Status: Finished!
Lone Survivors
We'd Be Fine
They came out of nowhere. Somehow we hadn’t heard them approaching, and now there were too many. Daryl fired his crossbow and I forced myself to run forwards and dig my dagger into another Walker’s skull. As Daryl ripped his arrow out, I pulled out my blade and stumbled backwards from the effort. Daryl suddenly lurched forwards and slammed his used arrow into another Walker’s head, and I gasped with horror at how close the monster had been to me. We both took down one more each before running away from the few still lurking in the bush. I slowed down once we reached a clearing and I eventually came to a stop. Daryl noticed and came back to me, putting a comforting hand on my back as I bent over and wheezed for air.
“I don’t think I can keep going,” I admitted. Every single muscle in my body felt so weak from all of the stabbing and running I had been doing since the prison.
“You can, come on,” Daryl grunted dismissively as he took a few steps away from me. When he noticed that I wasn’t moving, he came back.
“I seriously can’t,” I panted while looking up at him. “This… It’s all too much for me. And I’m just slowin’ you down-”
“Stop it.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t wanna hear it. Let’s go,” Daryl said simply and I scrunched my eyebrows.
“You’re better off without me-”
“No!” he shouted, cutting me off again. I stared at him as I stood straight, wanting to hear an explanation as to why he wasn’t cutting loose his excess baggage. “I love you, and I need you. I’m not doing this without you. I won’t be able to.”
“You work better alone,” I protested with a shake of my head.
“Not if I can work with you. You keep me on the right track more than you might realise,” Daryl countered and I couldn’t help but smile a little. “Come on. We need to keep movin’.” I allowed him to take my sweaty hand and lead me across the open field.
“Do you think we’ll find the others?” I wondered after a long moment of silence.
“As long as I’ve got you, I’ll be fine,” Daryl said, avoiding the actual question but comforting me all the same. I gripped his hand tighter and felt somewhat hopeful for the future. As long as we were together, we’d be fine.
“I don’t think I can keep going,” I admitted. Every single muscle in my body felt so weak from all of the stabbing and running I had been doing since the prison.
“You can, come on,” Daryl grunted dismissively as he took a few steps away from me. When he noticed that I wasn’t moving, he came back.
“I seriously can’t,” I panted while looking up at him. “This… It’s all too much for me. And I’m just slowin’ you down-”
“Stop it.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t wanna hear it. Let’s go,” Daryl said simply and I scrunched my eyebrows.
“You’re better off without me-”
“No!” he shouted, cutting me off again. I stared at him as I stood straight, wanting to hear an explanation as to why he wasn’t cutting loose his excess baggage. “I love you, and I need you. I’m not doing this without you. I won’t be able to.”
“You work better alone,” I protested with a shake of my head.
“Not if I can work with you. You keep me on the right track more than you might realise,” Daryl countered and I couldn’t help but smile a little. “Come on. We need to keep movin’.” I allowed him to take my sweaty hand and lead me across the open field.
“Do you think we’ll find the others?” I wondered after a long moment of silence.
“As long as I’ve got you, I’ll be fine,” Daryl said, avoiding the actual question but comforting me all the same. I gripped his hand tighter and felt somewhat hopeful for the future. As long as we were together, we’d be fine.
♠ ♠ ♠
Thank you to TBPFelton18 and Sarahlamppost for the comments on the last chapter, and a huge thanks to everyone who has ever commented or rec'ed this story. Your support means so much, and I hope that you've enjoyed reading about Mandy's adventure. I hope this ending does the story justice.Once again, thank you to all of my readers - this has been a hugely popular story and I'm so grateful for that :) In that sense, it's sad to end it, but I think it's for the best.