The Walking Dead {Daryl Dixon}

It's A Cold World

  Merle came back with a squirrel in hand ready to be skinned and cook. He was going to give it to MacKenzie since he had been a jerk yesterday and ended up eating all of her food. All he could hope for was that she would be able to swallow it and not throw it up after.

He found himself alone when he reached their room. The room was empty except for their bags, left on the floor from when they arrived last night.

"Girly?" Merle called out. Checking she wasn't around.

He dropped the squirrel and took out his knife. Maybe their bags were there but she wasn't and that made worry bubble up inside of 'im.

He walked up the stairs that lead to the roof. If she wasn't there at least he could get a good view of the terrain and look for her from there. Lucky for him, he didn't had to go the extra mile.

"Girly" he exhaled once he saw her leaning against the wall looking into the woods.

"Jesus, ye scared me. The hell ye doin' up 'ere anyway? Thought ye could use the rest"

"I-I couldn't sleep."She confessed. She then  moved off the wall to walk over to Merle. "We should get moving. Ain't safe to stay at one place for too long"

Merle frowned at her. He might've been out  for a couple of hours tops yet her whole demeanor had changed dramatically from when he last saw her. Her stance was tense, no room for jokes and she looked like life had run over her with a truck.

-

After packing up their bags they set on foot towards the woods.

"Towns are too crowded. Too many people means many dead and we don't want that. Ain't have no time to be dealing with that shit party" MacKenzie explained as she walked ahead of Merle leading the way.

"Ya need something, ya either fetch on the road or make a quick run to the closest town."

Merle listened to her as he skinned the squirrel. He would throw the skin over the trees or wipe his hands clean from blood or fur on his pants.

He liked what he was hearing. The girl obviously knew what she was doing. As always, she knew how to handle herself. It made him extremely proud.

"Seems like ye've been doin' this for a while, Girly" It didn't go missed by Merle the way she tensed. "How long ye been out 'ere?"

Mac stopped. She sighed and swallowed hard before looking back at Merle. "Since the beginning"

Her brown eyes kept scanning the woods surrounding them. The imminent threat that lurked making her shudder.

"After I made it out of the precinct I made my way home" She could feel her throat growing tight. "Except... There was no home to go back to. Everything- everyone just.. gone"

Merle noticed the way her eyes changed. They went from stern to sad to cold as she spoke. And the cold was never good to people like her, she was too bright to get locked in coldness.
The girl felt too deeply, with too much emotion so the moment she decided to shut that down.. that would be the second she would be gone.

Merle only nodded at her. He didn't want to push her and end up with her crumbling to pieces, crying into his chest.

"We should stop and cook this squirrel" He signaled to the mess of bloody meat in his hand.

Mac nodded, "I'll go look for some
wood"
_

The two ate in silence as they sat in front of the fire. The sun was going down making the warm flames shine brighter.

Merle glanced from his piece of meat to MacKenzie for what felt like the millionth time in the last 5 minutes. She hasn't said peep since she left for wood and has barely touched her food. A blank expression covering her face.

After checking the perimeter Merle decided they would set camp there, in the middle of the woods. He volunteered to take first watch so she could catch some shut eye since she said she hadn't been able to sleep back at the building.

Merle had to make her lay down and rest by threatening her of knocking her out if she wouldn't do it by herself. Reluctantly she grabbed her bag and placed her head on top of it, using it as a pillow.

She knew Merle would keep an eye out for the dead. That he would protect her from the monsters that go bump at night.

She only wished he could do the same with the ones in her dreams.