Till Death Do Us Part: A Daryl Dixon Story (The Walking Dead)

6

Daryl was so shocked by my appearance that he stumbled backwards into the dirt.
‘Erin?’ His face was pale.
I didn’t know what do. I felt all the campers’ eyes on me.
‘But Merle said- Merle said you died.’ His words came out quickly.
‘Merle said a lot of things.’
Daryl took in everyone’s prying eyes. ‘The hell y’all listenin’ in for?’
His words seemed to disperse everyone quickly enough. We were all alone now.
‘He lied to you, Daryl.’ I said.
He walked closer to me, his eyes taking all of me in. ‘What happened to you?’ he finally asked.
I shook my head. ‘It doesn’t matter.’
He narrowed his eyes at me and said in a tone so harsh I was frightened. ‘Why are you here?’ I’d expected rejection or confusion from him, but I hadn’t expected anger.
‘You don’t want me here,’ I whispered.
Daryl stared back at me. ‘As far as I can remember you're the one who walked out on me. Now when the world ain’t what it used to be, now ya want my help?’
‘Daryl, you know it isn’t like that.’
But he had already turned his back to me. I stood there, helpless and alone. Mortified doesn’t even come close to how I felt.  I opened my heart to him, and now I had been rejected twice. If the first time was supposed to make the next time easier, it didn’t. If anything, the pain I felt was worse. I couldn’t leave; where would I go? But staying also meant facing rejection, every single day. He headed straight for the woods. Shortly after, everyone else decided that they’d come out of hiding and inspect the aftermath. I was bombarded with questions.
‘You’re married to Dixon?!’
‘No, they’re divorced. I mean look, he just took off.’
‘But why Daryl?’
‘Poor thing…’
‘Dixon’s don’t know how to treat women right,’ someone said in a voice of disapproval.
But I wasn’t listening to them. I was wrong about Daryl taking off into the woods; he was speaking furiously to Rick. A few other men joined there conversation.
‘Rick’s going back for Merle.’ Lori told me. I hadn’t heard her come up next to me.
‘It’s just how he is. He’s a good man. Too much, I’d say.’ Even though she spoke kindly, Lori was angry though, I could tell. I was also angry at Rick –he knew Merle was the man behind my bruises, so why help him?
‘They’re probably all discussin’ a plan on how to get there.’  She folded her arms and looked at the group of men sternly.
‘Well look I don’t, okay Rick? So could you just- could you throw me a bone here, man? Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?’ Shane said loudly to Rick.
‘Hey, chose your words more carefully.’ Daryl warned him.
‘No I did. Douche bag’s what I meant.’ Shane retorted. Daryl looked at him loathingly, but said nothing.
‘Merle Dixon,’ Shane continued. ‘wouldn’t give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst.’
I fully agreed with Shane.
‘What he would or wouldn’t do doesn’t interest me.’ The cop inside Rick was speaking. ‘I can’t let a man die of thirst –me. Thirst and exposure.  We left him like an animal trapped in a cage. That’s no way for anything to die, let alone a human being.’
I couldn’t take it anymore. White hot rage pulsed through my veins. I walked with heavy feet towards the RV after giving him a pointed stare. Sometime later, Lori brought me a glass of water. All she did was set it down next to me, gave me an impish smile, and left. I was grateful; she understood I needed to be alone. I heard a horn being honked rather obnoxiously and a shout from a redneck I wasn’t too happy with at the moment, ‘Come on! Let’s go!’
I supressed the childish urge to roll my eyes. The RV squeaked, notifying me that I wasn’t alone anymore. I looked up to find none other than Rick.
‘Daryl is getting impatient.’ I told him.
Rick sat down beside me. ‘No matter. Look, Erin, I feel like I have to apologise.’
I gave him an impassive look. ‘You have to do what you have to do,’
He cocked his head, ‘I know there’s nothing I can say to make this right for you but-’
‘It’s dangerous. It’s risky. And for what? Merle Dixon?’ I made a face when I said his name.
‘I’m going back for the bag of guns-’
‘What about Lori? Carl?’ I cut him off.
His eyes left mine for a few seconds and he said, ‘I have to do this. And I won’t forget about your bag either.’
‘A bunch of Harry Potter books aren’t worth your life either.’ I snapped.
Rick sighed and got up. ‘I’ll be back shortly.’ He said to speak louder, as Daryl impatiently honked the horn again. I buried my face in my hands. What would happen if Merle came back with them? Would he and Daryl take off and leave me behind? I didn’t want to dwell on it further.
By the time I left the RV, the group of men had left for Atlanta already. Feeling very alone and troubled, I took a walk. I ended up walking down to the cove where the women did their washing. It was the height of day; the sun beat down on me. I walked briskly. The lake was beautiful and it glinted in the sunlight. Carol, Jacqui, Amy and Andrea were washing clothes on the edge, Carol’s husband watched them labour on with a smug expression and Shane and Carl were playing some game in the lake. I felt so out of place. My thoughts went back to Daryl. I just couldn’t escape him.
‘You’ll be the death of me, Dixon.’ The worst part was that I didn’t even know how I right that statement would become.