Third person
(6 months later)
Daryl made his way towards Carol, who was serving food to the people of Woodbury. "Hey, Daryl." Daryl turned his head towards the sound. "What's up, Dr. S." He said back. Once he did the area erupted into people waving and saying "Hey Daryl." Daryl continued on his way, uncomfortable with all the attention.
"Smells good." He came up to Carol, who handed him a bowl of food. "Just so you know, I liked you first." She said with a smile. "Stop." Daryl grumbled. Leona began to walk up and the people called out to her, Leona just throwing them weak smiles. "Hey, have any of ya seen, Scar?" She asked and looked between the two of them. "No, I haven't seen her." Carol said and looked towards the fence. Leona muttered something and ran off towards the fence. "You know, Rick brought in a lot of them too." Carol looked up at Daryl, who was eating his food with his hands. "Not recently." Carol said and Daryl looked towards her. "Give the stranger sanctuary, keeping people fed, your gonna have to learn to live with the love." Daryl scoffed. "Right." He looked towards the fence and saw Leona grab someone. They pushed Leona off and walked in the other direction. "She's being to hard on her." Carol said and Daryl turned towards her. "But Scarlett, she's taking all of it so well, that it freaks Leona out." Daryl turned back and saw Leona shouting back at the figure.
The figure began to come up to the people of Woodbury and Daryl could see Scarlett wipe the blood from her lip on the back of her hand. As she came up the room erupted in shouts of "Hey Scarlett." Scarlett shoved her hands in her pockets and looked at all of them, hating the attention. She walked over to Carol and Daryl, Carol handing her a plate. "Thanks." She mumbled and Carol gave her a smile. "Everything okay?" Carol asked as Scarlett leaned next to Daryl. "Leona's lost her mind." Scarlett said and ate some of the food. "She's just worried." Carol said and handed a plate of food to one of the people from Woodbury. "When you're worried about someone, you don't punch them." Scarlett said. Daryl leaned closer to her and Scarlett looked up at him. He sucked his thumb and then ran it over her busted lip. "You should get this checked out." He said, his voice throaty. "I'll be fine, Daryl, really." He scoffed and then turned back to the people of Woodbury. Scarlett nudged him on the side and he rolled his eyes.
"Well, since y'all are both here. I need you to see something." Carol said and asked Patrick if he could take over. Before they walked away behind Carol, Patrick stopped Daryl. "Uh, Mr.Dixon, I just wanted to thank you for bringing that deer back yesterday. It was a real treat, sir, and I'd be honored to shake your hand." Scarlett looked over at Daryl and then at Patrick, who was waiting with his hand outstretched. Daryl sucked each finger and gave the boy a handshake, while Scarlett and Carol smiled behind him. As they walked away, Patrick had a giant grin on his face. Scarlett chuckled and looked up at Daryl. "I think you have a fan, Mr. Dixon." She joked and Carol chuckled. "Yea yea, whatever, woman."
Scarlett's view:
"About today, I don't know if we're gonna be able to spare a lot of people for the run." Carol said as me and Daryl followed alongside her. "That place is good to go. We're gonna move on it." Daryl said as we walked up to a part that overlooked the courtyard. "Yeah, the thing is, we had a pretty big buildup overnight. Dozens more towards tower three. It's getting as bad as last month. They don't spread out anymore." Carol said, watching some of the people down below stab walkers the through the fence. "With more of us sitting here, we're drawing more of them out. You get enough of those damn fence-clingers, they start to herd up." Daryl stated. "Yea and pushing against the fences again." Carol sighed.
"Too many of them might bring the fence down." I said and Carol turned towards me. "That's what I'm worried about, so far it's manageable, but unless we get ahead of it, not for long." I looked up at Daryl and then turned back to the people below.
I went to my cell and grabbed some extra ammo to take on the run. Hershel past by and stopped by my cell. "Morning, Scarlett." I turned to him and smile. "Morning, Hershel. You making sure everything's running smoothly?" I asked and he chuckled. "The best I can." I smiled and hooked my axe to my belt. "We miss you this morning, Scarlett. Where'd you run off to?" I shrugged and walked towards him. "Wanted to avoid the crowd from Woodbury. I may have slipped out for a while." I said and walked past him, but heard him follow me.
"That's dangerous, Scarlett, now that the walkers are getting closer to the fence." I stopped and turned back towards him. "I know, don't worry, this was the last time. I just..needed some space." He nodded as I went out to join Daryl by the truck. I leaned against the truck next to him as Zack placed his things in and went over to Beth.
"Hey, I was just gonna come find you." Beth smiled as Zack came over. I rolled my eyes when they started kissing and was nudged in the side by Daryl. "It's like a damn romance novel." He said aloud, as Beth walked away. I chuckled as Zack walked past us and rolled his eyes. "And what about you two?" I crossed my arms over my chest while Daryl glared at him. "What about us?" Zack watched us carefully before gulping and walking away. I chuckled and Daryl gave a low chuckle as we made our way to the green suburban where Sasha and Tyreese were.
Bob walked up as we made our way over. "I'd like to start pulling my weight around here." He said and Sasha watched him carefully. "Bob, it's only been a week." He nodded and stepped up to the car. "That's a week worth of meals, a roof over my head. Let me earn my keep." He argued back. "We could use the extra help to grab more supplies." I said to Bob. Sasha just shook her head and turned back to Bob. "You were out on your own when Daryl found you." She said and I moved closer.
"That's right." He said back. "I just want to make sure you know how to play on a team." Sasha said. I scoffed as Daryl walked past me and went past Sasha. "We ain't gonna do it unless it's easy." He said as he passed her. "You know he was a medic in the army." Glenn said, backing Bob. "We could use someone like that out there, in case something happens." I said and moved to stand next to Glenn. Sasha looked at both of us before turning back to Bob. "You a hell of a tough sell. You know that?" Bob said and Sasha finally agreed.
I smiled and walked over to where Daryl was on his bike, him motioning with his head for me to get on. I climbed on and wrapped my hands around his waist. We stopped at the gates and I saw Michonne was back. I climbed off and she smiled at me. "Glad to see you back." I said. "Glad to be back." Daryl pulled up beside me on his bike and looked at Michonne. "Well, look who's back." He said and glanced at me. "Didn't find him." She said and he nodded. "Bastard's probably hiding, he'll show up." I stated and looked at Daryl. He looked up at me and then to Michonne. "Glad to see ya in one piece." She nodded. "I'm thinking of looking over near Macon." Rick sighed. "It's worth a shot." Michonne argued.
"70 miles of walkers. You might run into a few unneighborly types. Is it?" Daryl stated and I looked at Michonne. "Just stay, Michonne, he's not worth getting yourself killed." She looked down at the ground while I turned back to Rick and Daryl. "I'm gonna go check out The Big Spot. The one I was talking about, just seeing." Daryl said as I climbed back on behind him. "Yeah, I got to go out and check the snares. I don't want to lose whatever we catch to the walkers." Rick said and I nodded. "Hopefully, we got something that is going to last us a while." I said and smiled to Carl, who was over near the horse that Michonne had came back on. "I'll go." Michonne spoke up and Carl looked at her confused. "You just got here." She smiled to the young boy. "And I'll be back." I looked over at her as she made her way past us and to one of the cars. Daryl started the engine and we went off through the gate, towards the Big Spot.
When we got there, I got off and followed Daryl. "Army came in and put these fences up, made it a place for the people to go." He stated as Bob walked beside us. "Last week, when we spotted this place, there was a bunch of walkers behind this chain-link, keeping people out like a bunch of guard dogs." Daryl finished and pulled his crossbow off his back, while I unhooked my axe. "So they all just left?" Bob asked as he followed us. "Give a listen." Sasha said and we all listened to the music playing. "You drew them out." Michonne said and turned to Sasha. "Put a boom box out there three days ago." She said. "Hooked it up to two car batteries." Glenn finished and I looked through the large gap in the fence. "All right, let's make a sweep." Daryl said and I followed behind him, the music still playing as we got closer.
"Make sure it's safe. Grab what you can. We'll come back tomorrow with more people." He said as we made our way into the camp. Tents littered the parking lot as did military trucks. We soon made it to the front of the store and Daryl pounded on the window, drawing any walkers to the front. He sat down on the edge of the window with me next to him as Michonne and Zach made their way over. "Just give it a second." He said and I turned to look at him. "Okay, I think I got it." Zach said I rolled my eyes. "Got what?" Michonne asked, coming up next to Zach.
"Oh, I've been trying to guess what Daryl did before the turn." He said. "He's been trying to guess for, like, six weeks." Daryl stated as Zach moved to sit next to him. "And yet, he still hasn't guessed correctly." I said and looked at Zach. "Listen, I'm taking one shot a day." He said back and I raised an eyebrow. "All right, shoot." Daryl said. Zach sighed and then looked at Daryl. "Well, the way you are at the prison, you being on the council, you're able to track, so you're helping people, but you're still being kind of..."
I watched as Zach chose his words very carefully as Daryl turned towards him. "Surly. Big swing here. Homicide cop." Me and Michonne starting laughing once the words left his mouth. "What's so funny?" Daryl asked, looking between both of us. "Nothing. It makes perfect sense." Me and her started laughing again as Daryl turned to me. "Actually, the man's right." I rolled my eyes as he turned back to Zach. "Undercover." Zach looked at him for a moment. "Come on, really?" He asked. "Yep." Daryl said and turned back to me, with a smirk.
I scoffed and he looked at Zach. "I mean, I don't like to talk about it 'cause it was a lot of heavy shit, ya know?" I looked at Michonne as we tried our best not to start laughing again. "C'mon really?" Zach asked and Daryl shot him a look that said 'what do you think.' "Okay, I'll just keep guessing, I guess." Zach said as Daryl turned to me. "Yeah, you keep doing that." Daryl said as I chuckled. Suddenly, walkers came up to the glass and I stood up along with Daryl. "We gonna do this, Mr. Detective?" Michonne asked as we past her and I smiled. "Let's do it." Daryl said as we headed inside.
We each made our way through the store finding things that we could use, looking up and down the aisles. I went with Michonne and placed some waters in the cart she was pushing. "I'm glad that you're safe, Michonne." I whispered, the store having a sort of eeriness to it. "I know, you don't need to worry, I can handle myself, Scar." I looked at her and then grabbed some batteries that were hanging up. "You're going after the Governor, Michonnne. That man is cold-blooded, and I want to see him a walker as much as the next person, but I don't want you getting yourself killed for it." I stated and she sighed.
"What he did, you still remember it?" I looked back in front of me. "Like it was yesterday." I said as we rounded the corner, coming face to face with a standup shaped like a monster. Me and Michonne glared at the standup and she pulled her sword from her back, cutting it in half. I chuckled as we continued on, but we stopped when we heard a loud crash ring throughout the store. We both rushed over and saw Daryl crouched down, shining his light into some wine shelves that had fallen down. "You alright? You cut or something?" He asked into the shelf as I walked over and crouched next to him. "Nah, man, but my foot is caught." Daryl stood up and I moved to the other side of the shelf.
"Alright. He's just caught. Come on, help him up." He said and Tyreese and Zach came over as we all tried to lift one of the shelves up, and move it off of Bob. "I was moving fast, man. I drove right into the drinks." He said as we all moved to the next one.
Suddenly, a walker fell from the ceiling, hanging from its guts and I looked over at Daryl. He motioned for me to come over near him as Glenn and Sasha appeared. "Uh, we should go." Glenn said and Daryl moved towards Bob. "Bob's still stuck. Get him out of there!" He shouted and everyone started to move. I yanked my pistol from side as walkers began to fall from the ceiling blocking our way, some dying from impact while others lived.
I shot each one in the head and backed up as more fell from the ceiling. One walker lunged for me and I pushed it back, shooting it in the head. I ran over to Bob as Daryl and Zach did and helped them pull the last shelf off of Bob as Daryl drug him out. "Let's go, now! Come on, go!" I was right beside him when cries sounded and I turned with the others to see Zach get bit in the leg and then the neck. "Zach!"
Glenn yelled out and tried to rushed towards Zach, but I stopped him. We ran as the roof collapsed in and Zach's cries still audible. The loud crash of the destroyed helicopter caving in the store was heard as we left the store behind us. It was silent as we rode back and as I listened to the roaring engine of the bike I saw Daryl glance at me from over his shoulder, but I kept my cheek pressed to his back.
I could still hear the screaming, I could still hear it all.
When we reached the prison we all went back to our cells and I looked at Daryl as he left to tell Beth. He looked back at me before I went into our cell and laid down, but I wasn't tired. I just stared up at the top bunk, remembering the faces of the ones we lost.
I heard someone walk into the cell and climb in next to me. I turned my head to the side and looked at him while he did the same. I slowly moved into his side and placed my head on his chest. "How did she take it." I asked softly and felt his hand on my back. "She took it..okay." I sat up and looked at him. "Okay?" I asked confused. "Mmhm." He said, watching as I laid back down. "And how are you taking it?" I asked him. "Tired of losing people." His grip around me became tighter as we laid there in silence. Sleep overcame us both and I could still hear Daryl's light snores.
However, something else stirred during the night in another cell block. The sound of coughing sounding throughout cell block D.
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It really seems like you guys enjoy this book and I'm glad. Thank you so much guys and stay amazing. 💚