The Walking Dead - Drained and Insane ([Daryl Dixon]Fanfic)

Chapter 1: Shattered Glass

*Disclaimer: I do not own any of the walking dead characters other than the ones I create myself*

Insanity, hopelessness, loneliness and fear lingered heavily in the air, thick and suffocating. She felt as if though the darkness itself was dragging her by her ankles, her only defence was to rake her fingernails desperately against the floor.

She had nothing left, she was empty. Her mind, her soul, her actions and her words. Her life was nothing but a dusty glass pane window, covered in cobwebs, abandoned, unable to see the light and easily shattered. She sat motionless in the tall tree, staring blankly at whatever unfortunately lay in her line of sight .

She could not hear a sound, nor feel a thing. She was isolated and alone and had already begun to feel the insanity inside her twitch as it came to life like wildfire, fuelled by the gushes of wind that reminded her of all that she had seen and lost, along with her hope of ever surviving this world.

What's the point?

She had asked herself that question over and over again, racking her brain for even the slightest answer.

She was worn down, her worry seemed to age her rapidly as the bags under her eyes seemed to have bags of their own. She hadn't eaten for weeks, drank for days nor had a minute of sleep. She was deprived, like a withered dead branch and she was running out of adrenalin that she relied on to keep her going.

Her days consisted of walking, and walking, having her demons tease her as if she were a hamster on a wheel, tempted by the sweet smell of hope that she would find something worth living for, only for her to be left tired and drowning  in her own defeat.

What scared her is that she didn't mind dropping dead at any moment and she didn't mind if she died of thirst or starvation.

There is no hope.

There is no humanity.

Even if there are pockets of survivors still out there, if the creatures won't kill them, their thoughts eventually will.

She looked down at her weak arms that could be snapped in two as easily as a toothpick. Her dizziness and nausea made her weak enough for even the slightest gust of wind to knock her over.

'What am I doing?' she thought and she pinched the bridge of her nose. She was drowning and there was no one to save her.

She was once like a wild, free horse. She may not have been free from her father, but she was free from the constant fear of being torn apart by flesh eating monsters. But the world was like a cowboy, taking away her chances of freedom with one sudden jerk of it's lasso. It held tightly onto her back, constantly looming over her shoulder and whispering things that made her grow weaker and weaker. 

She tried desperatley to fight it and get it off her back but she wasn't strong enough.

The world broke her.

She was a broken horse. Under the control of her master, willing to do whatever it commanded, even if it said to put a gun to her head. It seemed to consume her and she knew that the world would kill her slowly, then all at once.

The world kept on pushing her further and further past her limits until she no longer had the will, strength or reason to live.

She was broken.

She checked her gun and took note that she only had 5 bullets left. 5 shots that would either make or break her. She slid down the tree swiftly, these kind of things were now second nature to her. She landed a little too heavily onto the ground and bit her lip as her vision started to blur. She closed her eyes and lay her head against the hard tree, feeling herself slipping away.

She heard crunches and quick scampers and she immediately perked up. The noise seemed to paralyse her and the thought of food immediately possessed her and she felt like a predator, strategically looking for it's prey. 

She put her gun in her pocket and brang out her knife instead, shivering at the sound it made as she whipped it out of it's case. She crouched low, with her knife held high behind her, moving so her feet wouldn't make a sound.

It had been so long since there was a sign of food and she could almost see her demons curling a single finger at her in circles, ushering her towards what they promised would be rewarding.

Her eyes met with wide, frightened black eyes of a large squirrel at the base of a tree. They eyed each other as if it was a showdown between two cowboys, one wanting to fill their stomach and the other wanting to disappear out of sight.

She threw her knife with all her might, watching it soar into the air and land straight between the eyes of her contender, pinning it to the tree that was once it's escape but now it's death bed. Her heart sank a little at the sight, knowing she had just brutally killed an animal.

It hung lifelessly from her knife and she hurried over to it as quickly as she could, eager to remove something of her own lodged in a living animal's head. She wrapped her hands around the handle, cringing at the distraught and frozen look of the fluffy squirrels face.

She heard a trigger and looked in horror as an arrow soared effortlessly through the air. It zipped past her, missing her hands by centimetres as it lodged itself just above where her knife was.

"Aye! That's was ma squirrel!"

His southern accent was thick, slurred and defensive and his voice echoed in her ears. She swivelled around to see a large man, who's surprisingly familiar bright blue eyes instantly captivated her, staring straight into her green ones.

His brown hair fell messily around his face and his huge tanned arms held a magnificent black crossbow that was aimed right at her head. Her eyes widened in fear just as the squirrel had beforehand as she prepared herself to scamper back into the forest as far away from this man as possible.

 She yanked the knife out of his head, put it back in its pouch and looked down at floor as her eyes darted frantically. She looked up and her breathe hitched in her throat when she saw the man had moved closer towards her and she began to back away. This man looked dangerous and didn’t look like he would be giving up the squirrel anytime soon or a chance to get rid of her if he decided she was a threat.

"What 'chu doin' out here by yourself?"

Her eyes widened and she insisted on her brain to adapt to the current situation. She couldn't believe there was a human standing right in front of her, she couldn't comprehend the fact that there was the slightest possibility she could be safe.

But she had to get past the fact that she could drop dead at any moment with a black arrow lodged straight between her eyes. The mysterious man took a step forward and she frantically took a step back.

Instinct told her to run and get the hell away, but her heart told her to grasp the opportunity before it disappeared, fell to the floor and shattered like glass.