Double Crossbow (Daryl Dixon) [The Walking Dead]

Chapter 64 ↣ You understand what's at stake here, right?

"Because of you
I can
feel myself
slowly
but
surely
becoming the me
I
have always
dreamed
of
being."

—Tyler Knott Gregson

↣ ↢

Kathryn

DARYL AND I made large arching loops, and overlapped our tracks numerous times. Luckily, this provided a little extra time to gather up some squirrel which Daryl strung over his shoulder. It was late afternoon when we were satisfied enough to meet back with the group.

We were greeted in return with every gun aimed at us. Daryl mockingly raised his hands, lifting the squirrels with him. "We surrender."

I couldn't help but smile both at him and the fact I wasn't the only person on edge lately. Our whole group felt the same tension. I nudged Daryl with my shoulder and tilted my head towards Rick. We moved and stood on either side of him.

Rick's amused face quickly fell to concern. "Bad news?"

"Weird news," I replied.

Daryl dropped his voice and told Rick about a noise he had heard on watch, which was new information to me, and only added to my rising paranoia. "Checked out the space this morning. No tracks, no nothing." He then looked past Rick to me.

I recounted my morning, and ended with, "Same deal. No trace of them."

Rick nodded slowly, mulling over the information, "So whatever you two have heard..."

Daryl shook his head. "More like..."

"Felt," I finished.

"If someone was watching us," Daryl said carefully, "there would have been something."

Rick understood. He peeled off from us and faced the group. With a quick whistle, he got their attention and whispered, "Keep close."

Daryl and I kept the lead. "If they're not watching," I asked, "what's left?"

He snorted. "Nothing good."

"Help!"

Daryl and I whipped back at our group. I counted heads. We were all here. Rick raised his hand, halting everyone. The voice screamed out again.

"Dad," Carl said, "come on." He stepped away from Rick. "Come on."

Rick's face scrunched up, and his decision was only made when Carl began to run for the voice. We all followed.

As the yelling grew louder, a large boulder was revealed, surrounded by walkers. A man sat atop it, desperately kicking away at the dead hands that reached for him. We made quick work of the walkers. It was one of the perks of having our numbers.

When it was done, Rick said, "We're clear. Keep watch."

I didn't turn my gaze from the trembling man. Squinting against the sun, I saw he wore a priest's uniform. Something in my stomach turned.

"Come on down," Rick told him, and to his credit, he listened.

As he stood in front of Rick, his whole body shook. His eyes flickered among all of us.

Daryl touched my arm, alerting me of his presence. "You don't think—"

He didn't get the chance to finish as the stranger turned to barf his guts out.

I leaned into Daryl. "That Mr. Yack is our mystery guy? No." When he didn't respond, I looked up at him to find him looking away and grimacing. "What?" I asked.