Surviving the Walking Dead (TWD FanFiction) Season 3

Episode 13

The next day, we all started to pack up our things and move out of the prison, at least for a while. Rick asked me to stick with Carl, Hershel, Beth, and Judith while everyone else stayed behind for a while. I had everything packed and was getting ready to carry all my things out to the car when I turned around and saw Daryl there looking at me

"You ready?" he asked, and I nodded as I looked down. After Merle's passing, I expected him to be more...I guess 'distant' would be the word and distant from me specifically. However, he was more in the middle. He wasn't so distant that he ignored me, but he still seemed to feel the sting of the memory just by looking at me. "Be careful" he mumbled to me, making me look back up at him and smile.

"Of course. I'm always careful" I told him, trying to sound like I was extremely confident in my task even if I wasn't totally sure. Staying away from the fight that was to come made me nervous. He gave a tight nod before simply stepping to the side to let me go. I sighed and headed down the steps and went to go find Carl because Rick asked me to keep a close eye on him since he wasn't too thrilled about the plan. I got to his room and saw him looking at an old picture of Lori, Rick, and him when he was younger. "Hey" I said, getting his attention.

He glanced at me with a death glare as he turned back to packing his things up. He remained silent the whole time as he zipped up his bag, then lifted it and set it onto his shoulder before heading out of the cell and to the exit. He seemed to be acting like everyone except Beth was the enemy here for making him stay out of harm's way. I followed behind him as we left the building and saw Rick reach out to him but Carl quickly ripped his arm away and left him just standing there Rick looked to me looking for some kind of assurance that he was getting better but all I could do was shake my head. He let out a heavy sigh before turning his attention to a car that he was checking on and making sure it would run.

I got my bags set up into one of the cars that Beth was filling up and looked over to see Daryl was across the way, messing with his bike, and Carol was talking to him

"Have you two talked about...what happened?" Beth asked me, seeming to read my mind. I shook my head. We tended to avoid it, but I wanted to tell him how badly I felt about Merle. I wasn't sure he knew how upset I was. "You should go talk to him before we get goin" Beth suggested. I looked at her and saw her giving me a light smile.

"You think?" I asked, and she nodded

"I'll finish up here" she told me, and I nodded. I walked over to Daryl, seeing he was talking to Carol, but with one look at me, she gave a light smile and then left us to talk. Daryl looked up from his bag to me.

"Hey...anything I can help with?" I asked, and he shook his head

"Naw...i got it all....just gonna hide it in the back" he explained as he looked toward the back of the prison where it could easily be hidden behind some trash or something. I nodded

"I wanted to talk" I told him, feeling worried about the answer I was going to get. "I wanted to know if we were okay?...or...what?" I asked, then offered my hand to help him up from the ground as a kind of answer. I saw him look from my hand then to my eyes like he was debating his answer in his head. Suddenly, with a scoff and light smile, he reached up and took my hand, allowing me to help him from the ground, and even then, his hand remained wrapped around mine.

"'Course we are...I know it wasn't your fault what happened with Merle...you tried to bring him back and even if the story you told about him sounded like total shit...I believe every word of it" He told me, all without batting an eye or showing any kind of hesitation in his voice. I smiled after hearing his answer, feeling relieved, and rubbed the back of his hand with my thumb.

"I just wish I could have done more" I said as I looked down at our hands

"You did all you could Jade" he told me and shook my hand a little. I nodded, trying to show my confidence in his words even if I still felt responsible for it. "Better get goin" he suddenly said, and I turned to look around and saw Hershel was looking over at us as if to tell me it was time to head out.