Dixons Never Cry |TWD|

Pinky Promise

They had told me Daryl was out hunting, and will mostly be back the next morning. They showed me his and Merle's tent, which was of course away from the others. I stayed in there all night, ignoring them when they came to see if I was OK or if I was hungry.

Morning soon came though, and I felt cold, despite today being sunny. I shrugged it off though because I did have on a short-sleeved shirt. My hair was all matted and my clothes dirty and wrinkly.

"Hi, sweetheart, I'm Carol," said a woman with short grey hair, "Do you want me to wash your clothes for you? My daughter, Sophia has a few outgrown clothes that might just fit you."

"No," I said, furrowing my eyebrows in anger. She sighed and walked away, back to a tall girl with a rag-doll, who was also playing with the girl with brown hair, Rick's daughter, Rory, as I had remembered. I stood on the dirt, kicking some stones, waiting impatiently for my brother's return.

I hadn't seen him in 3 months since I got put into hospital. During my small conversations with Merle on the rooftop, he told me I was in a coma for 2 months, and they went back but couldn't find me, and the army people were shooting people so they had to leave, and that's another month since 'the shit hit the fan' as Andrea says.

I watched in slight envy as the the children played, they laughed and ran into the forest together, playing a game of tag. Not a lot of children liked me, they were either scared of my brothers and father, or thought I was a stupid wimp. A loud scream was heard from the direction they ran in, and a few of the adults took of running to them. I followed after, walking.

I heard voices talking when I got there, including a voice of anger, a familiar one. It was Daryl. I smiled and shoved past the blonde sisters, where I saw Daryl kicking one of the dead people without a dead, beside a dead deer.

"Filthy disease-bearing, motherless--" he kicked every time he threw an insult.

"Daryl!" I said, and he looked to me, his eyes widening in shock. He dropped the crossbow slowly, and I smiled as he ran forward, picking me up in a bone-crushing hug.

"I-I thought ya...ya were dead," he said, and I felt safe, "Hell...what happened? How-how--"

"I woke up in hospital and Rick found me, then we met a group in Atlanta, where I saw Merle..." I trailed off, thinking of Merle.

Had the walkers gotten to him? Had he managed to break free? I did accidentally tip the tools out, and the hacksaw was just a little out of reach.

Daryl hugged me tight as the others watched a second Dixon reunion in the time of 2 days. Daryl said he'd never let me out of his sight again, and I was OK with that.

"Where's Merle? He gotta come see ya too," said Daryl, still carrying me. I whispered what happened to Merle in Daryl's ear, once we got to the camp, with the men following after.

"What?" said Daryl, the happy voice turning to anger and slight confusion, as he turned to the other man, "Marnie jus' told me somethin' real interestin', and you best hope it ain't true."

"It probably wasn't accurate--" started Rick as Daryl reluctantly placed me on the ground, but kept close to me. We've only been reunited for 5 minutes or so, and something's already going down. I tried not to be worried but I was because I already lost Merle and I didn't want to lose Daryl too.

"You calling ma sister a liar?!" spat Daryl, chucking his squirrels on the ground with fury.

"No, of course not--" started Rick when Daryl interrupted him, asking 'who the hell are you', "Rick. Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes," mimicked Daryl, "You got somethin' you wanna tell me?"

"There was a problem in Atlanta," started Rick. Rick explained how Merle had nearly killed a member of the group, in front of me, and then I had tried to stop him and nearly fell from the roof, so Rick was forced to handcuff him to the rail to protect everyone.

Daryl didn't take it lightly, he lunged for Rick with a knife, but Rick dodged it, and Shane butted in too, holding Daryl in a choke-hold. Angry with how these people keep attacking my brothers, I go over and kick Shane where the sun doesn't shine, but my little foot hardly made him cower in pain but he grunted and let go of Daryl.

"You know, attacking a police officer is illegal," said Shane, trying to scare me. I glared at him with my icy blue eyes, and Daryl did the same.

"So's choke hold, asshole," spat Daryl, still distressed, as he took my hand, "Hell with all y'all, just tell me where he is so's we can go get 'im."

"He'll show you," said a female voice, Lori's. She was Carl and Rory's momma. They were in the RV behind Lori, peeking out curiously.

"I'm goin' back," stated Rick. Daryl took my hand and we began walking to the tent, "You're taking Marnie back to the city? She's just a little girl."

"I jus' got 'er back after 3 months, and I sure as hell ain't leavin' 'er with all y'all after what ya did to Merle," said Daryl. Carol stepped forward.

"I'll look after her, I'll keep my eye on her," she offered. Daryl glanced down at me, not asking for approval, but just to see if I'd be OK. I shook my head anyway and he took me to the tent.

"I don't wanna stay 'ere, I jus' got you back and you're leavin' again," I said, close to tears. They brimmed my eyes, making the blue look truly like the deep sea.

"Hey, quit that cryin'," ordered Daryl softly, "I ain't takin' you back there. I'll be back, with Merle, I promise, darlin'."

I held my pink out and Daryl stared, confused.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Pinky Promise. You wrap yer pinky 'round mine, I saw some girls at school do it b'fore everythin'. You can never break it or ya'll get bad luck." I said and Daryl chuckled, wrapping his pink around mine.

Daryl sat down with me while we cleaned the arrows for the trip. Rick recruited Glenn along, much to Shane's chagrin, then T-Dog volunteered, causing Daryl to snort.

"My day jus' gets better and better, don't it?" he said sarcastically, cleaning the bolts for his arrows.

They prepared for the trip and took off. Daryl gave me one last hug and promised to return, and I knew he would. Daryl never breaks his promises. Not like Merle. Not like Daddy.

[WORD COUNT: 1150]