Triggerfinger ➳ Daryl Dixon

f i v e

The birds were singing.

The forest was alive,

and so were the people walking through it.

All except one.

Presley stared at the reflection staring back at her. She sat at the edge of the still stream. Her knees were drawn up to her chest with her chin resting on them. From a distance, she would appear like a crouched child.

If only she could behold the innocence of a child. She'd do anything to be oblivious to the world around her right now. She envied Judith because of it. However, she knew that Judith had been tossed into a world where only the strong survived. Presley tossed a rock into the stream. With a father like Rick and a brother like Carl, Presley knew that the girl would do just fine.

Sighing, the raven haired girl laid down on her back. Above the trees the sun was shining brilliantly. Just because the humans were mindless cannibals didn't mean that the universe stopped doing its thing. Hell, it was probably the best thing for the world with all that global warming and shit.

At last, Presley groaned and sat up. She had claimed she was going out in search of water... And she was. However, she had decided to sit and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Daryl was probably wondering where she was by now, anyways.

She rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself up, gathering the gallons of water she had collected just moments ago. She managed to carry two of the plastic containers in each hand. If a roamer came lumbering in her direction, though, she was definitely screwed.

Zeva, as joyful as ever, bounded happily at Presley's side. The black dog was always happy. She was oblivious to the horrible things happening all around. She was just happy to love people, and to be loved by people.

"Here's the water." Presley announced as she entered the camp area. Everybody had turned at her, expecting to see a humanoid drooling at the mouth. Presley dropped the water onto the ground and turned away from the fire, taking her own seat beside Maggie and Glenn. They had their heads ducked down as they talked softly to one another. Casually, Maggie had a protective hand laid out on her stomach.

"Watch out, Pres, Judy is comin' for you!" Carl said as his baby sister lumbered forward ungracefully. Presley turned towards the infant, grinning ear to ear. She wasn't a huge fan of babies, but who could deny that Judith wasn't an adorable little girl? Suddenly, the girl became transfixed on a different figure: Zeva. She gurgled excitedly as she wrapped her stubby arms around the dog, probably pulling her fur in different places.

Laughter was a beautiful and rare thing. As Judith clung to the mutt with every ounce of strength that she had, the group laughed at the pained expression on Zeva. In spite of her obvious pain and soft whimper, the dog thumped her tail and refused to move from where she was.

"Aww, poor Zeva. Looks like Judith found a new buddy." Rick chuckled. They were happy.

"Presley, I haven't talked to you in a while." Presley glanced up as a familiar face, Morgan, sat down beside her. He smiled warmly in greeting. Even his warm smiles couldn't hide the pain that he'd experienced.

"Hello, Morgan." She said quietly.

"You know..." His eyebrows furrowed. "I haven't seen Daryl in a while." Immediately, Presley sat up and searched for him. Even Rick looked around for the man.

"Has anybody seen Daryl?" She asked, unable to hide the worry in her tone. She ran a hand through her hair, swallowing hard.

"I'm sure he's out hunting, Pres." Glenn said. Although, he didn't sound too sure, either. Presley rocked back and forth on her toes as she contemplated. Glenn was probably right, but she couldn't risk it. What if he was in trouble? Birdie snatched up her bow.

"I'm going to go look for him." She announced, not caring to listen for any recognition. "I'll be back before dark."

"Presley, he's just hunting..." Abraham insisted. She whirled around to face him, glaring up at him. She had nothing against him, but she was about to if he didn't move out of her way.

"I'm going to make sure of that." She said, moving to sidestep him. He matched her stride immediately.

"Just wait half an hour. What can it hurt? We can have other people go with you-." He was unable to finish, because Presley suddenly shoved him. She wasn't that strong when it came to upper body strength, but it was enough to make the large man have to take a few steps back.

She hadn't planned on doing that. In fact, she was shocked when she did. She lowered her hands and continued to glare at him, regardless of the lack of control over her own body. "Stay out of my damn way." She spat as she marched into the woods.

Abraham stood there in both shock and alarm. He looked at Rick, who simply shrugged.

"She's never taken command very lightly." He tried to hide his near amusement from the situation. Of course, if Daryl was missing it was hardly a laughing matter, but he couldn't help but to smile at Presley's ways of getting her points across.

"Has she always been violent?"

"Yes, actually." Glenn said, touching his nose. "It's unusual if she isn't."

"The first time she met Daryl, she kicked him right between the legs. Want to know why?" Carol said as she handed Abraham a can of beans that had only a few bites left in it. "Because he was trying to take her deer." Abraham stared at the group in shock.

"She's nuts."

"Yeah." Carl smiled, handing Judith off to Rick. "But she always wins."

Who's awesome? Me. I have you guys another update after just three days. I'm on the ball mmhmm.

So, I have some news. I actually started another story on Wattpad that isn't TWD related. I'm not mentioning this to make you guys go read it, but I am mentioning it because it will be absorbing some of the time that I have to write. Don't fret, my babies. Triggerfinger is still one of my main priorities. Now of course, if you would like to go read it, go ahead. It is a fanfiction, just not based off TWD. I am only posting it because I would like to some day publish it as an original book, so I am testing it out.

Anyways, I would just like to thank you guys for the enormous amount of support... Again. I have many intentions in writing many different stories here on Wattpad, and it's all thanks to you guys. Pat yourselves on the back. You raging tigers deserve some cookies.

Please remember to give me a vote. please. c:

also, I would love a comment to hear what you guys thought of this update.

Okay this ended up being longer than I meant it to.

Remember.

Comment, vote, follow <3 xo

bye babies