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Chapter Thirty-Eight: Daryl

Damn, I sure had missed hunting. The quiet of the woods. No one to bother me with bullshit. Just me, my crossbow and the trees. Even if I didn't bring anything back today, this was gonna be a good day. I just had to stay out of the way of the walkers. I ain't afraid of them. Hell, I've taken out hundreds of these dead pricks. I will put down more of them, but I just wanted a quiet day for once beyond the walls.

No running for my life. No coming back covered in diseased blood. Just a day in the woods. I was hunting, but I kinda really wasn't.

The cast had come off my arm two days ago. It wasn't totally healed but it was almost. It was good enough for me to resume doing all the shit I wanted to do. Like ride my bike and use the crossbow. It was harder to pull the string so the bow was cocked with a bolt and ready, but I could still do it. Just took a bit of grunting and groaning to get it done.

The sun was filtering through the trees casting scattered shadows as I walked along this non-existent path. The leaves were softly crunching under my feet as I made my way deeper into the woods. This was an area I liked to come to both hunt and relax. There was a pine tree here that would give me a good perch to scout. It also kept me away from the ground and any surprise walker attacks.

If I brought back dinner it would be a bonus, but I really needed time away from Alexandria. I was always a loner and being confined inside those walls definitely gets to me after a while. Since I broke my arm, I had been out here once. Just once to go get the drugs outta that hospital. Otherwise, I had been stuck inside doing nuthin' all these weeks.

I saw my tree in the distance and picked up the pace. The squirrels were scurrying from tree to tree in the canopy of leaves above me. Their chatter intensified once they realized I was invading their territory. I reached up to grab the first branch with my right hand and kept climbing until I was far enough up the tree on a sturdy limb where no one could get me from below and I wasn't gonna fall off onto my head.

The crossbow was cradled in my arms, but I wasn't looking for game. I closed my eyes breathing in the clean fresh air. I had my freedom back.

Yesterday morning, I took Carl out like I promised the kid. He got to experience the thrill of riding a motorcycle on the open road. We took it easy at first, but when he came to a stretch of road that was long and straight we just went full throttle.

He loved it and I enjoyed showing him what being on a bike was all about.

That was yesterday and today is about the peace and quiet of the woods. No Rick asking me to help him with sumthin'. No feeling claustrophobic behind the big walls. And no seeing Taylor to remind me how badly I am fucked up.

Well, I did see her this morning for the walk like I usually do, but she's back to almost full strength and I don't have to worry about her no more. But that don't mean she ain't in my head all the time. She just won't leave and I'm not sure what to do about it.

We're gonna be connected through the baby. I ain't gonna be no absentee dad in that kid's life. Hopefully, it's a girl or we may have to figure what to do next. I'm not sure what everyone would do if it's a boy. Would we have to try again? That would mean having sex with her again and that was my downfall.

It was just too good. I missed it. Fuck, I really do miss it.

And her. I hate admitting that I miss Taylor but I do.

We were having fun together until it got too serious. That's when I knew I had to break off whatever we had going. And it's been shit since then. Even though I never graduated high school and she went to college, we got along pretty damn well. I never felt stupid or dumb around her.