In the Shallows

"No."

I groaned, "You've got to be fucking-" I clamped my mouth shut and closed my eyes, rubbing my forehead, "Daryl, I'm going." I opened them and stared hard into his piercing blue eyes, "I'm not really your responsbility. I'm my own responsbility. I need to do this. I need to prove to myself that I don't always need you."

Daryl grunted, his mood turning sour, "Ya gonna take one step away from me and have a mental breakdown. I ain't lettin' that happen."

I squinted my eyes, taking one last look at him and then marching towards Rick and Shane, "I'm coming."

"What?! Did you not jus' hear me?" Daryl roared.

Shane shifted his stance, giving him a sideways glance, "Come on now. Give the girl a chance."

"You weren't too keen on givin' her a chance before." He snapped.

Shane nodded, rubbing his nose, "Yeah but then I saw what she could do. I ain't saying you let her go off whenever she wants. But for right now? I think circumstances kinda speak for themselves on this one."

I nodded, crossing my arms, "Go, Daryl." I chewed on my lip as he gave me the dirtiest look in the history of dirty looks, "We can't afford to lose anymore people. Sophia's enough and the longer you sit here and argue the less of a chance she'll stay where ever she is." I watched him turn on his heel and walk away from me, the others struggling to keep up. I sighed, that kind of hurt to watch him walk away like that. I turned towards Shane, Rick, and Carl, "Guess that means yes."

Rick nodded, "I guess so. Give me a minute?" We all nodded as we watched him go back into the Church, I only assumed that he went to pray or to talk out his strategies. After a few minutes he had emerged and we started on our way, I couldn't help but wonder what was going through Daryl's head. Was he going to stay mad at me or would he finally understand where I came from. I couldn't make him understand that I needed to be physically away from him, all I ever had was Daryl and Merle by my side. I was solely dependent on them and that was dangerous, especially in this kind of world. I was doubting myself and this was the perfect opportunity to prove that I was capable of doing things with or without him. I just hoped and prayed that he would come to that understanding.

After a short while, we heard leaves rustling, we all headed slowly towards the noise before we came across a buck. It was beautiful. I was stunned at how untouched it was, it didn't know the life behind it's forest walls. We all stood admiring it, our mouths hung open as Carl inched close to it. I was amazed at how calm and peaceful this moment was, it was just so beautiful. It was at the moment that we all suddenly forgot and just admired the moment.

I yelped as a gun shot rang in our ears and another shriek came from my lips as both the deer and Carl came crashing down. My eyes widened as Shane and Rick scrambled to his side, I scanned the woods, trying to tell where the shot came from, my mind and heart racing as I spotted the man who had shot poor sweet Carl. "Shane!" I pointed off in the direction of the man.

Shane raised his rifle, hollering out a string of words I couldn't make sense of. My mind was racing with questions that couldn't be answered. I felt my anxiety skyrocket and for once since my whole separation from Daryl, I didn't have anyone to calm me down. I took in deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. I jumped when Shane placed his hands on my arms, "Alex, you need to run back and find the group. Tell them what happened, tell them that it's about five miles north from where you and I are standing right now. I'm going with Rick and Carl, I gotta. You can do this, can't you?"

I nodded, "Y-yeah."

"Don't you go doing something stupid and get yourself bit. You hear? Daryl will have both our asses no go!"

I started to run, my legs were moving faster than my brain could comprehend. I was absolutely a hundred percent positive that even if I saw a few geeks, they wouldn't have the opportunity to react. I was flying past those trees, not paying attention to my footing probably was the reason why I came crashing down. I felt a throbbing pain slice across my thigh, picking myself up from the ground, I looked down and cursed in my head. A long branch had left a three inch cut across my lower thigh, blood seeping it's way through. I tried to ignore it. I had to.

I felt like I had been running forever, at least half an hour before I reached the highway and it looked like the others had just gotten there too. I collapsed over the railing, gasping for air. My lungs were on fire, "Fuck."

"Alex! What on God's name?" Dale exclaimed as they all started rushing towards me.

I tried to catch my breath, my legs were like jelly, my eyes scanned around and my heart fell when I didn't see a tall blonde haired twelve year old girl. I placed my hands on the railing and tried to stand up, "Did they get Lori?"

Carol raised an eyebrow, her hands gently trying to help me stand, "Yeah, some woman came and got her on a horse."

I groaned, "A horse? That would have beat running this whole way." I swung my leg over and immediately lost my footing. My lungs weren't the only thing on fire, my legs? They were pulsing something fierce. I just laid back on the concrete, my hands covering my face as I tried yet once again to breath.

"Oh my god, your leg." Glenn bent down and looked at the gash that was still profusely bleeding, he dug around in his beg and pulled out a cloth and handed it to me. I sat up and applied pressure, wincing every so often. His voice was low, "Daryl's going to flip out....he wasn't exactly happy about you going off and then we heard Carl got shot and he about lost his lid."

I groaned again, blowing upwards. I took my hand off my wound and tossed my honey colored hair into a messy bun. I hated how it stuck to the back of my neck, I motioned out for Glenn to help me up. I limped over towards Daryl who had gone a little ways away from everyone and still didn't know I was back, I softly called out, "Daryl?"

His head snapped up so fast, I thought I could hear it crack. His blue eyes were clouded with anger, his mouth twitched, "When the hell you get back?"

I swallowed hard, "Carl got shot-"

"-Yeah, I know." He started walking towards me, his voice laced with venom, "Ya jus' had to go. Jus' had to prove somethin'. Well guess what, Lex. It ain't prove anythin'. Carl got shot and your limping with a fuckin' cut on your leg."

I took a step back, my eyes narrowing, "It wasn't my fault that Carl got shot. I didn't put a bullet through his chest. This would have happened regardless." I felt my eyes water slightly, but I wasn't going to give in to it. I knew that Daryl was going to give me hell but I hated that I didn't brace myself, "I can't always depend on you, Daryl. There's going to come a time where I need to do things for myself. I need to think for myself and do things for myself. I get it, it's been you, Merle, and I for a long time. But that was back then and this is now and I need to act like the twenty seven year old woman I am."

Daryl scoffed, "What happened to ya, Lex? Bein' with these people makin' you realize your too good for me now? Is that it? Now that they lookin' at ya with respect, you wanna leave? Well go right ahead, I ain't gon' stop you no more." He started to get angry, "Don't come cryin' to me when you have those fuckin' episodes. 'Cause I ain't gonna be there. I'm done. You wanna make all the decisions for yourself, then go right ahead."

I gritted my teeth, it stung to know he felt that way. I marched up right towards him, pulled him behind the RV and pressed him up against it. My lips crashing on his, it was instinctive and it felt so right but I knew it was the wrong moment. I pulled away, his face laced with confusion, "Don't ever think I'm too good for you." I groaned in frustration, pointing a finger at him, "It's not that I don't want you to care, Daryl. I've been sheltered by you for a long time. I just want the ability to be able to do things without your permission." I turned away from him, "You do things that drive me up wall scared. But, I let you do them because I trust you. I trust that whatever dangerous and crazy stunt you do, you'll always come back to me."

I heard Daryl clear his throat, I knew he was confused but who wasn't. "Fine, Lex. Do what ya want. I get it."

I turned back around, my eyes locking onto his, "You promise?"

He shook his head, kicking off the RV, he started making his way back towards the group that huddled over by the railing, too immersed in each other to realize us. "I ain't makin' promises. Promise is a big word and it means a lot to ya. I can't make it and then end up breakin' it 'cause then you really won't talk to me." He gave me a sincere look and then held out his hand to help me walk towards them. I gladly took it, because for once in Daryl's life, he finally sort of understood a different person's view, although, I knew better to think that Daryl was just going to let me do whatever I wanted. He was one stubborn son of a bitch.