𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒇 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 ➪ «𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑥𝑜𝑛»

ch. XXIV - 《woops, there it is》

oOo

"He's been teaching me this."

Diana shook off Glenn's arm and grabbed her bow. She raised it, adopting a familiar stance that she'd spent weeks perfecting. Then she aimed two inches to the side of Merle's head and drew the silver string until it touched the tip of her nose and her hand rested under her jaw. She released it.

In the whizz of a blur, the arrow lodged into the metal pipe by his head without a flinch from him. When it sunk into his drug-addled brain what had happened, he looked to the side to witness the arrow dissipate like smoke. He yelped and jumped away, tugging at his handcuffs and looking up at her in mild horror.

That was it.

It was done.

"Jesus, Lord in Heaven." Diana heard Jacqui say and saw the woman cross herself with wide eyes.

"Diana, what is- I don't-?" Glenn stammered out with a questioning tone of voice, breaking the otherwise stunned silence.

"I'm so sorry," Diana started with a heavy heart, brow furrowed as she let her eyes roam guiltily. "I'm really sorry I never said anything. I didn't know- I wasn't sure how- I..."

Andrea plowed toward her, enraged and without a shred of sympathy. "You goddamn bitch! You've been letting us waste our ammo all this time when you can do that?! How could you have hidden something like this from us? You know how much danger we've been in! When you could've-"

The Sheriff stepped up to stop Andrea from coming down on Diana in her anger. "Hey, back off. Calm yourself down before you're pointing your gun at her head as well," he said.

Diana cowered back, feeling small and unsure of what to do. Her heart was loud in her ears and she felt close to tears. Anxiety whispered in her ear that they all hated her now and that she never should've done it.

Merle sneered at her and spat at her feet. "Fuckin' nigger demon."

His hateful words stung and she took a step back, almost stepping on Glenn. He grabbed her hand and entwined their fingers in silent support. He always stood by her side, even when he should be hating her for keeping this from him.

He always made sure she could count on him. Diana loved Glenn for that.

T-Dog stumbled to a stand and spat at Merle, "Shut your bitch-ass mouth, you stupid sunovabitch." He held a hand to his ribs and winced with every step he took towards her. At her side, his large hand weighed on her shoulder like an anchor. Grounding and firm.

The anxiety lost its voice. She wasn't hated.

"No, she's a godsend," said Jacqui, joining her hands in front of her chest. "Coming to purge the Earth from these demons."

Diana shook her head fiercely and sniffed back her tears. She'd never expected Jacqui to be such a believer of religious icons. She let go of Glenn's hand and sidestepped the Sheriff. "No, okay, I'm not. I'm none of those things, okay? I'm nothing, you know? I just... I just found something that I shouldn't have. It's not me, it's this." She stretched out her hand with the bow. The golden tint reflected the gray of the clouded sky.

Morales and Jacqui came forward to look at it. Andrea still glared at her from the distance. The Sheriff asked her permission to try it out.

Diana nodded sheepishly, knowing by now it would be for naught. It had only worked with her until now and she was certain it would stay that way.

When his attempt produced no satisfactory results, he turned to her with an inquisitive furrow of his brow. T-Dog was who voiced the question.

Diana shrugged helplessly, her eyes on the weapon. "It's never worked with anyone else except me," she explained. She suppressed a grimace when Jacqui started murmuring to herself and crossed herself again.