The book of zeppelin || The walking dead

2. Daryl Dixon

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10k stared at the bracelet, wondering what the letters meant. He didn't think a man like the man he saved would wear something like this unless it was from someone close to them.

The string was an old shoelace, worn-out,broken, dried blood on it. It was old and no longer useful.

He didn't get rid of it, though. If the man had it, then it was important to him, so he just pocketed the string and grabbed a new one and found new letters, just two the R and the U.

He didn't know what the letters wrote out, and he didn't know why he cared so much.

"..I think it's spells, Rudy." 10k lifted his head and saw Laurent standing in front of him.

"What?" 10k asked, and Laurent gestured to the bracelet , "I think it's spells Rudy. It's missing the D and the Y."

"How do you know that?" 10k asked, narrowing his eyes at Laurent before he noticed a worn-out book in Laurent arms.

"Did you steal that?" He gestured to the book, and Laurent shrugged, "I wanted to know about the man, most of the words were destroyed by the water, but the name Rudy was in most of the pages."

10k stood up and snatched the book from Laurent, "you don't steal from the living," He repeated the words that Isabella had told him.

He knew it was hypocrisy, but he didn't want Laurent to be like him, to steal from the living.

"Also, privacy." Laurent was a nosy little kid. It came in handy sometimes, but it also annoyed 10k to no end.

Laurent was always up on his business, and he hated it, but he couldn't just tell the kid to piss off, Isabella would have his head.

"You do not care for privacy, Zeppelin. You spy on people every day." Laurent replied,

10k sighed, "I told you to call me 10k, and second, I only spy on the bad guys."

"10k isn't a name. It's a number." Laurent told him, and 10k stared at him for a moment before walking away.

Laurent was quick to follow, walking beside 10k.

Laurent didn't say anything to 10k, but he just silently followed him, and 10k glanced at Laurent but didn't say anything to him.

10k sharply turned walking into a room, and Laurent almost walked past the room but quickly turned around and walked inside of the room, almost bumping into 10k.

Laurent titled his head to the side and saw the man was awake and staring at them or, more specifically, the book in 10k's hand.

"Laurent took it." 10k snitched, walking over and placing the book down by the end of the bed.

"Snitch." Laurent muttered under his breath, and 10k cracked a small grin.

10k pulled out the bracelet, "I found this next to you. The string was broken." He pulled out the string,

The man snatched it out of his hand and looked down at it, and he glared at 10k, "Where are the rest of the letters?"

10k shrugged, "The only letters left were R and U, I switched them since they were fading."

"..you're awake!" Isabella's voice rang out before she came to stand next to 10k,

"And I apologize for their behavior. I told them not to snoop around or steal from you." Isabella said, sending Laurent and 10k a look.

"I didn't steal." 10k muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What's your name? Mine is Laurent, and that's Zeppelin, but he prefers to be called 10k." Laurent question, gesturing to 10k.

"Why 10k?" The man asked, looking at 10k.

"That's the number of soulless I'm going to kill." 10k replied, with a small shrug

"How many have you killed?" The man questioned, and 10k narrowed his eyes at him.

"What's your name?" 10k questioned instead, and Laurent nudged him, "don't be rude,"

"He killed 5, 013 soulless." Laurent proudly said, with a smile.

The man nodded, "My name is Daryl Dixon. How did I end up here?"

"Zeppelin brought you here. He found you at washed ashore unconscious." Isabella told him,

10k turned and walked away, leaving the room, and Isabella sighed, "he's not a very social person, don't mind, he's like that with everyone."

"He's on a mission to avenge the death of his sister.." Laurent was interrupted by Isabella,

"Laurent. It's time for your studies."

🏹

10k reloaded his rifle, getting ready to go out.

Someone sat down next to him, and he glanced over and saw Daryl.

10k stood up, strapping his rifle to his back, "Laurent said. You were avenging your sister.."

10k cut off Daryl, " Laurent should keep things to himself. "

"I knew someone," Daryl told him, "knew a kid who wanted to avenge his friends deaths."

10k looked at Daryl, slightly intrigued, "what happened?"

"He started avenging them... I finished it." Daryl replied, a frown on his face, his eyes becoming sad.

"Rudy, was his name? The boy?" Daryl nodded, "yeah."

"I'm sorry, but what does that have to do with me?" 10k asked, and Daryl stood up,

"I helped him too late, and I barely know you, you barely know me, but I'm gonna help you." Daryl told him,

Truth to be told, Something about Zeppelin reminded him of Rudy.

He needed to help this kid. Maybe it would heal the wound that was left behind after Rudy's disappearance.

Maybe he didn't want another kid to end up like Rudy.

"I'm not him, you know?" 10k told him, and Daryl nodded, "I know."

10k stared at Daryl before sighing. Daryl looked full of guilt, and deep, deep down, 10k felt bad for him, for bad for the kid that Daryl cared about.

He knew a thing or two about loss and trying to fill the void that was left behind.

10k turned around, grabbing his bat from the ground, slinging the strap over his shoulder,

"I'm not gonna save you the second time."

🏹

1000 words

Thoughts?