HARDCORE (Daryl x Reader~)

Chapter 2: Found you

The birds tweeted their morning melodies, waking you from the first peaceful sleep you've had in the last two months. You slowly opened your eyes, rubbing sleep out of them, and looked at your surroundings. It was going to be a hot day today. And you were running low on your water supply. You sighed, knowing you needed to find somewhere you could get more water. A place that wasn't Atlanta.

You stretched your arms above your head, hearing satisfying pops from your joints and the nice stretch of your muscles. You looked down to check if there were any walkers around the tree you slept in, and there were none. You carefully crouched, and slid down the tree's trunk, trying not to fall off and snap your neck or something.

You secured your knife, gun and bow and quiver to your body, you didn't need them falling off and being lost or picked up by some random piece of shit. After your little check, you continued forward. Still looking for a place to call home. You didn't know how far away from Atlanta you were, but you haven't seen any walkers for the past two weeks. Only small animals, like squirrels, rabbits and the odd deer.

Animals wouldn't last long in this world anymore. It made you kinda sad.

Little did you know, you were approaching a camp in the mountains. And soon, you'd be found...

"Kaden, honey, are you alright?" Abby sweetly asked as she laid next to Kaden, feeling his bare chest and his toned abs. Kaden sighed, and looked into Abby's brown eyes. He would easily get lost in them, but there was something else in them. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he think he saw guilt somewhere behind those chocolate eyes.

He turned his head away from her, looking at the roof of the tent he and Abby shared. "I'm sorry, bee, it's just... I can't help but feel like I should've been there to help you and Y/n get out of there.. maybe then she's still be alive.." Kaden sadly spoke, the words falling from his mouth burning his lips. Abby sighed and started braid a lock of Kaden's hair, trying to soothe him.

"I know you feel responsible for her death, but she chose to die. There was nothing you could've done, she would've done the same for you. And you know it." Abby spoke softly, braiding another small lock of her lover's hair.

Abby knew what she did to you; she left you locked on one side of a fence, your death slowly approaching. At the beginning she felt guilty. Her guilt ate her from the inside out, she wondered how she could even forgive herself, and if she'd ever forget. But as days turned into months, her guilt melted away. Into what? Satisfaction. She had realized that if she had stayed friends with you, she would never have started dating Kaden. She had liked him for a long ass time, but she knew it'd be awkward to date her best friend's brother. But now that you were gone, she could have him all to herself.

And she has no regrets.

Kaden sighed and lifted himself off his sleeping bag, sitting up straight. He leaned down and kissed Abby's cheek, and got dressed for the day.

Kaden stepped out of the tent, and looked around at his group.

Merle and Daryl were talking, most likely arguing with each other. Carol and Sophia were together, Ed glaring at the water in the quarry. Lori was talking with Jim, and Shane and Glenn were discussing something while t-dog, Andrea and Amy were deep in a conversation.

Daryl stepped away from Merle and started to walk to Kaden. Daryl's baby blue orbs looked into Kaden's green ones, making Kaden feel nervous. It was obvious that Daryl was aggravated but Kaden kept his mouth shut, not wanting the brunt of Daryl's anger.
Daryl had his crossbow slung on his back, a bolt already loaded.

"Gonna go get some squirrel. The piece a shit excuse fer a brother says that i can't wrangle up some squirrels fer dinner. Ima prove em wrong. Tell Shane that I went out. Thanks." Daryl grumbled and stomped into the woods, his aggravated aura trailing behind him. Kaden let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and walked away to do his morning duties.

You walked through the woods still, having the feeling of pins and needles in your feet. The birds that were left sang their tunes as the harsh sun burned down through the trees shade, making the leaves above glow a emerald light. Sweat coated your forehead and caught your hair, making small strands of h/c hair stuck to your face.

It was unusually hot and your stomach growled, suddenly feeling starved. You sighed, grabbing your bow that was slung to your back while grabbing an arrow from your quiver. Placing the arrow on the bow, you walked around, trying to find a squirrel or something.

With every step, your stomach aches more and more. The hot sun burning through the leaves and into your skin wasn't helping.

You were silent as you crept through the woods, until finally you spotted a squirrel in a tree. Grinning, you kneeled down onto one knee and looked to the squirrel, aiming the arrow to go right through its neck. Your grip on the arrow was tight, becoming looser by the second.

You let go of the arrow, and the arrow cut through the trees. And straight into the squirrel. But so did another arrow. Or rather... a bolt.

You gasped as the squirrel launched into a completely different direction than the one you expected. You quietly ran to where you expected the squirrel to be, using the bushes and leaves as cover. You were happy you were wearing your camouflage shirt and black leggings before the outbreak.

The squirrel laid lifelessly as it's body was surrounded by the grass. Blood spilled from the creature's arrows wounds. It's eyes were still open, and you couldn't help but feel guilt for being one of the causes for its death.

You waited in the bush to see if anyone would come to retrieve the bolt and squirrel. And soon enough, a tall man approached the dead woodland creature. You couldn't see the man's face because his back was turned towards you, but he had a shirt with no sleeves, black jeans, short brown hair and his entire body was toned and muscular, practically making you drool.

You shook your head and a rush of anger flowed into your veins. Whoever this fine specimen was, he shot your kill and planned to take it for himself.

You unsheathed your knife from into holder on your thigh and sneaked out of the bush, advancing towards him from behind. You stood from your crouched position and kept silently moving closer and closer to him, raising your knife. You placed your feet against the ground, getting close enough to plunge the knife into the man's head.

Snap

A twig snapped underneath your foot and you froze, breaking into a nervous sweat. The man spun around and rammed into you, knocking you both down into the ground. You kicked and thrashed but he pinned down your arms and legs, rendering your movements useless. He snatched the knife from your grasp, and held it to your throat.

"Who tha hell are ya?!" He screamed at you. He stunk of cigarettes, woods and fresh grass. You glared up into his eyes, but gasped when you saw pair of icy blues staring back into yours. Your heart sped up and your breathing picked up a pace.

Your eyes watered as you stared at the one and only.

"......D-Daryl...?"