Daryl's Girl

Chapter 34

Leaving the basket and tray on the front porch, I stood alone looking over the field and everything that'd happened with Daryl came flooding back to the forefront of my mind. Talking to Hershal had distracted me for a while, but standing here, it was all I could think about. 

Something clearly wasn't right and avoiding it wasn't making things any better. The last thing I wanted was for us to be at each others throats. I needed to know what was going on. At the very least, find a way to talk to him without a repeat of what happened before. If something was wrong, I wanted to help. I had to do something.

With that overpowering my thoughts, I began making my way away from the house and couldn't help but notice there was no one in camp. In fact, I couldn't see anyone...anywhere. The farm was empty. My best guess being that, despite the new issue with the kid, Rick had taken everyone for another gun training session, or something along those lines whilst I'd been talking with Hershal. Surely they wouldn't just up and leave. Not without the vehicles, would they? The silence not helping ease my discomfort.

I just had to ignore the unsettled feeling in my stomach and let it slide as I walked across the field and over to Daryl's camp. Once again, he wasn't there. Maybe he was in the tent? I walked over and looked in. Nope. My bag and the sleeping bag were the only things inside. His gun and crossbow had gone, but his bike was still here, propped up next to the tent. Where was he? Where were the others? It was like they'd all disappeared.

In the end, I decided to wait and sat in the tent for a while waiting, allowing my thoughts to run wild, thinking about what I could have possibly done wrong for Daryl to be acting the way he is. What it might be that's gotten him so wound up, but I couldn't think of anything. The last time we'd actually spoke was last night after Lori and I went out to look for Rick, Glenn and Hershal, but since then, he's been distant. It wasn't because of the crash, was it?

In the end, after a while, sitting and doing nothing wasn't helping so I thought it be best if I went on a walk. I needed to clear my head. Allowing myself to overthink was just driving me crazy. Going over and over every scenario that bought me to this point. The boat, the woods, Sophia, Tyler leaving, Carl getting shot, ending up here, Hershal, the crash, all of it. Maybe being out there was what I needed. To give me a bit of space to breathe and get the clarity I wanted, so with that in mind, I made sure Daryl's knife and my gun were safely in my belt and headed out of the tent. 

Just before I walked off into the trees, I stopped and took one last look around the farm. I couldn't see Daryl and I still couldn't see anyone else meaning there was no one around to tell them where I was going. The last thing I wanted was for them to start a search party and to have someone else end up injured, or worse, killed, when they didn't need to. I was confident I'd be able to take care of myself if something happened. I had to be.

After another couple seconds hesitation, I headed into the woods and began to make my way through the trees. 

I didn't know where I was going, or how long I'd be, I just kept on going. I could always use my own tracks to find my way back if I needed to. Try and put the skills I've learnt from Daryl to the test. Minimal as they may be. Just listening to the sound of the leaves and sticks under my feet as I went. My hand resting on the knife and, before I knew it, I ended up back on the highway.

As my feet hit the tarmac I surprised myself to see how far I'd gone. The supplies that we'd left for Sophia were still untouched on the bonnet of the car, but the sign had started to fade away and was barely readable. Not that we needed it anymore anyway and another wave of guilt washed over me. One I knew would never go away.

I just sighed, climbing up and making myself comfortable on the roof of the car. There was nothing around for miles. No walkers, no people, nothing. For as far as I could see, there were just cars, other than the occasional dead body that littered the floor. All of it piled up down this one stretch of highway from hundreds of people trying to get out of Atlanta.