Starting Over...

"Kayla?!....Kayla!!"

Daryl's voice echoed into my eardrums as I stirred back into conciousness. I had only been out for a few minutes, but it felt like it had been hours. A sharp pain pounded in my head as my eyes slowly creaked open.

I was laying on my back, sprawled out against something cool and damp. The smell of wet dirt surrounded me.

My vision was blurry, and my eyes stung as particles of dust fell into them. I could see the fuzzy image of the sunlight peeking through the trees above me, but they seemed much farther away than usual.

I groaned softly as my head throbbed again... Daryl's voice kept echoeing in my ears, sounding like it was getting closer.

"Kayla!!" He shouted.

Suddenly, the silhouette of his upper body appeared above me where the trees were. He, too, appeared to be way too far away.

"Daryl...?" My voice choked out, sounding weak and strained.

"You okay?!" He called to me, his voice sounding urgent, "Anything broken?"

I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion, still feeling dazed, as I tried to blink my vision clear again. I suddenly remembered running from the creek, the dirt giving way under me, and then my head knocking against something hard, like a rock.

"What happened...?" I managed to croak out a little louder.

"You fell into some kinda revine," Daryl shouted back to me. "Dammit, I told you to watch yerself, girl!" His voice suddenly became sharp and snappy.

As he spoke I started to regain my senses. Despite the piercing pain radiating through my skull, I gritted my teeth and forced myself to sit up.

Daryl was right, I was in some sort of revine, carved out of stone and packed dirt in the forrest floor. There was a shallow pool of clear rain water gathered a few feet to my left, and a large cluster of boulders just next to it.

Looking up, I could see the broken part of the dirt I'd fallen through. I had pretty much ran right over the edge, which was just inches past the treeline, falling a good ten or fifteen feet to the damp, packed dirt below.

"Hey, answer my question," Daryl demanded from above me, "Anything broken? You bit anywhere?"

I knew I hadn't been bitten, but I gently wiggled each of my limbs to make sure nothing felt painful or out of place. I had a few cuts and bruises, but amazingly nothing too serious.

"No, I'm fine..." I yelled up to Daryl, looking up into his now more visible physical features, "My head hurts, that's it."

"Ya got lucky." Daryl sighed gruffly, and I could see him searching the area with his eyes, "Just stay there, alright? I'm gonna figure a way down'ere."

With that, he disappeared. I could hear the tromping steps of Daryl's work boots trail away, leaving me in the quiet, minus the buzzing locusts.

Reaching up to my forehead, I winced as my fingers grazed a raw, tender scrape. It was definately the source of my headache, the spot where I'd knocked into the rock.

I sighed, lowering my hand and staring at my surroundings more in depth, now that I wasn't as dazed. There was the water and the cluster of boulders, leading up to an entire wall of steep, jagged, slippery looking rocks that stacked up to another wooded area on much higher ground.

To my left and right, the revine stretched seemingly for miles, at least as far as my eyes could see. It was as if the forrest floor had just given way and split in half.

The entire area was damp and clammy feeling, tinged in depressing tones of grey and brown. I sighed, standing up and hobbling over to the collected rain water. I knealt at the large puddle's edge, cupping my hands and scooping up the cool liquid.

It felt cool and refreshing as it trickled against the skin of my arms and legs, washing away the dried up mud, sweat and blood.

A sigh of relief slipped from my lips, when suddenly a chill ran up my spine... I felt as if I were being watched. I quickly stood up, but before I could turn around I heard a raspy, swampy voice speaking to me in a familier southern drawl.

"Hey there, sugar."

I whirled around, seeing a man about 30 feet away from me, emerging from a deep cravas in the cluster of boulders.

He was an older man, maybe in his late forties, with short graying hair. I could see the age lines in his cheeks and forehead as he smirked devilishly at me. He was in pretty good shape for his age, and as I trailed my eyes down to his arm, I noticed a razor sharp machete rigged up where his right hand used to be...

Instantly, I reached for my knife... but my heart sank as my fingers only grazed an empty sheath. I must have dropped the knife somewhere in the creek, or during my fall.

As the man took a step closer, my hand snapped up to my left pistol, drawing it and pointing it straight at him. My pointer finger wrapped itself around the trigger, ready to pull if this situation got too risky.

I heard the man chuckle, and as he took another step closer to me, I could see the michievious glint in his crinkly, crystal blue eyes that just looked so familier to me.

"Dontcha think you outta put that thing down b'fore ya hurt yerself?" He asked me, mocking my pistol, "That's a big boy toy you got there."

"Stay back." I warned firmly, narrowing my eyes at the man, "I'm not afraid to shoot you."

He didn't seem phased, though. He just kept grinning at me in that same way, slowly strolling closer.

"Easy, princess." He continued to taunt me.

"I said stay back!" I snapped again, pointing my gun right between his eyes.

He looked like he was about to say something else, but a heavy pair of footsteps thundering up from behind me drew his attention away. He seemed to stare blankly at something over my shoulder, looking right past me.

Keeping my gun pointed forward, I turned and looked behind me, and felt a wave of relief as my eyes landed on Daryl. His crossbow was raised and ready to shoot, an intense, angry fire burning in his eyes.

But, slowly, a look of pure astonishment livened up his usually expressionless face. He lowered his weapon slightly, narrowing his frosty blue eyes.

When he spoke, his voice was low and husky, just above a whisper.

"...Merle...?"

-DARYL POV-

I should'a known this was gonna happen. Here I was, tryin' to do somethin' nice fer this girl, an' she goes an' does exactly what I warn 'er not to... Gets herself into trouble.

I mean, a revine? An' it was quite a drop, too. Kayla was lucky she didn't have a broken neck or some busted ribs. We had dead people walkin' around all over the place wantin' a piece've us, an' it was mother nature that was gettin' the best'a her... Unbelievable.

"Damn, how far does this thing go?" I growled to myself as I tromped down the ledge'a the treeline.

I kept my eyes peeled for a slope that wasn't so steep that I could slide my way down, stayin' alert an' on the watch for walkers at the same time.

Finally, I found a sturdy spot in the dirt where I could scale my way down. It was a little steeper than I'd wanted, but it was the best I could do... Couldn't afford ta go down much farther.

"Here goes nothin'." I muttered to myself, takin' the first step off the path.

As the weight of my boot pressed down into the dirt, it started to give way a little. Pieces'a rock an' soil tumbled down to the bottom'a the revine, bouncin' off tree roots an boulders that were juttin' from the side'a the slope.

I steadied my feet, knowin' this was gonna be a little harder than I thought... The dirt just crumbled away like it was nothin'. But it was my only way down to that damn girl.

I cursed under my breath at my idea to bring her out here as I took a step downward, imediately startin' to slip n' slide. I caught myself on a big rock, bracin' my left boot against it an' wobblin' to catch my balance.

Then again, neither of us saw that ambush comin'. But she could'a at least looked where she was runnin', for God's sake

I took another unsteady step, surfin' downward ontop'a the dirt. I kept my momentum goin', gettin' closer to the solid ground. But suddenly somethin' snagged my left boot, throwin' me forward. My ears rang as I smacked face first into the dirt, spittin' a good mouthful of it back out.

"Son of a bitch..." I growled through gritted teeth, glancin' back to see what had me held up.

Nothin' but a tree root. Must'a caught it the wrong way comin' down the slope. I kicked my foot, tryin' to snap the root an' free myself, but it was tough... as if it was made'a leather.

"God dammit..." I cursed again, whippin' my huntin' knife from its sheath on my belt.

A groan rumbled from my throat as I pulled myself up into a sittin' position. My abs burned an' trembled as I used my knife to saw at the root, snappin' the fibers one by one.

Beads'a sweat formed on my forehead an' my muscles strained while I worked at it. I almost had it cut... When suddenly, Kayla's voice in the distance caught my attention.

"I said stay back!"

She sounded distressed, and was obviously dealin' with a person... There was no sense in threatenin' a walker, they didn't care what ya had to say, and they didn't understand it, neither.

I yanked my knife upward, quickly snappin' the last chord that was wrapped around my boot. My body plumeted downward about six feet, and then hit the ground with a loud *thud*.

Ignorin' my caved in lungs, gaspin' for the air that had been knocked out've 'em, I staggered to my feet. My bow was already loaded, an' I traded it for my knife. The exchange was quick an' smooth, somethin' I had to learn to do in order to survive this shit.

My boots pounded the damp, packed in dirt as I ran to where Kayla's voice had echoed from. I rounded a bend, finally catchin' sight of 'er.

My path led me up behind 'er, and I could see she had 'er gun drawn and aimed at someone, ready to fire.

But when I got closer an' I saw just who she was pointin' that pistol at, my mind drew a complete blank. I had been ready to kill whoever it was, I would'a already had blown an arrow through their skull... If it hadnt'a been my brother.

His face seemed to match how I felt... Confused, maybe even a little amazed. He stared at me straight over Kayla's shoulder. When she turned to look at me, she seemed like she was relieved. Her muscles relaxed just a little bit.

I felt mine relax, too, and my bow lowered just a hair. I felt my eyes narrow, and my voice was low and raspy... hardly even sounded like me when I spoke.

"...Merle...?"

-TO BE CONTINUED-