AT WORLDS END || Daryl Dixon [1]

three.

"There, it should heal in a week or so," Carol told her sweetly, and Connie offered the woman a pain filled smile.

"Thanks," she whispered.

Connie had made Carol use dental floss to stitch it up, saying she wanted to save the real surgical thread for any serious injuries. While the cut was relatively shallow and the skin on the edges was in good shape for stitching, it was wide and would take quite a while to heal. She didn't want it to get infected.

She walked up to where everyone was discussing who was going back to Atlanta, she caught wind of the conversation. "So you're risking three men's lives now?" Shane scoffed while placing his hands on his hips.

"Four," T-Dog corrected him.

"My day just keeps getting better and better," Daryl scoffed to himself while kicking at the patch of dirt beneath his feet, and she smacked his arm roughly at his words.

"Merle was a dick to everyone here, Daryl. Be thankful that they're even offering to help you find him," Connie scolded him. Daryl grumbled to himself, but she didn't leave him any room or time for an argument. "And you'd best bring them home in one piece, understand Rick?" She warned. "Otherwise, you can be the one to tell my daughter why several of her favourite people currently on the planet — Glenn because he buys her crayons, Daryl because he cured rabbit fur so one of us can make her a coat, and T-Dog because he carries her around on his shoulders and makes her feel like she's tall — aren't around anymore."

The look she received told her he'd heard her loud and clear.

Almost an hour later, as the four prepared themselves to leave for Atlanta, Holly ran towards Daryl and threw her arms around his leg, her dark afro of tightly wound curls falling over the darker skin of her face. "Are you going to be home soon?" She asked, looking up at him curiously with wide brown eyes.

Daryl looked around uncomfortably, noticing how everyone watched the two interact. Connie couldn't help but laugh as he awkwardly patted Holly's back. "Yep, I will be," Daryl muttered quietly and moved some of her curly hair away from her face so she could see better. "I might even find something for you too."

Holly let out a quiet cheer and squeezed his leg again before she ran off to hug the other three.

"She loves you a lot, you know," Connie chuckled, her hands tucked into her back pockets as she shuffled closer to the closed off man.

"Mhmmm," he grunted, placing his knife — the one that had been confiscated — into its sheath. "She's...sweet."

"It would be in your best interest to come home for her."

Daryl nodded as he stood up straight, awkwardly looking down at her. "Did it get you?" Connie furrowed her brows in confusion at his gruff comment. "The walker head," Daryl explained further, his voice still gruff and he was looking everywhere but her eyes; the thin strap of her shirt, the oil stains and dirt smudges across her skin before drifting down to her ankles. "Did it get you."

"No, all is good," Connie told him honestly. "Truth be told I don't think anything could get through these boots."

Daryl just nodded at her and took one last look down at her boots and the cut on her arm before he made his way towards the rest of them.

Glenn walked over to her and threw his arms around her. "I'll see you later," Glenn whispered as Connie wrapped her arms around his middle.

"I'd better," she joked, resting her chin on his shoulder. As she held him at arms length, she let out a shaky sigh. "You'd better not die either."