Instincts (Daryl Dixon FF)

t w e n t y o n e

[Season 4, Inmates]

Margos P.o.V

The fresh breeze of summer night was softly brushing over my skin, leaving trails of goosebumps behind. I was sitting on the ground, leaning against the massive stem with my head rolled back and my eyes tiredly following the stars. My eyelids felt heavy. My breaths were deep. The rough, irregular bark of the beech was slightly digging into the skin of my back whereas the leaves on the ground seemed like a soft mattress to my legs. On my left sat Daryl whos face was gently lit by the last few flames of our fire. The orange colour flickered and danced over his face. It almost seemed like he was glowing, like his skin had saved some sunlight from the day. He was sitting in his tipical position. Knees pulled towards his chest, his muscular arms carelessly slumped over his legs and his head bowed just far enough to let his hair fall into his face. Some strands almost touched his nose, others were pulled back behind his ears but all in all his hair was a hot mess like usual. Behind the crackling flames Beth was slumbering on the ground. It was hard to see her through the light. Only her fair skin and the bright blonde hair shimmered brightly whereas the rest of her body was dipped in a dark grey. The argument earlier had visibly worn her out. She had been sleeping there, near the fire, for most of the night.

Earlier

"We should do something", Beth said.

When neither Daryl nor I did something other than stare at her indifferently, she sharply pulled some air into her lungs.

"We should do something." She repeated herself, this time more forceful. Her posture had changed, she stood heavy feeted on the ground and her soft hands were curled into fists. Desperation seemed to burn through her dark eyes as she glimmered angrily at Daryl who was lighting the campfire.

"What d'ya mean?", he mumbled back. His eyes were concentrated on the lighter in his hand as he softly shielded the tinder from any possible winds. I could hear the faint sound of his thumb brushing against the friction wheel and the occasional rustle of the tinder.

"We can't be the only survivors. We can't be!"

Beths voice had continuesly gotten louder and more riled up. She was heavily gesturing with her hands and an unfitting frown had formed on her forehead.

"Beth-", Daryl tried.

"Rick, Michonne, they could be out there!"

"Beth-"

"Maggie and Glenn, they could've made it out of the A Block!"

As Beth continued to hurry and more troubled words and theories spilled out of her, Daryl had put the lighter back in his pocket and started staring at the her. His gaze was serious and cold. He looked like he was about to break down a brick wall and his irises seemed to cut through the air like sharp razor blades. Beth on the other hand turned messier by the second. Her bright red lips quivered dangerously and her eyes glistened with tears which were threatening to spill over the edge. Her hands couldn't stop gesturing as she paced around in circles and her voice got both, louder and cracked at the same time.

"Beth.", he then said again. This time with more authority in his voice and this time Beth actually stopped and instead looked at him angrily. She reclenched her fists and seemingly swallowed her tears down in a gulp as she waited for him to say something.

"Calm down"

Silence.

"Calm down?!", she exclaimed. "We can't just sit here and do nothing!"

She looked at us in disbelief and brought up another hurried suggestion, "You're both trackers, we could try to track them!"

"'s no use. It's dark, we're all tired. We can track 'em tomorrow". Daryl quickly interwined.