Certainty of safety

Chapter 2

    The sun had just barely peeked over the walls of Alexandria, but the community was already busy.The early morning was beautiful, but a heavy coat of worry and gloom hung over the people. No one was sure when Negan would return, and right now they were all ill equipped to handle another battle.

Daryl had gotten up extra early to take a walk around the outside of the walls, scope out the damage and see if they left anything behind that was valuable. Nothing but bullet casings and little things here and there that had been dropped in all the action. He caught a few squirrels while he was out there.

Trudging along on the outside felt nice. After a day of constant noise, Daryl soaked in the quiet of the outside. Despite having to take a few walkers down, it was peaceful in the morning mist.When he heard the chatter from inside Daryl decided to head back and help out.

As he approached the gates, he looked to the lookout spot that he often times saw Sasha back when they all first moved in. His heart sunk a bit when he looked to see a stranger in his friends place.

He nodded his head at the man opening the gate in acknowledgement and adjusted the squirrels slung over his shoulder. He decided to take his game back to the house and see what Rick was up to and what could be done.

Speakin of the devil, Daryl thought as Rick walked out of the house and down the porch steps. His eyes were sunken and and tired just as they were yesterday, but he had his spark back in him, and it looked him he had showered too.

"Daryl," both men stood in front of the house. "We are having a meeting in the church, discuss how short we are on materials and get an official  game plan on everything. You coming?"

Daryl grunted, "yeh, gotta put these away tho." He motioned to the dozen squirrels he was carrying.

Rick nodded his head and patted his friend on the shoulder, walking away.

Upon entering the house he kicked his muddy boots off, he knew how michonne hated when he tracked mud and dirt all over. On his way to the kitchen he noticed Paul was still asleep on the couch. Must be a heavy sleeper, Daryl thought seeing as though Rick and Maggie were already out of the house. He shook his head and laughed to himself.

He walked over and nudged the younger man on the leg with his knee.

"Paul." He nudged him a little harder," wake up you bastard." Daryl said a little louder

Paul woke with a start, and yelped a little. His wide eyes relaxed once he realized it was just Daryl.

"Sorry," He sat up. His face was beet red

"There's a meeting in the Church if you wanna go. You slept in. There's extra towels under the sink in the bathroom if you want to shower or whatever." Daryl motioned to Paul's messy hair and walked away to the kitchen to drop his findings and head out.

"Thanks Daryl." Paul smiled wiping the sleep from his eyes and patted his hair

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Paul sat on the floor of the shower and let the water hit his back. He felt selfish for sitting under the water for so long, but he couldn't keep his emotions at bay. He had never had a family like this one. Sasha Maggie and Enid were some of the first people he was able to open up to after the outbreak. Even before, he had never cared so much about people, or felt so cared about.

It's all my fault.. Paul thought, I shouldn't have given her that map i should have tried to make her stay i should have told maggie. It's my fault.

His body shook as he cried.

After turning the water off and getting out of the shower, Paul wrapped a towel around his shoulders and looked at his reflection in the mirror. His stringy wet hair hid his puffy red eyes. It wasn't normal for him to see himself so worked up, at hilltop he never had the time or privacy to feel his feelings. But it was also the first time in a long time he's felt a feeling so strongly. Usually the only thing he felt was lonely, seeing as though he was so busy helping the people he never had time to form real connections with anyone. Paul cocked his head and sighed. It was time to put his "Jesus" mask back on.