Daryl's Girl

Chapter 74

I woke up the next morning and found that everyone else was still asleep. Everyone apart from Rick. He was over the far side of the field just watching as the walkers clawed against the fence. With a gun in his hand.

If I know Rick as well as I think I do, I know that he didn't sleep at all last night. This wasn't good for him and it wasn't good for any of us if he was too exhausted to fight. I had to change that for the sake of everyone else, so I slowly crept passed, trying not to wake any of them and made my way over to Rick.

"Morning." I whispered. I didn't want to startle him and have him spin the gun on me.

"Morning." He replied, without turning his head.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" I asked as I walked up next to him.

Rick didn't reply. He ignored the question and continued watching the walkers that were roaming around in the prison yard. I knew it. "We can do this. Do you support this idea?" He asked, changing the question.

"It's a good idea, but not if you don't get some rest. We can't do it without you. I'll take watch and I'm not taking no for an answer. Go rest." I told him looking back out at the walkers. Rick didn't move. "I thought I said I wasn't taking no for an answer." I raised my brows and smiled, jokingly.

"You've become a leader." Rick handed me his rifle in defeat.

"Really? I think I'm more of a mess, especially after..." I told him honestly not being able to finish my sentence.

Rick turned his head and looked at me. "You've done more for this group than you'll ever know. What you did only made you stronger. Dont ever forget that."

Rick stood still for a little while longer before turning and walking over to the others. I never knew Rick felt that way and coming from him, that was a huge compliment. All I wanted was to make sure the people that I care about lived, and that was what I was doing.

I turned my head back to the fence and watched as the walkers roamed around the yard area that Rick was planning on taking next. I liked this idea. If and when we get in there, we can take one of the cell blocks so we'll be safe inside. Less exposed than we are out here. One small step at a time.

I stood and watched the walkers a little while longer before I began to stroll around the perimeter a couple of times. There seemed to be no weak spots where the walkers could get in and not one of them noticed me as I passed. Though I'm not complaining. This was a good thing. The less geeks see me, the better.

As I walked I kept thinking about what we'd been through. I couldn't help but relive the deaths of both Shane and Norman in my head. I'd tried so hard to forget them ever since they happened, but I couldn't. It was like they were calved into my brain and the harsh reality was that I had blood on my hands and I have to learn to live with that. There's no going back. If I don't, it'll only eat me up inside and may end up in me putting someones life in danger.

"I'll take watch now, if you want?" Someone whispered from behind me, startling me. I hadn't realised I was so deep in thought until that moment. I turned around and Daryl was stood behind me. "Go rest." He took his crossbow from his shoulder.

"I think I'll be fine." I forced a smile. The truth was I was still a little sore from seeing both him and Carol together. "Besides, everyone will be awake in a bit anyway."

Daryl nodded and walked up next to me anyway. "I guess I'll keep you company then." He joked. I forcefully smiled back at him and shifted my positiom. Daryl then did the same. As much as I enjoyed his company, I wanted to forget everything we went through and having him around me only bought back the pain of what we went through

I couldn't help but laughed at the awkwardness between us. It definitely caused me to recieved a few puzzled looks from Daryl. "What you laughing at?" He asked.

"Nothing." I shook my head and looked over at him.

"Do you think this is the right call?" He looked out towards the walkers.

I nodded my head doing the same. "Yeah. It'll be safter than out there. Safer for Lori to have the baby. Safer for us all. I trust Rick. You don't?"

"If you think that this'll work then so can I." He mumbled.

The sudden sound ove mumbles and kovement came from behind us and both Daryl and I turned our heads towards the rest of the group. Tdog, my dad, Herahal, Maggie and Glenn were all awake. Even Rick. I mean, at least he got an hours rest so it was good enough for me.

We both then turned back to watch the gate. It wouldn't be long until we had this place for our own. We just had a bit more work to do. "I thought you were supporting the idea from the start?" I returned back to our conversation.

"I've been thinkin' and I wasn't sure." He turned to look at me again.

"Daryl. It's a good idea. Stop worrying." I sighed giving him a slight meaningful smile.

Before I knew it, he placed his hands on my shoulders and leaned his face in closer to mine. As much as it pained me to do so, I turned away knowing what he was doing and softly pushed him away. "No." I shook my head and took a step back. "I can't. I'm sorry. It's gonna take time."

Daryl's cheeks went red as he looked away and I couldn't help but giggle at his embarrassment. "Hopefully we'll be able to stay here. Make this place our home. Not have to move again." I sighed trying to make the moment less awkward for him as he looked over at me laughig at him. I really didn't want to go back on the road again.

"Knowing Rick, he'll try his hardest to secure this place." Daryl nodded. I think I even saw a smile appear on his face but he did well to hide it from me.

"Did you mean what you said?" I asked. He'd already told me the answer but I wanted to be sure. Everytime I thought about the moment. This was the one thing that stuck in my mind and it was like I couldn't shake it.

"No. I hate myself for sayin' it." He growled, clearly angry with himself. "You're anythin' but that. I don't know what came over me. You're more of a leader than anything."

"That's what Rick said." I sighed. "I mean, the leader part." I quickly corrected myself looking over at him. Daryl was clearly hurt that he hurt me and it pained me to see him this way. His sapphire blue eyes sparkled in the sun rise and his cold expression present on his face as he looked out at the walkers. I quickly looked away as I found myself checking him out but I couldn't help but smile to myelf. "Don't beat yourself up about it. I've had worse." I looked over at him. He looked back and bumped my arm with his as he saw me smirking at him.

"Lily! Daryl!" A voice echoed over to us. We both turned round to see Rick waving his arm for us to go over to him and others.

"I suppose we'd better head over then." I joked, not being able to remove the smile from my face.

We both laughed as Daryl nodded and we made our way over to the others. I have to admit, I felt so much better now I've had a conversation with Daryl. The two of us just talking and slowly getting back to how we used to be. It was nice and definitely a way to take our minds from our current situation.

Once back with the others, Carl was walking around gathering as many ammo and knives as he possibly could whilst sharing the guns out from the bag. As he did I handed Rick back his rifle and everyone waited to see what he had to day.

"If we're doing this, we use knives. Me, Lily, Daryl, Maggie, Glenn and Tdog will go in and clear the yard. Everyone else will pop them trough the fences. We stick to the plan and we can do this." Rick announced handing out the knifes. I took mine from my belt and looked over at Daryl who did the same.

Everything's starting to work out between all of us. I feel that me and Daryl are starting to fix our friendship as that was the first in a long time that we've actually talked. It's gonna take some time to get back to how we used to be, but with a bit of time we should be there. When we get this prison our lives are going to change for the better.