Triggerfinger ➳ Daryl Dixon

s e v e n t e e n

"Presley." John's voice was gentle as he trailed after her daughter. She slowed gradually and turned, glancing at him. She looked... absent. "What's going on in that head of yours?" He grazed his thumb down the side of her cheek, frowning when she pulled away. Daryl watched with clenched fists. 

"I'm just tired, is all." She lied quietly. 'Tired' was never an option for her; both Daryl and John knew that. 

"I don't believe that for a second." He retorted, but her attention was now trained on Aaron, who was looking at Rick.

"I'm sure that you're all exhausted now." Aaron observed. "I just have to ask that you all turn in your weapons, and then we'll take you to a house to rest your feet." 

Rick was immobile. It was Michonne who stepped forward, placing a tender hand on the shoulder of her wary leader. "That sounds nice." Though Michonne was the first to speak, not one of the group made any more to advance.

"No." Presley said, her voice sounding loud after listening to all the silence. Each person on the street turned to look at her, stunned to see her defensive stance. Her arms were tightly wound over her chest, and her blue eyes were narrowed with warning. 

She looked dangerous, and John couldn't be any prouder. 

"I'm afraid I cannot let you come in if you do not turn them in." Aaron said quietly. 

"If we wanted your town dead, they would be dead." Presley said, striding forward toward Aaron. He shifted his weight, but John seemed impressed to see his daughter like that. It wasn't anything that Daryl wasn't used to-- it was considered abnormal if Presley willingly went along with something. "We're all already in here, after all."

However, even Daryl couldn't understand why she was acting like that. 

"Please, miss--."

"This group has been through enough shit. There's more of you than there is of us, anyways." 

"We can't risk any casualties--."

"Presley." Rick snapped, whirling toward her. "Knock it off." 

She threw her hands up in the air, backing up toward the gate. "Screw you, officer sunshine." She snarled. She was smaller, but it was uncanny how she somehow managed to come off even dangerous than Rick. "Screw all of you." 

"Presley--." Maggie started toward Presley, and Daryl watched as she hesitated. Presley eyed Maggie for a very long time, and then she eyed John. She gave Daryl one last fleeting glance before she whirled and sprinted back into the woods. Daryl started after her, but it was John who stopped him.

"Let her go." He murmured discreetly. Daryl clenched his jaw. 

"She shouldn't be alone."

"She'll be fine." John said in a growl. "Give her space."

Daryl backed away. He gave her three hours. If she had not returned in three hours, he was going after her. If it'd been up to him, he'd had already caught up to her and had dragged her ass right back to this area. If this man weren't her father, Daryl would have decked him and went after her anyways.

He gave an angry snort of annoyance and harshly handed over his crossbow, ignoring the frightened, wary expression of Aaron. "Where's this damn house of yers?" He grumbled. 

"This way." Aaron said timidly. Daryl was striding away before the damned fool even had a chance to start walking. 

. . .

Presley was running.

She was running and running hard, though, she didn't feel tired the least bit. The only way that she even realized that she'd been running hard was because of Zeva's labored panting beside her. The black dog weaved through the trees, moving at a slower pace to keep match with Presley.

At last, Presley began to slow. She knew what she was after  (Clozapine and quetiapine), but she didn't have any sort of clue on where to find it. 

Ever since losing Mary, John had been a lost soul. He lost his head, to say the least. Many people stated that John probably would have lost his life if it weren't for Presley. Though she was just a baby, Presley resembled the woman that John had lost. As she grew, the little baby gradually turned into something even more like his wife. The stubborn set of her jaw, the way she always kept her hair tied away from her face. 

Still, the little girl couldn't stop the little budding madness that the man went through.

For the sake of his daughter, John kept himself medicated. The medication kept his moods moving, but he didn't see. He didn't see things that weren't real. Unable to bare the thought of losing the last part of his wife, John fought through the mood swings and kept full custody of his daughter. One slip, and she would be taken from him. 

He made sure that he made no slips, and he had managed to watch that beautiful little baby grow up into something even more beautiful. 

Presley knew that she was now the anchor. Searching for her had kept the man alive, and now that he'd found her, keeping her alive would be the anchor. Presley glanced worriedly back. She knew Daryl. In fact, she was surprised he hadn't already come after her.

She'd expected him to come back and chew her ass for throwing a tantrum like that, but he didn't. Either his own conscience had stopped him (which was highly unlikely), or John did. Whatever had happened, Presley had somehow managed to put on a large enough show to wriggle her way away from Alexandria.

It was a bad way to start out, but hey... At least they'd know not to screw with her. 

At last, she came up to the road. She slowed to a stop, breathing heavily before she collapsed onto the pavement. There were many good things about having found the road so quickly, one of them being the fact that Daryl wouldn't be able to follow her as efficiently. He wouldn't be able to stop her from getting that medication.

Another good thing... The road led right into the city. 

ARE YOU GUYS EXCITED FOR THE MIDSEASON FINALE TOMORROW?!?

BECAUSE I AM

Anyways, in honor of the finale tomorrow, here is an update for you all to enjoy. Arrowhead has been getting a crazy amount of reads lately! I'm super excited about that. <3 

What do you guys think will happen in tomorrow night's episode? Share!! 

Thank you so so so much for reading, voting, and commenting. I can never thank you guys enough for being so supportive. I love going through and reading all your comments every night and morning <3 it really helps when I'm having a bad day. 

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I hope you enjoyed <3