All of Us (The Walking Dead)

Chapter 29

"Yeh?" I heard Daryl mumble from inside. I pushed the door open and then stepped in, my heart beating fast.

I gulped when I saw him in bed. He was laying on his other side now so that he was facing towards me and his back was towards the wall behind him. He looked startled when he saw me, but then his expression turned to anger.

"What are you doin' here, Sloane?" he demanded. "I said I don't want ya here," he said harshly as he pulled up the covers over his chest. Before he got it up all the way up I noticed a few light scars on his chest as well.

I brought my eyes back up to reach his. I didn't understand why he was so mad.

"I-I just wanted to come talk to you," I said.

He chewed on his lip. "I don't wanna talk to you," he said.

"I just don't understand why you won't talk to me," I said.

He didn't say anything, but looked away and pulled the blankets up tighter over his chest.

"Wait, is this about the scars?" I blurted.

"I don't want you seein' me," he said, still not looking at me. I could see the muscles in his jaw pop as he clenched his teeth.

"You think seeing your scars changes the way I see you?" I asked in disbelief.

He finally looked at me, his eyes narrow, and I could tell from his expression that that was exactly what he thought.

"Leave, Sloane," he said slowly. I was taken aback. Did he really think that I would think differently of him because of the scars?

"Fine," I said as I stepped back, finally finding my words. "I'm glad to know you think so highly of me," I said and turned around, slamming the door behind me. Did Daryl really think I was that stuck up and self centered that I would judge him based on his past? 

If he didn't want to see me, that was fine by me. I would leave him alone from now on. 

~

The next day, Rosita came and got me before lunch to bring me to the infirmary. I wouldn't have gone because I really didn't want to see Daryl, but she said there was a meeting.

I walked into the infirmary to see everyone gathered around the bed Daryl was laying on. I walk over to them slowly. The last time I was in here Daryl yelled at me that he didn't want me in here. I wasn't ecstatic to be back, but I didn't think he would say anything with all these people here.

Rick looks stressed. "I didn't think that we'd have to deal with another group so soon," he said. It hadn't been that long since the whole Negan thing. They were only just recovering.

Rosita piped up. "Do we know that it's a group? I mean, it was just three people that jumped Daryl, right?"

Rick ran his hands through his hair. "Daryl said that they tried to radio back to their leader for back up. It seems like they were part of a bigger group, unfortunately."

"I stopped 'em before they could tell 'em where we were," Daryl grunted from bed.

Rick nodded his head. "I think we should take a group out to see if we can see any signs of the group. We need to know if they're close to us, and if so, how big they are. We need to be informed. We don't want a repeat of when we took out that first post of Negan not realizing they were so much bigger," Rick winced.

Michonne nodded. "If we find the group, we won't make contact. We just want to observe. See what we're dealing with. Hopefully, we won't find them because they're nowhere around us."