I'm with You

I jumped when someone put their arms around my waist to stop me from swinging. I glanced back to see Daryl glaring at me.

"Ya makin' too much noise." He muttered before letting go of me and walking away.

"The hell I am." I mumbled after he was back on the porch. Rick was no longer outside, so I guess he went inside to sleep.

I awkwardly sat there in the tire, my feet dangling. I was wanting to swing some more, but didn't exactly want to piss him off more than he already was.

Daryl seemed like a guy that was always unhappy. He was the only one in the group who acted like that. I then realized that I had learned a lot from the group in the past few days. Maggie and Glenn were the happy couple, while Lori and Rick were somewhat the dysfunctional couple that had a son caught between it. Separately though, Maggie was the one who would most likely stick up for you and Glenn was pretty laid back. Lori was there for you if you needed someone to talk to, with Rick being the one who was trying to keep everyone together and alive. Carl was the youngest who wished he could do more to help out. Hershel was the father who kept watch of his daughters. Beth was usually quiet, but helped out. T-Dog pretty much minded his own business, but would be there if you needed him.Carol was the one who cared for everyone in the group. I, on the other hand, still felt like an outcast. I did quickly get use to being around them all. Maybe because it was the end of the world and I actually liked the feeling of being around people.

"Can I swing?" Carl asked from behind me, breaking me away from my thoughts about this group.

"Yeah, sure. Just try and not to make much noise or Daryl might come over and yell at ya." I warned Carl before getting out of the swing.

I began walking away before Carl asked if I could push him. I glanced up at the porch to see Daryl not paying any attention to us. Maggie was also on the porch, probably being another lookout. I went ahead and began pushing Carl on the swing. I highly doubt that Daryl would march over to us and yell at a kid for swinging. I was also sure that Rick and Lori wouldn't be to happy about that if he did.

After getting Carl swinging back and forth, but not so he was making a lot of noise, I went and sat against the tree to watch. He seemed thrilled to be swinging. I caught a glimpse of Daryl glaring in our direction, obviously not to happy that I was letting Carl swing. I smirked when he noticed me staring back at him. He glanced away before saying something to Maggie who looked in our direction. She shrugged to whatever Daryl had said, which was most likely about the swinging. That seemed to piss Daryl off more as he sent another glare at me before going inside, probably to tell Rick.

"Carl, you might have to stop swinging." I told him quietly since I didn't want him to get in trouble.

"Why?" he asked innocently.

"Because Daryl most likely went inside to tell your mom and dad that you are swinging. He'll probably say that you are making too much noise and will attract walkers. Daryl wasn't too happy when I was swinging before you came out." I explained to him before realizing that he was now a bit upset. "I just don't want you in trouble."

Daryl strolled back outside before sitting down on the top step of the porch. Maggie told him something and he shrugged. I told Carl to keep swinging, but not to go very high when I knew Daryl wasn't going to say anything.

It was around noon when everyone was awake and outside. I was still sitting against the tree watching around me. Rick had told us that it was fine if we wanted to swing, but to be careful and not to make much noise. Daryl had told him that it was too noisy, but Rick had ignored him. Beth was currently swinging.

"Lizzie."

I turned my attention from the ground to Rick who was motioning me to come over to him. I got off the ground and went over to him.

"Yeah?" I questioned, wondering what he needed me for.

"Follow me." He stated.

I followed him inside and realized that someone was following. Taking a glance back, I saw Daryl's unhappy face. Frowning after realizing what Rick wanted me for, I turned back around. We stopped in the kitchen and I took a seat upon the kitchen counter. Daryl was leaning against the doorway to the kitchen while Rick was standing in the middle of the room with his arms crossed looking at us.

"Either of you wanna explain what the problem is?" Rick questioned before shifting his gaze from me to Daryl.

"Don't have one." Daryl spoke up before I did. Rick wasn't believing a word he said.

"You could tell him to keep his hand off of me," I blurted before staring down at my boots instead of them since they were both staring at me.

Rick let out a sigh of annoyance. "What else is the problem?"

"She's a goddamn bitch." Daryl muttered.

"He's a fucking prick!" I retorted.

I was glaring at Daryl, but out of the corner of my eye I caught Rick running his hand through his hair trying to figure out what to do with us.

"Kick 'er outta the group." Daryl said without looking away from me.

"I'll gladly leave." I told Rick.

"Nobody is leaving the group!" Rick declared. "Liz, tell me what the problem is."

I took a glance over at Rick. "I will if he leaves."

"Nobody is leaving. I -" Rick spoke before I interrupted him.

"I meant the room." I made it clearer. Rick nodded before telling Daryl to leave. He was hesitant at first, but left giving us privacy. "First off, he never apologized for hurting me."

"When?" Rick seemed a bit angry and confused.

"The day when we met everyone else on the highway." I explained.

"Didn't you kick him?" Rick asked. I slowly nodded my head.

"Only because he was already hurting me. I was still sore from my fall. After kicking him he pulled me back tighter which was making the pain worse." I quickly explained. "After that he has been a dick. It's like he blames me for everything bad that happens."

Rick nodded his head before telling me to stay in the kitchen before leaving. He either was going to tell Daryl what I said or get his story on why he hated me.

I began softly kicking the counter with my feet as I swung my feet back and forth waiting for Rick to come back. I knew things had to change between Daryl and I or I would be the one getting kicked out of the group since I was the newbie. I knew I couldn't survive in this world on my own. Jake was no longer here to protect me and this group was all I had. If I did have to leave, I wouldn't be able to trust another group. I knew that bad people were still in this world. This group could be the only good group of people there was.

Once again my thoughts were interrupted when Daryl and Rick came back into the kitchen. I stayed looking down at my feet that were no longer moving.

"Liz," Rick spoke and I glanced up at him. "From what I have seen and heard, you both have some anger issues. You either need to fix it, or ignore each other. I don't wanna kick either of you out." I nodded my head before looking at my feet again.

It was silent for a few moments until footsteps left the kitchen. I glanced up to see Rick was no longer standing in front of me, which meant Daryl was still in the kitchen. Frowning, I began to leave the kitchen to get away from Daryl.

"Liz," Daryl spoke softly before his hand grabbed my wrist to stop me.

"Save it." I told him before jerking my wrist away and leaving the kitchen. I didn't want to know what he had to say, and really didn't care. If he planned on apologizing, it was because Rick told him to, not because he meant it. I rather go on ignoring him than having to deal with him.