my tears ricochet

Chapter Ninety Eight

𝕋ℍℝ𝔼𝔼 𝕄𝕆ℕ𝕋ℍ𝕊 𝕃𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ

Daryl circled the rotting corpse with some vague degree of caution. He had spent the morning following a bit of a trail carved out of mud and stone from where the trees were marked with faded blue spray paint before navigating towards where the land swelled upwards slightly. Most of Ivy's old tracks and positions were wiped away from both time and weather but he knew her instinct to go to the higher ground whenever she had the chance.

He was chasing after a ghost. He was chasing after the memory of his daughter.

Green patches of moss grew over the trees. Daryl rubbed his fingers over the softness of it as he scoured the area. Whoever the boy had been, he died an ugly death. His glasses hung from one ear with a broken arm, cracked and beyond any use. "I know you're watching me. Come out," he snapped as he knelt down to study the torn up stomach. Something wild had gotten to the corpse but no walker had found it yet. It was simply decaying away beneath the sun and sky, slowly turning into nothing.

"You in the mood to chat?" Glenn called back. His jacket was slung over one shoulder and he was leaning against one of the trees. "Or you gonna shoot on sight?"

Rick was following him. "Depends," Daryl sneered. He stood up to toe the boy with his boot. Someone had managed one good hard hit to the head to keep him from turning, matching the damage done to his stomach and chest. The weapon of a choice had been bigger than the average knife. "You're fine."

"You haven't checked in lately."

He grunted. "What do you want?"

"For you to check in. Maggie's gonna start arranging a search party if you're not swinging by like you told her you would."

"I promised her nothing," Daryl said, giving Glenn a faint look of irritation. The only thing he had actually promised was that he was going to bring Ivy back somehow.

"Yeah, well, she doesn't care. So take it up with her."

Rick was carrying a bag which Daryl could only assume were full of new supplies. Every few weeks something new would show up at his campsites like a relentless ghost of charity. He looked away so he wouldn't give Rick the satisfaction of acknowledging the attempt. Whenever Ivy was, no one was looking after her.

He wasn't stopping until he found her.

"Any idea who he was?" Glenn asked, wrinkling his noise at the sight. The man was a stubborn shadow that kept popping in and out of Daryl's travels.

"Nobody of nowhere," Daryl said snidely. "Go home, Rhee."

Don't be out here for me, he meant. Not again.

But Glenn's one hand managed to catch Daryl's bag with surprising swiftness and yanked him back, fumbling with the buttons. "You're carrying, like, nothing. What the hell?"

"Shut up," Daryl snapped, trying to jerk away. But Glenn was persistent and refused to be dislodged as he rummaged through the interior. "Get off."

"A bottle of water? Protein bar? Go check in with Maggie so she stops thinking that you're starving out here. You've got maybe two more days before she comes looking for you. And if she's coming, Beth is gonna be right behind her. Do you know how stubborn they are when they're feeding off of each other? I've never won a single fight when they pair up. Come on. Save yourself a bit of frustration."

Daryl jostled his crossbow pointedly. "I'm fine. Go back where it's safe."

"I'm safe with you."

He moved away instantly. Space was easier to keep so he didn't have to look at where Glenn's left hand ended bluntly at the wrist. "No. I ain't telling you twice. Start heading back to Alexandria."