The Fear (The Walking Dead / Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 6 - Our Secret

"What on earth's going on out here?!" My dad yelled as he and everyone else from inside came charging out of the house. I ran from the shed, meeting them in the driveway with an oily rag in my hand, looking out at the campsite where we could faintly see 7 or so figures in the distance, gradually getting closer to the house. One of them was clearly Dale with his fishing hat and the others were Andrea, Glenn and T-dog. Then there were three other people standing close by each other and were harder to make out, but with a quick sweep of the people around me I soon realised it was Rick, Shane and potentially Daryl.

I was proven right when they all reached us, Daryl unconscious as Rick and Shane held on to one arm each, dragging him over to the house. I quickly ran inside, grabbing a few first aid supplies and setting them up in an empty room as they dragged him inside.

"What happened?" My dad demanded as they placed the unconscious Daryl down on the bed.

"He came out of the woods alone. From a distance he looked like a Walker." Rick stated.

"We all ran up to deal with it, but Andrea took the shot from far back. Only grazed his head though. Lucky we were right there in front of him to bring him back right away." Shane added.

"The rest you'll have to ask him." Rick explained.

"His side is bleeding as well." I observed as my dad was grabbing a clean cloth. It wasn't a difficult observation. Daryl had ripped off his sleeves and tied them around his waist to bandage the wound. I undid the knot he had created and lifted up the bottom of his shirt to see a painful looking wound that went clean through his side. "I don't think whatever it was did any permanent damage."

"Okay, I'll look at that. Kat, you clean off that head injury and see if it needs stitches."

I nodded as he handed me over the cloth and I began to clean the gash on his hairline. I was just finishing up when Daryl suddenly woke up, jumping a little, probably not expecting to be in a bed let alone having people looming over him.

"Easy." I whispered. I was meaning to say it louder, but it just came out as a whisper.

"Daryl..." Rick began, "what happened?" He asked once Daryl had his bearings and let my dad and me carry on with what we were doing.

"Damn horse threw me, fell down a cliff and into the creek. Got one of my arrows stuck in my side and had to climb back up."

"What happened to the arrow?" I asked curiously.

"Ripped it out when a Walker attacked me." He stated like it was nothing.

"Oh, of course... naturally." I mused, doing my best not to cringe at the thought. Had to give him credit though.

"And this?" Rick asked, holding up a doll that I hadn't noticed before. "It was Sophia's, where did you find it?" Shane handed Rick over the map Maggie had found yesterday and they folded it out on the bed next to Daryl so he could point out where he was.

I picked up Daryl's hand and moved it so he knew to hold the cloth to his head to stop the bleeding while I walked over to the kit and picked out a few bandages and cotton swabs.

"I found it washed up on the creek bed right there." He pointed to a spot on the map. "She must have dropped it crossing there somewhere."

"Cuts the grid almost in half." Rick said, turning to face Shane.

"Yeah, you're welcome." Daryl spat as he looked down at his side where my dad had began stitching.

"How's he looking?" Rick asked.

"I had no idea we'd be going through the antibiotics so quickly. Any idea what happened to my horse?" My dad answered bitterly.

"Yeah, the one who almost killed me? If it's smart, it left the country." Daryl shot back and I couldn't stop smiling the tiniest bit as I came back over and took the cloth from his hands.