I hate you (Daryls daughter/ Carl love story)

Sneaking out

"You two cupcakes havin' fun bein' all warm an' fuzzy?" He scoffed to himself. "Didn't know that you wanted to be a babysitter, little brother."

Daryl rolled his eyes and stood. "I ain't a babysitter."

Merle looked him up and down, causing Daryl to leave his eyes downcast. "Sure ya are. Look at you hangin' our with this little munchkin." He turned his condescension to Diana. "You havin' fun during the end of the world, cupcake?" He placed his hands on his knees and leaned down to her eye level, like one would with a puppy.

This man was dangerous. His eyes had hardened a lot more since he first arrived. They watched her steadily.

She didn't speak. She stood dumbly, kicking at the ground.

She'd met men with eyes like his before. He was no one she wanted to know for long.

"Look at me when I'm speakin' to ya." He said dryly, snapping his fingers in her face. She reluctantly obeyed his orders.

"That's a good girl."

She swallowed the lump in her throat and crossed her arms.

"Where's that loudmouth girl from earlier?" Merle chuckled to himself. "You deaf or somethin', girl?"

She shook her head.

This was a mistake. She was out at night with two grown men, one of them being on some sort of drug and the other having been drinking. Everyone else was asleep.

This was not good.

"Speak when spoken to." Merles tone shifted from fake playful to hardened malice.

"No." She muttered. "I'm not deaf."

"Then why ain't ya speakin?"

"Cause I'm mute." She stated sarcastically. Immediately, she wished she could retract her words. She watched his eyes narrow into slits.

Merle didn't hesitate in lashing his hand across her face. She gasped and stumbled, holding her hand to her cheek. It stung at the touch, beginning to turn red. Fear spiked in her stomach, jolting every nerve in her body.

This was exactly why she had to get out of there.

Daryl took a step closer. "Merle." He said quietly.

Merle only walked closer to the girl. "I ain't someone to mess with, sugar." He clutched her hair tightly and pulled her to him, forcing her face near his. She whimpered as he brought her up."You speak like that to me again... we're gonna have a lot of problems on our hands. Startin' with missin' kids."

"Merle." Daryl warned a little firmer. "Let her go."

"Don't tell me what to do." Merle snarled back. "This little bug needs to be squished."

Diana wriggled, only pulling on her hair more. She squeaked in pain. Merle laughed as he watched her fruitlessly attempt at getting away.

It was a sick game of cat and mouse.

Daryl shoved Merles shoulder. "Ya really wanna get kicked outta camp? Ya wanna go live out in the woods? We want to stay here, even if we don't like these pansies." He argued.

Merle didn't budge. He did however cast his brother a glance.

Daryl continued. "Hurtin' the girl ain't gonna do anythin'."

"It'll make me feel better, how bout that?"

"You're high, Merle."

Merle seemed to think about this for a moment. "Fine." Without a warning he dropped Diana to the grass. She scrambled away from him them moment she was free.

She hated the sick look in his eyes. This man was the kind of man that lived off fear.

"Pathetic." He snorted. "Who raises kids to be like that."

Diana wanted to run.

She wanted to scream.

But she was frozen to the grass.

"And you." Merle turned to his brother and jabbed his finger into his chest. "You stop tryin' to order me around." He walked to the tent, knocking into Daryl's shoulder on the way.

Diana glared at his back as merle crawled back into his tent.

Daryl watched her shakily make her way to her feet.

She wanted to yell at him to, but all she could do was cover her cheek and look at the ground.

"You plannin' on tellin' people what happened?" Daryl asked as he moved back to his seat, pulling out another cigarette.

"No." She mumbled, face flushing a bright magenta.

"Good."

Diana said nothing. Now she understood why that Asian boy had been so interested in the ground under his feet. Her eyes didn't seem to want to leave the blades of green.

"Tell 'em ya kneed ya self in the face or somethin'." He offered as he pulled out his lighter. "People always buy it."

   Diana nodded.

   "Merle's right. You really are at a loss 'a words." He noted, watching her closely.

     "Cause your messed up brother slapped me." She blurted, not even thinking about her own words. "He pulled my hair and dropped me in the dirt. He's a schoolyard bully is what he is."

   "I saved your ass, kid." Daryl stated gruffly as he
puffed out a cloud of smoke. "You talk 'bout my brother like that again, I'm gonna dump you in the quarry with ya legs tied together."

"At this point, you'd be doing me a favor." She spat as she removed her hand from her face. "It'll keep me from having to see your ugly face."

" Trust me, I'd love nothin' more. Now if you know what's good for ya, you'll go back to your tent and pretend nothin' happened." He waved her off.

"No I don't think I want to." Diana crosses her arms. This man was a constant thorn in her side, so she was going to annoy him as much as she could. "Maybe I'll sit here and tell you how bad smoking is for you."

Sarcasm was always the best way to bounce back from a hit. Especially if it got the other person annoyed.

"I swear if you do that-."

"Did you know that when you inhale the smoke it turns your lungs black?" She started, purposely raising her voice an octave higher. "Then they get all crispy and turn into ash and disintegrate in your chest. Next thing you know you're coughing out your lung dust."

  "Just stop-."

  "You, the ugly one in the back, save your questions for the end of the lecture." She pointed at him as if she was pointing over a crowd. "I have a very tight schedule full of loathing you."

  "If you-."

   "As I was saying, you'll choke on your lung dust and die. That is, if you don't suffocate first. Then someone will drag your body out into a ditch because no one will want to show up to your funeral."

   Daryl stood up and began walking to her.

   "All right that's all for today!" She scrambled to the ten, speeding through her words. "Thank you my adoring fans!" With that she disappeared into her tent, the last of her sarcasm fading.

  She sighed quietly and sat back down on her sleeping bag.

  Alright, time to start writing "escape plan 2.0".

She would need to be craftier. Not just slip away in the night. She could check for look outs each night... but she couldn't depend on that being her only way out.

She escaped worse places before. She could do it again.