Can you See me up here, in the Trees?

Chapter 3

When he woke up the next morning, you weren't there. He got up quickly, grabbing his things and hurried out. He wasn't sure why he was worried about you, he just was. He heard movement and followed it, what he came to face was another hut.

This one wasn't as nice as the one he had just slept in but it wasn't supposed to be. You were there, bow on you back along with your quiver, collecting the water that had rained during the storm.

"Smart system."

"You should see my potato garden." You answered, finishing your work before turning to him. "We should get you back."

"Yeah, my group will be worried."

You hummed a response before walking him to the tree that you two had climbed. Making sure it was clear before you dropped the rope, you smiled at him.

"Well this has been fun, but see you around." You said, dropping the rope down.

"Don't you get lonely?"

"Not anymore." You said, leaving no room for talk.

He grabbed the rope but stopped and looked at you.

"My name's Daryl."

"Kasa."

"Native American."

"Born and raised."

You watched as he propelled himself down the tree, waving one last thanks to you. You watched him hurry off and pulled the rope up. Your venture back to your house was one of thinking. You sat on your floor and looked over at the photo you had.

The six of you stood there, looking proud. The six of you had lived in New Mexico, Cuba to be exact. Six of you, one left alive. You would keep it that way, no matter what. You wouldn't let another in your home.

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Daryl made it back to the settlement before nightfall, getting a hug from Rick before heading to his rack. He would debrief Rick in the morning, but for now all he could think about was Kasa's face. How young she had looked. But Kasa was anything but young. Kasa had built a system in the tree where the infected wouldn't look, a safe haven of sorts. And she was Carl's age.

"Daryl?" Daryl looked up at the kid he was just thinking about.

Carl had his eyepatch on, his shirt dirty from a hard day's work, and a curious look on his face.

"Hey kid."

"Where were you?"

"What, don't want to wait for the debrief in the morning?"

"Not with that look on your face."

Carl sat across from Daryl. Carl was another who had been raised in his rebellion years in the apocalypse. Daryl saw a lot of Kasa in Carl.

"Alright, I ran into walkers."

"That's not the whole story."

"No, it's not. But you need to understand that I will tell you everything in the morning."

Carl looked grumpy at this response but nodded and left the room. Daryl laid back and looked at the ceiling before falling asleep.

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The next morning Daryl met with everyone in one of the bigger office rooms, and explained everything.

"I ran into an infection, that's why I didn't come back that night." Daryl had originally gone out to hunt but was stopped by a mob of walkers.