Savage World •••Daryl Dixon•••

You Know You Love Me

Asher woke to the truck slamming into a halt, almost knocking her head into the steering wheel shaft. She groaned lightly and pushed up into the middle seat, bleary eyes scanning the horizon in confusion. Her hands reached for the metal bow and slung it over her chest.

"Why'd we stop? Are we at the CDC yet?" A walker slammed into the passenger side window, it's teeth shrieking over the glass with each snarl. Asher jumped in surprise, her hands curling around the Dixon brother's bicep to remind herself that she was alright. In response, Daryl covered her thin hands with his own.

"Yer alright, I gotcha sweetheart. The walkers stopped our movement, we may have to go on foot from here. If we do then you do not leave my side no matter what. Understood?" Asher nodded and strapped her quiver to her body so that the arrows were facing out and closer than on her back. "Remember what I told you?"

"Never waste an arrow. Protect them." He parked the car and smirked proudly at her.

"Damn smart. That's my girl. Ready you two?" He looked at the terrified mother and child in the backseat, who shakily nod and prepare to go out guns blazing.

"Hang on, I have an idea. Those things are drawn by sound, right? So you go first, clear the way for Carol and Sophia then I'll come in last and keep them off our trail." Daryl vehemently shook his head no.

"That's too dangerous, they could overpower you and I wouldn't know until it was too late." Asher rolled down the passenger window just enough to slide her blade through and into the walker's skull.

"You said we protect them! This is the best way how. It'll be okay, I learned from the best."

"Asher, I said no." She saw the others coming at their car from the back, guns echoing through the air in canon.

"We can't make it, dad! And we don't have time to argue so go, the others are coming anyway!" She leaned forward and gently held his jaw to press her lips to his cheek. "We'll be okay." Daryl growled lowly but nodded and turned towards his door.

"Alright lets go but once we hit the group, you come find me and do what I said." Asher nodded and he turned towards Carol and Sophia who sat close to the door ready to run. "Better keep up." They nodded and all three leapt from the car, Daryl shooting down a walker instantly as Asher followed out his door to take up the rear. With every shot she took she yanked out the arrow and reloaded within a second.

"Asher, you good? We're almost with the group." She shot a walker between the eyes and ripped the arrow free.

"Still alive, Dixie." She stabbed another in the forehead before using the bow itself to rip another skull in half. They met up with the rest of the group and Asher made sure that Carol and her daughter were in the middle with Lori and Carl before slipping away to join Daryl at the front.

"You're insufferable sometimes, you know that sweetheart." Asher smirked and sliced another walker's brain open with the edge of the bow then shoots another.

"You know you love me, Dixie." They shot down another walker together and the great big CDC building appeared in the dying sunlight.

"There it is!" Rick raced out ahead of the group and started to bang on the big metal doors, which seemed to only bring in more walkers.

"Rick there ain't nobody here anymore! We need to go! Now!" Shane shouts over the ringing of banging metal and snarling walkers. Daryl moved himself between Asher and the oncoming threat of the dead.

"Help us! Let us in please!" The walkers got closer and closer with every second. It looked like this is where the story ends for them.

"Dixie?" He reaches back and gently laced their fingers together, her thin appendages barely wrapping around his calloused ones. She pressed her face into his back and breathed in his scent, she wanted him to be the last thing.

"I still hate that nickname." Her retort was stopped by the rattling of the door behind them opening, spilling light out into the street. Inside the light stood a man with a sad face and a white lab coat glowing like an angel.

"If you come in, those doors won't ever open again. Make your choice now." Everyone scrambled in without hesitation and the door rumbled shut behind them. Everyone breathed a sight of relief and checked to see if the others were alright. Daryl knelt down and looked her over for injuries.

"I'm okay, nothing got close enough to even touch me. Dixie. Hey, hey, Dixie. Daryl. Daryl. Dad!" She caught his hands around the wrists, her voice catching everyone's attention. They hadn't heard her say dad before. She let his arms go and stepped forward to instead wrap her arms around his neck and hide her features in his skin.

"I'm okay, I promise. Are you?" Daryl softly nodded and tightened his hold around her skinny torso.

"I'm alright, I promise." He stood with her still cradled in his arms- Asher happily winding her legs around his waist- and he followed the rest of the group into the CDC. The girl didn't pay much attention to what the other adults were talking about, she focused her attention instead on the heartbeat of the man pressed against her. Without realizing, she had started to loosely braid his shaggy and scraggly hair.

"What are you doing back there, sweetheart? Feels like you're trying to rip my hair out by the roots." Asher softly chuckled and ran her fingers through the braid to release it so she could start again.

"I'm braiding."

"My hair?" She nodded and continued to braid the hairs. "Why?"

"Because your hair is long enough to so why not." Daryl chuckled and gently hefted her to a more comfortable position.

"You're insufferable, sweetheart." Asher smiled and turned a bit to gently kiss his jaw.

"You know you love me, Dixie."