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My Only Hope - Daryl Dixon

Found

My vision was blurred and my head was spinning as I stumbled around the dense, dark and damp forest.
“Shit” I cursed as I tripped over a tree root which was barely visible with my blurred vision.
My palm met my forehead as I grew more and more distressed, I could feel the thick, sticky blood slowly oozing from the cut, but with everything else to worry about, such as, where I was and how I was going to find somewhere away from the walkers, I decided to ignore it.

After a long trek up hills and down hills and dodging in and out of trees, stopping every few minutes to adjust my bag, I found myself in a huge clearing, but now my head hurt more than ever. I felt myself swaying and I knew my luck had run out when I saw a figure emerge from the bushes and walk slowly in my direction; unfortunately, there was nothing I could do, and I knew that it was the end.
And that’s when I collapsed.


My head was pounding when I woke up. It slowly clicked that I wasn’t dead, somehow, I had survived, and somehow, I was inside a large vehicle.
“Oh good, you’re awake” A low but soft voice to my left said.
I sat up with confusion and the older male to the side of my makeshift bed smiled.
“You must be wondering where you are, right?” He asked knowingly.
I nodded which just increased the pain I was experiencing all through my head.
“Well, our group lives up here semi-permanently, these mountains seem to be safe from the walkers. For now anyway” He explained kindly.
I nodded slowly.
“How many of you?” I asked, realizing that a lot of people may not be great for me.
“Fifteen”
“That’s a pretty big group you've got” I commented.
The man nodded in agreement.
“I’m Dale, so you know” He added.
“I’m Allison, but, Allie if you want” I told him.
“Right, Allie. Are you feeling okay?” He asked with concern.
“My head hurts a little, but I’m sure I’ll be fine” I said honestly.
“Well in that case, I’ll get you introduced to the group, follow me, but take it easy” He reminded.

He helped me up from the bed and then helped me again down the step onto the ground before we wandered over to a small circle of logs and lawn chairs where a few people were seated.

“Well, first we have Carol, Ed and Sophia” He began “this is Allie, the girl Daryl found” He directed the introduction to them.
“Hi” Sophia, a young girl, probably, eleven or twelve, smiled with a small wave.
“Hello, I’m glad you’re okay” Carol said, smiling also. Carol was a petite woman, very pretty. Her eyes were soft and I could tell she had a kind heart.
“I’m fine, thank you for the concern. Nice to meet you all” I said politely.
There was something about Ed’s silence, and something about the way Carol looked almost…uncomfortable sitting beside him (even though he was her husband), that made me want to dislike him, but I was trying not to jump to conclusions.

We didn't stay long before Dale took me to meet some more of the group.

“Next I’ll introduce you to Rick, Lori and Carl. Rick kind of….keeps things under control” Dale explained.
“Alright” I followed him over to another family of three, standing over the bonnet of a car with a map spread out on it.

“Rick, this is Allie. You know, the girl Daryl found”
“Oh, yeah. Allie, nice to meet you. I’m Rick, this is my wife Lori and our son Carl”
Carl smiled, Lori waved and Rick held out a hand which I shook politely.

“I’m sure if we go over some things, you could stay with us, as long as you’re prepared to follow some ground rules and what not…” Rick offered.
“Oh no, don’t worry about that, you've done enough already, I wouldn't want to be a burden” I declined.
“It’s no trouble, besides, from the looks of things, you don’t have a group do you?” He asked knowingly.
I shook my head.
“Right then. We’ll discuss it later” He smiled.
I sighed in defeat and Dale took me to meet Amy, Andrea and Shane, followed by Glenn, Jacqui, Jim and T-Dog and then finally, Daryl.

“You’re okay then?” Daryl asked as I approached.
“I am….thanks to you and Dale” I said.
He mumbled a reply which I didn't quite catch.
“But really, thank you Daryl. I’ll bet anyone else would have left me for dead or, for the dead” I said.
“Yeah, whatever don’t mention it” He grumbled.
I stood awkwardly, Dale not even a meter away to my right.

“Right err, let’s get you back to the RV, make you comfortable until we can find you a place to sleep” Dale said, also feeling the awkwardness.
“Thanks”
“Sure do thank people a lot” Daryl commented as we walked away.
“It’s called being polite” I called back.
His head shot up and he smirked a little at my remark before returning to his arrow cleaning.

“Okay, well, the only vehicle that has a space is Daryl’s bike…so I’ll check with him if it’s okay for you to go with him when we move…” Rick began.
“Sleeping….well, we've not even got enough room for Daryl, he sleeps on the floor inside the RV…so I guess that’s gonna be a place for you unfortunately…we’re probably not here permanently anyway, so it might not be too long, depending on whether we get any walkers, so far, we've been lucky” Rick finished.
“Um, yeah I guess that’s fine….I mean if Daryl’s okay with it…” I replied not wanting to complain.
“I’ll go talk to him now, well, see you later” With that, he left.

I slumped back into my seat with a sigh. A while later I heard Dale enter, he looked over at me with a smile and asked if I would accompany him on lookout instead of moping around with boredom.
Obviously, I agreed as it was only polite.

Upon climbing the metal ladder located on the back end of the RV, I could see Rick talking to Daryl, probably about me moving with him and sleeping near him, Carol and Lori were making their way to wash the clothes, whilst Shane cleaned his gun.
Andrea, Amy, Jacqui and T-Dog were all sitting by the ‘campfire’ with Sophia and Carl.

“You’re not joining them then?” I asked Dale.
“Nope. I've gotta stay up here and watch for herds or small groups” Dale said.
I nodded.
“You’re not joining them then?” He copied.
“Nope. I've gotta stay up here and watch you watch for herds or small groups” I smiled.
He nodded with a smile.
We both laughed and he raised the binoculars back up to his eyes. I could tell Dale and I were going to get along.

Night fell quickly and the mountain area became dark, probably the most dangerous time of the ‘Apocalypse’.
“Right. Put your sleeping bag there” Daryl ordered after shifting his up the thin space.
“But that’s where you were sleeping” I began.
“Don’t care. You’re sleeping there now” He said simply, dropping his sleeping bag not even a meter away from mine.
“Oh…right…thanks I guess”
“Again with the thank you’s. I ain't even done anything worth thanking” Daryl sighed.
“Sure you have, you brought be back here instead of leaving me for the freaks, you’re letting me travel with you on the bike if we need to move, and now you've given me your spot. There’s a lot to thank you for” I told him with a quiet voice as Dale and Carol were asleep.
He just continued to look at me blankly before he sat on top of his sleeping bag, placing his cross bow beside him.
“Just shut up and sleep”
“Right, sorry” I stuttered, copying his actions, minus the bit about the cross bow.

It took a while of shuffling to get comfortable on the hard floor beneath the thin layer of material.
“For god’s sake woman!” Daryl moaned.
“Sorry….I’m comfortable now….”
“Good” He turned over and I did the same before eventually falling asleep.

A week passed before our camp saw signs of Walkers. Daryl and I were out in the forest hunting when we saw one. Daryl killed it quickly and after another hour of hunting, we reported the sighting back to the group.

“Alright, well, everyone needs to be more careful now. Dale, continue your watches, Daryl, Allie, make sure you stay alert when you hunt, kill whatever walker you see, any dead humans or even seemingly dead walkers, make sure they are one hundred per cent dead. If any of you go off somewhere, you don’t go alone. Carl and Sophia stay within shouting distant of us, and stay together, tell someone you’re going first, got it?” Rick told us all as we gathered around our small fire.
Everyone nodded and made their way back to what they had dropped before the ‘meeting’ was held.

Daryl had softened up a little more around me, he was still an ass to everyone else, but he was slightly less of an ass around me which made me happy. After all, he was the one who cared enough to save me.
Dale and I were close also, along with Glenn and I. I’d spend an hour or more of each day with Dale on lookout and when Glenn had to make a run to a town, I’d go too.
Carol, Lori and I were also good friends. When I wanted to get away from the guys, I’d go to them for some advice, or I’d help them cook or clean clothes.

The feeling of acceptance, even if it wasn't from each person in the group, was a nice feeling. One I was glad to have.

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Word count: 1657

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