Lost then found • Daryl Dixon

Chapter Eight

Daryl's POV

I was in the barn trying to get answers from this kid Rick brought back. He couldn't be much older than Kaylee. Damn it Daryl, don't start thinking about her now. This ain't the time.

This kid isn't giving me the truth so I hit him again, he starts grunting, letting little cries out as he spit out the blood in his mouth. "I told you!" he pants out. "You told me shit!" I grabbed him by his scruff pushing him back up to a sitting position. "I barely knew those guys, I met 'em on the road."

I looked down at the bleeding boy, "how many in your group?"

He moves his head back and forth to the sides like he's trying to think "uhh..." Does this kid think I'm playing around here? I slowly pull my knife out from my hip, he watches me as I do so.  "No no no no no no, come on man. " 

I shot forward, he jumps as I bring my knife down into the wood floor next to his leg. "How many?!" He looks at me getting more scared by the minute. "Uh 30, 30!"

"Where?" I rip the bandage off his leg from where Hershel stitched him up. He screams. "Uh, I don't know I swear!" he says through gritted teeth.  I held my knife down on his wound slowly applying more pressure. "We were never any place more than one night."

"Scouting?" I pressed a little harder. "Planning on staying local?" I asked. "I- I don't know man, they left me behind."

I inched my knife a little more asking him "you ever pick off a scab?" He tried to move his leg away. "Come on, man! - I'm-I'm trying to cooperate." I ignored him. "You start of real slow, at first." He grunts in pain. "Sooner or later you've just got to rip it off."

"Okay, okay" he stutters, "They have weapons-- Heavy stuff, automatics. But I didn't do anything." I kept my knife in place. "Your boys shot at my boys, tried to take this farm. You just went along for the ride? You're trying to tell me you're innocent?"

"Yes!" he cried out. "These-- these people took me in. Not just guys-- A whole group of 'em. Men and women, kids too." I took my knife out of his leg and stood back, turning around letting him carry on as I listened.

He keeps looking at me as he continues, "Thought I'd have a better chance with them, you know? But we go out, scavenge," he diverted his eyes from me and looked to the ground.

"One night- we found this campsite, A man and his two daughters-- Teenagers, you know? Real young. Real cute." he looked back up to me as I turned around getting closer to him "Their daddy had to watch while these guys-- they-- And they didn't even kill him afterwards. They just-- They just made him watch as his daughters-- They just-just-- just left him there."

My mind went straight to Kaylee, and what happened with Shane. This just made me angrier and Randell could see I was just about at my tipping point. "No, no but I didn't touch those girls. Now I swear, I swear I-" I interrupted him kicking him in his side.  He yells out in pain as he begs me. "Please, you've got to believe me man, I aint like that." I kicked him again as he fell to his side crying in pain.

I walked out of the barn, seeing Kaylee sitting right outside. I couldn't do this right now, I was pissed as hell and I don't want her anywhere near this kid. "What the hell ya doin Kaylee?" Seeing her face all bruised and cut makes me more angry, I should have been there to protect her, instead she got hurt.

She looks up at me her eyes still shining bright through her black eye and swollen cheek, they look directly into mine. That annoying feeling comes back as she continues to look at me. "I heard it all." She looks down to my blood covered knuckles, I quickly move them to the sides of my body. "Ya shouldn't be here, go!" I could see the hurt in her eyes as she got up and walked away from me.