Status: Sequel will be coming soon. :)

Keep Holding On

Keep Holding On

Daryl rose from his crouch by the fire and walked over to where Angela had once sat. Her bag was still sitting there along with the blanket he gave her from the car since the night became quite cold with frigid winds blowing ever so often. The one thing he did notice was that her father's gun was missing only meaning that she was armed.

He noticed her footsteps in the dirt by the wall where she stood an walked to the end of the structure, but from there the glow from the fire could no longer provide him with enough light to see the tracks. He grabbed her bag in hopes of finding a flashlight stored among the belongings and was in luck that one was placed towards the top.

Grabbing the light, he shined it on the ground to see which way the brunette wandered. She stayed by the wall and to the shadows before it looked like she headed away from the group entirely. The only place he could have thought she would go is into the woods.

"What's going on?" Ricks voice questioned from behind him. Daryl turned to face the man.

"Angela walked off. I'm gonna follow her tracks and get her ta come back."

"Take someone else with you." Rick said but Daryl shook his head.

"Be better if I went alone, can find her and talk some sense into her." Daryl explained. Rick didn't argue, only gave Daryl a nod.

"Alright, don't be too long. Got an early start tomorrow and don't need you running around the woods all night."

Daryl nodded and after going to grab his crossbow, he followed the trail again.

Angela's tracks led Daryl deep into the forest. He didn't know when she had left or how she managed to leave without anyone noticing, but she made it far. He understood how upset she was with the loss of her sister, but she shouldn't wonder off, all it did was give Daryl an extremely bad feeling.

As he continued to follow her trail, soon he didn't need to look so closely for the tracks. A few walkers met up with her and each on met their ends.

"Damn girl can protect herself at least." He muttered crouching down to look at how the walkers had been killed. A clean slice right into the brain; she had a knife on her for silent kills. The other two weren't killed as clean, the resembled that one she killed in the church that she stabbed more than needed. Still they were dead and her body wasn't among them so there was still hope.

As he left the walker bodies behind him a slight movement by the trunk of a tree caught his eye. He placed the flashlight in his mouth and raised his crossbow. Carefully he moved silently around the tree with his crossbow aimed ready to shoot if necessary.

The sight wasn't something he expected and had hoped to never see. It wasn't a walker of any sorts, it was Angela. Blood was splattered on her clothes, whether it was walker blood or her's, he couldn't tell. She had her eyes shut tightly and clutched her father's gun in her shaking hands tightly, the barrel was pressed against her head.

"The hell are ya doin'?" Daryl shouted after taking the flashlight out of his mouth, making her jump and look up at him.

"What does it look like?" She questioned just loud enough for him to hear. Her voice was void of any emotion.

"Damn it Angel, ya can't do this. Ya can't give up just 'cause ya lost Layla. She wouldn't want ya to."

"It just wasn't Layla, I lost my entire family! My parents, my brother, now Layla. I've lost everything, I don't want to continue living when they're gone." Tears slipped down her cheeks as she spoke.

"Ya haven't lost everything. Ya still got an entire group lookin' after ya, carin'. Haven't they been hurt enough right now? They don't need ta lose another 'cause you wanna kill yourself."

"Opting out."

"What?" Daryl asked at her two words.

"Isn't that what you called suicide a while back when we were searching for Sophia? I'm opting out Daryl, I choosing to leave this world because I want to be with my family again. I'm tired, physically, emotionally. I want to rest peacefully again, not have to have one eye open fearing a walker might come and I can, all I have to do is end it."

"Ya act like there's no one carin' 'bout ya." Daryl said unable to believe the words leaving her lips.

"The group will be better without me, one less mouth to feed, one less person to worry about." She said looking down at her hands.

"The group need ya Angel, yer a damn good shot and yer willing to help out to protect everyone." Daryl said trying to find reasons for her to stay. Angela rose to her feet and walked towards him and away from the tree.

"Ricky's taking complete control of the group, even if I offer to do something it could be completely shot down. I don't want someone controlling my every move and decision. Everyone will be fine without me, they don't need me around." She said turning away from him.

"Yer wrong. They do need ya. I need ya." That stopped her.

"Why? Why do you care so much about me?" She said turning to face him again.

"Ya think I would kiss ya for no reason? I ain't one of those guys who just sleeps 'round or kisses girls for the hell of it. I don't know what it is 'bout ya; maybe it's the fact ya were so damn annoyin' and wouldn't leave me alone, but, dammit, ya managed ta get me to care." Daryl said walking closer to her. Every step he took she stepped back until she was against the tree.

"I get that ya lost everyone close to ya, and it hurts, but never pegged you for a quitter. Never thought you'd give up just 'cause ya got hurt. Yer not the only one who lost family to this shitty world, ya know."

"Daryl-"

"Shut it. I thought this hell would only get worse, then yer sister came and I had to save her, then you came. I ain't good at this relationship, emotions shit, but ya can't opt out 'cause ya can't make someone's hell better just to give up."

Daryl didn't know what to really say anymore as he watched the realization flash in her tear filled eyes. She realized that it wasn't the group he was worried about if she ended it, it was himself. He really did start to care for her and though it bothered him he was determined to keep her alive and safe and try to make their relationship work in the hell they lived in. She realized that maybe she should hold on to life for a little longer. She told Layla that's what she needed to do, now maybe it was time to take her own advice.

When she didn't say anything after a few moments, Daryl dropped his crossbow to the ground, placing his hands on Angela's face and pressing his lips to hers roughly. He didn't know exactly if he really loved her, but knew he wouldn't feel this way with anyone else. So he planned on showing her just how much he cared about her since he didn't know how to put it into words.
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Well this is it! :) Hope you all enjoyed! I will be starting a sequel for this story soon. Thanks so much for all te recommendations, for subscribing, and all the lovely comments. I have enjoyed writing this so much and can't wait to start the sequel. So until then my dear readers.

Also thanks WhoAreYouJudy for commenting on the last chapter. :)