Zedler, M.D. // Daryl Dixon

Chapter Nine: Roommates

•nine•

Beatrix

"Daryl!" I jog to catch up with him on the other side of the house. Once I get to him, I can see that he's talking to Rick.

"I'm better on my own," Daryl says to Rick. I'm guessing Rick doesn't like him going off on his own.

"I still think you need to take someone with you," Rick tries to reason with him.

"I'll go with him," I volunteer and wave my hand a little.

"Yeah, Daryl, take Beatrix with you," Rick motions to me.

"Don't she have to watch the kid? Make sure he don't die on ya?" Daryl tries to get out of taking me with him. He has a valid point though.

"I've already done my part. I operated on him, and normally that's when I give my patients off to the nurses anyway. Patricia, Beth, and Maggie are perfectly qualified of taking care of him while I'm gone," I protest.

"See? Just take her with you," Rick looks to me.

"I don't need anyone to come with me. I'm just fine on my own," Daryl starts to walk off again.

"Daryl, I'm going with you. I came here to talk to you anyway," I call after him. He turns around and grunts, giving in waiting on me to follow him.

"You got a weapon?" Daryl asks me as we walk into the woods.

"Yeah I-" I pat my left thigh and remember that my knife isn't there. "No. I forgot I took it off my loop last night before surgery. It just un-sterile and I didn't want him to get an infection because that would be terrible. I don't think I could have-"

"Stop rambling, you can carry mine," Daryl stops walking and sits his crossbow down at the base of a tree, then unbuckles his belt.

"I really don't need one. I'm not very good with it," I watch him take his belt off and slip the knife sheath off. "You can take care of one if it gets too close."

"What if I've got a walker on me too? Ya gotta' learn to protect youself, Trixie," he hands me the knife and I quickly undo my belt and slip it onto the loop.

"Nobody's ever called me Trixie before. That's a new one," I smile at him as he picks his crossbow back up.

"I'll stick with Beatrix then," he grunts and continues walking.

"No, you don't have to. I like Trixie, it's cute," I follow him, trying to keep up with his fast walking pace.

"Ain't nothin' about me that's cute," he grumbles and calls out for Sophia.

"I didn't mean it like that," I sigh. "But I needed to talk to you anyway."

"'Bout what?"

"Where you're going to sleep. Carol told me to ask you about it," he grunts and I take that as an incentive to continue. "Said you had them set your tent up away from everybody else's, but she said we didn't have enough for everybody to have their own."

"I ain't sharin' with nobody," Daryl says before calling out for Sophia again.

"Well, you see, that's what I needed to talk to you about. There's enough room for two people per tent, save Lori and Rick because they're sharing with Carl, and everybody already picked partners by the time I got outside," my voice gets quieter as the sentence goes on. I don't think he'll get mad and blow up, but he might so I'm trying to tread lightly. He's not one for talking a lot and I know that, but he does seem to talk to me more than the others which helps a lot. "So I didn't think it was that big of a deal, since we already shared a room at the CDC it'll basically be the same thing. And last night-"