Blackbird Song [On Hold]

Chapter One

I lowered the crossbow but I didn't say a word. I continued to examine her. She had the perfect physique. But her face...It was so full of fear. The woman held the object she had in her hands tightly to her chest. I pointed to it, she looked at it and backed up. It was a small brown box, she opened it slowly. She reached inside of it and pulled out a gold plated gun and pointed it at me.

"It's my gun. Hands up!" She shouted.

I put my crossbow on the ground beside me and raised my hands in the air but I showed no fear.

"What are you doing here? Why did you point your...Whatever that thing was?!" She pointed at me.

"I'm here to get away from those Walkers. Just to let you know, it's a crossbow. I didn't know if you were one of them. Now, will you put the gun down?"

She stared at me for a moment and slowly lowered her gun and placed it back into the box. I lowered my hands.

I looked at her up and down. "Make yourself at home." I turned away from her.

I felt her eyes on me as she watched me walk away from her. I turned back to her and she held the box closer to her chest. I knew she was going to turn my life around...I don't know why...It's just a feeling.

I started a small fire with a few piles of hay and a box of matches I found. The person who left this barn here obviously wanted it to burn since they left hay and matches around. I rested my right arm on my right knee. I couldn't stop staring at her. She finally sat down on the dirt on the opposite side of me. I could see her face through the flames. Her face glowed a bright orange. She tried not to look at me but occasionally, she would look at me for a second and then back to the ground. This ordeal happened for a good fifteen minutes. Whenever she caught me staring at her, she would look away. But after all this time, I had to break the ice.

"What's your name?" I asked. I had a light smirk on my face. I was interested in her.

She looked up at me. "Tiana."

"Last name?"

"Boudreaux." She said softly. "W-What's your name?"

I noticed her stutter. "Daryl Dixon."

Tiana nodded but didn't say a word. I didn't get it. She didn't even want to look at me. Time started to pass again and I refueled the fire with more hay. It felt like she was being held hostage by me or something. I watched her use her finger to draw in the dirt.

"You can go if you want-"

"No, I'm fine. I'm just thinking." She said quickly, looking up at me.

She must've had a lot on her mind. She's been staring at the ground for another fifteen minutes.

"They told us..." She cleared her throat. "They told us that they were going to come. None of us listened. The government lies to us all of the time. So how did they expect us to listen this time. The one time where it seemed like it was just a ridiculous rumor turned out to be the truth. We should've listened."

She looked at me, she looked so helpless. I agreed with her.

"We have to survive." I said.

Tiana moved her hair out of her face and looked at the box. "My survival depends on the bullets that are in this gun." She looked over at the crossbow. "Is that yours?"

I looked at it and looked back at her. "It's mine now."

Tiana chuckled. "You will survive."

I nodded. "Yeah."

I stood up and Tiana looked up at me. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to see if there's anymore hay. The fire is burning out."

Tiana looked to the right of her and pointed. "There's some right there."

I looked at the hay and then back at her. "There maybe more somewhere else."

"Oh...Okay. I'll just use the little pile over here to prevent the fire from burning out completely." Her voice faded a little as she finished her sentence.

She stood up and placed the box she was holding on the ground. I didn't watch her get the hay. I walked further into the barn. She was making me nervous. I've never had this feeling before. I hope she couldn't tell. It just feels like I need to protect her and make sure nothing happens to her. I looked to my left and I found three bails of hay. That should be more than enough for the night. I turned around, Tiana was gazing at the fire. It seemed like she relaxed a bit. Then she looked over at the crossbow, she stared at it for a few moments. She reached for an arrow and examined it. I walked up to her.

"Do you want to shoot it?" I asked her.

She jumped a little as she looked at me. "Oh, no thanks."

Tiana placed the arrow by the crossbow. I sat down next to her.

"Why are you so shy?" I asked.

Tiana looked at me. "I'm not shy-"

"Please, you can't look at me for five seconds without looking away."

"I have been looking at you for five seconds." She snapped back.

"Oh, temper, temper. I was just saying." I chuckled. "Am I that bad to look at?"

Tiana raised her left eyebrow. "Thank you?"

I sensed that she was creeped out. Tiana stared at me, I could still see the fear reflecting in her eyes. I couldn't control myself. I exhaled deeply. Tiana blinked lightly and smiled. My eyes grew. It was the first time I've seen her smile. It wasn't an overdone smile. It was light and bubbly.

"Um..." She looked down. "I should try to go to sleep."

I nodded and I stood up and walked towards the crossbow and picked it up. "I'm going to keep watch while you sleep."

Tiana nodded and laid on the ground. "Goodnight, Daryl."

I looked at her. "Night."

She smiled again and closed her eyes. I looked at her for a moment. She looked like an angel. I can't believe I'm saying this. But maybe she was an angel. Out of all the people that could still be alive, she came to me. I laid next to my crossbow. She is very beautiful. With all of the chaos that's going on outside, she slept so peacefully. Damn it. Why am I becoming so soft when I even think about Tiana? I just met her. But she was different. She was innocent. She still had life in her eyes. She has...Hope.