Firecracker ➝ Daryl Dixon

Chapter 16: Demon

Hank squatted down in front of Matt, “Look,” he whispered as if the devil’s ears could break through the wooden walls, “I’m tryin to get you out of here, I really am but you know that finding your sister complicated things so it’s takin time.”

“You could easily-.”

“No,” Hank shook his head and fumbled with the handcuffs, “No I can’t.”  And that was the end of that because even though Hank could easily suffocate Talia, easily shoot her in the back of the head, easily take her life he simply wouldn’t and insisted that there was a way to fix all this without anyone dying.  Matt didn’t agree but until he was free he wouldn’t argue with Hank.

Once free from the cuffs Matt began eating, knowing all too well how this game went.  He was only given so much time to either eat, drink, go to the restroom, or do other hygienic things and once that time was up Hank would lock the chains and Matt would be left alone for an undetermined amount of time.  “Matt,” Hank began from his seated position across from the brown eyed man, “There uh well there is another complication.” 

Matt glanced up and grunted, signaling Hank to continue.  “There’s this guy at the prison.  Redneck asshole,” Hank turned and spat, “The guy’s got some sort of thing for Arden, threatened me to stay away from her.”

“You listen to him?”

“Nah but this guy isn’t somethin to mess with and well I think Arden well I think she’s got feelins for the guy.”

Matt’s eyes widened, the food fell from his hands, a few moments of silence before Matt blinked rapidly and chuckled, “I wouldn’t worry about it, after well you know,” Matt glanced up at Hank and smirked, “Arden isn’t like that.”

A bang on the door and even though neither of the men knew if it had really been five minutes or not they couldn’t argue, couldn’t fight and Matt allowed Hank to handcuff him and place duct tape over his mouth.  To keep you safe, Talia had said of the chains and duct tape,  Wouldn’t want you making too much noise and attracting walkers.  And with a whisper of hope and a fleeting glance and a slamming door Matt was once again left alone in a crumbling cabin surrounded by undead monsters.

She couldn’t sleep and after hours of tossing and turning Arden decided that it was better to aimlessly roam the prison than stay staring at the bottom of a bunk bed.  With each step Arden relived her encounter with Daryl and her body grew warm from embarrassment and she was forced to step outside.  Unfortunately not even the frigid night air could cool her burning lips, racing mind, and uneasy stomach. 

She felt ill, stupid, naïve, and oh so stupid.  What had she done?  What horrible decision had she made?  How could she allow herself to act on impulse?  Arden rubbed her eyes and groaned and then thought about screaming but surely it would wake someone up so she settled for moaning about her stupidity and staring up at the stars for some sort of answer that never came.  Instead of a solution Arden was confronted with the squeaking of a gate, crunching of gravel, and heavy breathing.  Eyes squinted in the dark and without hesitation she shouted out a quick ‘hey!’ and all noise ceased.

“I heard you,” Arden rolled her eyes and walked in the direction she assumed the noises came from, “Who's there?”

“Arden!”  The booming male voice surprised the female whose mind flooded with questions.

“Hank?” she questioned, moving forward and spotting the male with a petite female standing next to him, “Talia?  How did you, where were you?”

“Eh just taking an early morning walk,” Hank explained with a shrug, “Couldn’t sleep.”

Arden’s eyes narrowed into slits, “Don’t fucking lie to me.”

“Woah,” Hank laughed, “Not a mornin person huh?”

“I heard the gate open,” Arden flicked her skeptical gaze between Hank and Talia, “Rick know you left?”

“Of course!”  Hank beamed and Talia silently agreed with a nod of her head.

“Great,” Arden smiled, “I’ll go let me know you guys are back.”

“You can’t,” Talia called out, “The truth is that we went out to look for Matt.”  Talia noticed Arden’s skepticism and sighed loudly, “Hank and I, we don’t like seeing you upset and well whenever you go out looking for Matt you get upset.  We wanted to take the burden off of you but we knew Rick and the others wouldn’t let us go so we decided to sneak out and search on our own.  We should have told you but we didn’t want to worry you and well you’ve seemed a little stressed recently.”

Stressed didn’t even begin to cover it.  Along with the anxiety over her brother Arden now had to deal with her confusing feelings for Daryl which had caused her to make a huge mistake and kiss him.  Just thinking of that kiss made Arden wince and stomach twist with regret and embarrassment.  “You find anything?” She managed to croak out though her mind was still preoccupied with the way Daryl’s rough hands pushed against her hips, his thumbs lifting the hem of her shirt while his hot mouth pressed against hers.

Talia shook her head, “No, and I get if you want Hank and I to stop doing this and-“

“Yeah,” Arden wrapped her arms around her body, rubbing her forearms in an attempt to ease the chill that had managed to pierce through the heat of her thoughts, “Finding Matt is my job, and if it is a burden then well it’s mine so yeah you should stop this especially if you don’t want to get kicked out of this camp.”

“We were just trying to help,” Talia muttered, “And I mean you let Daryl help so why not us?”

Just his name.  Those five letters strung together.  It was too much and Arden felt her head rush and cheeks flush and that feeling of stupidity was making her body shiver and eyes shut tightly.  “I don’t need help,” Arden hissed, “And I’m only going to tell you this once,” eyes fluttered open and narrowed, “If I catch you two sneaking out of camp again I’m telling Rick and he’ll want you out and I promise you that everyone else will agree with him and you’ll go back to being walker bait so don’t give me your bullshit of trying to help me out because I don’t buy it and I don’t care.” 

Talia and Hank watched the stubborn woman walk away and once she was out of earshot Talia burst out into laughter.  “That was close,” she howled and clutched her stomach and wiped the tears from her eyes, “Wipe that look off your face,” Talia elbowed Hank and took a deep breath, “She doesn’t have a clue,” she whispered, “No clue.”