I Follow You, Deep Sea, Baby

2.
Daryl slid the barred door open, entered and immediately closed it back. He paused and took a deep breath. He made it, finally. He lost quite some time by taking, what he thought it would be a shortcut. Some tracker he was, he scoffed. Then again, this already proved not to be his best day. He should be grateful the lock on that door was weak enough to give way with just one kick. Otherwise, he’d have to go all the way back and waste even more time.
She stayed true to her word. He did find two dead walkers, each with one neat stab in their skulls, in the corridor below. She made it to the exit, but after that there were at least three directions she could have taken towards the upper floors. Didn’t matter, all he needed to do was to get to the others before she did.
He lost what, 15, 20 minutes chasing that stupid shortcut? Now it was all about where she went and how fast. How fast can a blind chick be anyway? The thought should have comforted him somehow, but it didn’t.
The block he entered was quiet. It looked like everyone was out, doing their usual stuff. Unless…
Somebody was approaching him from behind. He turned quickly, lifting his bow up and aimed.
“Geez, Daryl!”
It was only Beth, with the baby. “Damn it, what are you doin sneaking up on me like that?”
“Wasn’t sneaking,” She came closer and smiled at him.
She smiled at him a lot lately, for no particular reason. He felt awkward about it.
Her deer-like eyes fixed on his. “You look….a bit off. Is something wrong? ”
He shook his head. “No, nothin’s wrong. Where’s Rick?”
“He was just looking for you. They caught some intruder.”
“What? When?” Shit! He was too late.
“I’m not sure, I wasn’t-“
“Is everyone okay?”
“As far as I know, yes. They told me to stay here because of Judith. But….Daryl... Daryl… wait, where are you going?”
He stormed out of the block. Since Lori’s death, Rick was not quite himself, especially when it came to outsiders. He certainly couldn’t blame him for that. Shit, he should have got back earlier.
He was about to enter the part of the prison, where they usually detained intruders, when Rick, Maggie and Glenn came out of it. They seemed in a hurry.
“I was looking for you, Daryl.” Rick placed his hand on his shoulder and pushed him along with him. “There’s been a breach. Come!”
Fuck. He could hardly ask the questions now.
Glenn and Maggie went ahead to check the other side of the courtyard. He stayed behind with Rick. He didn’t see any fresh blood on him.
“Heey, you checking me out?” Rick frowned.
“Yeah right, you wish.”
Rick shook his head and chuckled. They ran to the next building and hid behind the corner.
“Beth told me we have a guest?” he asked, as casually as possible.
Rick peered around the corner, gripped the rifle and tilted his head a little. “Yeap…” Biting his lower lip he took the aim. “We dealt with it…”
Daryl leaned with his back against the wall, the bow suddenly felt very heavy in his hands. For Rick, dealing with meant lately only one thing.
“Daryl…hey,Daryl,” whispered Rick and gave him a nudge. When he got his attention, he jerked his head toward the corner.
They changed positions and he took a look too. More than five less than ten, coming their way. He stepped out of the corner and started shooting. He heard Rick shouting something behind him but the meaning of his words never reached him. His arrows took out four of them before he got close enough to use his knife on the remaining five. It was all over in the next two minutes.
He began to retrieve his arrows from the decaying corpses. Rick joined him, checked through walkers first, then looked at him. “Something you want to tell me?”
The arrow just snapped in his hands as he tried to pull it out. “Nothin to tell you, man. “
“You could have waited.”
“I could,” he muttered. So could you.
He regretted his attitude immediately. He’d be crazy to resent Rick over a stranger. Rick was his bro. He squinted up at him and smiled. “Felt good, though.”
Rick grinned and gave him a tap on the shoulder.
“All clear over there…” Maggie came running, with Glenn right behind her. “I see you boys had some fun.”
“Well, Daryl did,” remarked Rick.
“Oh, poor Daryl, I guess all these days of peace snuck up on you, didn’t they?” joked Maggie.
He shrugged and took a cigarette from his pocket.
“So,” Maggie turned to Rick. “What do we do about our intruder?”
Hi froze with the lighter in his hand. The cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth almost fell as his lips slightly parted.
Keep it together, dammit. He closed his lips tight, clicked the lighter a few more times, till it produced a flame, and lit the cigarette. He took a long drag and glanced sideways at Rick. “Thought you took care of that.”
“We did. She’s tied up, locked in the cell…ready for questioning. Wait till you see her, she’s somethin else that one.”