The Fear (The Walking Dead / Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 7 - Only A Matter Of Time

"How are you feeling?" I asked Daryl as I entered his room with some breakfast that Beth had made and a first aid kit.

"Fine." He responded simply in his gruff voice as I handed over the plate and he nodded a thank-you as he was pulling himself up into a sitting position.

"Really? Didn't rip any of those stitches open when you got up last night?" I asked as he looked at me with his eyes slightly narrowed. "I saw you close the door, I know you get out of bed."

"Yeah, well... got woken up." He muttered, taking a bite of the scrambled eggs as I tried to push back my smile over his stubbornness.

"Carl is moving out to the tents today, he's walking around okay on his own now. You should be able to as well... once I've changed those dressings." I added, pulling up a chair.

"They'll be fine." He stated, taking another mouthful of egg.

Before he could grab another, I snatched the plate out of his hand and held it out of his reach, smiling just as stubbornly as he had been acting. "Two can play this game, Champ." Daryl's eyes narrowed even more over the new nickname I had given him, but I think he had caught on by now to just not question it. Some people I just felt like giving nicknames to and he was one of them, however, I hadn't exactly landed on one yet so I was going to continue mixing it up. "Good news is that you can probably loose the head bandage." I added.

Daryl sighed and I took that as the go ahead, handing him back his food just before I began to unwrap it. He flinched a little when I lightly touched the gash on his hairline, but I was fairly sure it was out of surprise from the contact and not from pain.

"It really wasn't that deep. It was probably just the shock more than anything that knocked you out." I stated, sitting back as he took another bite of his food. I rolled my eyes slightly without him seeing. He was certainly the silent type. "Sit up a bit more, I'll undo that." I gestured to the bandage around his waist.

"I'll do it later."

"You gonna clean it out and reapply the antiseptic cream as well?" I shot back as he snapped his eye up from his food to meet mine. "Sit. Forward." I stated more adamantly with a stern gaze that won over his as he gave in and straightened himself out a bit more.

It was only after I had undone the bandage that I noticed the scars. I hadn't taken notice of them yesterday because I was too distracted by his fresh wounds and any time anyone came in here he always covered himself up with the sheet, but I saw them now.

Some I recognized easily as cigarette burns, but others were longer lacerations, maybe even deep whip marks. They didn't cover his entire torso, just scattered randomly a bit across his chest and back.

Of course I didn't say anything, I didn't even make it obvious that I was examining them as I redressed the wound where the arrow had pierced through his side, but I had to admit I was curious.

In an attempt to keep myself distracted and not look at the marks I asked a slightly lame question.

"Were you warm enough last night?"

"It was fine." He responded simply.

"You're lying. This used to be my room, I know how cold it can get." I explained.

"Well... I can see why you moved out of it, but I've had worse."

I chuckled a little, "Actually the room I moved in to is colder." Daryl gave me a confused look and I went to explain. "When Annette, my stepmother, and her son, Shawn, moved in, he, ah... he used to get so cold, woke up shivering, he was only twelve, had no meet on his bones... so one day while I was looking after him and everyone else had gone for a run into town I decided we'd swap rooms. He came in here and I went to his room." I smiled at the ground over the memory. "We, ah... we made a complete mess of the walls. Had to move the furniture around and kept bumping into them, leaving black marks. So, when we were done, Shawn quickly ran down to the shed and came back with a bucket of spare wall paint. Dad had only repainted the hallway a month earlier. We went over the marks, made it as neat as possible, opened up all the windows and got rid of the smell... when they got back Dad had no idea." I chuckled. "Still doesn't."