A Survivor's Diary of the Apocalypse (TWD/Daryl Dixon)

S9Pt22 - The Waterfall

I had one of the trucks parked and ready to go by the gate, and I leaned against the door as I waited for Daryl. It was early in the morning, and Jax just switched shifts with Doc for gate duty.
"Heading out today Kelley?" Doc asked as he climbed up onto the guard's platform.
"Yup. Just waiting for Daryl." I said.
"Ah, right." Doc said. "Sketchy dude."
He then looked in the distance and we finally saw Daryl who appeared out of nowhere, and then he awkwardly clicked his tongue and turned his head.
"Yup... sketchy." He mumbled under his breath.
I couldn't help but smirk and I started chuckling out loud. I covered my mouth, and held my laugh in, and Doc began chuckling at me.
"Shut the hell up Doc." I jokingly said and shook my head.
"What'd I miss?" Daryl then asked as he now stood in front of me.
"Doc's an ass." I said and smirked. "Don't worry about it."
"Uh-huh." Daryl said.
"Get the gates Doc." I said and then looked at Daryl. "Get in, let's go."
Daryl nodded and walked around the car and I sat in the driver's seat. I put the car in drive and started rolling forwards just as Daryl closed the door. I rolled down at window as Doc opened the gates and I drove through to leave, but not before casually flipping Doc off.
"Very nice Kelley." Doc called out.
"See ya later Doc." I called out the window.
I then rolled up the window and smiled to myself when I saw Doc waving in the rear view mirror. I then looked over at Daryl, and he had a confused look on his face.
"It's a joke Daryl." I said and nudged him with my elbow. "I can joke, you know."
"I know." He said and shrugged his shoulders.
I smiled again and leaned back in the seat, and tried to enjoy the ride out of Westwood. I was starting this adventure off with a positive attitude, because I didn't know if my attitude would change later today. I hope it wouldn't. I then looked over at Daryl again, and he was silently staring out the window.
"We'll see." I thought to myself. "We will see..."

~~~~~~~~~~

I parked on the side of the road at the beginning of a town I've never been to, and grabbed the map out of the side pocket of the car door. Daryl watched me as I traced my finger over the paper and studied the roads.
"I haven't been out this far yet, so I don't know what we're going to find out here." I said out loud.
"What are we needing?" Daryl asked.
"Any spare food for the festival. Having some extra would be nice." I said and hummed to myself as I folded the map back together. "Something for the kids. If we find anything else nice, we'll take it."
"Got it." Daryl said and opened the car door.
I took the keys out of the ignition and also got out of the car. I walked back to the truck and opened it, and found my bag that had my prosthetic. Daryl grabbed his crossbow and waited for me as I attached my blade and sharpened it. Daryl and I both then slung our backpacks onto our backs, and he reached out to grab our jug of drinking water. I reached out to grab the last one when Daryl held out his hand again.
"I can get that—" Daryl began to say, but the previous jug in his hand slipped out.
The jug hit the ground by my feet and both Daryl and I watched as water spilled out of it. Daryl awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, and I smirked as I looked up at him.
"That was— huh." Daryl muttered.
"It's fine." I said and handed him the other water jug. "Just don't drop this one."
"Yup." He said under his breath and took the jug from me.
I just nodded my head and playfully patted his shoulder. Daryl just silently adjusted his backpack, tightened his grip on the jug, and nodded down the road.
"After you." He said.
"Alright." I said and started walking. "Let's go then."
We walked into the town and passed up the first building we saw because it looked like it was already raided. The streets were empty of walkers and this place seemed like a ghost town, but I was still on guard. Daryl had his knife drawn, and I had my blade, but just in case I drew my sword.
This sword I've been carrying around with me for almost a year now. It was a two foot straight blade that worked in unison with my trusty ten inch blade on my prosthetic. Over time I began using guns less and less, and now I solely rely on just my blades. They were fast, quiet, and most importantly deadly sharp. It saved me from needing to find ammo anymore, plus it looked pretty badass. My sword then glistened in the sunlight and I caught Daryl staring at me in its reflection.
"When'd you start using that?" Daryl then asked me.
"Since bullets became too hard to come by anymore." I said and looked back at him. "After losing my hand, I was forced to deal with this one." I said and held up my prosthetic. "But, this one—" I said and held up the sword and admired it. "I'm glad I chose this."
Daryl nodded in acknowledgement and I just shrugged my shoulders as I remembered something from the past.
"Plus, I didn't find someone like Eugene to make us more, anyways. Someone like that— really fucking rare nowadays." I said and complimented Eugene.
I then thought to myself as I reminisced on the memories and kept walking forwards. We spent the next few moments in silence as I walked towards a store, and we decided to quickly check it out. After scavenging through there and other stores, I managed to find a surprise for Georgia and couldn't wait to give it to her the day of the festival. We continued searching and barely made it through half the town by the afternoon.
"I think we made pretty good headway, but should probably turn back in a few hours before dusk. We can search the rest in the morning, and be back tomorrow night."
"Yeah, sounds like a plan." Daryl agreed.
We continued walking through the town and around the next street corner, we saw a group of six walkers standing in the middle of the street.
"I got this." I said and adjusted the sword in my hand.
"You sure?" Daryl asked me.
I turned around to look at him, and smiled as I walked backwards towards the group of walkers.
"You just don't drop that water Dixon." I said and pointed my sword at him.
My mouth then turned up into a grin, and I spun back around to see the walkers all rushing towards me. One slash of my sword cut a walker in half, and my other blade stabbed another in the head. After several graceful twists and turned, the last walker growled at me from the ground. I looked down at it, scoffed, and stomped on its head. I caught my breath as I backed away from the bodies and looked up at the store I was now standing in front of.
"Huh." I laughed out loud.
I then walked forwards inside the store, knowing it was a pharmacy, and the first thing I found inside was a pack of cigarettes. I took the packet and took a single cigarette out of another one, and then left the store.
"Find anything?" Daryl asked as he walked towards me from the middle of the street.
I held up the cigarette in between my fingers and then put it in my mouth. Daryl couldn't help but smirk at me and I waved towards him.
"Got a light?" I asked.
"Yeah." Daryl said.
He finally put the jug of water in his backpack as he pulled out a lighter. I leaned forwards and he lit the cigarette that was in my mouth, and I tilted my head of slightly to look at him. He was looking down at me with narrowed eyes, and I smirked as I backed away.
"Thanks." I said as I smoked.
I then began walking away and he followed me, and after a few more puffs I held out the cigarette.
"So—" I said as Daryl took the cigarette from me. "Things been fine back at Alexandria?" I asked.
"Yeah, I think so." Daryl said after he took a hit. "I don't really spend much time there anymore."
"What gives?" I asked him.
"After I realized you actually left, I did too. I searched the rest of the state looking for Rick like I said I would, but once I didn't find anything I just stayed out there." Daryl told me. "I didn't come back until Carol found me out there."
"Huh." I said and took the cigarette that Daryl offered back to me.
"I'd show up occasionally. Check in on Alexandria and Hilltop, and the Kingdom.. I just wandered." Daryl said.
I took another puff and looked down the street, and looking around the buildings around us. I tried to distract my mind from the memories Daryl was bringing back up to my head, but the thought became louder and louder until I finally spoke.
"So... How'd you find me?" I finally asked him. "Like, seriously how?"
I was trying not to sound too interested, but my thoughts won because I was extremely interested. I wanted to know what changed his mind, and what really made him find me. I always thought that when I left, hoping I'd never see the old group again, that I'd see Daryl once I was ready, but then he showed up at my front gate. I thought that I never wanted to see him again, and part of me still thinks that's true, yet here I am smoking a cigarette with him in the middle of some random town.
"I guessed that when you left you wanted to get the hell out of Virginia—" Daryl said, and then pursed his lips together as he thought. "And so I went north... Uh, I don't know, I guess I just got lucky coming out this way. You went a lot farther than I've ever been though." He added.
"Huh—" I then said, and I blankly stared at the cigarette in my hand before tapping the ash off. "Apparently it wasn't far enough." I quietly commented.
Daryl whipped his head to the side to stare at me, but I refused to look at him. I just stared ahead and found myself spotting a large mall the was now appearing in the distance in front of us. I then thought about the last time Daryl and I went to the mall together. It didn't turn out well, but at this point I didn't care anymore. I then dropped the cigarette that was only half smoked, and stepped on it to put it out.
"Kelley." Daryl said as he watched me.
I then shook my head and began walking forwards, leaving Daryl behind me. "Come on. This ought to have some good shit inside of it." I responded back, ignoring what just happened.
"Kell." Daryl then said.
I instantly stopped walking and felt my body tense up. I clenched and unclenched my fist to relax my hand, and then slowly turned around. Daryl was staring at me, and my cold eyes met his glance as he instantly raised up his hands.
"I'm sorry." Daryl said, and we just stared at each other in silence for a long moment until he spoke again. "But, no matter what you say or do, I'm still grateful I found you."
I just remained silent and Daryl began to slowly lower his hands. At that moment, that's when I raised my blade to point at him, and he just stared at me. I then pointed my blade to the side towards the direction of the mall.
"I said— Come on." I said, and then dropped my arm to stop looking like I was threatening Daryl. "Everything we need is probably in there. Can you hurry up before it gets dark?"
I then turned back around and began walking towards the mall. I didn't say anything else, I didn't do anything else. I just walked away, and Daryl followed.