ᴀɴɢᴜɪsʜ » ᴅᴀʀʏʟ ᴅɪxᴏɴ

{26} Ideas.

"See it?" Daryl hummed carefully from beside Willow, his squinty blue eyes study a hidden path just on the crisp ground. To the naked eye, many who did not speak the language couldn't see. Those with keen sight could very well understand this sacred dialect hidden right in front of them. Unfortunately, Willow isn't one of those people.

"What?" Willow grunts, trying her best to focus, however, nothing but the sight of normal flooring catches her awareness. "I don't see anything."

Daryl steps closer to Willow and slightly bends his knees to be head level with his student. He moves his head near hers to get a good sense of what she could see then points his finger towards the ground;

"It's clear as day. Look at the ground again and notice the prints without thinking too hard," Daryl tells her. "You'll see it."

Willow ever so slightly turned her head to get a good look at Daryl. His face so close she could see his opened pores clear as day. With a sigh, she does as he says, narrowing her brows to strain her eyes. Still, there is nothing she could tell.

"I still see nothing there, Daryl," Willow admits. "I'm a lawyer, not a hunter."

Daryl gave out a groan, stepping away from Willow. He then wrapped his arm around him to dig into his pack that rests on his shoulders. In an awkward motion, Daryl pulls out a freshly picked peach he had stolen from Hershel's garden. "That job is useless now. Better start learning how to survive." Daryl states before walking forward, following the two footprints he had discovered. They did not belong to Sophia but were clear prints that belonged to two living adults. The group hadn't witnessed any other survivors since Hershel and his family. So, Daryl grew some curiosity.

"If I had known all my years in college were for nothing, I would have done survival classes instead," Willow says sarcastically beside Daryl, her limp more obvious than before. Thankfully, Daryl noted this and slowed down his walk so she could catch up with him.

The day is just as it was before. Hot and miserable. Willow missed modern-day technology. The brisk fresh air from installed a/c units. The heavenly smell of freshly brewed ice coffee. And above all ice, frozen popsicles on a sunny summer day. Everything now had to be reserved and Hershel made sure the little energy coming from the emergency generator needed to be utilized when necessary. Daryl doesn't seem to mind. With his hunting knife in hand, Daryl cuts the peach in half. After he pushes the long knife back into its holster, Daryl shoves the other half of the cut peach right in front of Willow's face. Just as he did with the candy bar.

Willow takes it with a small smile, seizing small bites in between checking their surroundings and batting her eyes towards a silent Daryl.

"Why didn't ya tell em'?" Daryl spoke after a long silence. His half of the peach already gone and crossbow held in both hands.

Willow blinked at Daryl, confused by his question. Dixon sees her perplexity at the corner of his eye and continues;

"Why didn't you tell Rick about what Shane did to you..."

"To protect Lori," Willow sucked in, lowering her peach away from her lips.

Daryl paused to shoot Willow the most challenging glare. "Is you stupid?" Daryl barked suddenly, catching Willow aback by his attitude. "Ya can't protect others if you can't even save yourself. We've already gone through this shit."

"The point of doing this is to help the people in our group, Daryl. You would do the same," Willow gave the twisted floor filled with dead leaves and deep soil a cautious look. Hoping she too could see the prints Daryl swore are there.

"Whatever -"

Willow comes to a stop, then with a gentle touch to his forearm, she looks up at him with desperation.