Trust Me | Daryl Dixon

Part 16

"Oh hey, how'd your run go?" Olivia asked as she opened her door, letting me inside.

"Could've gone a lot better," I chuckled, "But I guess it also could've gone a lot worse."

"What? What happened?" She asked, concern in her voice as we walked back to the armory.

I shook my head, "Too much to even explain right now; I'm still trying to processes it."

"Well it can be tough out there, so don't be so hard on yourself, ok?"

"Yeah, thank you," I nodded, "Oh and um-- my gun.." I sighed, staring at the firearm in my hand before handing it to her, "I'm gonna retire it-- it's not working right anymore and Abraham thinks it's really not worth it to repair; I trust him."

"Oh.." she sighed, noticing my obvious change of mood, "Well you know, out with the old and in with the new."

"Yeah," I nodded, "And um, the knife, I get to keep it with me right?"

"Oh yeah, of course!"

"Cool, thank you." I weakly smiled, "I think I'm gonna get going; maybe take a nap or something."

"That sounds like a good idea, and don't worry, I'll put this gun in a safe place." She reassured.

***

I walked down the street towards my house; my head cloudy with thoughts that I wish would just give me a break. From the stress of what happened today, to the constant flashbacks of the past; all I wanted to do was breakdown.

"Liz!" Rick yelled, causing me to turn in his direction, "Could you come over here for a minute?"

I sighed to myself before nodding, changing my course and heading up to the front porch of his house.

"What's up?" I asked as I reached the top of the stairs.

"Daryl told me about what happened on the run today-"

"My gun jammed-- I already talked to Abraham about it and got it all worked out, it won't happen again." I cut him off, tired of having to think about that mistake.

"No, he told me about what you did, Liz."

I furrowed my eyebrows at him, "What I did? What the hell did he say I did?"

"Nothing bad, don't worry." He said, trying to calm my annoyed energy, "He told me about what you did with your knife."

"Oh," I sighed, shaking my head, "I'm better with knifes than with guns; Abraham said he was gonna get someone to help me with target practice tomorrow so I'll be better to rely on."

"Liz, you might have saved his life, do you understand that?" He asked, placing his hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have had to if I was more confident in what I was doing out there." I explained, "I'll get better; something like that won't happen again, I promise."

"Hey, hey, wait!" Rick said, lightly grabbing my arm as I began walking down the stairs, "Things happen Liz and that's ok."

"I know, but I'm not here to put your people in danger, Rick." I murmured.

"They're your people now, too."

I let out a weak sigh, "I know."

"Is everything alright with you?" Rick asked, furrowing his eyebrows as he inspected my face.

"Uh yeah, just a little overwhelmed with all of this, I think." I nodded, emotion now present in my voice, "I just really want to go sleep all this off."

Rick then pulled me in for a tight hug, a feeling that I didn't know I had missed so much, "This could have happened to anyone."

"I- I could've gotten someone killed, Rick." I sobbed into his chest, "I thought I was ready to go back out there and I wasn't and I'm sorry-"

"Everyone's ok and you brought back the supplies that's going to save Tara's life; you don't need to be sorry." He said softly as he rubbed my back.

I pulled back from the hug, wiping the tears from my eyes, "I don't think I'm ready to go back out there again, Rick."

"Then I'm not going to make you," he shrugged, "You work on what you need to work on and when you're ready, just let me know."

I nodded, letting out a shaky breath, "I think I just need to take a nap or something."

"That sounds like a good idea."

_____
The next chapter is going to get very deep into Liz's back story and will probably require you full attention. It was one of the only chapters I actually emotionally struggled with writing.
I hope you'll enjoy it.