Breathe Princess (Daryl Dixon Love Story)

Chapter Twenty One

There were so many memories.

I couldn't stop them.

The walkers in the barn. The way everyone just so effortlessly killed them. I couldn't be around that. Not now.

I kept running, my feet pounding hard on the floor of the forest and I just let them take me as far away as I could go. I stopped hearing Daryl's footsteps behind me a while ago but somehow I knew he was still chasing me. I knew how able he was at tracking and I knew he'd find me eventually but right now I needed to get away.
That's one thing I pride myself on; my speed.

I wasn't exactly the best at running long distances but being able to run fast was a trait I loved. Especially now.

Once I knew I was far enough away, I slowed, stopping at the trees and resting my back against the thick trunk of one of them. A hand on my chest as I panted, trying to slow my heart rate to something of a normal level.

The sounds of the walkers, the gun shots, everything. It bought back too many memories.

I let my breathing return to relatively normal before I sunk down to the ground, leaning my head against the trees and letting my tears fall silently. I knew it was stupid to run into the forest on my own, especially when the same thing had happened with Sophia and look where that got her. Alone in the woods, scared, more than likely crying and now she's a walker. Oh God, Carol. What she must be feeling right now was probably worse than I could ever feel and I knew it was selfish on my part o get away but I had to.

For the most part, I was running from the walkers, getting away from them was the only thing I ever knew how to do. But then there was the memories. I was running from them, hoping that the fast I ran and the further I ran, they would disappear. They didn't.

I tried to blank out the cold dead eyes that flashed behind my eyelids, shaking my head to get them to go away but they wouldn't. The once colourful bright eyes were grey and harsh. Snapping of teeth and growling for flesh hit me.
It sounded too close. So real.

My eyes flew open at the sound of tree branches snapping. I knew there was a reason it was too real. I panicked, standing up quickly and looking behind me. There was one lone walked stumbling towards me, arms in front like in all those cheesy zombie films Jacob and I used to watch.

I stumbled backwards, looking around in hopes that Daryl would come through the trees and help me but I knew that was just wishful thinking. I fumbled for my knife in holder on my hip and gripped heavily on the handle. Panic set it as it came closer to me and tripped right in front of me, taking me down with it.

It tried to claw at me shoulders but I pushed it back, knife still in my hand and panic set onto my face as it tried desperately to try and claw at me. My breathing quickened out of fear and I couldn't think clearly. I knew I had to kill it, plunge my knife into the side of it's head but my brain wouldn't work right with my hands and I panicked more.

Daryl popped into my head in that moment, for some strange reason that I was sure I was going to punch myself for later, but his voice echoed in my head. 'Breathe' It sounded so strange not actually being said by him but it repeated over and over in my head, all whilst I was still being attacked.

For the most part it helped, my breathing slowing if only just a little.

I knew what I had to do. I braced myself for what I was about to do and pulled my arm away, digging my knife into the side of the walkers head. It stopped motion all together and went lip, so I pushed it off, laying on the floor for only a second panting before scrambling away to the other side of the forest floor, my back hitting a tree.

I let out a ragged sob and dropped my knife by my side, wiping my hands on my shirt before digging the palms into my eyes to stop my crying.

Seconds later, I heard footsteps and grabbed my knife, scrambling to my feet in a panic with my knife in front of me; ready.

"Annora?" Daryl's voice came out and I nearly dropped on the spot. I didn't give him any chance to shout at me or give me a lecture on how wrong I was to simply run off on my own, I just dropped my knife to the floor and ran at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and burying my face into his shoulder. I knew he was mad at me, I could tell by he way he tensed when I hugged him, but he let it go for now, one hand on my back and the other on the back of my head.

"Breathe, Annora." He muttered in my ear, trying to get my breath back to normal.
There was complete silence hanging around the forest before he let me pull away, and then came the lecture. "What the hell were you thinkin'?" It wasn't as harsh as I had expected it to be but there was still a little anger behind it.

"I-" I didn't know what to say to him. 'Sorry' wouldn't even cover it but it's all I could muster up at the time. "I'm sorry." I shook my head.

"Why'd you run off?" He asked, grabbing a hold of my wrist lightly.

"I was-" Scared. I wanted to say scared but I didn't think I could have managed the whole story, not now. "I panicked." I shrugged and rubbed what little tears remained on my face.

He didn't buy it, I knew that just by looking at him, but he let it go, bringing me into another hug.

"Don't run off again, that some stupid shit you just pulled." There was a small smile tugging at his lips as I laughed.

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry." He nodded and walked past me, picking my knife up from off the floor and pulled me along with him back through the forest to the farm. I didn't want to go back, at least not as quickly as we were heading back. I want to stay out here a little longer, be away from the mess of walkers that are back at the farm but in retrospect, there's probably more walkers out here than there are at the farm but I still didn't want to be there.

"Annora," Daryl stopped and looked back at me, handing my knife back over and putting it in my holster. "promise me you won't run off again, I can't handle losing you too okay?" This was probably the closest I was going to get to vulnerable Daryl but I nodded, taking a hold of his hand that he was holding out to me and we walked back to camp. I just hoped that in that time, the majority of the walkers had been moved from in front of the barn. I couldn't handle being around any more walkers, at least, not today.