Latch - Sam Smith
Taking in a deep inhale and stretching out her limbs, Cecilia began to awake from her deep slumber, releasing her breath and bringing her arms and legs back into their original position, her head lolling over to Daryl's bed.
His empty bed.
Cecilia thought he'd be out hunting squirrels for breakfast, however Daryl likes to go out in the early morning for that, and he would have been back by now.
Cecilia rapidly changed into some clothes and climbed out of the tent, the group peppered around the camp doing different things and/or talking to different people.
"Guys, has anyone seen Daryl?" Cecilia stood in the centre of all the tents and vehicles, so that she could be seen and heard by everyone.
Rick stood up from the log he was sitting on around the black circle that was the fire last night, awkwardly fiddling with his shirt behind his back. He was glancing around, before nominating himself to tell her the answer.
"Where is he?" Cecilia apprehended his response, Rick reluctant to reply.
"He went to find Sophia in the woods...alone." Rick confessed, Cecilia's heart racing in her ears, just watching Rick as he stared back, attempting to predict what she was going to do, despite the fact he already knew.
She's gonna go bolting into the woods.
"You can't go after him." A small voice interrupted the two from their uneasy trance, their eyes both looking over to see Carl joining in, standing between her and Rick.
"He could be back soon for all you know and then you'll be lost. Then the cycle will repeat." Carl pointed out, Cecilia contemplated, although his face showed desperation.
"Where did you get this smartass from then, Ricky?" Cecilia smirked over at Rick, who's face broke out into a grin as he shrugged and placed his hands on his hips.
"Still wonderin' to this day, Cece." He joked back, Cecilia giggling and scruffing up Carl's hair, to which he squirmed and dodged out of her reach, also laughing.
She was nervous about Daryl being alone, but she attempted to get him off her mind by bonding with Carl, talking about old stories with old friends in the old world they lived in. It was a deep conversation, and she didn't expect to last as long as it did, and she also didn't expect it to help as much as it did, but all the laughing and recollections of good memories faded away when someone familiar emerged from the woods, bloody and beaten.
Cecilia knew straight away that it was Daryl, but she wasn't overly confident if he was in walker form or not, freezing in her spot as she thought about him not being the Daryl she knew anymore, before she began running over to him with T-Dog, Glenn, Shane and Rick.
Even when stopping within a few feet of him, it was still incredibly difficult to tell if he was alive or not, simply because he was a lot more dirty, had blood on his chin and shirt, and he was stumbling around a lot, but his eyes still looked as alive as they did before.
"Daryl?" Cecilia allowed the one worded question to slip from her mind, only for him to quickly glance at her, before staring back at the gun Rick was holding up to him.
"That's the third time you pointed that thing at ma head, you gon' pull the trigger or what?"
Although it wasn't the most graceful entrance he could've made, it was still Daryl, the group sighing in relief. Rick dropped his gun back into the holster whilst Glenn actually doubled over, his breathing rugged from holding it in anticipation.
