Savage World •••Daryl Dixon•••

Survival Force

Boots crunched against bone. Skin bruised and split open to seep crimson out against the dull grey asphalt. Air wheezed out over broken lips to speckle little dots of blood over the road.

"You. Cost. Me. My. Toys!" Zero barked with every blow he landed into her stomach and spine. Asher bit her teeth together so hard she feared she would shatter them. She refused to make a sound, this time she wasn't going to give in. Zero huffed out a few breaths before lunging forward and kicking into the side of her ribcage, the bone giving way under the force with an audible snap. The brute force of his kick sent her flying back to slam into the concrete barrier. The back of her head cracked against the hard surface, throwing her back into her memories.

"Asher?" She tore her gaze away from Sophia's corpse splayed over the wispy hay with the others. Daryl was yet to let Carol go, the woman wailing into his bicep as he focused on the frozen girl. Her entire body shook like a leaf in the wind and her tears flowed unhindered. One hand covered her mouth and the other held a vice grip with the middle of the oversized poncho she wore. Carol pushed up from the Dixon and onto unsteady legs so she could step towards the frail blonde.

"Sweetie, it's not..." Asher stepped away from the woman, watery eyes nearly swallowed by tears.

"I said she was going to be okay." Her rattled and cracked voice caught everyone's attention. "She was supposed to be okay." Carol softly smiled at the girl and nodded, feeling as Daryl brushed by her to get closer to the girl.

"I.... I'm sorry." Daryl stepped forward from the group, hands held palm out towards her like a halfhearted invitation to a hug.

"Can I get closer, baby girl?" The blonde sniffles and nods gently, watching him step forward slowly so he wouldn't scare her. "Hey, look at me." She drug her gaze up from his boots to his sad face. He must be feeling just as bad as she did. If not worse.

"Dixie?" He didn't speak, simply held out his arms for her. She didn't waste a second to run for him and wrap herself around his torso, hiding her teary features in his dirty shirt. Daryl curled his arms around her trembling form and gently rocked side to side as she wept into his chest.

"Just let it out, sweetheart I gotcha."

Another slamming force ripped her back into reality and she realized that everything aches and singed with pain as the men kicked her around like a ball. Asher coughed up a fit of blood and pushed up on her hands and knees only to earn a knee to the abdomen by one of Zero's men. She plopped to the concrete, breath ragged and shallow as blood flowed over her bottom lip and chin down her throat to her already stained and crusted bodysuit.

"I think that's well enough punishment. Load her up and let's get back home." Men gripped her around her arms, readying to drag her limp body back to whatever vehicle they came in.

"Zero! We've got a group! They're moving pretty quick too. I don't think we'll make it if we drag her along with us." Zero bared his teeth in frustration as he mulled over what to do. "Zero! We gotta go now!"

"Fucking hell! Leave her! She can buy us some time by being lunch. I've lost enough because of this bitch already. Move!" Their boots clomped away and an engine roared by, trailed by the growl of oncoming walkers. Knowing how much this would hurt, Asher forced herself to her feet and limped off away from the herd shambling along behind her. Her muscles screamed and begged for a moment of rest, but she knew if she slowed down even a little that the dead would catch her and she'd never see Daryl again.

"Just a little further, you can make it." She found the turn off a small cul de sac and moved for the closest house she could find. Asher didn't bother checking for walkers before she barged headlong through the unlocked door. Slamming the barrier shut and sliding the deadbolt home, she sighed and leaned against the door as the walkers banged against the wood on the other side. Their growls brought in a lone walker wearing smelting gear and goggles that had sunk into its skull.

"I really don't have time for you." She swung at the dead man, growling lowly when the bat bounced off a hidden welding mask that protected the back of its neck. Yanking on the bat, she swung the walker around by its head as its fingers wiggle for her skin and blood. Mimicking Rick at the farm with the tether pole, she lead the walker through the house and into the garage as she looked for something sharp to use against it. Kicking open the garage, she fumbled for the light switch in case it worked, but all she earned was darkness and a growling walker at the end of her bat.

"Fucking perfect. Let's see..." Asher reached as far into the dark garage as she dared and grabbed the first thing she could reach, returning with a long and serpentine blade that looked half polished but properly sharpened. She turned back to the walker and twisted the blade before lunging forward and plunging the blade deep into its brain from the crown of its head. The growls stopped and the walker thuds to the floor with a hollow pound. The girl huffed out a sigh and kicked the rest of its body parts into the garage before closing and locking the door in case there was another hiding in the blackness.

Now that the moment of abject terror was over and her adrenaline was plummeting, she stumbled through the house to find a chair or couch to crash on before she fell and hurt herself. She just barely made it to the ratted couch in the living room before her body collapsed from exhaustion. Blue eyes rolled as she glared off into the distance at wherever Zero may be hiding out.

"If we ever meet again, I'm going to make you wish I was dead."