❝ You're caught in my crosshairs again. ❞
In which a Navy SEAL,
a doomsday prepper,
and an extroverted
12-year-old find life in the
apocalypse alongside a
group of...
𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐒. chapter fifty-six; Want " And I needed to remember what it felt like. "
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VEX AND DARYL were positioned on the East side of the barn. There was no movement around them, save for the walkers still alive despite being skewered and crushed by fallen trees. Their weapons were readied but not raised, eyes scanning the landscape around them carefully.
"You think it's real?"
"I think we'll find out one way or another."
Vex glanced at Daryl, letting her rifle fall at her side as she approached him.
"I don't know," Daryl admitted, "How 'bout you?"
"I think it has to be," She said quietly, earning Daryl's attention, "We can't live like this."
Daryl met her eyes, a silent understanding between the two of them. They could survive, of course, they could survive— but this was not life.
"And I think if it is real," Vex continued quietly, "It'll change a lot."
"You think it'll change us?"
He asked the question before he could swallow it.
"In some ways," She answered after a moment, "I think we'll finally be able to want things again. We'll be able to think about something other than food and water and shelter. . ."
The moment was so fragile, Daryl was worried he would ruin it with words.
"I haven't. . . stopped wanting things. I doubt anyone has," Vex breathed out, "But having them right now, when we're like this, it's not. . . fair."
"What do you want?"
She tilted her head just slightly as if contemplating her answer.
But Vex Williams knew exactly what she wanted. She'd wanted it for so long that she had no idea where it started or where it would end.
They stared at each other in deafening silence, the space between them filled everything they had never said.
Daryl didn't believe he deserved what Vex had already given— and he hated himself for wanting more.
Vex has never seen love turn out right, and the last thing she wanted was to lose Daryl Dixion just because of some stupid emotions.
But in that moment, right before their lives would change, they set down everything else other than each other. Because want was something much stronger than fear of self-loathing.
"It's not fair."
"Nothin' is."
She stared up at him for a moment, her eyes flicking between his as if looking for any doubt before she spoke. Any flicker of hesitation or questioning.
