Tragic Coincidence | Daryl Dixon

Chapter Twelve.

Its been about a week since the incident with Randall, and since Daryl had to drag me back to the farm...And everything was seemingly normal again...I was still getting those "disappointment" filled looks from Dale on occasion, but in my eyes everything appeared to be pretty normal. 

Shane was still trying his hardest to take over Rick's role as the leader of the group, as well as trying to steal his wife from him in the process. I just tried my best to stay away from him, lately it felt like he was a time bomb waiting to explode. Lori was starting to slightly show in her pregnancy, but it was well hidden under the layers of clothing she wore from the cold. I was trying daily to get her to let me examine her, but for some reason she avoided me most of the time, I'm guessing she still felt weird about the Randall thing....Her and Dale would really be the only one.

"Were moving into the house today" Daryl said from his cot beside me. I turned over and nodded at him.  I just laid there on my side, bundled under his black sleeping bag he had given me, staring at Daryl. He leaned up on his elbow and raised an eyebrow at me, I just chuckled before reluctantly leaving the warmth of my sleeping bag and sliding my jacket and boots on. "Well come on Dixon, lets pack our shit" I said sighing, looking around at the mess that was our tent. It wasn't a very large tent so i had no idea how we accumulated this much stuff. The rest of camp had moved into the house already, but Daryl and  I thought it was too packed, so we opted to stay in our tent. However the nights were getting colder and we both were tired of shivering in our sleep.

The pair of us made a run into town last week and stocked up on really anything we could find, including arrows which we both were in dire need of....I can only widdle so much until my fingers fall off. So now our tent was full of random gear, weapons, ammo, clothing...and I was wondering how we were gonna fit everything into our two bags. Daryl must had sensed this as I was looking around out tent with raised eyebrows. "Maybe we shouldn't have gotten this much stuff" he mumbled trying to stuff some clothing into his bag. 

"im going to go store some of this in the rv" I said grabbing a bunch of gear and heading out of the tent, Daryl mumbled something incoherent and started to roll up his sleeping bag. With arms full I walked the fifty foot walk to the rv and quickly stepped inside. It didn't seem like anyone was inside, so i opened up the bench seat by the table and started to strategically place items where they would fit perfectly. When I though all of the gear was sufficiently stored I shut the lid and turned around, only to be greeted by the boring grey eyes of Dale.

"Dale you scared me" I said grasping my chest and laughing slightly. "May I have a word?" he asked taking off his fisherman's hat and placing it on the table. I nodded and sat down, him taking the opposite seat across from me. I was waiting for what seemed like forever, twiddling with my fingers, before Dale finally spoke up. "i need to know why you did it , Emma" He said softly, shaking his head probably reliving the gory details that took place the week before. 

"Dale" I said sighing, placing my hands over his. He tensed up for a second before relaxing. "I know you don't see it the way I do..But Randall was a threat, a huge threat...and I couldn't let him hurt the women in the group" I said squeezing his hand. "He was a rapist Dale, told me so himself...he could have easily done that to me, Maggie, Lori....Andrea" I said, once I mentioned her name he seemed to have my full attention.

"I think of you as family Dale, and I hate you keep looking at me this way" I said, with a tear threatening to fall down my left eye. It really was starting to get to me, that the person I thought of as a father to me, seemed too disappointed in my actions. Dale took both of my hands in his tightly, and rubbed them together seeing how cold they were. "Your like the daughter I never had Emma, were ok" He said nodding with a smile. He let my hands go, stood up and slipped his hat back onto his balding head. He patted my shoulder twice before exiting the rv with his rifle.

I smiled knowing that Dale no longer felt that way about me, and exited the rv shortly after he did. I heard banging and saw that Shane was building what looked like a lookout in one of the towers on the farm. Lori and Rick were wandering around the barn with Carl, and the Greene family was busy putting boards over the windows of the house. I laughed when I saw Daryl struggling to get our tent down by himself, and quickly made my way over to him.

"Woah there cowboy" I said laughing as he about poked his eye out with a tent pole. I took it from him and slid it easily out of the ten covering. "Im a hunter, not a camper" he said swinging his crossbow onto  his back. I took down the rest of our ten within minutes and swung my now full bag onto my back. Daryl didn't do the best job at packing my stuff, but i appreciated that he did it for me. He carried his own in one hand, and my bow and arrows in the other, seeing as my hands were now holding our disassembled tent.

When we got to the house to bring our things inside, I was wondering where I was going to sleep...I had gotten so used to sleeping next to Daryl every night, even if it was across the tent. If we were separated in the house, I wasn't sure how well I would sleep. I looked around and saw the house was pretty full of everyone's stuff. Five sleeping bags were laid out in the dining room with plenty of bags surrounding them. The couch and love seat in the living room seemed to be occupied as well. But before I could rethink where I would go further Daryl grabbed my sleeping bag quickly and tossed it over his shoulder.

"Cleared us a spot in here" He said nodding his head towards the living room. He plopped both of the sleeping bags down side by side in the corner of the room. It was spacious, but we would be rather close to one another. I didn't even bother unrolling my sleeping bag, and just put my bag next to it and put my bow and arrows on my back like I did every other day. " I gotta go help Rick with something" He said standing beside me awkwardly, playing with the strap of his crossbow. 

I peered out the window and saw the sun was setting quickly, it would be dark within the hour. I nodded to Daryl, "Try not to get in trouble while Im gone" he said chuckling before walking out of the house leaving me by myself. I shook my head and laughed to myself before heading out the backdoor of the house. We had been having people patrol the perimeter at nights, seeing as how the farm was so large, so i took now as my opportunity to take my shift. "Hey Maggie" I said as I walked past her and Glenn that were chatting outside on the porch. "Hey Emma" She said smiling brightly, Glenn smiled as well but didn't say anything. "Im going to walk the perimeter, unless you guys need me here?" I asked. She just shook her head and smiled "Were all good here". I nodded at them and then started walking towards the forest edge...

It was full on nightfall by the time I had gotten halfway around, and something didn't feel right about tonight....It was chilly but that was normal for this time of year, but the chill that went down my spine had nothing to do with the weather. I heard a gunshot sound closer to the farm, and i knew something was definitely wrong about tonight...I knew nobody would use a gun for one walker, there were plenty of us to do that quietly. I then heard it, the sound that nearly made my heart stop...the growling sound of a walker...and not just one, it sounded like literally hundreds of them....

I turned around quickly and saw literally hundreds of walkers limping their way in my direction, and they were too close for comfort. I could see the big white house in the distance, but then it went away suddenly as the lights went out. I stood there frozen in my spot, the walkers were coming in every direction and I didn't know what to do...

Fifty yards...

Thirty yards....

Fuck...Im deffinately going to die tonight....