When the dead roam - (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 11 - W

Lou had a routine. A routine in which having a broken collar bone only distressed. A good nights sleep had become a distant memory to her, only residing in dreams that haunted her when she lay awake at night. The uncomfortable strings would bounce underneath her, scraping at her delicate skin as she tried to arrive at a comfortable position. Bad thoughts would trip over themselves in her brain, never once settling for a satisfactory medium that would please all parties. She was, as usual, stuck.

Although a few days rest, must to her annoyance, had done her wound the world of good she had hated never stepping foot outside the four walls that locked her into temporary safety. What she wouldn't give to fend for herself once again.

Sunlight had just started to creep its way through her blinds, depriving her of any blissful moment of sleep as she lay under the single blanket, as she did so for the last six hours, awake. With a sigh she placed one hand on her forehead, rubbed at her temples and kicked the covers away from herself, relieving her bare scratched legs underneath.

"Lou?" a voice called from the other side of her door as she pushed herself up off the bed "You awake?"

"Yeah" she said, rubbing her eyes as she slipped on a pair of old sweatpants and pulled open the door. "What you need?"

"You're heading out in five" Aaron smiled, turning on the heel of his foot and making his way back downstairs with Lou following closely behind him. "Are you sure you're up to this?"

"Course" she stated in return, taking a breakfast bar that he so graciously offered her. "Thanks. You not coming?"

"Deanna needs my help with something" he sighed, handing her his amo box "Just you and Daryl today"

"Oh" she sighed, slightly taken back before slipping her pistol into the back of her right ripped jeans and throwing her bag over her good shoulder. "Okay, well, I guess I'll see you soon"

Aaron closed the door behind her as she hastily made her way towards the front gates of Alexandra where Daryl stood waiting. His cross bow was hanging from his muscled shoulder , the arrows tucked neatly into its carrier as he aimlessly talked to his comrade. The dark hair on his head once again covered the tops of his eyes, allowing him to hide from any emotion that he could come across. He was, for all intensive purposes, a man on steel.

As she walked, Lou scraped her long hair back away from her face and secured it with an old elastic band before approaching the heavily armed male.

"You ready?" she asked, nodded towards his friend, whom she had only seen from a distance. He was handsome, in a romance novel kind of way. He had that superhero charm that a lot of men lacked. Daryl however was rugged. He had a way of making you feel protected. Perhaps it was the weapon on his back, or, maybe, it was the sheer determination in his eyes.

He nodded at the girl, throwing the butt of his cigarette to the ground and waving his hand in the air, signalling for them to open the gates of the compound. "Les'go"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Lou stood in front of the dead girl. Her body strapped to the trunk of an old, overgrown tree. Blonde hair dropped over her face, covering the decaying skin that lay underneath. Mutilated bodies were scattered on the floor around her. Blood spraying out in every direction. No clothes remained on her body, every part of her was exposed.

"Whoever did this, took wha' was left with 'em" Daryl stated, steppin over an arm as he made his way towards the girl with his bow outstretched "This jus' happened"

They both stared at the body, intestines dropping from her corpse as wasps tried to make it their home.

"She's tied up" Louise sighed, "They fed on her, tore her apart" she could feel the anger building up in her. "This only just happen?"

"Yeah" Daryl nodded in response, gripping the dirty blonde locks of the girl and pulling her head up so he could look at her face before driving his knife into her skull.

"What the hell is that?" she asked herself as they noticed the 'W' carved into forehead of the newly deceased walker. He tried to hide it but Daryl grimaced at the site.

"Come on, watch your step" he said as he climbed over the torso of another dead person, guiding her in the direction of his tracking. "They wen't this way"

Lou sighed, furrowing her eyebrows at the restrained girl before cutting the wire that held her in place and letting her drop to the floor.

"The hell ya' doin'?" Daryl grunted, noticing that she wasn't directly behind him.

"I wasn't gonna leave her like that" she mumbled, walking past the leather coated male and pushing her knife back into the boot she had retrieved it from. To Lou, it seemed all of her time was spent out in these woods. She never once got a day on the road, and she wasn't sure if she was thankful for that. Surely the road would be worse off?

"Alexandria" Daryl started breaking the silence between the two "It safe?"

"I guess so" she sighed pushing a branch out of her face "Nowhere's very safe these days"

Daryl grunted in reply "Got tha' right"

"Your group – how long you been with 'em?"

"Since the start" he said ensuring no walkers where creeping up on them "Lost a few along the way. "

"Havn't we all" she said raising her eyebrows.

"Had a brother. Merle – lost 'im for a while" he explained "Had to put him down when I found 'im"

"What was he like?" Lou asked, glancing over her shoulder at the male she had found herself slightly opening up to.

"A dick"

She let out a warm chuckle. It was the first time she had laughed in six months. "Mine too – down there" she said pointing towards a group of walkers, that were sealed behind a single metal fence.

"Stay behind me"

What do you think of Daryl talking to Lou about Merle?

Think it would help her open up?

Please don't forget to comment and heart

- Al