The Perfect Family

Father Daughter Time

The father daughter duo walked silently through the woods. Daryl noticed deer tracks mushed in the mucky mud. This was the perfect time to teach his daughter how to track things.

"Hey, lil asskicker, look here. What do you see?" He asked her as he pointed to the area the tracks were.

"Mud," she said scrunching her nose.

"What's in the mud?" He questioned bending down next to it. Her eyebrows raised as she looked up at him.

"I don't know," she sighed, placing her palm against her forehead in disappointment. 

"That's a deer print. Deer have hooves and when they walk they leave imprints just like we leave footprints," he explained. "See where I was just walking. That's my shoe print." Stryker looked where her father was pointing and nodded.

"Why so big?" She asked looking between hers and his footprints.

"I'm grownup, you are just a baby," he chuckled.

"I'm not a baby, Daddy," she grumbled crossing her arms with the blade sticking out. 

"Watch the knife," Daryl warned, as she held it against her arm. Quickly she held it away from her. "That's not how you hold it, kid." Daryl took the knife from her and demonstrated how to hold it. He also showed her how to jab it into the walker's head. When he handed it back to Stryker, she wrapped her little hand around just like he showed her.

"Like this?" She asked looking up into his eyes after pretending to stab a walker head. As he stared into her bright blue eyes he saw her mother shining through. God, she looked just like her.

"Just like that," he smiled placing a hand on her back.

"Do you hear that?" Stryker whispered as she heard twigs snapping and leaves crunching.

"Yes, now baby, this is going to be scary okay? If you can't do it let daddy know. I'm going to knock it on the ground and you are going to take that knife and stab it through its eye. That's the softest part. Can you do that?" Daryl asked her.

"Yes, daddy," she said looking him deep in the eyes.

The walker came towards them and Daryl walked up to it. As it reached its arms out to grab him he stepped to the side and kicked his foot out, tripping the walker. It landed right in front of Stryker who stared at it with wide eyes. This was her first time seeing a walker. She heard stories, but this was nothing like she pictured.

The grey slimy teeth chomped towards her as his hands reached for her tiny legs. The skin on his face was slowly falling off. Big holes were torn through its body. You could see straight through its chest. Every rib bone stuck out. She felt like she couldn't move.

"Come on, Skye," Daryl whispered as his daughter stood frozen. The corpse on the ground crawled closer and closer to her as she stared at it. Daryl didn't move, he knew she could do it. The girl looked up at him, fear in her eyes. "You got this, lil asskicker." 

Her face became stern and she nodded. One swift move and the blade was guided straight through it's eye socket. Stryker took a step back as the knife dangled from it's face. In a second it fell completely lifeless and she smiled up at her dad.

"Daddy, I did it!" She cheered while clapping.

"Good job, baby!" Daryl breathed a sigh of relief. She was strong. She could do this. "Now don't forget to take the knife back." She grabbed the steel and yanked with all her little might, but she fell on her ass unable to remove it.

"It's stuck," she huffed crossing her arms and furrowing her brows.

"Here, watch," Daryl said grabbing the handle and pulling it out on an angle. "Just like that." Stryker nodded and took the bloody knife back. 

"Are we going home now?" She asked.

"No, sweetheart. You need more practice," he said walking past her.

"Why? You and mama protect me," She said trying to keep up with his long legs.

"And we will always protect you if we can, but if something were to happen to us and we were no longer around you need to learn to protect yourself. That is the only way to survive," He told her as they trudged through the woods. Stryker remained quiet walking by his side. They came across two more walkers and Daryl used his crossbow to take down one.

"Can I?" She asked pointing at the heavy crossbow in his arms.

"Not yet, sweetie. It's too heavy, but I will teach you on a bow first and we will work you up to a crossbow," he told her. The female walker in front of them had on a thin white nightgown with a fresh bite wound to her neck, stomach, and arm. Daryl looked at it closely. They were still to close to home for there to be people out there that they didn't know about, but that nightgown was the same one Tegan had. She had worn just a few nights ago.

"Daddy," Stryker said holding her knife in her hand, ready to take it down. Daryl looked down at her and shook his head.

"Sorry," he whispered, throwing the walker to the ground and allowing the child to drive her blade through its skull.

"What's wrong?" she asked as her father stared at the dead flesh below him. He grabbed its hand and the skin was still soft. Not rotted or mushy at all. 

"Nothing, Skye. Let's go back," Daryl said with an uneasy feeling in his stomach. It had to just be coincidence, right? How would anyone know that his wife wore that nightgown? It seemed like a threat. Was it meant to be a threat? Daryl's head was spinning as they walked back to Alexandria. Tegan was waiting at the gate for her heroic adventurers. 

"Mama! I did it!" Stryker yelled running into her mothers arms.

"Good job baby! None of them touched you?" Tegan asked picking her up.

"No mama," Stryker sighed.

"Are you alright?" Tegan asked Daryl as he stared at her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. She did great," he sighed before walking past them.

"Daryl!" Tegan called after him, but it was no use. There was something going on in his mind. Something he wouldn't tell her about. He seemed scared, but that can't be right. Can it? What happened out there?