Caught Me With His Crossbow (Daryl Dixon TWD Fanfiction)

Chapter 3 - Bad Memories

“Come closer and I’ll blow your goddamn mouth off”, I said coldly. “We aren’t lookin’ for trouble, just lookin’ for the safe zone”, The younger, more calmer one said. I laughed at this. “Safe zone?! If y’all are lookin’ for a safe zone, it sure as hell ain’t here in Atlanta”, I scoffed. “How do you know?”, The man with the blue eyes asked curiously. “City is overun, bombed hundreds of the dang things myself”, I said, feeling awkward standing in my underwear. “Wait, you’re in the army?”, The older one asked with a shocked expression. “Yeah, Dunno whether I still am or not”, I said with a shrug of my shoulders. “My group is on the highway, look for Shane Walsh. He can help ya’ll”. I put my gun down as I realised these guys were normal and weren’t bitten. They stood there with their eyes roaming my body. “Ya’ll are perverts, looking at a nineteen year olds near naked body”, I said with a raised eyebrow. “Well this pussy is thirty four, I’m forty six, take your pick”, He said pointing to his younger brother. The younger brother was handsome indeed, in a rugged and tough kind of way. He wasn’t shy but quieter thatn his brother. “We’ll see bout that”, I laughed. “What’s your name, girl?”, The older brother asked. “Bree Grimes, You?”, I replied. “Merle Dixon”. He motioned to his younger brother. “And this here is Dar-“. Before he could finish, the younger brother interrupted. “I’m Daryl”, He said with a sexy smirk. “Nice to meet ya’, Daryl”, I said with a smile. “Now, I I could get dressed in peace that’d be great”, I said sarcastically. “See ya’ later”, They said in a high pitched girly tone.

I shook my head and laughed in disbelief. That Merle guy was going to be a handful, no doubt about it. But Daryl’s clear blue eyes stuck in my mind.

I changed into a grey tank top and khaki pants. I tightened my laces and jogged back to the highway. There was more people there now. A mexican family, a man in a fishing hat, a dark skinned man and a few other kind faced individuals gathered around us.  “We should make camp, the bombs might come our way if we don’t move quick enough”, I announce. A few people looked awe struck at the scene behind us. Smoke billowed in plooms of black clusters up to the clowds eerily. “She’s right, we need to get movin’, now”, Shane said. He ushered shocked people back to their cars and I made my way over to my truck. A few people looked at me disapprovingly, heck I’m saving their lives by telling them to get the hell out of here before the renamnts of my squad start to bomb here aswell.

I climbed into my truck and made sure all of my artillery were still in the backseat. I wound down the window as Shane came up to it. “We should head to the mountains”, He says. “Yeah, there’s an old quarry close by”, I say.  “Drive safe”, He said. I nodded and started the engine. I saw the Dixon brothers walk up to their vehicles. Daryl hopped into a blue truck, Merle got onto a motorcycle.

It was a short drive up to the mountain. When we got there we were expecting walkers to be there. No sighn of them. I smiled to myself. I stopped the engine and flung myself out of the truck. I jogged over to my Mom and Carl. “This is great isn’t it?”, she exclaimed. I grinned as I looked at the jaw dropping view of the turquoise quarry. “That quarry will come in handy”. Carl looks down at the body of water with a grin. “We can swim and fish!”, He beams. “I’ll take you when we’re all set up”, I say. I walk over to where Shane is conversing with the other men. “We need to make sure there’s no walkers in the perimeter”, the man with the hat says. “Dale, don’t worry we’ll send a couple of people to check”, Shane says. “Me and my brotha’ can hunt”, Daryl says. Merle gives him a sharp dig in the arm. I narrow my eyes at Merle. That was uncalled for.

“I’ll go and check the perimeter”, I say. “Not on your own you ain’t”, Shane says protectively. I chuckled to myself. Shane was like my Dad now, he acted exactly like my Dad would’ve. I roll my eyes at him. “Daryl will go with you, Merle you can hunt on your own”, Shane says. Daryl looked relieved but quickly returned to his poker face. He was strange, he would show his true colours for one split second but would return to a stone faced statue the next second. Merle seemed like he scontrolled Daryl, I won’t interfere but something just didn’t seem right to me.

I learnt the names of my fellow campmates. T-Dogg, The Peletier family, The Morales family, Andrea and her sister Amy, Dale, Jacqui and Jim. They all seemed quite nice with the exception of Merle and Ed. Merle was flawed to an unrepairable extent. Ed was downright nasty to his wife Carol and daughter Sophia. They didn’t deserve it, I flet sorry for Carol and Sophia for having to put up with him.

Daryl and I sauntered off into the woods surrounding the camp. It was quiet and peaceful out here. Daryl shot a couple of squirrels and attatched them to his belt. I wanted to strike up a conversation with him but I didn’t know how. I felt like if I said something stupid that he’s think I’m a stupid teenage girl that just wanted some action of an older man.

Well maybe that’s what I was, a stupid teenage girl.

It was starting to get dark now. “We best make our way back now”, He said gruffly. “Alright”, I said quitely. “Where were you before the camp?”, I ask. “Driftin’ round with Merle”, He said. “What about you?”, He asks. I felt that I was able to talk to Daryl when we were alone. It was kind of like talking to a friend you’ve known for years that had an alter ego, a bit like Hannah Montana. He was so tough and smartass around his equally badass older counterpart. But when he was with me on his own he was kind and talkative. “I was in the army”, I say. “You’re a bit young for that”, He says. I laughed to myself. “Yeah, but the army straightened me out, helped me get my act together”, I say with a small sigh. “Act?”, He questioned. I’ve never told anyone why I joined the army, it was a sensitive topic. Maybe if I told Daryl, he would open up to me?

“Well, long story short, I was a reckless asshole who didn’t give a shit about anybody or myself”, I said, I was almost shivering at the memories. I was probably 14 when it all started, 16 when it ended. “How’d it start?”, He said simply. “I got in with the wrong crowd, they were all older than me by at least four years. We would drink in fields, smoke in clubs and skip school”, I said. Daryl was listening intently, taking in every word. “I later found out that they were all a lot worse than I thought they were. I found out during the summer after I turned 14 that some of them were connected to drug dealers.” I remember all of their names. I remember the things they did, the things I helped them do. “I met the rest of their friends, there were people my age there too. They introduced me to drugs, I didn’t like it at first but after a while..I needed it to function. Everything was fine. But the dealer...”. I forced myself to stop. I couldn’t tell him. “What about the dealer?”, He asked softly. “I’ve never told anybody, ever”. I didn’t want to bring up the worst part of my life. My Mom and Dad didn’t know what the dealer did to me. “You might feel better after tellin’ someone, but if you don’t want to it’s okay”, He said kindly. “Thanks Daryl”, I say with a sad smile. We approach the camp and I realise that there are a few tents set up, including mine. There was a campfire situated in the middle of camp beside Dale’s RV. “You know you can talk to me anytime, right?”, I say to Daryl. He turned to me with a small smirk on his soft lips. “Same goes, Bree”, He said huskily. He then wandered over to Merle and presented his squirrels. I went over to my Mom. She looked at me eagerly. “Is it safe?”, She asked. “Yeah, only things we saw were a few squirells”. A few people cheered when they heard our camp was safe. I smiled, knowing these people were going to be alright. “I set up your tent, Bree”, Carl says with a grin. “Thanks Bud”, I reply. It was beginning to get dark now and people were gathering around the fire. I wasn’t in the mood for socialising right now. I was absolutely shattered from the past few days. I walked over to my tent and clumsily opened the zip. I almost fell right into the tent when a hand grabbed me tightly. I whirled around and came face to face with Shane. “You dropped your guard, Bree”, He says with a shake of his head. “Well that’s what happens when I haven’t ahd a wink of sleep the past few days”, I sigh. “Get some sleep”, He says. He lets go of me and walks over ot my Mom’s tent. I eye him suspiciously and shrug it off. He probably just making sure Mom is okay, right?