Broken Arrows (Daryl Dixon)

14.

"We can make it together. But we can only make it together."
                                               ~Glenn Rhee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daryl's POV~

    After grabbing our gear and the raccoon, Devore and I head back to our camp. Everything looks the same, meaning no walkers are currently standing in the clearing. We set the gear down next to the backpacks and I set the raccoon down on a nearby stump. I walk back to the backpacks, grabbing the one with weapons, and start looking through Devore's selection of knives. There's a wide variety of different hunting knives and knives that would be mainly used just for show. I open some of the hunting knives to examine their blades before choosing the two sharpest knives. These will be perfect for skinning the raccoon. I hold one of the knives out to Devore and she takes it carefully before walking over to the raccoon. I follow and start showing her how to properly skin the raccoon and separate the meat so we can get the most from it. She looks truly disgusted, which make me chuckle. She'll thank me for this important survival skill when she gets stuck in a difficult situation with out food. It takes about 30 minutes to get the raccoon fully skinned and the good meat separated. I place a couple of leaves over the meat and grab my crossbow. I still have the knife in my hand so I put it on my belt.

    "Could ya start the fire?" I ask. Devore nods and gets to work on the fire. I take a bit of water and a large leaf from a tree and start cleaning out the pan before I go. It's probably not necessary, but if we get sick while we're stuck out here, we might not be able to get help from Hershel. "I'm going to go check on the highway real quick to see where the walkers are at."

    "Okay." She replies, struggling to get the fire started.

    "Holler if there's trouble," I say as I walk into the woods near the highway.

    "I will!" She yells back, just loud enough for me to hear. I head deeper into the woods, stopping every minute or so to listen for any noise that isn't coming from me. Nothing seems to disturb the peace until I get closer to the highway. A lone walker is caught on a tree and it can't get loose. When it sees me it's snarling and movements get more violent. I quickly take my knife and stab the walker in the head. It goes limp, but it doesn't fall because it is still supported by the tree. I wipe the blood off on the walker's clothes before continuing towards the highway. I can see the shine of the cars' metal in the afternoon sun through the openings between the trees. I sneak along until I'm sheltered from view behind the two cars. The group of walkers that were lagging behind are now close to the first group of walkers. That's good for us. They are probably 700 feet away from the parked cars as of now. I think that by nightfall or a couple hours after we could easily make our way back to the farm.

    "Boom. Boom. Boom." Three quick gunshots rang out. That make five gunshots that are relatively close to us. I hope that if it happens to be anyone in our group that they are okay. Whoever shot those gunshots attracted that herd of walkers to the left of the highway. Now I'm almost certain by nightfall that we can leave. Devore might be worried about the gunshots so I start heading back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rick's POV~

    Daryl still isn't back from looking for Sophia. It's been a couple days. I know he knows how to survive and handle himself, but I'm starting to worry.

    "We should send a search party to look for Daryl. He said he was going to the creek and was going to work his way back." I say as I join Andrea, Dale, Glenn, and Shane outside.

    "We can't risk it. If Daryl got caught up out there imagine what would happen if we send someone else out. We can't lose another person let alone more than one." Shane replies. He has a grim look on his face.

    "If he's trapped out there we can't just leave him there," Andrea interjects. "Daryl would go out if it was one of us."

    "I'll take a car tonight and go look for him. I'll come back if I can't see anything." I tell them, rubbing the back of my head.

    "I'll go too." T-Dog volunteers.

    "Alright, then it's settled. We'll leave after dinner." I reply.

    "You're going to get yourself killed Rick." Shane mumbles in a gruff voice before walking off towards the house.

    "Something's not right with that man.." Dale sighs, shaking his head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Devore's POV~

    "Boom. Boom. Boom." The sound of three gunshots, one after another, pulled my attention away from the fire. It came from the direction of the highway and I can see some birds flying away from the site.

    "Did Daryl bring a gun with him? If he did was he the one to shoot those shots? Are the walkers getting him? Are the walkers coming towards me? He knows the risks, he wouldn't do that, right?" Tons of scrambled thoughts race through my mind, making it hurt. I stop trying to start the fire and close my eyes tightly, trying to settle my mind. I sit in silence, staring at the woods for what seems like hours. My breathing seems almost non-existent as I strain to hear any sounds from where I had last seen Daryl disappear from sight. I hear a faint crunching of leaves and branches in the distance that grows louder with every passing second and a louder thump startles me even more. My mind starts racing again. "Is that the sound of bloodthirsty, or shall I say flesh hungry, walkers waiting to tear into my flesh? Am I going to be able to fight them off? Do I have time to climb and hide in the tree?" My thoughts continue to bombard me. I shut my eyes again and try to calm myself down.

    "So, ready to learn how to properly cook a coon?" Daryl's voice questions, forcing me to open my eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN: Heya, let me know how you're liking the story so far by leaving a comment or a vote :) Angelica1294 and I will soon have a new Walking Dead fanfiction called "Grey Skies" coming soon on Quotev. I will be posting the chapters on here too.