Broken Arrows (Daryl Dixon)

9.

"Everything's going to be okay."
                                             -Carl Grimes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daryl's POV~

I didn't know what to say after Devore finished her story. Some pretty messed up shit she's been through. I know I was going to give the Cherokee rose to Carol, but I think Devore needs it more right now. I take the rose out of the backpack closest to me and hold it out, looking at it closely.

"It's a Cherokee rose. The story is that when the American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation. A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow where the mothers' tears fell. This is one of two of the Cherokee roses I saw right before I found you. I believe that those two roses bloomed for your parents." When I finish I smile and hand Devore the flower.

"Thank you Daryl," she tells me and wipes the last tears from her eyes.

"You're welc-," I start but Devore gives me a hug, catching me off guard . I hug her back after a couple of seconds. After she pulls away she gives me a small smile.

"Goodnight Daryl. Thank you for listening to me." Devore tells me and lays back down by the fire. I sigh and go back to keeping watch. I spend about the next 4-5 hours switching between walking around the clearing and sitting on the log. Nothing else disturbed our camp through out the night so I decide to get a little sleep. The sun is just starting to rise now anyway so I can at least get an hour or two in. It's starting to get warmer than it was later last night, but I still put the blanket on Devore. This time she doesn't even stir. Probably the most decent night of sleep that she has gotten in awhile. I lay down to the left side of Devore and go to sleep.

Devore's POV~

When I woke up the sun was just rising above the trees. I breathe in the fresh morning air and smile as I look up at the glowing sky. I didn't have any nightmares last night that threatened to push me over the edge. I look to the left of me to see Daryl sleeping peacefully. I get up quietly so I don't disturb Daryl. He made dinner for me last night so the least I could is make breakfast for him. I go to the backpack with food in it and look at my options. There's some fruit, a little bit of stale cereal, and some packets of oatmeal. After awhile of thinking I decide to go with the oatmeal. After all, I know how make a fire so I would be able to make it properly as opposed to how I ate it the other day. I grab a water bottle and two packets of oatmeal for Daryl and I. The pan is a little dirty from when Daryl cooked those rabbits last night so I clean it out with a little bit of water and use a leaf to scrub the residue away. I place the pan on the little stand that Daryl made and look for some stick to start the fire. There is still some decent wood in the fire and unused firewood next to the pit that I can use. I spend the next five minutes trying to start the fire before even getting a spark. When I finally get the fire started I celebrate by jumping up and dancing around, but then I remember Daryl is sleeping and sit down. Pouring some water and the oatmeal packets into the pan, I stir it with a plastic spoon until it looks ready. I grab a couple paper plates from a backpack and scoop the oatmeal onto the plates, splitting it equally. I put a spoon on each plate and stand up about to bring one over to Daryl when I hear something in the woods close to the highway. I carefully place the plates of oatmeal down on the log and grab a nearby gun off the ground. I can handle myself. I sneak my way across the clearing, gun up and ready to shoot. I strain my ears for the sound of any movement, but hear nothing. I start moving quickly through the woods, looking for any signs of walkers. I don't see anything real close to the clearing, not even an animal crossed my path. Deeper into the woods I can see something really colorful, like flowers. Curious, I make my way towards the colorful things. As I'm able to see the objects better I realize it is an assortment of wildflowers. I really like the Cherokee rose that Daryl gave to me last night so I want to see if I can find some more to bring back. The flowers are kind of scattered around a 40 feet radius so I have a couple different areas to find the flowers I want. After looking for awhile I have no luck. Majority of the flowers were daisies and sunflowers along with a couple other flowers that weren't as present. I'm about to give up and turn back when I spot a couple larger white flowers facing away from me. I'm pretty sure they are Cherokee roses so I go to check. I was right! I was kind of bummed when I thought that there were none, but I finally found some. I take my knife that I left on my waist over the night and start cutting the flowers' stems. I have the first Cherokee rose freed from where it was climbing up the tree, but I had to be careful so I didn't stick myself on the sharp thorns. I believe both of these grew for Ardyne and Weylyn. I smile at the thought of my best friends. I start working on freeing the other flower when a walker comes out of nowhere. It comes up behind me, I don't know how I didn't hear it. It grabs my shoulder and I turn to face it. During the surprise of the walker I dropped my knife and my gun is still where I set it. I can feel the dead weight of the walker slowly pushing me down. I'm using all my strength to keep the walker's snapping jaws away from me. I have never been so scared that I was going to die. Minutes of struggling go by and I can feel my muscles start to give out. I have no other options other than being torn to shreds than scream. I hope that it doesn't attract the walkers from the highway.
       "Daryl!" I scream at the top of my lungs. The walker is slowly getting closer to me and I don't know how much longer I can hold it off.