Always || Daryl Dixon

Eighteen

I sighed as I reached up and wiped sweat from my forehead, throwing the small trowel besides the tomato plants I had just planted. It had been almost a week now since Daryl had found me in the tombs, a week since I'd learnt that mum had died, I still think about her all the time but nobody mentions what happened because dads still in a weird place mentally, while he's much better than he was, he still has his moments.

"Hey, are Maggie and Glenn back yet?" Speak of the devil, using my hand to block the sun I looked up into my fathers eyes.

"I don't think so." I shrugged standing from my place kneeling in the dirt. "Dad?" I asked as I noticed that he was staring off into the distance.

"Please tell me this isn't in my head." He muttered without moving his eyes from where they were intently focused.

"What?" Confused I turned to the direction that he was looking, my eyes widened as I spotted a figure stood still by the gate, watching us with a blank face and a basket of what looked like tins clutched in their grip tightly. "What the hell?" I whispered only for dad to start walking in the figures direction.

"Beth! Get Daryl!" I yelled over to the young girl who was sat on the grass with a gurgling Judith laid out on a blanket.

I slid to a stop besides dad as he stood a few feet away from the gate, now closer I could see that the figure was a woman covered in, what I hope, was walker guts. As we stood watching each other one of the walkers started to pay the woman more attention, the smell fading, then another started and within a second the walkers closest to her started to groan and snap their jaws in her direction forcing her to pull out a long sword, I think it's a katana, and swipe at the heads of those closest.

"We've gotta help her." I said turning to dad only for him to continue to stand still watching as the woman struggled. "Dad!" I yelled as I watched her stumble slightly, my eyes landing on a bullet wound on her leg. "She's hurt, come on." I pleaded, still receiving nothing.

Mumbling under my breath I quickly moved forwards, reaching through the gaps in the gate I slid my knife into the skull of a walker who had sneaked up on the woman from behind while she was busy dealing with multiple others. We made eye contact briefly, me sending her a small smile before I got back to the job at hand.

"Lyla move!" Daryl's voice made me jump slightly, looking over my shoulder I realised that dad had finally snapped out of whatever dreamland he was in and was ready to open the gate. "Three, two, one, now!" Daryl yelled before the two of them pulled the gates open, me quickly reaching out and grabbing the woman's coat quickly pulling her through landing on the ground before the gate was slammed shut behind her.

"Don't move." Accompanied with the click of a gun made me look up with wide eyes, dad stood with his revolver pointed down at the injured woman while Daryl held his crossbow in the same stance.

"What are you doing? She's hurt." I asked surprised at how things were escalating.

"Move away Lyla." Dad spoke to me without taking his eyes off of our guest.

"No." I denied shaking my head slightly. "She needs Herschel." I told him in a tone that he knew oh so well, the 'don't bother trying I'm not giving in' tone that I used all the time as a teenager.

Groaning to himself he put his revolver back in its holder and gestures for Daryl to help him, both leaning down and grabbing an arm each, carrying the woman through to an empty cell just outside of our own cell block.

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"It was a bullet wound, I managed to dig the bullet out and sow her up so she'll be fine once she gets her strength back." Herschel spoke as he came from the cell that was currently housing our visitor.