RE-WRITING! Guardian Angel. (A Walking Dead/Daryl Dixon Fan Fiction)

Chapter 76.

We were still walking. We'd been walking for a while now and still no sign of food or water. I was walking with Daryl, his arm was loosely wrapped around my shoulders and he occasionally rub circles on my arm with his fingers. He didn't talk to me though, just sent me glances every now and then. I fanned myself with my hand as we stalked down the dirt path. It was too hot and we all desperately prayed for rain.

"Dad, look." Carl suddenly called, pointing ahead at some cars. Daryl pulled his arm from round me and spoke.

"I'm gonna head into the woods, circle back." He said.

"Want me to come with?" I asked.

"No. No, just me." He said, glancing back at me. I nodded as he turned and headed into the trees. I sighed as we headed over to the cars. We began to walk towards the cars. Once we got to them, we each searched through a car, I walked over to a dusty black one, pulling out my knife as I did. I checked for walkers before pulling open the trunk. As I rummaged through the trunk, a presence fell beside me. I slowly looked up to see Eugene standing there, looking at me. I frowned at him.

"Are you alright Eugene?" I asked.

"Yes I am." He replied.

"Okay." I replied.

"I just wanted to apologize for any false hope I may have given you about Washington." He explained. I looked at him and smiled slightly.

"You don't have to apologize Eugene, we all make mistakes." I said, looking back at him.

"That we do, and I also hope we can be friends, I would like to get to know you." He added.

"I'm sure we can be friends." I mumbled before turning back to the car. I rummaged through but had no luck with finding anything. I sighed and slammed the car door closed. I walked over to Rick and Carl, Rick shook hi head and huffed.

"You didn't find anything either?" He asked.

"Nope." I said, shaking my head. "Is it alright if I carry Judith for a while?" I then asked, looking down at Judith in Carl's arms.

"Sure." Rick smiled. I smiled back before taking Judith from Carl. I cooed down at her and she giggled up at me.

"Rick there's nothin' in these cars." Maggie said, walking up to us with Glenn.

"Same here, couldn't find anything but a bottle of bourbon." Rosita told us as she walked over with Abraham and Tara.

"Let's keep going, there might be more down the way." Rick said before we all began walking again. I held Judith close to me, smiling down at her every time she giggled or cooed.

Pretty soon we all grew tired so Rick decided that we have a rest. We all sat down in the dirt road. I sat Judith down on my lap, he head was rested on my arm and I gently rocked her, humming lightly. Carl walked over to me and held out his arm. I pouted and reluctantly handed Judith up to him. A sudden rustle in the trees caught all our attention. Rick's hand went straight to his gun and there was a rumble of thunder as Daryl exited the trees. We all relaxed as Rick shook his head at Daryl who walked over to me and sat down. I reached over and brushed his hair back before leaning over and kissing his cheek.

"You alright?" I asked. He grunted in reply. I sighed and dropped my arm, only to have him take my hand in his. I smiled down at our locked fingers before looking over at Maggie, who had her head in her hands. I let go of Daryl's hand before standing up. "I'll be back in a minute." I mumbled before walking over to her and sitting down. I placed my hand on her back and my other arm rested on my knee.

"So all we found was booze?" Tara asked.

"Yeah." Rosita sighed.

"It's not gonna help." Tara added.

"He knows that." Rosita told her.

"It's gonna make it worse." Tara said.

"Yes, it is." Rosita agreed.

"He's a grown man and I truly do not know if things can get worse." Eugene piped in.

"They can." I told him, looking back at Maggie. Suddenly, more rustles came from the trees and a pack of dogs emerged, causing us all to grab our weapons, they growled at barked at us. Before any of us could do anything, Sasha stood up at shot down the dogs. Rick slowly stood up and walked over to the trees. He picked up a stick and began snapping it.

"No, we have food." He said as Daryl stood up and walked over to the dogs. He began skinning them, making me turn my nose up. I looked back at Maggie who was staring at the floor.

"Hey Maggie?" I called. She looked up at me. I didn't say anything, only pull her into a hug, holding her tightly. She hugged back, letting out light but quiet sobs into my shoulder. I tightened my grip on her and closed my eyes as a few tears slipped down my cheek.

...............................................................

A little while later we were all munching down on the wild dogs. To be honest they weren't that bad, they were actually quite filling too. I was sat with Daryl again, he gobbled down the dog as if it were his last meal. I leant my head on his shoulder as he ate. Slowly, I chewed on the tough meat, on second thoughts, it wasn't that great, but at least we weren't hungry anymore. I stared down at the still burning fire as Gabriel pulled off his white clerical collar and tossed it into the flames. I glanced up at him and he looked broken. Sighing, I turned to Daryl, who'd finished his meal. He looked down at me, frowning. I placed my hand on the back of his neck, bring his face down to mine and kissing his lips. As I pulled back, he turned his head away. I sighed and placed kiss on his shoulder before resting my head on it again.

I closed my eyes, allowing memories to flood my mind. Memories of Beth and Maggie, from when we were younger. Memories of us hiding from Jake and Shawn after messing with their stuff. Beth followed Maggie and I round like a lost little puppy, she always wanted to follow in our footsteps. She was too young to die, only eighteen. I let out a sob, catching the attention of the group. I shot too my feet and rushed off into the trees. Finding a log, I collapsed down onto it, holding my head in my hands. My cries echoed through the trees and tears streamed down my face.

"Piper." A voice spoke. I looked up to see Glenn.

"I'm ready to talk." I told him, still crying. He nodded and sat down beside me, he wrapped his arms round me and pulled me into a hug. "I want her back, Glenn. I need her back, to be alive." I cried, my voice muffled by his shirt.

"I know you do." He whispered.

"I just got her back and she was ripped away from me, within a split second she was gone again." I told him, pulling away. "I said I didn't want to cry anymore, I thought I wouldn't but I can't, I can't keep it in anymore Glenn. But I want to, I want to keep it in, I'm trying to keep it in." I explained to him. "Glenn, I'm slowly killing myself, and the worst part is, I don't even care, 'cause I don't wanna be here anymore." Glenn frowned at me, tears pooled his eyes.

"Is that why Rick has your gun?" He asked. I slowly nodded.

"This morning, before the van broke down, I went out into the woods and I put a gun to my head." I explained. "Rick found, h...he stopped me but if he hadn't, I think I might have done it." I whispered, my voice cracking slightly. A tear rolled down Glenn's cheek and he took my hands.

"You're strong Piper, you wouldn't have done it because you're strong and brave and you know that taking the easy way out isn't the right thing to do." He explained. I looked up at him and slowly nodded, Glenn leant over and kissed my forehead. Tears still rolled down my cheeks as Glenn stood up, he took my hand and lifted me up. "Let's head back, before they send a search party." He told me. I nodded before we headed back to the group.

As we exited the trees, I wiped away the last few tears. I felt all eyes on us so I kept my eyes on the ground. A pair of arms wrapped round me, pulling me close to them. I instantly hugged back, knowing it was Maggie. I sobbed quietly into her shoulder.

"We should get going again, find a place to hold up for the night." Rick ordered as I pulled away from Maggie. She sent a sad look before walking away and over to Glenn.