As we got to the place we were going to search, Gabriel stayed directly beside me, nervously glancing all around. He looked scared shitless, making me smirk again. "What's with the face, father?" I said with a bit of a laugh.
"Huh? Oh um... I'm just a bit worried..." I looked into the man's eyes. He seemed so... Innocent, in a sense. It gave me hope. Hope that maybe, somewhere, somehow things didn't have to be so awful... Things didn't HAVE to be as hellish as it had been leading up to this.
I slowly put my hand on Gabriel's, giving him a bit of a nod. "You'll be alright."
And then he calmed. His shoulders lowered and he let out a bit of air.
When we walked in I had my bow up and Gabriel behind me with Rick at my side. He gave me a nod as a single walker came out and I pulled out my knife, going at it and stabbing it in the head swiftly, holding it as I gently lowered it to the ground.
We heard more groans and the sounds of slushing water. I was at a loss for a moment, until I looked down in the hole and gagged.
It took a lot to make me gag, but the smell of the rotting bodies around me, mixed with whatever other ingredients were in that toxic waste of a basement, was easily one of the worst things I had ever smelled.
"We're going down there?" I groaned at Rick. He nodded, putting a hand on my back.
"Ladies first." He said with a small chuckle. I rolled my eyes, but slowly made my way down as quietly as possible.
We used the shelves to block the walkers while we took them down. It was a good plan, but it was short lived when the preacher, who Rick had forced to follow us, ran from the sight. He was almost bit, but I managed to make it in time to kill the one walker that followed him. By the look on his face, he must've knew the lady.
"C'mon, Gabriel."
The father that now stood to my left had had a short panic attack, but we still managed to get out without anyone dying. He followed closely beside me, obviously a nervous mess from his short experience. I sighed at Rick, who was all but sympathetic of the man before us.
"What?" He asked quietly.
"Ya need to work on bein' nicer to 'em. I know everyone is on edge, Rick... But he's scared and I ain't asking you to trust him. I don't trust him, but that don't mean ya gotta be so much of a prick about everything."
Rick glared a moment at me, his hand on the cart tightening, but eventually he let out a sigh. "Yeah, yeah. Guess you're right." He grumbled. I let out a laugh, my hand reaching and grabbing his.
"You know I'm always right." He chuckled at my statement and shook his head.
The rest of the walk was simple small talk, and I know I must've seemed very relaxed to the preacher in front of me, because he gave me a confused look.
But to say I was still on edge was still an understatement. I was a jumpy mess, even when we got back to the church.
Daryl was of course the first person to greet me when we got back with a bit of a smile and a hug.
"Ya okay?" I asked quizzically, looking up at his broad figure.
He simply nodded in response. I raised my eyebrows and he sighed.
"Needa tell ya somethin'." He mumbled, obviously debating if he really did.
"Shoot."
"Well... I gotta tell ya bu' ya gotta promise not to.. Not jus' run off hatin' me... Ya gotta lemme explain everythin'."
I suddenly felt a wave of panic flush through me, but I nodded. "Promise."
"I uh... When the prison went down.. I was with Beth." I nodded a bit, but a pained expression took over his features and he took a breath. "Then... Then she was gone."
"Dead?" I asked quietly.
He shook his head. "Gone." I raised my eyebrows. "Somebody took her in a car... I tried to... I tried to get her back, ya gotta believe me."
I nodded. "It's not your fault, Dare."
He took one last breath and closed his eyes before looking back into mine. "Well this is the part ya might... Not wanna hear.." He said, releasing my hands that had grabbed his. "I joined a different group... Groupa guys. Buncha jack asses. They... They, they didn't tell me who we were huntin' down.. But it was Rick... Butcha gotta believe me I... I just thought you was gone and Beth was gone a-"
I cut him off quickly by pushing my lips against his and grabbing both of his hands. "Daryl Dixon, you are a good person... And I love you to death."
He let out a small sigh, his forehead bumping against mine. "I just..."
"I know."
My hand lingered on his face for a bit longer than necessary, but I smiled a at him and he closed his eyes, letting his arms link tightly around my waist.
"Sorry to, uh, break up the love fest or anything... But we're starting dinner." Carol said from the corner, smiling a bit at us. Daryl quickly stepped back, still not used to us being like that in front of people, but when he saw the look on my face he stepped back towards me and put his arm around me.
"Comin'."
AN - Short short short chapter and I'm sorry, but it was either two short chapters or one completely overly large chapter that was annoying for even me to read and lead into what I wanted to. Anyways, my second story is about to be up. And to any Country Blood readers who are also reading this, I've gotten a few messages about why I took it down and it's because I'm redoing it. It'll be up when my new story is. Thanks for reading and much love.
