I'll Always Find You (A Daryl Dixon X Reader)

CHAPTER 43: A New Ray Of Hope (S: 3)

It had been a long harsh winter... Nearly 9 months since the farm went down. We had moved from place to place, never getting too comfortable, and still not having some place to call our own. Some thing's got easier. Like the group's survival skills. Seeing as it was learn or die. So we were able to lean on each other more often. Carl and Charlotte had grown so much in such a short time. They were both allowed to contribute to the group more. Honing their gunmanship skills. Daryl even started to show Charlotte how to use his crossbow. We found more ammo, some new guns, silencers. Sometimes we'd find a place, get it all cleared out, only to have to move on shortly after arriving.

Weather got warmer, runs got easier, but times were still hard. Food was getting scarcer. There were times we had to resort to scraps. Dog food. Things other people would normally have left behind. We avoided walkers mainly. Only killing them if we had too. Tried to attract less attention to ourselves. It sucked, but we barely made it by.

Lori, was really pregnant now. Due to give birth real soon. So anything we could spare we gave to her. Sometimes some of us went without eating just so she could. We'd been mapping out all the places we'd been. All the herds we'd find. How big or small. You name it and we mapped it.

    "15, you two are on point." Rick told Carl and Charlotte as they ran up to him. They nodded and stood guard pointing their guns forward.

We stopped our vehicles in the middle of the road after leaving our last house being it became surrounded by a small group of walkers. I climbed off Daryl's bike and walked over to the car with the map and laid it out for everyone too see.

    "We got no place left to go." T-Dog said.

    "When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off." Maggie pointed out. "We'll never make it south."

    "What you say, babe? That was about, what, 150 heads?" I questioned Daryl as he came and wrapped himself up behind me. Pushing his body against mine, against the car. I blushed pink.

    "I'd say so." Daryl nodded, is breath tickling my ear.

For the first few weeks after Shane's death, things were hard. Stressful. Tense all around the group. I was hurting, sure. But I was free, finally. To do what I wanted. Not to feel like I had to look over my shoulder more than normal in order to keep myself and my daughter safe. Daryl was quick to pick up all those pieces and our relationship had never been stronger. Mentally or physically. We were jumping on each other any chance we got. It was few and far between, but still. Any chance we got. We took.

    "That was last week. It could be twice that by now." Glenn pointed out.

    "This river could of delayed them." Hershel offered pointing to the map. "If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through there."

    "Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, then they could spill out this way." T-dog shook his head disagreeing.

    "So we're blocked?" I asked trying to push Daryl slightly away only making things worse. I was unhappy towards him for making me feel all tingly in front of everyone else. I would never tell him that I secretly liked it. I always liked it when he was all over me.

    "Only thing to do is double back to 27 and swing towards Greenville." Rick said.

    "Yeah, we picked through that already." T-Dog told him. "It's like we spent the winter going in circles."

    "Yeah, I know." Rick nodded. "I know. At Newnan we'll push west."

    "We haven't been through there yet." I nodded possibly agreeing.