Scars (Daryl Dixon FanFiction)

||Chapter Five||

||Chapter Five||

We managed to get through the tombs without any close calls. I got a few kills in the process that led to Carl giving me a compliment. I haven't deciphered it yet, but I think I'm starting to grow on him.

Once we were done, dinner was served. Carol did about 99.9% of the work. I only cut half a bell pepper into small cubes. We ended up having a sort of stew. It was boiled water with a rue in it along with some vegetables. It tasted like regular water, but the rue and vegetables gave it some taste. It was much better than what I had been eating for the past few months which was beans over a fire or dried foods.

I sat across from Carl which I think made Rick uncomfortable. Everyone was quiet and the only sound was our spoons scraping against the plastic bowls. I turned to Carl and asked,"Do you have something like this every night?"

"Nah, it's just an occasional thing. All the other nights is heated up beans or ravioli," he sighed before taking a bite,"So, are you going to tell me now?"

The question made a small smile form on my lips as I stirred my soup out of boredom. "I met him a few days earlier to when it happened. I was sleeping in a tree when I heard this noise under me so I looked down to see someone fighting with a walker. I realized who it was when I saw Daryl's vest. It was barely even dawn and he was already out. Once the walker was back on top of Daryl, I took my bow and shot it. I don't know if he could've handled it since his crossbow was a few yards away and his knife was stuck in another walker," I explained while waving my spoon back and forth.

He had a small smile on his face through the whole story. "Thanks," he said shyly. "Why are you saying that? You weren't the one about to be eaten alive," I asked in a confused voice.

"Daryl has done more for this group than he was asked to. Without him, I think half of us would be dead, probably," he sighed staring at his bowl.

I let out a scoff as we finished eating. Carl and I continued to make small talk until we finished. I scraped my bowl clean and wanted a second serving, but I knew we couldn't spare it.

"I'll take care of the dishes," I said standing up and grabbing both Carl and I's bowl. "No, you helped with clearing out the tombs so go take a shower. You deserve it," I heard Rick tell me. I turned to him a little confused about his fast act of kindness. I shook away my thoughts on his change of heart before my luck would take a turning point and Rick would tell me to do the dishes.

I ignored his command for a moment and placed the dirty dishes in the sink that I had collected. "Thanks," I nodded to Rick before leaving to get some spare clothes. Carol, again, was generous enough to show me where the showers were.

I dashed up the stairs to grab my bag which had all my essentials in it. I gave myself one last look in the mirror before heading back down. Once I got to the last step, I swung on the railing to make a u-turn when I smashed into something. It forced me to stumble backwards. I looked up at what I hit to see Daryl staring down at me.

"You're taking watch with me. I'll wake you up when it's our turn," he said before starting to march up the stairs. I rose my eyebrows at the empty space in front of me,"Okay."

I followed the path that Carol had shown me to the bathroom. I shoved the proper door open to reveal sinks and concrete walls. I placed my bag on the sink that was the nearest to the exit and started to hunt for a shower.

---

It felt amazing to be clean. The air chilled my damp skin and hair while I lay between my thin sheets. I held a book over my face with my flashlight in my mouth. Reading before going to bed always made me drowsy which helped to rest. I need it now more than ever to get rid of the paranoia in my head.

I was a about half a page away from getting to an end of chapter cliff hanger when I heard a voice say groggily,"C'mon." The sound startled me making me jerk my book and lose my page. I glared at Daryl in anger while the light shined in his face.

I pulled the sheets off of me to reveal my cargo pants and dirty socks. I yanked my combat boots on and laced them before pulling the flashlight out of my mouth. I grabbed my bow and pistol before starting to follow Daryl. He had his crossbow with his flashlight in the other hand.

I let him use up his battery power to lead us to the guard tower. We ended up in the one near the gate where I first saw Glenn. The gravel crunched beneath our feet making it slightly harder to walk.

We arrived at the tower in silence. Daryl led the way to everything. Why was he being so cold? It was like I wasn't even there anymore. I was his ghost he didn't even know about.

We made it to the top of the steps to the compartment. Inside were two fold out chairs against opposite walls. Daryl threw his belongings against the wall closest to the exit while I went to the other chair. I fell into it wishing I could go back to sleep. My eyes were droopy and sore.

Daryl looked me over a few times to make sure I was okay. I sat up-right in the chair and stared out of the huge window on the side of me. There was a small ledge under it where the guards could fiddle with their hands or do some paperwork.

I rested my right elbow on it and lay my chin in my palm. "Whadya before all this," I heard Daryl ask. My eyes glanced at him and then back through the window. "Not a very good paying job, that's for sure," I sighed. I traced my gaze back to him seeing that he was rolling his eyes.

I didn't want to, but my eyelids closed making my body shut down. My muscles relaxed wishing they could be on that thin mattress again. My breathes slowed down. I was lulled in and out of sleep. Black would consume me, but the simplest sound jerked me awake. I was surprised Daryl didn't snap my eyes open. He just let me sleep.

---

I was awaken by something pulling at the left side of my shirt collar roughly, where I was bit. The scar was pretty close to my neck. Some of it might of appeared while I was sleeping.

My eyes shot open to see Daryl standing over me with his pistol raised at my head. My blood went cold. He knew.

"You're bit!" he shouted at me taking a step closer. "I was," I said calmly trying not to throw him off the edge even more. "And when were you gonna tell us? Give me one damn good reason why I shouldn't kill you now!" he spat.

"You don't see? It's a scar and another one right there," I pulled back my shirt collar and rose the sleeve to my left arm. There were two dotted, semi-circles on each resembling teeth marks. His eyes softened and he had nothing to say. Daryl still kept the pistol raised at me as he stared at the bite marks. "It happened almost a year ago. Towards the beginning, but I never got a fever or anything. I'm immune," I sighed starting to get up.

"How's that?" he said a little over a whisper. I didn't know. That's what I was trying to figure out. That's why I always ventured out looking for people who might have the answers.

I shrugged my shoulders in response. He rolled his eyes at me once again and lowered his weapon. Daryl quickly grabbed his crossbow and threw it over his shoulder. He gave me one last menacing look before heading for the exit. "Daryl?" I called. Knowing he wasn't going to turn around, I collected my things and started to follow him.

"Daryl?" I repeated chasing after him. He threw the door open that led outside and ignored me. "Daryl!" I shouted pushing back the heavy door. His back was turned to me showing the wings on his vest. I jogged to catch up with his fast pace. "Daryl, please, just listen," I pleaded.

He now turned to me, fed up with my attempts to get his attention. "What?" he said in an angry tone. "You're not gonna tell anyone, right?" I asked with a worried voice. He let out a sigh averting my gaze,"It's not my problem."

He then started to walk away again before I called his name to ask him another question. "Why didn't you kill me? I could've been lying to you," I said in the same tone as before. He stopped in his tracks. Not looking at me, he said,"I payed off my debt."

The statement made me go cold. He didn't have to worry about me anymore. I was just another walker outside the fences to him. Now, no one cared about my life, except for maybe Carol. The person I knew best in the world now has no reason to give a shit about me. I felt like I was abusing the debt he had to me. I used it against him by asking more from him than he had to give.

I watched as Daryl marched closer to the cell block leaving me in the darkness, alone.