Down by the water • TWD

New Beginnings.

It's been seven months since the farm. Seven months on the road. Seven months of bouncing from house to house scavenging for anything we could. Avery's birthday has passed. She's eleven now. She doesn't feel it. The only thing she feels now is the pain in her legs from walking so much. Over the seven months, she's gotten closer to these people more than ever. They were her family now, not just the group she was surviving with. 

She watched some bonds fall apart though. Not hers, but ones she looked up to do immensely. She watched as Rick and Carl started to resent Lori. It upset her to watch Lori become alone, losing her husband and only son. 

Rick became distant from everyone, so focused on being a leader. He always had his eye on everyone, making sure no one would die because of him. Avery wished some days he would just relax.

Jackson, Carl, and Avery were best friends, now more than ever. Most of the time the rest of the group would get annoyed with them whenever they were together. Maggie envied it, she loved seeing kids our age still having fun in a world like this. Many of her relationships with these people grew stronger than ever before. One more than any of the others.

Daryl.

He'd taken her completely under his wing. Always looking after her, even when she wasn't paying attention. They'd come to understand each other. They shared moments where Avery wished she had a dad who acted that way. She often thought about those moments.

Then.

Avery and the rest of the group were walking a mile or two up the road looking for gas for the cars. It's been about a month since the farm, and her head healed nicely. She was walking in the back of the group separated from the rest. She noticed when Daryl started to slow down his pace to match hers. Now they were both walking in the back.

They didn't talk right away. Neither of them opened their mouths, just walking in silence. They do that often she noticed.

"Ya never told me what happened that night," Daryl said. Avery knew the exact night he was talking about. Shane. She sighed and touched the scar on her hairline, feeling the rough skin that was once smooth.

"Do you have to know?" Avery asked, she didn't want to sound mean. She was just worried how he'd react.

"Ya ain't gotta be nasty about it, I just wanna know what he did," Daryl asked trying to keep his temper down. He learned quite a lot since the first time they talked, how to not lose your patience immediately.

"I was in the woods minding my business, I saw him kill Randall, he saw me. He chased after me, but he ended up getting tired and shot at me. He thought I was dead because I tripped on a rock and hit my head." She explained softly pointing to her scar. She kept her head low as she let her words sink in him. She knew she could have told the story better but she didn't have the energy to.

She didn't want to relive it.

"I'm sorry that happened to ya kid." He said to her sincerely. He didn't know what else to say. He knew Shane didn't like her but he never knew he would go that far. Daryl blood boiled the more he let the words soak in his brain. "I'm sorry I wasn't there." He looked at her, he felt at fault.

"It's not your fault, like you said I'm not your responsibility." She murmured back bringing up the words he once said. He swallowed hard and knew not to say anything else.