Double Crossbow (Daryl Dixon) [The Walking Dead]

Chapter 63 ↣ That was you right?

"Survival mode is supposed to be a phase that helps save your life. It is not meant to be how you live."

— Michele Rosenthal

↣ ↢

Daryl

IT WAS THE end of our second day of walking. The sun was long gone from the sky. Carol and I sat next to each other on watch. If I leaned back, I could see the embers of the dying fire. It was just enough light that I could make out Kathryn's outline.

I rested my chin against the butt of my bow, and leaned further into the tree. There was so much I wanted to ask Carol...so much I must've missed. I glanced over at her, hoping she would just get the message.

She squirmed under my gaze, and didn't look over at me as she said, "I don't want to talk about it. I can't. I just need to forget it." She then met my gaze.

"All right." Carol had always given me space when needed, and as I looked at her, I saw she needed the same. It didn't ease my worry. Questions still stirred in my mind until I heard movement in the trees. Any train of thought was brutally halted.

I held a hand out to Carol, a signal to stay behind me, and scanned the treeline. There was no movement, no other sound. "It's nothing," I told Carol, half trying to convince myself as well. I turned my head and looked at Kathryn. She was still there. I couldn't go running off into the dark, dawn was way too far out.

Carol and I sat back down in silence, and it stayed that way most of the night. A warmth settled in my chest. I really had missed her.

↣ ↢

I jerked awake when I reached for Kathryn, and my palm landed on empty ground. I sat up and looked around the campsite. Everyone in the group was mosing about their day. Rick was the first to notice my search.

"She went out to hunt," Rick said.

I exhaled, and began collecting our things. Once I had everything, I stood by Rick's side. Lil' Asskicker reached away from him towards me, whining. My arms were full, but I awkwardly slung my bow over the same shoulder as my bag, and held a hand to her. She gripped my index finger and quieted.

Rick smiled. "It takes a village."

"You heading the same way?" Rick nodded, and I could see the unease in his stance. "Today'll be it."

"How do you know?"

I shrugged. "Kath was talking 'bout some... Law of averages shit. We gotta find something eventually. Why not today?"

Rick nodded, and his brows pulled together in thought.

"Which way she go?"

"East," he replied.

"M'kay." I squeezed Judith's hand in goodbye before letting go. "Don't wait up. We'll find y'all."

Judith began whining once more.

"What?" I asked. She stared at me with her doe eyes. "I can't let Kath get all 'em squirrels."

Judith babbled back at me.

My lips almost twitched into a smile, and as I walked away, I said, "Keep 'im in line Lil' Asskicker." Rick's laughter followed me into the treeline.

Following Kathryn's tracks would be an almost impossible task if you didn't know a little about her. She favored her right foot when she walked, so instead of looking for even tracks you had to look ahead a bit. Fill in the blank spaces where her tracks seemed to disappear. If she had seen something to shoot at, there'd be a crescent shape in the dirt where she crouched and leaned into the outside of her feet to keep balance.