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Leave Out All The Rest

Falling

She watched, perched in a tree, her head inclined towards the crunching of brush below her. She slowed her breathing and carefully grabbed for her crossbow, bolt already in position.

A slight smile painted her face as the frightened doe skittered into her vision. She realized something had spooked it, but it had been the first time in awhile that she had seen something so innocent.

She relaxed and slowly lowered her bow as the deer continued through the mass of trees to her left. After a few moments, she heard only the sound of birds singing. She allowed herself a moment of rest, her back against of her hiding tree. Her eyelids fluttered shut as she focused on her ragged breathing, the force of her heart pounding and the weakness of her body.

Her eyelids flew open wildly once she noticed the silence. No birds were seen or heard. Nothing rustled in the trees. Far to her right she could hear it. Slight footfalls. Soon, they became closer, more distinct. She tensed in her perch.

A man slowly crept into her sight. He looked deep in thought at the ground, as if reading it, with annoyance on his face. The annoyance vanished when something in the distance caught his eye. A slight smile painted his lips as he lifted his cross bow. He waited for a second, then, she saw it. The doe was coming back around, and she was headed right towards the man. The deer spotted him, but not before he could send a bolt right into its neck.

The girl could see blood dripping from the animal as it tried to hurry away. It stumbled and collapsed, legs still flying wildly. The man walked over to the animal, watching it. Behind her, even with the commotion the deer was causing, the girl faintly heard a low snarl.

The man didn’t seem to notice the advancing creeper. He was too fixated on the deer and inching closer as it struggled. From her tree, the girl could see the corpse closing the gap. She drew her bow, held her breath for a split second, and let a bolt fly straight into the skull of the walker.

Its body fell with a heavy thud. The sound caused the man to whip around to see the girl a little less then gracefully climb out of her tree.

“You’re a shit hunter, just throwing that out there.” She told him quietly as she walked on weak legs to extract her arrow.

He just stared at the emaciated body before him, unsure of how to respond.

“Hell, if you hadn’t started talkin, I mighta shot you.” He managed a moment later.

She simply rolled her eyes and laughed lightly. She started to make a shaky turn before groaning softly and falling to the ground.

“Oh shit!” The man muttered, rushing to her. He placed two fingers to her neck, locating a weak pulsation of blood. He got down gathering her in his arms. It was almost effortless; she was so tiny.

“Rick! Merle! Someone! Oh shit.” He yelled.

Through the trees, two men emerged. They stared at the girl in his arms.

“Is she..?” The dark haired one asked.

“No, she’s alive, but barely man. We gotta help her.”

“I don’t know…” The man started, and as his friend’s face hardened, he continued, “Fine, we’ll take her back and fix her up.”

“Grab that deer man; I’ll get her to the car.” He yelled as he carried her off into the woods.

Eventually, the other men caught up and they rushed to a prison with high fences and many walkers. The gates opened for the men.

A small crowd was gathered, waiting for their return. The man yelled out to them, “Where’s Hershel?”

“He’s inside with Beth and the baby. Is... Is that a walker?” A man asked.

“Shit, no. She’s, she’s alive. Barely.”

At that, the others helped get the girl inside, laid down in a cell. Hershel looked down at the small frame. “We need to at least get some water in her. Her pulse is dangerously low. I don’t think she’ll make it Daryl…”

“Just try man, she saved my life out there.”

They sat the girl up, and tried to get her to wake up, she didn’t. They opened her mouth gently and poured small amounts of water into her mouth. Eventually, her eyes opened.

“Wha...?”

“Thank god.” Hershel murmured.

“Give us a minute guys?” Daryl asked.

“Sure thing.” Rick said, as the rest of the group backed out of the cell. Daryl’s eyes were trained on the girl.

She glared at him through pale blue eyes. “I didn’t ask you to save me.”

He looked at her in annoyance, “I sure as hell couldn’t leave you there! You woulda died.”

“Yeah, you could have. Did it ever occur to you that…?” She stopped talking, for a split second you could see the fear and pain paint her face, then float away like clouds. Her face hardened again as her eyes met his. “Did it ever occur to you that I wanted to die out there? On my own terms?”

“I didn’t ask you to save me either.” He shot back.

“Oh please! You were clearly hunting for someone other than yourself. You wouldn’t go after a deer if it was just you.”

He scoffed, “You gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“No, I’m fucking not. I read you right. You had people to feed and I wanted one last good deed before I bit it.”

“You’re not dying out there. You’ll turn you know.” He told her quietly.

She sat back and heaved a small sigh, “I know. Trust me, I know. I had it all planned out…”

“What do you mean?”

“By the time I died, my body would barely be able to walk, let alone stand. I would just rot away…”

“You thought about this a lot, haven’t you?” Daryl’s voice was soft.

“Shit happens out there man; I’m sure as hell you know that too.”

“What happened to you?”

“Nothing I care to talk about.”

“Would you at least eat something for me?”

Her big blue eyes locked on his again, “No.”

“Can I at least have your name?”

She looked at him for a few seconds. “Finley. Finley Lancaster.”

“I’m Daryl Dixon. “

“That’s got a nice ring to it.” Finley smiled slightly.

“Thanks sweetheart. How old are you?” Her emaciated frame held little clues as to how old she may be, while the bags around her eyes added unnecessary age.

Her eyebrows pinched together as she tried to recall the information. “I’m- I’m twenty. I’m sorry, my brain isn’t working.”

“You’re not the only one.” He laughed. “You’re also not the youngest here. Do you wanna meet the others?”

“It couldn’t hurt I guess.”

Daryl helped her up, as they walked through the cell door. The group watched as her small frame advanced.

“You already met Hershel.” He started, pointing to an older man with one leg. “And that’s Rick” He pointed to a man with curly brown hair and striking blue eyes. “His boy Carl.” He nodded to a boy, no older than 13. “There’s Maggie and Beth, Hershel’s girls.” They waved at Finley, smiles on their faces. “Then there’s Glenn, Carol and Merle.” He stopped for a second. “Up over there is Lil baby Asskicker... And that’s everyone. Everyone, meet Finley.”

She managed a weak smile and a small hello to the group, suddenly feeling shy. Carol walked over to her, carefully touching her hand.

“Can I get you something to eat?” She asked softly, concerned.

Finley forced a smile and looked from Carol to Daryl. “Y-yes, thank you.”

Daryl gave a little half grin, “You should go lay back down now, alright? You ain’t healthy enough to be standin.”

She nodded and walked on shaky legs back to the bed and waited for the food she didn’t want. She lay on her back and closed her eyes for what she thought was a second, but she was woken up by Beth.

“I got some soup for you.” She said quietly in a honey sweet voice.

“Oh, thank you.” Finley smiled at her.

“You really should eat more than this, but we didn’t want to give you too much.”

“I don’t think I could handle more than this. Thanks sweetheart.”She nodded and let Finley to eat in peace.

Finley choked down her food, trying not to think too much about it, or the past, or present, or miserable future. She wished she had never met Daryl Dixon.

Notes

This is my first attempt writing a fic for TWD, it'll get better, I promise! I would love some feedback. Thanks for reading!

Comments

@JustThea
Thank you so much! (:
ZomBitch ZomBitch
12/1/13
really enjoying it so far. :)
TSWilts TSWilts
12/1/13
@alice_weekes
ahhhh! Thank you! I have a hard time keeping him all gruff and stuff. I dunno. I have a thing for fluffy fics, I think :p
ZomBitch ZomBitch
12/1/13
Awww love it find daryl to cute :-D :-D
Ceeekes Ceeekes
11/30/13
@rusty13
thank you so much :3 I swear it get's better! I just need to get a new laptop so I can actually write and give it some nice details and such :3
ZomBitch ZomBitch
6/13/13