Double Crossbow (Daryl Dixon) [The Walking Dead]

Chapter 53 ↣ And you knew?

"No one ever said we were gonna win, but it doesn't mean you stop fighting."

— Lionel Fusco, Person of Interest

↣ ↢

Kathryn

I pressed my thumb against my temple as my head began to throb. Daryl paced the catwalk as anger rolled off him in waves.

"Man, you couldn't have waited until we got back?" Daryl growled at Rick. He had just been informed of Rick's decision about Carol, and he wasn't too happy.

"Until Tyreese got back?" Rick countered.

"I could've handled that," Daryl said.

I let my head fall back against the wall. Men.

"Hey," Rick called. "She killed two of our own. She couldn't be here...She's gonna be all right. She has a car, supplies, weapons. She's a survivor."

Daryl got in Rick's face. "Stop saying that like you don't believe it." My head throbbed once more as he rose his voice. Daryl glanced over at me. "And you knew?"

I slowly looked over at him, not in the mood to be accused of shit. "Yeah. Rick told me sometime after fever hallucinations but before everyone we knew came back as the walking dead."

Rick stepped in between us. "She did it. She said it was for us. That's how it was in her head. She wasn't sorry."

"Man, that's her, but that ain't her." Rick and I shared a look. If we hadn't known Daryl as long as we did, that would've been gibberish, but luckily that wasn't the case. He saw something we didn't, and until he was no longer pissed at us, we wouldn't hear another breath about it. "What are we supposed to do about those two girls."

Rick took a deep breath. "I told her we'd looked after them."

Daryl placed his forearms on the railing and lowered his forehead to his clasped hands. My heart stung, but I brushed it away as there was no fixing this for him. I couldn't bring Carol back to him.

"I haven't told Tyreese yet," Rick said, taking a timid step towards Daryl. "I don't know how he's gonna take it."

Daryl straightened. "Let's go find out."

Rick and Daryl both turned back to look at me. I shook my head. "There's a couple of snares that got trampled. We'll need to put them out soon."

Daryl looked as if he wanted to say something, but he just gave me a small nod and followed after Rick.

I waited until they were out of sight before making my attempt down the stairs. I hadn't been sick all that long, but in those hours it felt as if the virus was able to eat away the years of muscle I had put on. My legs shook hard as I leaned most of my weight on the railing.

An eternity later I made it to one of the courtyard tables with my snares. I hadn't been this weak since... My skin began to prickle. I stood up from the table quickly and looked across the field. There was nothing.

"Kathryn?" Beth's blonde hair was blinding in the light. I mustered a smile. "Are you all right? You look like you saw a ghost."

I nodded, sitting back down and beginning to fix up the knots on the snares. "Yeah. Just my mind playing tricks on me."

She sat across from me. "I know how that feels."

A comfortable silence fell between us, and I fixed up three snares before looking back up at Beth. When I did, she was running a gentle finger down the scar that resided on her wrist. She met my eye.