Starting Over... |Daryl Dixon| |The Walking Dead|

Chapter 23: Overwhelmed

An:: okay guys, I know I've given two shout outs for kla1130, but this is the biggest one EVER!!!

Seriously, without her, this story would be nothing like it is right now! Her ideas have been helping me fill in the blanks that I wasn't sure how to fill, and she is seriously the coolest chick. My best wattpad buddy! Thank you so much for being an awesome follower and now a really cool friend, kla1130, you're amazinggg!

And again, I'm sorry for the long gap between updates... I suffer from writers block quite frequently lately, and I'm working on four stories at once on two different sites, so I hop back and forth and write a little in this one, then add a little to that one, and so on.

I've also been watching seasons 1-3 of TWD on Netflix to gain inspiration, and it does help a little (: so again, I apologize for the long wait between chapters, but I hope they're worth the wait, and I hope you can forgive me when there are delays in the future.

I love you all! ❤

-Daryl POV-

I could tell just by how light the oil can in the vehicle bay was that we would need to go on another run soon. Seemed like that's all we were ever doin' anymore, runnin' around, scavengin' food an' supplies to survive for another few days. But that was life now, an' we were all used to it, I guess. I know I was, it was just sorta like second nature.

It was real early in the mornin', the sun was still low in the sky, lost in the trees which cut the orange light into ribbons. Just as I was about to pop the hood'a my old truck to give the engine a tune up, I glanced upward for some reason, toward the buildings to my right. From where I was standin', I could see puffs'a smoke floatin' up from one'a the rooftops. That was cigarette smoke, which meant I wasn't the only one up.

I knew it was Kayla sittin' up there, since she was the only other person in the group that smoked besides me, and the only one that rose b'fore the sun almost every mornin'. So, I set the oil can down next to the truck's front left tire, and made my way over to the fire escape to see what she was doin' up there.

Took me about thirty seconds to climb that rusty ladder, but even b'fore I reached the top'a the building, I could hear what sounded like cryin', that coulda only been comin' from Kayla.

When I pulled myself up over the top'a the ladder an' scanned the roof with my eyes,  it didn't take me long to find 'er. She was straight across from me, sittin' in a tiny ball up against the wall to my right. She had 'er knees tucked into her chest, her arms wrapped around 'erself, and her head cradled in the space between. I could see 'er shoulders shakin' as she wept, and for a split second I reconsidered my place up there. Kayla hadn't noticed me yet, so I thought about turnin' right back around and climbin' back down to my truck, goin' along with my business and lettin' her do the same... But for some reason, I couldn't leave 'er there.

My boots scuffed the old concrete roof as I walked closer to Kayla, who still didn't notice me, not even when I was standin' right next to 'er. Damn, it was a good thing I wasn' t no walker or nothin', or else that girl woulda been toast.

"Hey." I said, finally catchin' Kayla's attention.

She flinched a little and looked up at me, tryin' to wipe away her tears as quick as she could, as if she was hidin' 'em from me, or somethin'. I played along, pretendin' I didn't notice for the time bein'.

"D-Daryl..." Kayla muttered, her voice still shakin' just a little, "How'd you know I was up here?"

I shrugged my shoulders an' shifted the weight'a my crossbow, "Saw the smoke, figured it could only be one person... You All right?"