Tragic Coincidence | Daryl Dixon

Chapter Eleven.

My eyelids were heavy and my cheeks were sticky the next morning when I woke up, probably from the hours of crying from the memories of what I did the day before. And I still couldn't believe it....Not only did I kill a human being, I did it probably in the most savage and painful way I could imagine...The group surely would not want a killer around, and i would be forced out into the woods by myself again.....But that wasn't a huge deal, I mean I lived out there alone for almost a year and was perfectly fine.

But a huge part of me didn't want to leave....I really started to care for the people in the group. Dale reminded me so much of my uncle, and I felt like family when I was around him. Rick and Shane were my friends and I knew them before the shit hit the fan, I couldn't stand to leave people I knew before the world ended....the same with Lori and Carl. Glenn was someone who could make me laugh, and I was thoroughly enjoying watching him grow as a man, and becoming a valued member of this group and I felt like he was the brother I never got...

And then there was Daryl....Daryl Daryl Daryl.....I was lying to myself if i said I didn't feel anything for him. I just couldn't help it...There was something about him that caught my attention, and i didn't know what it was. I felt myself growing closer to him with every day that passes, and he would be the person I would miss the most if I was forced out of the group. I felt safe with him, like nothing would harm me with him around. He stuck up for me when things got bad with Shane, and he even told me himself he would care if I never came back. And when he touched me it was like every nerve ending in my body was in fire and I couldn't control it even if I tried.

I could hope he would plea my case if the group really wanted me gone...I just hoped that wasn't the case, because deep down even though I knew I could survive alone in the woods, I was terrified.....

My tent was empty when i rolled over and woke up fully, Daryl's bed looked untouched and his crossbow was gone along with him. I now remember it was him who carried me to by bed yesterday, and i really have no idea how long I was asleep. I stretched quickly before putting my boots on, and grabbing my weapons like normal and stepping outside of the tent.

I could see the group huddled together on the porch of Hershel's house, and I had to do a double take because I saw that all of the tents were gone and the campsite was taken down. Was the group moving? I had no idea what was going on....But I needed to find out if I was even still a member of the group anymore.

The groups chatting subsided and all attention was on me when i approached the steps. It felt awkward, like when you walk past a group of people in school who were talking about you. The group's stares were burning a hole in my forehead and I couldn't take it anymore.... Dale was looking at me with pure and utter disappointment, and I felt shameful.....Shane was smirking at me with an odd form of approval behind his brown eyes, and it was unnerving. I just didn't know how to approach this situation without making things any worse.

"Look, ill leave if that's what you want" I said shuffling my feet and looking down to my worn boots that had blood stained on the tops. I couldn't even bare to look up, because I already knew the disappointed looks were coming. And I wasn't wrong, because when I finally did get the courage to avert my eyes from the dirt, they landed on Dale's..... Dale's disapproving eyes bore into mine like the summer sun. He shook his head at me before walking closer and standing next to Hershel, who had his arm around Beth's shoulders.

"You shouldn't have done that Emma" Dale said, shaking his head once more. And I felt like I was ten again, When I had accidentally broken my uncle's stethoscope at the hospital, he yelled at me something awful and I spent the rest of the day crying in a comatose patients room....I'm sure he enjoyed the company. "At least someone did what needed to be done" Shane said, his hands on his hips like usual, glancing from my Solemn face and over to Lori who wasn't looking at me.

"I don't know if I feel safe now"  She said, still not looking up to meet my eyes.....at least she could have the common decency to say that to my face. " We never were safe to begin with!" Glenn stated, letting go of Maggie's hand to sit down on the bottom step closest to me. "That guy could have done so much more to this group, im sure Emma knew that" He finished giving me a soft smile....I knew I liked Glenn for a reason, and returned a tiny smile that was barely noticeable.

"Randall was a threat, Emma was trying to save the group, which she did" Daryl said finally from his spot in the back of the group. He stepped forward and leaned against the post on the porch, his baby blue eyes staring me down. "I doubt that little kid was such a threat to where you had to kill him that way" Lori said raising her voice, and stepping away from the comfort of her husband to finally get th courage to look at me. I raised my eyebrows at the woman I had once called my friend, a woman who's husbands life I had saved the previous year. I really couldn't believe that out of the group Lori was the one to contradict my actions.

"The hell with ya, Randall was a fuckin rapist,  told us himself....now did you want that running around your camp?!" Daryl shouted at her, and basically any woman that was around him. And that's when the arguing started.... Daryl was yelling at anyone who was trying to talk, to defend what I did....Shane was doing the same, and I was grateful for that. Dale was once again pleading the case of a kid who was already dead. And everyone else was yelling their two sense in over everyone else, I couldn't quite understand what most were saying, but I didn't want to stay and find out.

I slung my bow over my shoulder and turned on my heel and took off running for the woods, a place I called home for many many months. I didn't have any idea where I was going, but I would make the decision easy on Rick and the group and just leave without another word. I slowed down to a walk when i could have sworn I heard a second set of footsteps other than my own. When I heard nothing else I kept on running. "Emma!" I heard a voice yell in the distance, that southern drawl that was only recognizable as Daryl.

I stopped and saw he was running with his crossbow towards me from the entrance on the woods about two hundred yards back. I hated to leave Daryl and everyone else, but I was a killer and they obviously didn't want that around. I kept walking, ignoring Daryl calling out my name and pulled out an arrow for protection, placing it gently in my bow. 

I couldn't hear Daryl after a while, and thought he had just given up on finding me....but I should have known better, Daryl could track anything and anyone that walked through these woods, and the fact the he was now standing in front of me panting, proved I was right. "I cant go back there Daryl" I said waving my hands in defeat, shaking my head.

"Yea you can! The only one who actually gives a shit about what you did was Lori, Fuck her!" Daryl said, slinging his crossbow over his shoulder. "I can see it in their eyes, they think I'm a killer" I told him, a tear slowly making its way down my cheek. Daryl shook his head and came forward, but i shrugged him off and tried walking past him. Daryl was bigger and quicker and grabbed my arm, pulling me back to him. 

"Daryl, just let me go...please" I said whimpering, not wanting him to know just how much it was hurting me to leave the people I have been calling my family....And just how much I really cared about him, and that leaving him would kill me. But Daryl could see right through me, and pulled me close to him, wrapping his muscular arms around my tiny frame. "Might as well come back, cause im not letting you leave" He whispered in my ear, sending chills down my body like he had done many times before, even just from a simple glance across the farm.

I knew Daryl really wouldn't let me leave if I tried to keep going. So I gave in, turning around and walking in the direction that we came.....back to my family....and Daryl held my hand the entire way...