Eternally Yours || Daryl Dixon

|4|

Two months after the man known as the Governor approached Merle and Lucy, the pair found themselves running with Martinez, Shumpert, and a few others beyond the walls. Their main goal was to scavenge and bring back anything the community could use. When they first were introduced to Woodbury, both were taken aback by the sheer size of the community. It was a town with about forty people, and the Governor was determined to expand. Despite her reservations, Lucy remained loyal because Merle was loyal. Merle quickly worked his way to the top, earning the trust of nearly everyone. Therefore, most people trusted Lucy since she was practically glued to Merle's hip.

Lucy stuck close to Merle as they voyaged through the dense woods, both their eyes searching for the deer that left a trail in the dirt below them. Behind the pair, Martinez, Shumpert, a short, stocky man named Albert, and much to everyone's surprise, the Governor, crept silently. The four men weren't as well versed in the art of tracking as Lucy or Merle, but they understood the task ahead of them. Merle held his stump out, stopping Lucy in her tracks, and jutted his chin towards the ground, his eyes squinting slightly at the faded indentations. A streak of red buried itself in the track, making the two feel uneasy. Merle had been able to shoot the deer in its hindquarters, but the amount of blood they had seen while following the trail had been minimal – a few spatters here and there – but this was a much larger splatter.

Lucy kneeled and dipped her finger into the blood, feeling the warmth that still came from it. It was enough to tell her that the deer had recently passed through, but not enough to tell them if anything else had gotten to it before they could. Merle nudged the woman and pointed his finger to their right, his eyes glued to something buried in the trees. Lucy gripped her weapon tightly and started to move forward, her sights glued to the intrusion. The sound hit her before she could see anything. The unmistakable, gut-wrenching slurping made her drop her grip on her gun, letting it hang by the strap around her torso. Her slim fingers circled the handle of the hatchet Merle had found for her a few days ago and unsheathed it. The blade glistened as the sun hit it, held high as she closed the distance between her and the deadite. Lucy, not allowing the undead monster any time to notice her, swung her blade down and felt the shattering of the skull vibrate through the weapon and up to her elbow. Immediately, the slurping stopped, and the body went limp.

"What a damn waste," Lucy muttered as she shook the deadite's body off her blade and kneeled to examine the damage done to their deer. The entrails hung out of the carcass, and blood painted the ground beneath it, clinging to Lucy's boots.

"We're not risking it," The Governor said, taking in the scene before him. Lucy bit her lip and refrained from rolling her eyes. Well, duh! Lucy thought to herself as she straightened up, Why would we bring back an infected deer?

"You've gotten a lot better, Luce," Martinez murmured, his eyes firmly on her. She had been working hard to better her tracking skills, something that proved to be incredibly difficult, so she was happy to hear that all her hard work was paying off!

"Couldn't have done it without, Dixon," Lucy praised, letting her hand smack Merle's shoulder a few times. Merle shook her hand off and gripped his weapon tightly in his remaining hand, his head darting around as the obvious sound of branches snapping caught his attention. The sound went unnoticed by the rest of his party, so when Merle started creeping forward, everyone quieted and stared at him. Lucy sheathed her hatchet and grabbed onto her rifle, moving at a slow pace behind her friend.

Merle's eyes searched the dense trees, his jaw clenching and unclenching. He stuck his stump out towards Lucy, signaling her to remain in place. Luckily for him, she listened and remained rooted in place while he followed the noise. He continued creeping forward, utterly unaware of the two people dressed in full camo. It wasn't until two guns clicked that he realized that he was cornered. A man and a woman stepped forward – the man pointing his gun at Lucy, while the woman shoved the guns' barrel between Merle's eyes.