we split up to take less time. We agreed to meet back up at 7:00. It gave each of us at least 2 hours to send our targets 6 feet deep.

I easily found my target. I watched over the area for a while to make sure no one was around and fired an arrow into the man's chest. I reached his body and retrieved my arrow. I noticed something in his pocket and pulled it out. A pack of cigarettes. Nice. Something to pass the time as I wait for Daryl. I searched the man's pockets for a lighter. Bingo. I pulled the lighter from his pocket and rose to my feet.