❛ now daryl, daryl was gray. he always seemed to be bitter and emotionless with no other dimensions to himself; his mere presence was the only one. gray was intriguing, almost acting like an acquired taste, but it had the potential to be beautiful t...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
seventy.
A loud knock on the door woke me. My eyes fluttered open and I sat up, quietly groaning in disappointment at the interuption. To my luck, Daryl had already caught the door, his body blocking whoever the person was on the other side. I groggily rubbed my eyes as they carried on their conversation without even noticing I was awake. While gathering up the bedsheets in my fists and holding them against my body in attempt to warm myself back up from the cold air nipping at my skin that drifted in through the window, Daryl shut the door. He turned around, his eyes falling on me. I could tell he was slightly startled by my sudden presence before him. I took in the small distinct crinkles on his face that seemed he was carefully expressing some sort of anger. Before I could ask if everything was alright, he spoke to me.
"We're headin' out," he muttered. I sighed as I rose from the bed and walked over to Daryl, putting my hands on his shoulders and lightly running them down his arms.
"You know somethin'," I asked him, sighing. He looked at me inquisitively. "I actually had a dream about this place last night."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah... we were safe here. The Saviors were out looking for us and we were perfectly hidden." I closed my eyes and sighed again, a chill running through my body at the thought of Negan taking the two of us back into captivity. "I-I don't want them to find us again. He'd kill us both, I know it, Daryl."
"If they wanna take us, they'll have to go through the whole group first," he said, running his thumb across my arm.
"I think maybe you and I should stay here. I feel good about this place now. The others can go," I proposed. He shook his head in disagreement and backed away from me, walking towards the door. "Daryl, please! I know I said I wasn't sure about this place, but I don't wanna run around outside the walls again. We're putting out lives at risk if we leave! I know Ezekiel means well and I know he's a good man. He can take care of us!" Daryl stared me down.
"Time to go," he ignored me, his hand resting on the doorknob. I rolled my eyes, storming past him and making sure to bump into him on the way out. He wasn't gonna hear me out at all. "Aften," Daryl angrily called down the hallway as I stomped towards the door. This time I ignored him. I could hear his footsteps quickening behind me while I turned the door handle. "Aften," he yelled as I swung the door open. Everyone who was already gathered at the bottom of the stairs stared at us awkwardly.
"We're fine," I said facetiously. Everyone casually brushed away the off-putting encounter and began to start forward towards the gates. I jogged down the stairs, jumping in line after them with Daryl trailing behind me. He was so flustered he almost ran into a group of joggers.
"This is life here," Ezekiel smiled down upon us as everyone stopped to observe the other members doing their everyday activities. "But it came at a cost. I wanted to expand and create more places like this. Men and women lost their limbs, children lost their parents because I sent them into battle when I didn't need to."
