Angel

Chapter Seventeen: Angel & Daryl

Angel

I loved waking up in Daryl's arms. He made me feel so safe. Even back before we started having sex, I felt that way. But something is different today. Not from him, it's something can't put my finger on, but something isn't right. He wakes up seconds after me, but I don't say anything to him. I know nothing has changed between us, that's not the problem. I'm uneasy, and I don't know what to do.

All it took was a tweaking of a nipple, for me to turn to face him and put my worries away. That was only temporary though. After another crazy morning of sex, where I ended up riding him as hard as I could, and I was basically collapsed in exhaustion on top of him afterward, we got back to our normal daily routine.

Except nothing felt normal.

We always kept my pack and the duffle bag semi-packed. Daryl went out to go to the bathroom, and I followed my instincts. I packed the rest of my stuff in my backpack and his stuff in the duffle. Then I added anything else we could need. I'd rather unpack everything if this odd feeling I had was for nothing.

I was zipping the larger duffle bag closed when Daryl got back.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

How do I explain this, so he doesn't think I'm crazy? "I'm not sure," I told him honestly. "It's just that something feels off today. Really off. I want us to be packed up...just in case."

"I've learned not to question shit like that. We got any rabbit left?"

"I packed it. Even the stew I made. Sorry." Guess I was a bit overzealous.

Daryl looked at me a bit confused. "How did you pack that stuff?"

"In two ziplock bags, I had. Could you eat something else?" I watched him basically roll his eyes at me, but he went to see what else he could find to eat.

I wasn't hungry. Instead, I dragged a chair outside and sat waiting. For what, I had no idea, but I wanted to be where I could see everything and not cooped up inside. A couple minutes later, Daryl dragged our last chair out and sat with me. He was eating something out of a can.

"You gonna sit here all day?" he asked in between bites.

"I don't know. Maybe." This was weird for me. I was never one to 'get a feeling about anything.' That wasn't me, so that's why today was giving me the major creeps.

Daryl scraped the bottom of the can with his spoon. "Then I'll sit here with ya." He took the can and threw it into the woods across from us and hit a walker in the head as it stepped out into the clearing. We both jumped up from our chairs and Daryl had a bolt through its head faster than I ever thought possible. The problem was, it wasn't the only one. It was like a door was opened, and they started streaming in towards us.

We only had one choice, and that was to run. I reached in the door and grabbed both my backpack and the duffle. They were heavy, but I didn't care.

"The back path!" Daryl shouted as he grabbed the backpack from me and slung it over his shoulder. He needed both hands for the crossbow. We hit the path seconds ahead of the walkers. There was a tree down across it a few feet in. Both of us vaulted over the tree and just ran. I looked back briefly to see the walkers falling on the tree causing a jam. That gave us more time to get away.

I ran until I thought I was going to die. Branches were whipping us leaving scratches all over any area of exposed skin. A hidden rock tripped me, and I went down hard, but Daryl picked me up and forced me to keep on running. We were making more noise that we should have, but neither of us cared. We had to put as much distance between the dead as we could. Finally, I had to stop. We were both panting hard, and I could barely catch my breath. There was a stitch in my side that felt like I had a knife in me.