my angel ➶ ➶ daryl dixon

s i x

Aspen's POV:
When I finally opened my eyes, the sun was peeking through the window of the RV. I glanced around the room and saw a t-shirt and shorts laid out for me on the back of a chair. I guess Dad grabbed some of my stuff before he came to get me from the hospital. I slid out of the bed and pulled on the clothes. I pulled the sliding door open and walked through to the front of the RV. I didn't see Dale, so my guess was he left and went outside already. I opened the door and stepped out onto the ground. I took a look around and saw people that must have been sleeping when we came yesterday.

The first people I saw were Lori and Dad. They were sitting on a log, looking deep in conversation. Lori glanced up and saw me and nudged my dad. I continued my way to them.

"Sleep well?" Dad asked me once I reached them.

"Actually,  yes I did. The bed was very comfortable." I turned towards Lori. "Where's Carl?"

"Oh, he's around here somewhere." She said quietly, like she would break if she spoke any louder.

"I'm going to go look for him." I turned away from them and started to explore the camp.

The next people I ran into were two men who I assumed were brothers. One had a sleeveless plaid shirt on and the other had a leather jacket. I really didn't want to talk to them, but I didn't see anyone else, and I wanted to find Carl. "Have either of you seen a little boy around here?"

The one in the leather jacket turned toward me. "Well, lookie here little bro'. The little kitten has a voice."

"If you haven't seen him, just tell me, I need to find him." I was really not happy with talking to them, but I figured I might be able to get information out of the brothers.

"Maybe if ya came with me into the tent I could tell ya where your little brother went, sweetheart." The man smiled a cool, creepy, smile. "What do you think Daryl? Shall we have some fun with this one?"

"Screw off Merle. Let her be." The one who I assumed was Daryl mumbled. Then I looked closer at Daryl. Man, those eyes. They were the crispest blue you could ever imagine. They seemed to pierce right through you. And he wasn't so bad looking himself...

"What was that little bro'? Ya got somethin' ya want to say to me?" Merle got up in Daryl's face.

"You know what? Nevermind. Assholes." I mutter as I storm off. I can't believe it. Is everyone in this camp going to be such a dick?

As I kept walking, I reached the treeline, but I could hear voices coming from a little further in. I figured I might as well take a look. I walked through the forest a couple yards and came upon a pond. I saw a group of ladies and a Korean man. And right beside him was Carl.

"Carl!" I yell as I race down to him. "How are you doing?" I say as I wrap him in a hug.

"I'm great! Me and Glenn were helping with the laundry." I look up to the man.

"I assume you're Glenn?"

"The one and only."

"Aspen." We shake hands.

"Is this your little brother?" He glanced to Carl.

"It feels like he is, but he's not. My dad, Shane, and his dad, Rick, are," I paused and swallowed back the lump in my throat, "were, very good friends back before this all happened."

"Oh, I guess he's not with us anymore?" Glenn asked quietly.

"No, right before this all happened he was shot and went into a coma. I was actually visiting him right before we drove here, but my dad said he died right before we left the hospital." I sigh. "But this world sucks. Nothing you can do about it except move on now."

"Amen, sister." Glenn said. And I laughed. I laughed. In this world full of shit, I laughed. This is how I knew me and Glenn would become great friends.

—————

Glenn's POV:
Me and Aspen talked for hours. We let Carl play with Sophia and we sat down on a rock and just talked. Talking felt so natural with her. Like we had known each other for our entire lives. But I wasn't necessarily attracted to her in that way. She had already become like a sister to me. We talked about our life before this. We talked about our families, our schools, our houses. She also told me about her encounter with Daryl and Merle. I assure her that Daryl wasn't as bad as Merle. Merle was just a first class asshole. We never seemed to run out of things to say.

"So, Aspen. Do you think the world will ever return to normal? Or are we going to be stuck in this crappy place for our entire life?" I turned toward her and let her think about that for a second.

"I like to think there's always hope. I don't ever want to give up, but I don't know if the world ever really go back to normal, or at least not in our generation. Maybe Carl's, or maybe the generation after his."

"All I know is, I want to die for my loved ones. I don't just want to make a stupid mistake and have one of those things get me. I want to protect my family and friends. And if I have to sacrifice myself, I will. I want to live a life with no regrets and die a happy man." I turned towards Aspen. "And if that means protecting the people at this camp, or maybe people we meet along this journey, so be it."

"Wow, that was deep." She chuckled. "I just want to make sure I go out with a bang. I don't want a sad pitiful death where the walkers just eat me and I'm all alone and no one knows what happened to me." She turned and stares out at the water. "The main thing for me right now is just to protect Carl. He might not be my brother, but he sure feels like it. And he doesn't have a father now, so I need to be there even more for him."

"Well, on that depressing note, let's go get some breakfast." I grabbed her hand to help her up. "Amy makes the best instant oatmeal!"

"Isn't that pretty hard to mess up? All you do is add water." She turned to me and raised her eyebrow.

"What did I say? It is the best!" I threw my arm around her shoulders as she cracked up. I loved seeing a smile on her face. We headed to the camp site to meet everyone for breakfast.