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

Chapter 4: Crash and Burn

"So where were ya before all this?" Daryl asked.

He yanked his arrow out of the creatures head and she cringed internally at the squelching sound it made. Daryl put the arrow back into his crossbow and loaded it, then removed Evangeline's knife that was impaled in the walkers forehead then handed it to her with a nod. They had both simultaneously acted on instinct and immediately went in for the kill as soon as the walker stumbled into view. Evangeline had pelted her knife while Daryl pulled the trigger on his crossbow, each taking out the walker instantly, like a king hit.

"I was in my office working on a case," she said.

"What kind of case?" Daryl asked and frowned at her in confusion.

"Murder," she replied bluntly.

Daryl frowned further and his mouth opened slightly but couldn't seem to put the words together and ask her.

"I am, well was, a lawyer," she said, answering the question she knew he was going to ask.

He raised his eyebrows slightly and gave her an impressed look. That's one of the things he remembered about her, her intelligence.

"Kinda silly though ain't it?" she said nervously, twirling the knife between her fingers.

"Why say that?" he asked and slung the crossbow over his shoulder.

"Well, didn't really prepare me for the end of the world did it now?"

"I'm sure you got somethin' out of it."

"Like what? So I can plead a walker guilty and force it to community service? Press charges for attempted murder?" she said, her words coated in sarcasm.

Daryl chuckled lightly and Evangeline let out at giggle. It sent shivers down his spine at the way her laughter seemed to brighten everything, like a ray of hope. It was contagious and the corners of his mouth turned up into a smile.

It had been a while since he heard that laugh.

"There was a fire," she explained and inched her sleeves up to reveal painful burn marks scattered across her arms and Daryl's eyes widened and his smile instantly disappeared.

"Barely made it out alive. When I did, those things were everywhere, eatin' people and firemen. Everyone was screamin' and runnin', it was like a feedin' frenzy," she said, her voice lowered and her eyes cast down to the floor at the disturbing memory that was engraved in her mind.

"So, drove home as fast as I could. My bastard of a father had already left and taken the whole damn pantry with him and our guns," she scowled at the mentioning of her father deserting them and her father in general.

"So me and my brother set out with our kitchen knives and went to Atlanta because they promised it was safe there. But they were damn wrong, the city had fallen long before we got there."

"Where is he? You're brother?" he asked.

She immediately fell silent and hung her head and he watched with sadness as the life drained from her eyes and they became vacant once again. She could barely accept what happened to him herself, let alone try and explain it to someone else.

"Where d'ya get that from?" he asked and glanced down to the gun in the side waistline of her jeans that seemed to have gotten a lot baggier over time.

"Stole it from a dead man," she said and her voice immediately told him how ashamed she was, she didn't even have to admit it.

Daryl nodded in response and glanced around at the surrounding forest, looking for any signs of an incoming corpse.