𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 ♔ 𝙙.𝙙𝙞𝙭𝙤𝙣 [1]

48

Twirling her knife in her hand, Scarlett stares at the blade, her ears alert for any danger. The doors to the barn slam open and Scarlett looks up, eyes wide. "Hey-Everyone. This is Aaron." Scarlett shoves her knife into her holster, swiftly pulling her pistol out from her leg and pointing it at his feet. "We met him outside. He's by himself. We took his weapons and we took his gear."

He glances around at everyone nervously, his hands held up in surrender. "Hi." He greets and Judith cries out, Scarlett glancing at the upset baby. "It's nice to meet you." Aaron says, stepping forward. Scarlett glares at the back of his head, her head tilted.

"You said he had a weapon?" Rick asks Maggie and she nods, walking over and handing him the gun. Checking the ammo in it, Rick looks up, his eyes narrowed at the stranger. "There's something you need?" He asks, sticking the gun in the back of his pants.

"He has a camp, nearby. He wants us to audition for membership." Sasha informs everyone and Scarlett rolls her eyes, letting it a huff. "I wish there was another word. Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of a dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights." He explains, humor in his tone.

"Um-and it's not a camp. It's a community. I think you all would make valuable additions. Buts it's not my call. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home." Everyone looks at Rick, curiosity in their eyes. "I know. If I were you, I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into. Sasha, can you hand Rick my pack?" Aaron tells everyone and Sasha walks forward, pulling the bag off her shoulders.

"Front pocket, there's an envelope. There's no way I could convince you to come with me just by talking about our community. That's why I brought those. I apologize in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last-" Daryl cuts Aaron off, "Nobody gives a shit."

Scarlett stares at Daryl for a few minutes. Shaking her thoughts away, she looks back at Rick, watching as he looks at the photos. "That's the first picture I wanted to show you because nothing I say about our community will matter unless you know you'll be safe. If you join us, you will be. Each panel in that wall is a 15-foot-high, 12-foot-wise slav if solid steel by cold-roll steel beams and a square tubing. Nothing alive or dead gets through that without our say-so. Like I said. security is obviously important. In fact, there's only one resource more critical to our community's survival, the people. Together we're strong. You can make us even stronger. The next picture, you'll see inside the gates. Our community was first construc-" Rick walks forward, rearing back and punching Aaron in the jaw.

"Well, shit."

♢ ♢ ♢

Scarlett walks out of the barn, Daryl and her heading in the woods. After a few minutes of walking through the tree in silence, Scarlett speaks up. "Do you think he's lying?"

Daryl shrugs his shoulders, glancing back at her. "Not sure." He mumbles and Scarlett takes in a breath, stepping over a hole. Ain't gonna make that mistake again. She thinks to herself before looking back up at the redneck.

"I don't think he is lying, he doesn't seem like that type of dude." She admits, setting her hand on a tree, as she steps on a log. Jumping off, she wipes her hand on her pants. "Ya' can hide so much behind some looks." Daryl replies and Scarlett scrunches her eyebrows, nodding her head. "That's so true." She whispers, frowning.

Sitting down on the log, Daryl looks behind him, glaring at her. "What the hell ya' doing?" He asks and she shrugs her shoulders, smiling. "Sitting down, what does it look like?" She retorts, sticking her knife in the loose ground. Tracing out some words, Daryl let's out a breath, sitting next to her.

The pair sit in silence, their own thoughts invading their heads. Thoughts can be poisonous, intoxicating you until you can't take it no more. Killing you slowly and painfully thinking about all the things wrong.

The leaves around them blow around, flying up into the cold air. The trees that haven't fallen sit still, bathing in the suns warmth. Wet dirt sits under their feet, dirtying the shoes furthermore. Sometimes, Scarlett will sit and think, wondering where Daryl has gotten his scars from. It makes her angry when she thinks about someone or something putting Daryl in pain.

"What happened to your back?" She quietly asks, pushing her heels into the dirt. Daryl looks up at her, his blue eyes narrowing at her. "None of yer' business." He grunts, turning back towards the ground. Scarlett sighs, looking away from the knife she was staring blankly at.

"The best people have scars. Some people embrace them, others hide them. People shouldn't be ashamed of their scars because it shows that they're stronger than what gave them the scars. It shows people that they survived." Scarlett replies, reaching out and hesitantly grabbing his hand, interlocking their fingers.

"I may not know who or what caused those scars, but I do know you fought through it and survived. That shows me that you, Daryl Dixon, is the strongest person I know." She whispers, looking into his blue orbs. Daryl's eyes soften, his emotions showing through his hard exterior.

"It was my father." Daryl mumbles and Scarlett tilts her head to the side, squeezing his hand in encouragement. "He would drink his shitty problems away and I was his punchin' bag." Scarlett nods, feeling slight anger towards his father but doesn't show it.

"Back at the prison, Merle has walked into my cell, telling me you had cared about me and all that crap. I told him you didn't but he argued with me, saying you did-" Scarlett chuckles at the memory, looking away from Daryl's eyes and down at their hands. "He told me you needed protection from your thoughts and I immediately understood."

Daryl looks at her in confusion as to why she is telling him this. "What I'm trying to say is, I may never be able to fix what I broke, but I can save you. We can save each other from the demons in our heads." She whispers, raising her eyes to meet his.