Bleeding Love | Daryl Dixon

Chapter Twenty-Three

Daryl's POV:

BANG.

That one single gunshot was still haunting me even after hours of hearing it. Rick, Shane, Merle and Carl had gone off in a different direction to find the girls while I was left with Glenn, Andrea, Lori and Carol to make our way back to the highway. I could tell that gunshot wasn't only bothering me, Lori and Carol both kept glancing nervously around the forest wondering where it came from. I knew Savannah had her gun, but one shot just sounded suspicious. She had a knife, she had a bow, she would have done everything other then fire just one shot. 

I sighed and turned around to keep tracking back like I had been doing. It was hard to keep up the facade of being strong to find Savannah and Sophia, when really on the inside I was dying. Every hour went by was more time that they could both be dead, but I would never stop. Even if I spent the rest of my life looking, I wouldn't never stop until I knew one way or the other. I loved her and all I wanted was to have her in my arms so I could tell her how I felt. 

Savannah's POV:

The sound of loud footsteps was the first thing I heard when my eyes fluttered open. Bright light was pouring in from all directions, and the brightness made my head pound. I could hear yelling somewhere near me, and I reached onto my hip for my knife out of instinct. But I cursed seeing it was gone. But I wasn't in danger like I remember. The last thing I remember was laying on the cold ground in the woods waiting for death. But then I remembered the girl on the horse, and she must have brought me here.

I was laying on an old couch, with ugly floral patterns embedded in the fabric. Two bay windows were on opposite walls, and the soft clicking of a grandfather clock in the corner of the room soon became the only sound in the room. A small pinch in my arm stopped me from moving as quickly as I would have liked, and I looked down to see an IV stuck through my arm, and empty bag laying at the bottom of the couch. Some luck to find a damn doctor in all of this. 

"Hello?" My raspy voice called out through this large home. From the window It appeared we were on a farm, it looked completely untouched. I stood carefully off the couch and ripped the needle from my arm, tossing it onto the couch with the empty fluid bag. I walked slowly and quietly through the house, not wanting something or someone to jump out and attack me out of fright.

When I turned a corner heading farther into the house, a girl about my height with short brown hair soon appeared. "Good, you're awake" She said with a sad smile. I recognized that voice, this was the girl from the woods. The girl on the horse. I just nodded and looked around her to figure where I was, and suddenly I remember Sophia. Where was she? Was she left dying on the ground in the woods when this girl took me away. 

"Sophia? Where's Sophia" I croaked out trying to walk the opposite direction towards the front door of the house. The girl grabbed my arm suddenly and pulled me back towards her, she was smiling. 

"Your daughter is fine, she lost a good amount of blood but she's fine" The girl said with a bigger smile, I sighed in relief , ignoring the fact she called her my daughter and began to walk past her to find Sophia. "First door on your left" The girl called after me.

I just quickened my pace to make sure Sophia was ok. I walked directly into the room and smiled seeing Sophia sleeping peacefully on her side. A large white bandage was wrapped around the bottom of her left leg, where her foot used to be. She had an IV similar to the one that was attached to me in her arm, and I was glad to see majority of the color had returned to her face.

I kissed her gently on the forehead before leaving the door cracked and heading back into the hallway. I was going to find the girl from before and thank her for helping us, but something in the room to my right caught my eye. "Rick?!" I asked loudly when I saw the man in the sheriffs uniform sitting beside the bed. His head snapped up to look at me, and his eyes went wide. 

"What? How are you? When?" Was all Rick got out before I found him wrapping his arms around my tiny frame. I frowned and hugged him back. Rick and I never were the closest, I hated his wife and I thought he made a lot of dumb decisions, but we never had problems. I still was shocked he was hugging me though. 

But when I looked behind him I immediately felt terrible for everything I ever said to him or Lori, because Carl was lying ghostly pale on the bed with a gunshot wound to his side. And older man with white hair was checking his blood pressure. "What happened?" I asked with a gasp as I pushed Rick gently away from me and took a seat beside Carl, grabbing his hand. First Sophia and now this, it was like a punishment to have children in this world.

"Just an accident, a stupid accident" Rick mumbled and took his seat back on the other side of Carl. "Sophia?" Rick asked with widened eyes, not seeing the small girl anywhere. "She's alive" I said with a small smile. Rick seemed to sigh in relief before sliding back into his chair. 

"Do you know his blood type?" The older man asked Rick as he placed the blood pressure cuff on the bedside table. Rick nodded. "B positive, same as me".

"That's fortunate, were gonna need blood and quickly" The man said, and soon another woman I hadn't seen with long blonde curly hair walked in with tubes and needles, quickly attaching Carl and Rick on opposite ends so he could give blood. When the woman finally left, I got to ask Rick the question that was on my mind since I was lost in the woods. 

"Is Daryl alive?"I asked Rick. He looked up confused before nodding his head quickly. "Everyone is alive, He's back at the highway. Shane went with a man from the farm to get medical supplies and Merle is outside" Rick said nodding to the door. I nodded quickly and made my way out of the room giving him time with his son, and pushed my way out of the front door. 

It felt amazing outside, it was cooling off at the end of the day and the sun was lowering down between the trees. This place definitely was untouched, they were very lucky for this. I finally had a chance to look at myself, and I frowned realizing I was still covered in blood from head to toe. My hands were still stained with the crimson liquid, and my jeans were stiff from the dried blood. I would have to ask the people here if I could use some water and make myself a little more presentable.

Rick said Merle was out here somewhere, and I looked around for a while until I realized he was just at the end of the porch, smoking a cigarette. I smiled seeing him, and quietly made my way over to him. "Can I have one?" I asked quietly, making him yell out and fall off the ledge of the porch onto the ground. I couldn't help but laugh as the large man pulled himself off the hard wood of the porch.

"Fucking hell Savannah! Where the fuck have you been?" Merle practically shouted at me. I knew he meant business when he called my by my name. I haven't been called anything but princess by him in over a year. 

"Iv'e been fucking lost Merle! I was about to die when someone from this farm found me and brought here. I've been awake for literally ten minutes" I shouted back at him. I know Merle was worried about me, but he couldn't be the one to get mad at me for something out of my control. I practically died to protect a little girl who wasn't mine. 

Merle's eyes softened before reaching out and wrapping his large arms around me. "Are you ok Princess" Merle asked softly. I hugged him back tightly, missing the older man who was my family. I nodded against him chest. "Sophia and I are both ok, although she's missing a foot now" I said sadly. 

"Daryl's going to fucking flip when he gets here" Merle said as we both let go and took a seat on one of the benches. I sighed not knowing what Daryl was going to say when he saw me, especially after everything that was said the last time i saw him. But one thing I knew was certain, we could die at any moment and I wasn't going to let some stupid fight come between me and the man who had been my best friend for twenty years. 

If he didn't love me then so be it, but I wasn't about to lose him. Our friendship was worth fighting for, and that's what I was going to do.