A New World - A The Walking Dead Fanfic

Chapter 12

"What the hell, man? You ever heard of kno-" Daryl begun and spread his arms out, clearly irritated but I turned around and promptly cut him off. "Shh!'" I hissed, putting my finger against my lips. "He's coming..." I trailed off and turned back around, my eyebrows furrowing in concentration as I listened. Right then heavy footsteps walked past in a fast pace and a few moments later a loud bang could be heard from the end of the corridor. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding and slowly turned around with an awkward smile.

"Hey, so..." I begun, scratching the back of my head.

"The hell you doin' in 'ere, lady?!" Daryl burst out, narrowing his eyes and stepping closer. I cleared my throat while shuffling my feet.

"Uhm, well, you see... Your, uh... Your room just happened to be my closest escape route." I concluded and shrugged my shoulders. I took a few steps forward and nervously glanced at the door, paranoid that Shane somehow would hear me talking. Daryl raised an eyebrow in confusion and stared at me. "You ain't makin' no sense..." He muttered and slumped down on the couch. "Come on, just spit it out already."

I lingered for a moment before hastily making my way over to Daryl, plopping down ungraciously beside him. My eyes darted towards the coffee table in front of us and I instinctively reached out for the familiar bottle. Daryl was about to start protesting but I promptly held up my pointer finger while taking a swig.

"One word..." I started, almost knocking the bottle over as I put it back down on the table. "Cigarette." I crossed my legs and gave him a serious look. He didn't look amused what so ever but frankly, right in this moment, I didn't care. "So, I was carelessly drinking away in my room, got bored and thought to myself that I should check out the rec room." I begun explaining while motioning with my hands. "I made my way down there, and what do I see?!" I asked loudly. "The frickin' door's closed! And why, you may ask?"

Daryl rolled his eyes as he went for the bottle, letting out a deep sigh. I chose to ignore it and went on with my storytelling. "You see, I sneaked up and I heard voices from inside... Can you guess who?!" I questioned, getting a bit too excited by my own gossip. Daryl simply shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. His posture was tense and he was getting impatient.

"Lori and Shane!" I exclaimed dramatically with wide eyes. He raised an eyebrow and gave me a puzzled look. "So what?" Daryl questioned, obviously not realizing the suspiciousness of the whole situation.

"So what?" I repeated in disbelief, my hands dropping down on my knees. "They're locked in a room together, arguing about something and suddenly Lori screams and Shane comes stomping out of the room!"

At the mention of the heated argument, Daryl furrowed his brows and gazed at the table. It looked like he was giving it an honest thought.

"So why're you 'ere?" He persisted and glanced at me.

"Well I don't know if you've noticed, but he doesn't like me all that much." I stated in a matter-of-fact tone and gestured at myself. "He's drunk, I'm... A tiny bit drunk, maybe..." I trailed off and scratched my head. "That confrontation could go waaay south, real quick. And that's why I hid in here." I concluded. It was quiet for a while as we both stared into nothingness.

"He don't like ya, that's for sure." Daryl simply stated, the frustration and impatience seemingly gone. He relaxed a bit, his shoulders sinking as he got less tense. 

"T-Dog said Shane's been acting weird since Rick came back. You noticed anything?" I asked curiously. He struck me as an observant person, someone who wanted to keep track of what's going on so he'd be prepared for anything. When the RV broke down he was the only one checking the perimeters aside from me. In this post-apocalyptic world that was a trait that would keep you alive. To be aware of everything that was going on in your surroundings. But would that be needed from now on? Nothing could get to us in here after all.