Fight to Survive (Daryl Dixon)

3. Scars

Chapter Three

                            

I sat by the camp fire and awkwardly ate my food. They did not have any plates or cutlery so we ate straight from the pot with our fingers. I could feel Merle’s eyes on me as I ate. I avoided looking anywhere but at my food.

“How long ya’ been in these woods for?” Merle asked me.

“Don’t know exactly. Since it all happened,” I told him, and he nodded.

“I am surprised ya’ survived this long by ya’ self,” Daryl said between bites of his squirrel.

I knew that Daryl was implying he thought I was weak, and could not survive on my own. I did not say anything back to him about this. I knew he was kind of right. If they had not shared their food with me, I would have probably starved to death very soon. I still thought Daryl was an asshole though. He did shoot me in the leg with one of his arrows after all. He was even willing to make me leave without letting me eat first.

I took my last bite of the meat, and wiped my greasy hands on my dirty denim shorts. “You’re done?” Daryl asked me, looking up from his food.

“Yeah.”

Daryl chucked his food back into the pot, and stood up. He grabbed my small back pack off the ground beside me. And held it out towards me, “Good. You can go now.” He chucked my bag onto my lap. I frowned up at him. I did not know why he was determined to get rid of me.

“Hold on just a sec baby brother,” Merle stood up, “That is no way to treat a lady. She don’t need to go nowhere.”

“She can’t stay here Merle. We don’t need to babysit this girl, she’ll get us killed.”

I took my bag of my lap, and stood up to face Daryl, “I can take care of myself!” I growled at him.

“Well go on than, get!” He pointed off into the trees. I did not move. I wanted to tell Daryl to get fucked, and just leave. But I knew I would have a better chance of surviving this if I stayed with these guys. Merle wanted me to stay at least. However, I don’t think his intentions are entirely for my benefit. I was a little nervous that Merle was hoping to get certain favours from me. After all, there would not be many women about these days. There was no way I was going to be doing anything sexual for him. I just hoped he would not force me to do anything like that.

“I’m not leaving!” I told Daryl. I folded my arms stubbornly and sat back down. I would have looked like a little kid chucking a tantrum, well that’s how I felt anyways.

“Whatever!” Daryl said. He walked passed me and out into the woods.

“Where is he going?” I asked Merle.

“To the stream, I’d say,” He answered.

My eyes lit up. There was a stream close by, that I would be able to go clean myself in. “Where is it?”

“Just go straight in the direction he went. It is not far.”

“Thanks.” I got up, and grabbed my back pack. I walked in the direction Daryl had went. I could not spot him out in front of me. I walked at a slow pace, hoping Daryl would be done at the stream by the time I got there.

Not far ahead of me I could here water trickling, and I knew I was getting close. Soon the creek came into view. I could hear a splashing sounds coming from the water. I approached quietly and stepped out from the trees. A head of me I could see Daryl crouching down at the edge of the water. His shirt was off, and he was using the water to try wash some of the walker blood off of him. Beside him laid his crossbow. It was loaded and ready to go.

I took a few cautious steps closer to him. I don’t think he had notice me yet. As I got closer I could see his back a lot clearer, and what I saw shocked me. There was thick scars going across his back in all directions. They looked old, but where still very visible. I wondered what could have done that to him. It looked like a wild animal had clawed at his back, or something like that. I took a step closer, and stepped on a small branch that snapped under my weight.

I flinched, and in a second Daryl had stood with his crossbow pointing at me. He stiff arms relaxed a little when he saw it was just me, but he did not lower the crossbow. “What are ya doin’ sneaking around? Tryin’ to jump me while my back is turned?” His eyes narrowed at me.

“No, I just came to fill up my water bottles,” I told him nervously.

Daryl continued to stare at me, like he was trying to read my intentions from my body language. I felt very uncomfortable with his eyes scanning me, and his bow still pointing at me. “Can you please lower that?” I pointed to his crossbow.

Daryl lowered his crossbow slowly. He leant down and picked up his shirt off the ground, without taking his eyes off of me. He quickly put his shirt back on, he stormed past me, back to the camp.

I let out a loud sigh of relief once he was gone. That could have ended badly. He could have shot me again. I was very thankful he didn’t.

I bent down at the water and started to clean my arms and face with the water. As the water dripped from my face I wondered what made Daryl so angry all the time. I know I tried to steal the squirrel from him, but it was still a bit extreme to shoot me for it. Even now he still very angry towards me. I wondered if how he was had something to do with the scars on his back. Maybe he was abused as a child by a family member. Something like that could really mess with a person’s head. I wondered if his brother knew about his scars, I would say he did. I just knew I should probably pretend I never saw them. It could just make everything worse for me. He might force me to leave and be on my own again. I really did not want to be on my own again, even though these boys were not the ideal company. I thought it would be best to try avoid and contact with Daryl, not to give him a reason to hate me anymore than he already does.

After I cleaned myself up, I filled all my water bottles up with the water. I had four, and they took up most the room in my small back pack. I really wished I had packed a spare pair of clothes right now. I would love to put of a fresh pair of cloths so I could wash the ones I am in.

I made my way back to the camp to find both the boys were not there. The tent was still set up, so I was pretty sure they did not run off from me. At least I hoped they did not.

***

Thanks for reading! :) Please vote and comment with what you think so far.