Farmer's Daughter (Daryl Dixon Love Story)

Chapter 56

Holy shit. It's been about a year since I've updated. Let's try this again shall we. It's been too long and I feel like I'm losing myself.

Daryls POV

"Come on. Get it all up." I hold her steady as she hurls over the porch railing. My fist acted as a hair bow for her unruly mane.

"Why can't I stay here today?" She moans. She falls back on the wooden bench behind her.

"Do ye really not know the answer to that?" I stare down at her flushed face. She wipes the corner of her mouth before moaning again and grabbing at her head.

"I feel terrible." She lays her head back against the window.

"It'll teach ye not to drink anymore. Now come on." I grab ahold of her hand to pull her up. She frowns but follows after me anyway.

She didn't remember much of anything that had happened the night before. She didn't remember coming on to me. Or the baby these people were having. Or the kiss. The only thing she recalls is waking up with a terrible headache and what I had told her happened. Which was close to nothing.

One things for sure, I couldn't leave her alone like this. I couldn't let her find that picture again. I couldn't let her go through more stress than what was already there.

We were walking around to see if Rick had left anything for us. A sign, a path, anything. We were trying to see if there was any reason to stay where we were.

"We've been walking for miles. There's nothing out here." She whines.

"We both know that Rick would keep going North from Fort Benning. We also know that he would want to stay low. He'd take them through the woods. He wouldn't risk the Governor finding them." I look over to see her shake her head.

"It's just hard to think positive. We're in the middle of nowhere and we don't even know if they made it out alive." She stops and leans against a near tree. Her bow hits the ground as she brings her bag off her back.

"That's not what ye've been telling me these past few weeks. Yer the one that's been so motivated to move on." I bark. She takes a drink from her water bottle and stares at the ground. Her foot taps anxiously.

"There hasn't been any sign of them since we left the farm." She whispers. "I'm scared for her."

"She'll be fine. Ye know that. She's been with Mike since the beginning of all of this. He'll protect her." I wasn't good at reassuring, but she always took what I had to say and put a smile on her face. No matter the circumstance.

"She really likes you you know." She smiles. She picks up her things and starts walking again.

"Yeah. I like her too." I mentally slap myself for sounding so foolish.

"She'll be happy to see you again." She ducks under a low limb and stops in her tracks. "Get down." She pushes me to the ground before I can see the fuss.

"What the hell?" She slaps her hand over my mouth and holds a finger to her lips. She points in front of us.

I peek around the tree to see a small tent set up, a burnt out fire feet from it.

"You think anyone's in there?" She moves her hand from my face and tightly clutches her weapon.

"Looks empty." I whisper. "Stay here."

"But-"

"Stay." I stand to my feet, bow raised. Leaves softly crunch under my feet as I get closer.

The smell was terrible. It smelled as if people hadn't been here for months. Like the undead should be crawling everywhere.

A pan was sat next to the fire place, a spoon half in the dirt next to it. A pair of boots lay beside the opening of the tent. The flap was half zipped, allowing the stench to seep forward into my nose.

I reach forward the zipper and give it a tug. The flap opens and a sworn of flies skim past me. I bring my jacket to my face, blocking some of the stench.

I take a step in and immediately notice a decomposing body in the corner, a pistol in his hand.

Ricks pistol.

It's fingers crunch as I pull the weapon from them. Maggots fall from the broken jaw and onto the ground. Flies ate at the bullet wound, and what presumes to be a bite on his neck.

A glimmer of light catches my eye as I examine the rotting flesh. I pull the shirt down to see a necklace around his neck. Silver, with the number twenty-two dangling from the chain.

"Shane." I mumble.

A thud comes from behind me. I swing around to see a walker at the foot of the tent, an arrow through its skull.

I exit the tent to see her in the same spot I left her, a smug smile on her face. She gives me a small wave.

"It's clear." I say just loud enough for her to hear. She stands from her laying position and stalks my way.

"Find anything?" She reaches down and slides her arrow from the goop on the ground. Black ooze puddles out onto the edge of her shoe.

"Yeah." She looks to my hands and freezes.

"That's Ricks." Her eyes are wide as she looks from the weapon to the tent. "No." She shakes her head and starts walking to it.

"It's not him." I grab her arm to keep her from going in.

"Then who is it and why do they have Ricks gun? Where's Rick?" She fumes.

"It's Shane." Her eyebrows knit together. "And I don't know why he has it. But maybe the others are close." She begins looking around at the near trees.

"Rick!" She screams. "Charlie!"

"Stop." I cover her mouth before she can get anything else out. "The last thing we need is someone else finding us. Just stay quiet." Her breathing is heavy as she nods.

"We need to get moving then. We need to find them." She takes the pistol from my hands and puts it in the back of her pants.

"We aren't going to be able to do anything in the dark. We need to go back for now. Well bring the tent tomorrow." She shakes her head.

"We don't have time. If they're close then they'll be gone tomorrow. We can't chance that." She disagrees.

"We're going to have to. In case ye forgot, there are people looking for us too. We have to be smart. We can't be running around in the woods at night." I remind her.

"I don't think I can forgive myself if we miss them." She pleads.

"Well ye surly can't if yer dead."

A/N

Welp. I'm pretty sure half of y'all don't even read this anymore because I haven't updated in a year. But I've just been thinking about this book a lot and I couldn't just leave it alone anymore. I have to finish it. I couldn't stand nit knowing where I could take it.

So I'm going to try to update more now. I'm sorry for the extensively long ass wait.

-Melinda