Self Inflicted

35

Daryl just told me that him, Rick, and Carol are meeting right outside the walls this morning. Making it seem like Rick is taking Carol shooting, like she needs the practice. "Can I come?"

"Why?"

"If there's a plan going on, I'd like to know. Before I get trapped away in the infirmary and have no idea what's going on," I suggest. Daryl nods and picks up his vest that lays on a desk in the room, in our room I guess. He shrugs it on and turns to me, just kind of waiting. "What?" 

"Nothin," he says real quick and spins back around.

"Daryl, what? Do you not want me coming with you?"

"Nah, it ain't that. We leave, we can't-" he stops himself short. Does he mean we can't kiss or show affection?

"We can't what? Can't kiss?" He avoids my eye contact as always when I'm right and he's uncomfortable. "Daryl, when're you going to learn that if you want something from me, either tell me or just do it." 

So I walk quickly over to him and grab his face with both my hands and kiss him. His arms wrap around my waist and I move my arms over his shoulders with my hands crossed behind his neck, standing on my tiptoes. He pulls away but doesn't let go of me. 

"If you're worried I'm going to leave, I promise you I'm not. I am here and I am in this, whatever this is." He bites at the inside of his mouth and nods his head. He leans in this time, giving me another kiss but this time it feels more routine than passionate. 

"'Case somethin happens. We should everytime we go."

"Thank you for telling me what you want, finally. I can make that happen," I smile at him. 

"Quit," he scoffs playfully and lets go of me. 

-

"I don't see it, but it's close," the ring leader says.

"There's just one of 'em," my man suggests. My man? Wow that's strange. Especially being Daryl Dixon. And nothing is certain or official. Hell no one even knows what we're doing. 

"We won't be here long. So what do you think?" 

"We can go in when it's empty," Carol suggests very simply. She's dressed in her new 'get-up' of playing a sweet, innocent woman. 

"How is that? It's locked up at night."

"The window. There's just a latch. I can leave it open."

"A latch?" I question.

"Yeah," she looks over to me, almost daring me to question her. 

"What if one of those pricks shuts it?" Daryl finally speaks up, questioning her for me. 

"Wait a couple days, leave it open again." 

"It's getting closer," Rick refers to the walker coming from the woods behind him, we can hear it. "We need to do it sooner than later. Right now, they're not watching us. Not worrying about meetings like this. We may need guns, we may not."

"We will whatever way it goes," Carol sounds so sure. "They're the luckiest damn people I ever met. And they just keep getting luckier."

"How's that?" Rick furrows his brows at the older woman.

"We're here now." 

"They've got a couple of footlockers just full of 9 millimeter autos, Rugers, Kel-Tecs. Just tossed in there. They don't use them. They're never gonna know they're gone."

"Someone's got one now, right?" Apparently Rick hid a pistol in an empty blender sitting out here and it's gone now. Someone's watching or searching. 

"Listen, the others, we want them to try. You, too." He's referring to Daryl, and that's what I've been saying to him. "So we keep it quiet. Just us. Can you do that?" Now he's looking at me.