"He is getting lazy" Rick scoffed, eyes lingering on the man sleeping well past what they at least thought was two PM.
"Come on, Rick," Andrea said, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "we have more than enough man power right now, let him rest. Besides, he has been through a lot"
Rick sighed, "we all have Andrea. He has been sleeping past lunch for weeks now"
"Then you know. You know that resting for weeks would be well needed" she said, smiling at him.
He smiles back, "I can't argue there..."
He gets up from his sitting position at the stairs on the house him and Carl were staying at and sighes heavily.
"Keep an eye on him" he says, and walks away after Andrea nods.
She looks up at the tiny cabin Daryl once chose as a home about two months ago. She never understood why he chose it. In the area the wall was built around there were plenty of good homes, even small ones if prefered, especially when the wall first came up. Yet he chose some kind of storage cabin.
She gets up on her feet and makes her way over to the cabin. She reaches the door and hesitates, wondering if she should let him rest.
Still, she lets herself in and sees him laying very much asleep on a bed that may or may not have been built out of hay.
She wonders how to go about this.
Inching her way forward, she outstretched one hand and gently shook Daryl awake.
He turns towards her, eyes still closed.
"Andrea?" he asks with a raspy voice.
"Yes," she chuckles lightly, "you didn't even look at me how did you know it was me?"
"Nevermind that" he says and sits up in the bed. "Is something wrong?"
She smiles at him from a standing position "why do people always assume that when they see me?"
"I assume that with every breath these days, don't you?" he asks, still half awake.
"I guess so" she takes a chair from a desk nearby and sits in it.
"Why are you here?" he puts his feet on the floor.
Her eyes look worried, "are you alright Daryl?"
"No," he says bluntly, "but is anyone these days?"
She nods in agreement but doesn't look convinced or at all satisfied with his answer. He looks at her. Emerald eyes glistening in the soft sunlight. They hid so much. Her face was weary and tired. People breaking down in the zombie apocalypse was not new, so Daryl doing it came as no news.
But she didn't want it to be him. It was selfish, she knew that. But he was important to them. To her.
"I'm alright, Andrea" he says reassuringly.
She fakes a smile, "okay, well, when you're done bullshitting me you can come talk to me, okay?"
He laughs as she takes her leave.
She walks up to Rick standing at the front gate.
"He'll come" she says with a heavy sigh.
"He said he will?" Rick says with a surprised tone.
"No but I know he will"
"And?" he asks looking out in front of the gate.
"I don't know whats up with him. I think he'll pull through though, he always has" she says, deep in thought.
Rick smiles, "alright then..."
She looks up at him, "what are you smiling about?"
Rick nods to her side, where Daryl stood, armed and ready to go. Andrea began to smile too. Daryl nodded towards her, it was his way of showing affection. Like when a cat would sleep in your general area, not too close to lose its pride.
"Listen up people" Rick shouts, "we will do a scout of our recently located mall near the outskirts of town - we will split into groups for speed and to cover more area."
"Daryl, me and Abraham are going to the shops for waterfilter, this find would improve our stay here immensly - Andrea, Holly and Heath - you take the pharmacy-"
"Rick" Daryl interrupts.
Rick is silenced, he looks down at the man that lives two feet away eyt he has not seen for a week.
"Yes?"
"I'd rather go to the pharmacy, I'll do more good." he says not making eyecontact with anyone.
Rick looks at Andrea, then back to Daryl.
"Alright then"
The pharmacy was large and stocked.
"The dates are out..." he mumbles.
"Are they poisonous?" Holly asks.
"I don't think so. I think they just lose their effect" Andrea says, kneeling next to Daryl to read the packs.
He notices that she smells good. He wonders if she snatched a perfume or something from one of their trips.
"What will do when this all goes out... when there's no more to scavange?" Holly asks looking around.
"We will make new ones" Andrea answers, packing a bag full of out of date cortison.
"Do you know how to make aspirin?" Holly scoffs.
"No," Andrea rises, "but someone does" she says and leaves rather irritated.
Daryl hates seeing her that way. Having to pick up peoples hopes when her own are dead and burried.
"It was your touch" he calls out to her.
She stops in her tracks and looks back at him, "what?"
"This mornin'... you asked how I knew it was you without looking at you. It was your touch. You... have... a gentle touch and shit..." his words faded in a muffled noises.
He doesn't look at her, but he notices her approaching him in the corner of his eye. She kisses his cheek and turns back around and leaves.
They are forced to camp out since the outskirts are too far off to head back the same day.
"Why do you sleep so much?" Andrea asks, Holly is sound asleep next to her.
"I don't know" he says.
"You do. But you wont tell me" she says.
Her words echo in his head.
"My life wasn't great, before all this I mean" he says running his fingers through his hair.
"When all hell broke loose I had one person to look out for and that was Merle. I didn't have no friends. He was it. He was enough"
Andrea listens quietly.
"Losin' him wasn't just losin' the only person I had left - it was losin' the only person I ever had." he feels her hand on top of his, squeezing it tightly.
"So I sleep" he says forcing back the tears, "it keeps the days shorter - along with the pain"
Andrea plays with his fingers.
"I still expect Amy to be there." she looks at his and her hand intertwined. "Its so strange, whenever I make coffe I always have to stop myself from calling out to Amy and asking if she wants some"
She leans back, hands still intertwined.
"I don't think I'll make it here" he says, "I never belonged and I never will"
Andrea locks eyes with him and pulls him in by his shirt, kissing him softly on the lips.
She pulls away and looks away quickly.
"Don't say it" she whispers.
He looks at her sitting next to him, her eyes fixed on some point on the floor.
"I think I should leave the sanctuary" he says quietly.
Back at the sanctuary, late at night, Daryl is quietly packing his things for departure. He still doesn't know why he told Andrea, he had decided not to tell anyone.
There's a knock at the door. He answers.
"Now you're awake?" she smiles.
"Yeah..."
She frowns when she sees a full backpack.
"So this is it?" she says with a small voice.
He nods.
She places a hand on his cheek and caresses it softly. He allows himself to enjoy it with his eyes closed.
"I don't want you to go - but I understand" she says.
He opens his eyes and looks at her, "I knew you would"
"Make sure you get far enough away tonight, we're going for another supply run in the morning and I don't want Rick to find out you're leaving until you're gone" she informs him.
"Who knew it would take the end of the world for me to find you only to lose you again?"
He kisses her hand and holds it in his own.
"Maybe we'll meet again" she smiles through her tears, "and when we do, we will not be as weary and torn"
"Maybe"
The next day Andrea is sniffling while preparing her riffle. She had had little to no sleep and her eyes were red and puffy.
"Andrea?" Rick says from behind her.
She stands up and faces him.
"I'm fine. I'm sorry"
"Its alright, don't apologise" he says.
She explains that she doesn't want to get into it and he leaves it be and begins dividing people into groups.
"Andrea and Daryl take the storages and look for decent clothing-"
Andrea interrupts, "uh, Daryl's..."
"Right here" he says standing a little further back in the crowd of people.
Andrea stares wide mouthed.
Rick says something, but she doesn't hear. He continues with his speech as she walks up to Daryl.
"You said-"
"I had a change of heart" he interrupts.
She dries her tears with her sleeve.
"What changed your mind?" she asks.
He cups her face and kisses her softly on her lips, as she had done a night before.
"It was your touch"
discoholicmusic
ellievsbear
annaxmalina
jacobvanloon
vaporwave
