I'm with You

Daryl stayed silent as he stared at the ground. I was beginning to regret asking him, it was obvious to what his answer would be. Daryl didn't like me, never did. So why would he want me in the group? To him I was just some helpless girl that the group was now stuck with, especially since he killed my boyfriend. I quickly pushed that thought aside, not wanting to get angry or upset.

Daryl got up and began walking away from me. Just what I thought. His answer was exactly what I knew it would be. He didn't care at all.

"Told ya I already knew the answer." I muttered just loud enough for him to hear.

"What?" He turned around to look at me. I knew he had heard what I said.

"You made the answer pretty obvious." I spoke calmly, not wanting to start an argument with Daryl and waking everyone up.

"Didn't even say anythin'!" Daryl exclaimed, raising his voice just above a whisper.

"Exactly." I frowned, hoping this conversation wasn't getting ready to lead to an argument.

Daryl got closer to me and leaned down so our faces were inches apart. His eyes were staring directly into mine, it was like he was trying to see inside of my head.

"Ya think I don't care 'bout ya? I keep savin' yer ass. Could'a let ya die, but ain't gonna let ya. Ya apart of the group now." Daryl growled. It surprised me with what he said. It also scared me at the same time with the way he said it. "Ya couldn't make it alone anyway." With that being said, he walked off leaving me sitting there shocked.

Had Daryl really just admitted to caring for me? Did he really care that I was apart of the group? Was it all just a show to make me think he did? It didn't seem like him at all. He left me confused and with even more questions now. Questions that I wasn't even sure I would want the answers to.

I laid back down on the wooden bench and brought my blankets over me. The cool crisp air made me shiver. Even though we were inside the church, it was still cold. I curled up into a ball as much as I could before closing my eyes.

I began to replay Daryl's words over and over in my head. It made me wonder how many times he had saved me. There was when I wanted to go find Jake, except he wasn't exactly saving me, just stopping me from doing something stupid. At the gas station when I froze, he managed to get me to move. Then at the motel he came back just in time before walkers got me. He came upstairs to tell me that we had to leave, but then again he left me back at the house, that wasn't exactly saving me. He did save me from the guy in the garage. That I was thankful for. He then saved me yesterday, but I could have saved myself. Him saving me wasn't exactly something a hero did in a movie, it was more the opposite. It seemed that Daryl would get me into a situation just to get to me in time. I seemed to be hurt more because of him. Most of those times it was his fault; the walkers at the motel, not getting me after I hurt my ankle, and then leaving me at the apartment. If it wasn't for him, none of those events after would have happened. He even knew yesterday that I was handling the guy myself, he just wanted to play hero. I began to wonder if it was all a game to him and that I was the player in the game.

I was growing more frustrated as I thought everything over. What I needed to do was sleep. I pulled the blankets over my face before thinking of happier times, times before the zombie apocalypse.

I got up when everyone else did the next morning. I didn't sleep the best since the words Daryl had said were still replaying in my head. I also could never get comfortable on the damn bench. Every time I would move, the blanket would slip off of my somewhere, letting the cool air touch my skin.

"Sleep alright?" Carol asked as I joined the group outside to get some food.

"Not really, but how can you sleep good in this shitty world?" I mumbled before taking a bowl of soup from Lori and thanking her.

I followed Carol over to the steps of the church and sat down. I began eating my soup as I watched Lori and Beth warm up another pan of soup over the small fire. We had the fire outside since everyone agreed that it seemed a bit disrespectful to start a small bonfire in the church. It was also safer than inside. We didn't want to catch the church on fire.

I let my eyes wander around the area to see where everyone was. Rick, T-Dog, Daryl, and Glenn were all standing by one of the cars looking over the map. Maggie, Hershel, and Beth were sitting near the fire talking to each other. Lori was now eating soup that she had warmed up. Carl was walking around kicking rocks. Carol was still next to me eating.

"We plan on leaving here?" I asked her, since Rick was looking at the map.

"Probably so. Rick wants somewhere safe for us to stay, mostly for Lori." Carol explained. I understood when she said it was mostly for Lori. He wanted her to have a baby where it was almost always safe and we wouldn't have to move around a lot.

"I want a place that's warm. Think we can find that?" I asked her, trying to keep the conversation going.

She smiled. "As long as it doesn't have to use electric heating."

I let out a long sigh. "Probably nowhere has the gas for heating. I wish I was a bird. Then all I have to do is fly south for winter." Carol began laughing and I smirked. "What? Am I really that funny?" It was the first time Carol actually laughed like she was truly happy. It made me proud that I was the one who made her laugh.

"It's nothing. I just pictured you as a bird flying south. Had a funny image of it." She smiled and I smiled back.

"What's so funny?" Glenn asked as he and Maggie joined us.

"Nothing." Carol and I said in unison before looking at each other and grinning.

I knew they wanted to know, but they didn't say anything else about it. Glenn told us that we would be leaving once everyone finished breakfast.

"Guess we're on the move again." Carol let out a small sigh.

"Hopefully, we can go farther south." I told her before taking her bowl and going towards Lori.