Spitfire

This Georgia heat was getting ridiculous, I felt absolutely disgusting. I always hated having my hair up, but there was just no way I was going to let all my hair down in a heat wave like this. We had probably walked around for a few hours before we came to an abandoned and run down shack. Daryl and I exchanged glances. I kept my bow looped around my body, pulling out a handgun, we started walking towards it. "Glenn? Maggie?" I whispered out, freezing as a bunch of birds cawed their way above me.

Daryl gave me a slight nod the minute we reached the door, I reached over and opened the knob ever so lightly, pushing it open with the tip of my toe. My hand immediately went to my nose, the smell of the dead was something fierce. After the scent made it's course through our noses, we started to head into the house.

The floor boards creaked underneath our feet, it sent unnerving chills down my spine. Swallowing hard, I entered what appeared to be the living room. I started to choke again on the smell, Daryl doing the same thing. I swallowed again, squinting my eyes. It looked like a family of six, all of them laid down and one off in the corner. I glanced towards Daryl who wore my same expression. He killed off his family and then killed himself, it gave me another set of unwanting and unnerving chills.

We explored the rest of the house, finding nothing, we almost walked out before I walked past a door that looked like it led down to the basement. I whistled to get his attention, he gave me a long hard look. "Ya don' know what's down there."

I narrowed my eyes slightly, "We have to check."

He rolled his eyes, grunting, "Whatever."

Opening slightly, I started to walk down the steps, creaking with each step I took. I was almost at the bottom when someone pulled me over the edge, I screamed. Struggling under a pair of hands, my eyes finally adjusted to a pair of brown eyes I knew. "Glenn! Glenn! It's me!"

Glenn let go of me, sighing out of relief, "Oh my god."

I sat up, my heart racing like nobody's business, "Fuck." I swallowed hard, hearing Maggie whimper next to me, I leaned over and grabbed her. Hugging her tightly, "I'm so glad you guys are okay."

Maggie started to sob, "I didn't think we were going to make it. There was so many in one place, we didn't know what to do."

I nodded, keeping my grip the same, "It's okay, it's okay." I pulled away, my hands cupping her face, looking into her fear stained face, "You're okay." I pulled away completely, glancing towards Daryl who leaned against the top of the stairs, looking away, I looked at Glenn, "The house got overrun."

Glenn ran his hand over his face, "Fuck."

Daryl sneered, "Come on, les' go."

I narrowed my eyes as he removed himself from the stairwell, shaking my head, I turned back to Glenn who gave me a puzzled look, "What?"

Glenn cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck, "What happened between you two?"

Maggie wiped away her tears, "Yeah, he was real agitated the other day. Kept snappin' at all of us." She looked at the place where Daryl was just standing, "Doesn't seem like he's better."

I shrugged, looking away from Glenn and made my to the bottom of the stairs, "I'm not his babysitter, how the fuck would I know what his problem is." I snapped. Ignoring their astonished expressions, I didn't care. I was still pretty fucking pissed at him. We all walked out of the house and circled around Daryl who stood leaned up against the tree.

Glenn raised an eyebrow, getting a better look at Daryl's faint black eye, "Dude, what the hell happened?" His eyebrows knitting together as he looked towards me, trying to piece together what had happened.

Daryl growled, "Nothin', jus leave me be."

Maggie quickly placed her hand on Glenn's arm the second Glenn was about to respond, she licked her lips, tugging him in the direction that we should be heading in, "Come on, let's go."

I ran my hand over my face, and stayed behind a little, waiting for Daryl to start walking. Once he did, he pushed past me, giving me the cold shoulder. I deserved it. I quickly caught up to him, "Daryl-"

He snapped, "-Leave me alone."

I gritted my teeth, "Will you just listen?"

Daryl gave an angry chuckle, "Fuck off."

I harshly blew out air through my nose, rolling my eyes, "Fine." I started to march on, but I felt him yank me off in a different direction of where Maggie and Glenn were in. I was pushed roughly against a tree, my head hitting the rough bark, my hand flew to my head, "What the fuck."

His blue eyes were clouded with anger, and for a second, I was scared. His hand reached out and forced my arm down to my side, his hands gripping my arms tightly. He didn't say a word, he just looked into my eyes. My breath caught, thoughts were racing through my brain, what was he going to do, what was he thinking? It wasn't until we heard Maggie and Glenn calling out our names that he let go of my hands. His voice was rough, "Ya ain't off the hook for punchin' me."

I swallowed hard, rubbing on my arm, glancing down, I saw faint red marks. Slightly rolling my eyes at the fact that-that was going to turn into a bruise. I finally caught up with the three of them and ignored Glenn's questioned look. "Drop it, Glenn." I said, walking forward.

It was only an hour or so that passed before we finally made it to the jeep. We quickly and silently took out the few strays that surrounded the car, hopping into the front seat, I reversed and peeled it out of there. We all sat in silence as I drove, there was an eery feeling that haunted me and I could tell everyone else felt it too.

"Where did you say Rick and them were going to meet us?"

I chewed on my lip, "Um." I ignored all of their panicked sighs and murmurs. I kept my eyes on the road and avoided the traffic that was laid out all over the highway. A huge relief washed over me the second I saw the familiar black truck that was sitting idle right where Carol was supposed to be. My breath hitched, Carol. I slammed on my breaks, which resulting in Daryl yelling a string of profanities. Shoving the gear into park, I hopped out, running up to Rick's window, "Where's Carol?!"

Rick chewed his lip, rubbing his forehead, staring straight ahead, "I don't know, been waitin' for awhile. Even went up this road twice now."

I ripped away from the window, yanking at my hair. How could she just leave, they would have been protected if anything were to have happened. There wasn't any sign of walkers in this area, so why did she drive away. She had even said herself that separating was a bad idea. So many emotions swirled in my head, my heart felt like it was going to explode from anxiety. I fell to my knees, my hands covering my face.

"Anabel."

I ignored his call, I felt my shoulders heave and before I knew it. Tears were rushing out of my eyes. We had just rescued Glenn and Maggie and along the way, I had to take out someone of my own. I just couldn't handle this anymore. I was finally at my breaking point. What was left of this world, anyway? We were all going to die, it was going to happen eventually.

I heard the car door opening and immediately after it slamming shut, I heard Rick walking towards me, he knelt down. Placing a firm hand on my back, he lowered his mouth towards my ear, "Anabel, we're gonna find them. We won't stop till we do."

I pulled my face away from my hands, my eyes blurred from the tears that rushed out, "What's the point? We're all going to die anyway. I just can't-I can't do this anymore. I'm not strong enough, just look at me, I'm a -"

Rick cut me off, his eyes narrowing, his voice stern, "A strong person ain't the one who doesn't cry. A strong person is the one who sheds tears for a moment and picks up her sword and fights again." He sighed, rubbing his nose, looking off in the distance, " Obstacles are put in our way to see if what we want is worth fighting for. Now, I think life is something worth fighting for. If there's anything I've learned in this kind of life, it's to fight. Fight for what's right. Fight for what you believe in, what's important to you. But, more importantly, fight for the ones you love." He motioned towards Carl, "I'll never stop fighting because Carl needs me. I'll admit, after Lori, I lost my way but you just have to fight through some bad days to earn the best days of your life. I don't give a damn about this world going to shit, I've grown closer with my son and have earned friendships that I will treasure till the day I die."

By this point, everyone had circled a little ways around me, giving me astonished expressions. I had never acted this way in front of them, not even with the incident with Harry and Luke. My eyes glanced towards every single one of them, falling longer on Daryl, his blue eyes were intoxicating. He took a deep breath, glancing away from me, "We all gon' die, eventually. The goal ain't to live forever but to create somethin' that will."

I chewed my lip, bringing my knees to my chest, shaking my head, "I don't see the point."

Rick looked at me long and hard, his blue eyes scanning over my face, he shook his head, "No. I'm not believing you've given up. It ain't you." He stood up, "I know you, Anabel. You're a fighter and somehow you've lost who you are. I'm not givin' up on you. We're gonna find the rest of them and they're going to be alright."

I shook my head too, resting my chin on my hands, "I don't believe it."