She's a Dixon (Daryl Dixon story)

Chapter 17

The day turned to night, and the entire group finished a lot of work that needed to be done, and Rick was very pleased about that. Carol prepared dinner tonight, and it was squirrel and beans. Everyone sat around the fire and ate, besides me. I was very worried, and eating was the last thing on my mind. Daryl and Merle spent the whole day out in the woods and I couldn't shake the horrible feeling off that something happened to them. Pacing around the camp, I tried to shake the thoughts off, but I couldn't. I almost gave in and was going to go after them, until I saw Merle out of the woods, but he didn't have Daryl. I feared the worst, and my feet rapidly carried my over to the gate, and I let him in.

"Where's Daryl?" I asked, out of breath.

"Don' worry, Daryl is still out there, he is really pissed, 'nd didn' wanna talk. Jus' give 'im time, 'nd don' go after 'im, tha' may make 'im even more mad. He went to tha' river where ye and Amy 'ad tha' incident."

"Okay thanks," I replied. That was all the information that I needed. I didn't care that Daryl was pissed, or that he wouldn't want to talk to, or even see anyone, especially me. I was still going to go after him, I was worried about him. I heard Merle call back out to me, asking me where I was going. I told him that I was going to bring Daryl back. He kept trying to convince me that it wasn't a smart idea to do that, but I just ignored him, and kept walking. I was too determined, and had my mind set on bringing him back.

It took about 5 minutes to reach the river, and when I did, I saw Daryl sitting on the ground, staring out into space. I sighed, and became a little hesitant. I wasn't so sure how hostile he would be and I didn't want to piss him off even more. I slowly started walking towards him, trying my hardest not to make any sound. When I was about halfway towards him, I heard a few leaves crunch underneath my feet. Daryl was quick to react. He jumped up from the ground, and trained his loaded crossbow directly at me.

"Whoa! It's just me Daryl!" I called out.

"Shit, Julie don' do tha', I coulda shot ye! Wha' 're ye doin' 'ere anyway?" He asked.

"Coming to bring you back to camp," I said.

He scoffed, "I ain't comin' back. Not anytime soon."

"You're still pretty mad huh?" I questioned.

"Mad? Mad! Ha I ain't mad Julie. I'm pissed actually," He raised his voice.

"Daryl, I'm sorry! I didn't realize how much this made you worry. I didn't think it was a big deal, I can handle myself. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"The same thing could 'ave happened, or maybe somethin' worse, but ye were so carefree, ye didn' care if tha' happened te ye! Maybe next time ye should tell me or never go out there in the first place!"

"I was only gone for a half hour Daryl! I was going to come back, I had no intention of dying out here. And I had a good reason to be out there. That shouldn't worry you! You were out here the whole damn day and so was Merle, and I thought something bad happened! I couldn't shake the feeling off that something happened. And then Merle came back without you and I feared the worst, only then did I find out you were still out here and I just had to come and get your sorry ass back to camp! You have no idea how I felt THE ENTIRE DAY not knowing where you were. I should be the one who is pissed at you, not the other way around!" I screamed at him.

I didn't care anymore if we were gathering any unwanted attention for walkers or outsiders. I did feel good though after yelling at him, but I then realized that I basically have put out the fact that I really cared about him. I was hoping that he didn't notice what I said, but I had a feeling that he did.

By now, we were almost face to face. Daryl looked a little shocked, was speechless, and his facial expression had softened a bit, but that was only for a brief second, before his walls were built back up.