His Firecracker (Daryl Dixon x reader)

Prologue

It was a day like no other, a simple day in college for Y/N Greene. Y/N was focused on her first year of college, her last semester in sight. That was, until the world basically ended. Y/N was in her dorm, cutting her hair short, the hotter temperature finally getting to her. So she cut her hair, slightly high enough to barely reach her shoulders. Grabbing a broom and sweeping up her hair, Y/N quickly threw away the remnants. As she was about to take a shower, she overhears something on the television.
"This just in:the dead are eating the living. We advise for you to stay inside and grab any type of weapon you can. If necessary, you should rush to find your loved ones before it's too late. The military has taken charge of this for now, but the numbers of soldiers are quickly decreasing. Please stay safe everyone. We will be back with new news in a days time." The news anchor explains, which catches
Y/N's attention.
       A scream erupts through the halls of Y/N's college, which makes the girl rush to her dorms door. Looking through the doors peephole, the girl spots other students running down the hall and to god knows where. Y/N quickly walks over to her phone and attempts to call her families farm, except the line is dead and making no sound.
"Damnit." Y/N let out a disgruntled sigh, running her fingers through her newly cut hair.
       The screaming slowly stops, which catches Y/N's attention. The girl walks over to her door again, looking out the peephole one last time. She saw nothing in the hall, which made her unlock her door. She walks over to her bedroom and grabs all her things, toiletries, clothes, her phone, and even a charger, along with some snacks and food for the drive back to her families farm.
      Y/N goes over to her door and turns the knob, opening the door. She grips her bags handle, then realized she forgot one more thing. The news anchor advised to get a weapon, and for once, Y/N was thankful for leaving the tv on. She leaves the door open, walking back to her bedroom and opening up the small closet. She grabs her bow and her quiver, then quickly leaves the dorms. She rushes to the parking lot, but stops when she hears screaming behind her. Quickly turning around, Y/N spots a young woman getting grabbed by someone. Slowly biting into the woman's shoulder, screams leave the woman's mouth. Y/N began to walk towards the two, but is pushed back by someone else. Looking up,
Y/N spots the person who pushed her. Some man was standing above her, his lower jaw missing and his skin shredded in pieces. Y/N lets out a surprised gasp, going to crawl away, Y/N feels something touch her hand.
      She finds it difficult to look away from the man slowly inching towards her, and grasps what's next to her hand. In the corner of her eye, she spots that it's a knife on the ground. The man above her falls on top of her, and in self defense, Y/N stabs the man straight through the skull. Blood spurts out of the man's head and onto the woman's face, shocking the woman. Bringing her legs up, she kicks the dead body off of her, and lets out a sigh. Keeping the knife in one hand, she uses the other to push her up, quickly getting into a standing position.
        Putting the knife the girl found into her belt, she continued to run to the car. She felt something trickle down her face, and goes to brush it away. Expecting to see blood, she instead pulls her hand away to find it's a clear liquid. Tears. Y/N finds her car, unlocks it with her key, and enters her car. She throws her belongings in the passenger seat and puts the key into the ignition. She backs up out of her parking spot and out of the campuses parking lot.
       She notices cars are already on the road, nowhere near as many as she expected. Though at the same time, the woman assumed not everyone watched the news at her college. She drove down the road and opens up her duffel bag with her right hand, the left on the steering wheel. She grabs a stick of beef jerky she packed, and unwraps it with both hands, her knee now steering the car.
       Putting her left hand back on the wheel, she takes bites out of the jerky and keeps her eyes on the road. A few people are standing in the road, the woman noticed, and instead of hitting them, she drove around them.
      The sun slowly began to set, and Y/N had finally made it to her families farm. She parks in front of the farm, and turns the car off. Grabbing her things, along with her bow and quiver, she exits the car. She runs to the front door, her stuff either slung over her shoulder or held in her hands. She knocks on the door and gets no response. Fearing for the worst, she opens the door anyway, knowing her father never really locked it anyways.
"Maggie?! Dad?! Beth?!" Y/N yelled out, only to quickly get silence afterwards.
     Y/N walks up the stairs to check upstairs, entering her fathers room first. Yet no one was in there. Next she checked her room, Maggie's, and even Beth's. Yet no one was in the house. Then she remembered the basement. Y/N runs out Beth's room and down the stairs, quickly finding the door to the basement.
    Hearing a muffled gasp, Y/N turns to see someone running at her.
"Y/N?!" A voice yells, only for Y/N to recognize it as Maggie's.
"Maggie! Oh thank God." Y/N says, pulling Maggie into a hug.
       Y/N pulls away and grasps Maggie's shoulders.
"I thought something happened to ya'll. After I watched the news, I-I thought something happened." Y/N exclaimed, Maggie nodded.
"We all thought the same about you." Maggie responded.
     Y/N nodded. Y/N let go of Maggie's shoulders and  looked behind Maggie, only to see the rest of her family safe and sound.
"Is that blood?" Beth asked, completely shocked.    
      Y/N had completely forgotten about that stranger she stabbed in the head. Y/N nodded. Beth stood up, along with her father and two people she didn't recognize. They walked towards both Maggie and
Y/N and ushered the two upstairs.
"I'll get ya cleaned up." Hershel had said, pushing
Y/N ahead and up the stairs.
       The group all walked upstairs to clean Y/N up. Reaching the dining room, Hershel ushered his eldest daughter into a chair beside the table. The woman sat down, and the unknown woman left the room, quickly coming back with a first aid kit. Hershel offered a smile of thanks to the woman and turned back to his daughter.
"Care to explain what happened?" Hershel asked.
     Y/N nodded.
"I was attacked by someone who was torn to shreds, his lower jaw missing. I found a knife on the ground someone had dropped and I stabbed the guy in the head in self defense. It's his blood. Not mine." Y/N had explained, earning horrified looks from everyone in the room.
"Then what's with the bow?" Beth asked, pointing over to Y/N's bow and quiver. Y/N shrugged.
"The news said everyone might need a weapon. So I grabbed the only one I had." Y/N explained, shrugging once more.
"Oh. And who are these two?" Y/N asked, pointing over at the two extra's in the room.
"Oh. I'm sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Patricia. And this here is Otis." Patricia explained to Y/N, and the woman nodded. 
"Nice to meet ya." Y/N said, smiling.
"Nice to meet you too, Ms. Greene." Otis said, smiling back at Y/N.
      Hershel had finished cleaning Y/N up and ushered her upstairs and to her room.
"Now get some rest. You too Maggie and Beth. We'll see ya'll in the morning." Hershel said, offering a warm smile to his three children.
"Fineeee." Beth whined.
"Of course daddy." Maggie said, kissing Hershel on the cheek and running upstairs and to her room.
"Night pops." Y/N had said, clutching her things and walking upstairs.
     Hershel, while on the outside was smiling, was deeply worried. Deeply worried for his family. Deeply worried about what hell was about to break loose.