Living On A Prayer (Daryl Dixon/ TWD)

Chapter 23

Adasyn

"Dale could - could get under your skin," Rick chuckled. "He sure got under mine. Cause he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kinda honesty is rare and brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another."

Ashlynn grabbed my hand and I let a tear fall down my cheek. I looked beside me, only to be met by Daryl's eyes. He stepped a bit closer to me and I felt better almost instantly. He had that kinda power over me these days.

"He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us - the truth. Who we really are. In the end, he was talking about loosing our humanity. He said this group was broken. The best way to honor him is to fix it. Set aside our differences and pull together. Stop feeling sorry for ourselves. Take control of our lives. Our safety. Our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on, we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale."

**

"Hey Ady."

I looked up from the pile of wood I was loading into the back of one of the cars, Carl standing a couple of feet away.

"What's up bud? Why you wonderin' around by yourself?"

"If I - if I tell you something, will you promise not to tell my parents?"

"That's probably a bad idea for both of us," his face fell and I could tell whatever it was he really needed to get it off his back. I took a seat in the boot of the car and patted the spot next to me. "Come on."

He sat beside me and I flicked the rim of his hat. "What's on your mind, cowboy?"

Carl looked around timidly before producing a pistol from his jacket pocket and handing it to me. "I took it from Daryl's motorcycle. If he found out I took it he'd kill me. Since you're his girlfriend I was hoping you'd just give it back. He wouldn't be mad at you for having it."

"Girlfriend? Never mind. What were you doing with this, Carl?"

He looked down at his feet and I noticed tears in his bright blue eyes. "Dale - it's , it's my fault that he died."

"Carl why would you say that?" I asked. "He got hurt by a walker."

"And I saw that walker. I was gonna shoot it. He was stuck in the mud. I was throwing rocks at it and stuff. But I was gonna do it - shoot it right in the head. It got free, came after me and I ran away. If I killed it .. D-Dale would still be alive." He choked out sobs, trying to wipe them away with his jacket sleeve and I pulled him into my arms.

"I want you to stop that, okay?" I asked, rubbing his back. "That was not your fault."

"I'm never gonna touch another gun again," he said. "Please just give it back to Daryl."

Daryl

"We'll take him out to Senoai, bout an hour there and an hour back. We may loose the daylight but we'll be halfway home by then."

I nodded, "This pain in the ass will be a distant memory."

"That thing you did last night -"

"Ain't no reason you should do all the heavy liftin'."

"How do you feel about all this?"

"I don't see you and me tradin hay bales on the side of the road, nobody would win that fight," I saw Ady pull up in front of the house, just as I stood up. "I'm gonna go take a piss."

Adasyn

I watched as Daryl walked off , and Rick waited for me to approach him. "Have you seen Carl lately?"