DARYL
"What the fuck do yer think yer doin? Rabbits mine!"
His arrow narrowly missed my head after I let loose with my own.
"It's claimed. Mine! That bitch has got you all messed up, boy. Walkin around, like you is a dead man who's lost himself a fine piece of tail. Musta been a damn good one."
"Tell me something....was she one of the littleuns?" Len smirked at me.
Made to put my knife through that sick bastard, but Joe got his hands on me first.
"Easy, fellas....easy. Let's put the weapons down and then we'll try to figure out this little problem, hmmmm? We got us some rules of the road out here. All you gotta do is claim. That's how you mark your territory, your prey and your bed at night."
"Now, it wouldn't be fair to punish you for violating a rule that you never even knew existed. Would it, Daryl?" Joe proclaimed.
"Ain't no rules no more" I spit out.
Never took my eyes off Len. He'd been itchin to whup my ass while I was just prayin for the opportunity to flay his.
"Oh, Daryl....there are rules....and you know that. That's why I didn't kill you for your bow yesterday."
Joe reached for the rabbit in my hand and chopped it in half. Threw the head to Len before walkin off.
"Claimed....is all you gotta say."
*
We were following the rail tracks and Joe was walkin beside me at the rear of the pack.
That's exactly what they are, a huntin pack....and not a group.
"So, the looker in your photo....what's she to you then?" He asked.
Didn't want to talk but he wasn't gonna let things lie.
"My wife."
"Ooooweeee, boy! How did a close-mouthed, redneck son of a bitch like you end up with a mighty fine little girl like that?"
"Cos I was a lucky, close-mouthed, redneck son of a bitch" I mutter.
"What's the plan, Daryl....you're with us now but you ain't soon? You're gonna go looking for your missus once you leave?"
"Can't look for what's already gone" I'm reduced to mumbling now.
Joe went quiet for a long time. Takin in the fact....that I'd spoken in the past tense.
"Now that's a damn shame, but then....it's probably for the best. A man can't survive nowadays if he's got a woman on his mind all the time. This ain't a world for love or feelings no more."
"A man who does that? Will die sooner rather than later."
"You need a group, need to be with us. The rules....they're the only things that you should care about. Not other people. Rules don't have feelings. Rules don't eat you all up inside like a woman does."
Ain't gonna tell him that I agree.
Losing her is the worst thing that's ever happened to me in my life. A million times worse than anything and everything that went down on me while I was growin up.
Trustin someone enough....to actually let em inside of me?
Loving them and giving them the biggest piece of myself? Ain't never gonna do that ever again. No matter what or who.
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Home Is Your Heartbeat ('Home Is' Book Two - Daryl Dixon)
FanfictionSemi-mature. Completed. Book Two picks up immediately from the last chapter of Home is You. Nate is an Aussie girl who was stranded in Georgia during the outbreak. She and fellow traveler Leo joined a group of survivors in Atlanta. Nate got her firs...
