Angel

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Daryl & Angel

Daryl

I was back. Everyone was back, well mostly everyone. It brought me to a very dark place for a long time thinking everyone was dead. There was always a slim sliver of hope that I was wrong, but I saw no signs that I was. And I was fuckin' wrong. Thank God for that. We had lost a few, but my core group was okay. I'd miss Tara and her weird off-beat sense of humor. Father G and I were never close, but I respected the fact that he had become a man of action and he had stopped using God as his defense. A bullet worked better on a walker than praying to a nobody that never did shit for me.

Morgan and I never saw eye to eye. I never understood why he wouldn't go to Ezekiel to try to convince the Kingdom to join us against Negan. His all life is precious crap annoyed the shit outta me. Sure he changed at the end, but he and I were never gonna be buddies. He was still a loss to the group.

Enid was the one person I knew the least. What did I have in common with a teenage girl? Nuthin'. I know she was close to Maggie and I think she and Carl had sumthin' going on, but I ain't sure. She seemed like a nice enough kid. Too bad.

All in all, I'm in a good place. Never thought I'd get here again. It felt good, but it was also weird. I was different, not Rick, or Maggie or Carol, but me. I wasn't sure how to act around them anymore. Daryl the loner, the lone wolf who did things when he wanted was pretty much gone. But that's how they knew me. Now it was me and Angel, and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world, but how was I supposed to act around these people with her?

I guess I'll try to be as normal as I could and see if that pisses Angel off. Our behavior at the house couldn't be the same here. I'd miss being able to take her whenever and wherever I wanted, but it was the price to pay to be back here with people I trusted. And that's why I was looking for Rick. He was the one person beside Angel that I trusted the most.

What was the plan? What needed to be done? I had to get back into the day to day activities.

I stood in the middle of the yard. There was definitely fewer people around that before the attack. The blacksmith hut was dark and unused. There were only a few people that I didn't know compared to when I was here after I escaped from the Saviors. I walked over to the gardens and saw that they were empty. Only small green shoots were poking up from the dirt. The fresh vegetables I promised Angel weren't happening.

"Hey," I heard from behind me. Turning I saw Rick approaching.

"Hey. Where's the food?"

Rick shook his head. "The Saviors ruined it all. We gotta start from scratch again."

"Assholes," I muttered. We all needed food, so fuckin' this up didn't make any sense.

"You and Jessie seemed to have settled in okay." I turned my head, and Rick had the smirk on him that I was hoping not to see. Damn. "You two seem to get along really well."

"Fuck, man. I knew she was being too loud. Tell me you were the only one to hear us?" I was so embarrassed. This could be way worse than him and Michonne hearing us at the house.

The smile on his face told me I was never going to live this down. "How bad?"

By now we had walked up to the mansion, and I swear he was laughing the whole time. "Bad. Put it to you this way, Michonne's already wondering what you got going on that I don't. They all are."

"They?"

"The women, bro."

I was so fucked. How could I face these people again? Especially the ones I knew. I may have to gag Angel if she can't stop being so damn loud. If I acted embarrassed by this, I'd never live it down, so I was hoping to pull off the exact opposite. "Yeah, well....what can I say. When ya got it..."