Silent, fast and lethal Pt.2
Daryl Dixon x Reader
*Summary: The reader is very good at sneaking, moving fast and silent, lethal with her knives. She lost her camp and is wanfering the woods when she finds Maggie and Glenn being attacked by some men and she helps them, sneaking not only on the men but also on Daryl, leaving everyone impressed with her skills, and she’s taken in into the prison. Badass but rather insecure reader and shy, confused Daryl.
Slow-burn, hurt/comfort, fluff, angst, smoking, language and violence twd style. (Request turned mini-series of eight chapters)
4434 words
Chapters: 2/8
Link to masterlist with more stories in the info of this blog.
This story will be updated on Monday and Thursday.
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Next morning you left for the run as the sun was getting up, taking two cars and a bike which seemed to be Daryl’s. Once you all arrived at the supermarket, which was bigger than you’d thought, Glenn laid out the plan for the run. You would divide into two groups, each one going to a different area of the supermarket, and inside the groups, you could go in pairs if you needed to cover more ground.
You all walked into the supermarket together, putting down the walkers that were there. You weren’t sure there wouldn’t be more roaming in the place, but for now, it seemed clear enough. You were in the same group as Rick, Daryl, and Michonne, and you four headed towards the area Glenn told you.
You were looking for certain stuff, but also you took anything else you might find useful, though most of the aisles had been raided already. At some point, you heard some quiet banging coming from some doors ahead, and Michonne and Daryl decided to go check it, see if there were walkers inside, while Rick and you kept checking the camping area aisles.
You noticed two walkers munching on a corpse, you weren’t sure if human or not, in one of the aisles, its backs to you. With a knife on each hand, you approached them silently without them noticing you, until you sunk your knives into their heads. You hadn’t noticed another one, a shelve had hidden it and it reached out to grab you, but you acted quickly, stabbing it in the eye before it even touched you. Another one was approaching from an aisle, but it was slow and soon your knife was in his head too.
You could see Daryl and Michonne ahead too, putting down the walkers they had found behind the door. You were worried they had decided to open it just the two of them, but they seemed to be good on their own, and so you turned your attention back to your aisle, but there weren’t any more walkers. You could see three more approaching a few corridors away, attracted by the noise, and so quietly you moved around the aisles until you were behind them, swiftly putting them down.
“They were right. You’re good.” You turned around and noticed Rick’d followed you, and he was looking at the walkers before looking at you and nodding. You just shrugged, murmuring thanks, before checking on Michonne and Daryl.
They were putting down the last remaining walkers, Michonne with her katana and Daryl with his knife. They were skillful and they made and good team, walkers falling down at their feet as nothing as they fought back to back, almost as if it didn’t take them any effort.
Once all the walkers were dead, you saw Michonne grinning at Daryl, almost as if she’d had fun. Daryl smirked, reaching out to clap her shoulder, Michonne placing her hand on top of his as they both turned towards the cleared door. Yeah, they seemed to be a pretty good team…
“Come on.” You felt Rick nudging you and you followed him towards the door too.
The door led to a corridor that you four followed until it divided in two. The corridor that went to the right side seemed to go to an emergency exit door, and three walkers were there munching on another body. You took a knife on each hand and approached them quietly, putting down two, and the third fell down onto the floor with an arrow into his forehead. You turned around to nod at Daryl and give him a smile, and he nodded back.
Following the other corridor to the left, you all found another closed room, but when you opened the door, there weren’t walkers inside. It seemed to have been used to store cans of food and it was almost untouched, and so you left it carrying several boxes of cans, which helped to lift everyone’s mood. A couple of trips were needed to gather all your haul inside the cars, and according to Glenn, you all should be more than happy with the run.
Back at the prison, you were busying yourself organizing the cans of food when Michonne joined you and began helping you.
“Maggie was right, you’re really good with the knives and I saw you sneaking on those walkers without them noticing you,” Michonne began to say. “You’re really good at it, Rick said so too.”
“Thanks,” You muttered, a bit awkwardly, feeling yourself blush. “You all are good too.” You’d seen them, they were not only skillful at putting down walkers but also at moving around, knowing where to check for supplies and everything as if they had done it a million times before, and their runs seemed to be perfectly organized and thought through. “Daryl and you make a good team.”
“Yeah, we do.” Michonne nodded, smiling softly as she went through the cans.
“Are you two together?” You didn’t know what made you ask or why you cared, or if it might be too personal and you were seeming nosy.
Michonne stopped what she was doing to look at you, blinking before she started laughing and laughing. “What?! No!” She kept laughing, seeming thoroughly amused, and you shrugged, feeling very awkward.
“Just thought you worked good together and you seemed close.” They were a perfect team, had each other back, seemed to really know each other and be close, and they both were pretty attractive people, you didn’t think it was such a silly idea.
“We are.” Michonne nodded, still smiling amused. “But it’s not like that. He is family.” She smiled fondly. “I know that maybe when you first meet him he might seem…well, closed. Daryl’s gone through stuff. But he’s a good man, one of the best you’ll ever meet.”
You nodded in silence. You didn’t know Daryl much but when you’d talked with him, he’d seemed nice enough, in his own quiet, shy way. He’d checked on you and made sure you were okay since arriving at the prison, so it was easy for you to believe Michonne’s words.
“We have gone through stuff together.” Michonne’s smile faltered, a frown appearing on her face for a couple of seconds, and whatever that stuff was, you knew it wasn’t good. “We spent some time alone out there, so I guess that’s how we ended up working good together, and we got to know each other well.” She was smiling again, though you thought there was sadness behind it, and you wondered what might have happened.
“So you two were together out there before finding the prison?”
“No, Daryl has been here from the beginning, with Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Hershel, Beth, Carl, and people they lost. I joined them a bit later. We got trouble, back then…”
“What happened?”
Michonne let out a long sigh, but she sat down in the table next to the boxes of cans, and she began to speak. She told you about Woodbury, Andrea and the Governor. About first meeting Rick’s group. About fighting with them against the Governor and how he’d gone against his own people, and how Rick and the others had taken in the Woodbury people. How she and Daryl had gone out for weeks and weeks to try and find the Governor and how they’d failed, but how she kept going out, trying, never staying in the prison for long, and how probably she’d leave tomorrow again. You listened to it, quietly, once again seeing how hard that people had had it too, but enjoying being able to learn a little bit more about those people who were becoming your friends.
Later that day you were walking around the prison yard, unsure about what to do with yourself, when you saw Carol and Daryl sat down on top of one of the tables. Carol was grinning and laughing as she said something. Daryl said something too, nudging Carol with his shoulder, which made her grin wider. She noticed you and waved at you, signaling you to join them. You felt like intruding, but you went to them.
“We were talking about you,” Carol told you, making you feel a bit awkward and nervous, while Daryl looked at the ground. “About the run, how Rick said you were as good as they said, he was impressed with how good you were with the knives and how silent you can move.” You knew it was something good, but it still made you feel rather self-conscious. “Daryl is impressed too, you know, saying your knife skills are so good, not to mention you managed to sneak on him, not everyone can do that…”
Daryl looked at Carol at that, frowning and blushing, and he nudged her with his shoulder, pushing her off the table, which just made Carol chuckle. Daryl seemed rather awkward and uncomfortable, looking down again, and you were feeling just the same.
“It’s not that impressive…” You murmured, shrugging.
“I haven’t gone on a run in too long, maybe I’ll join you on the next, see it by myself,” Carol said and you just shrugged again. “Anyway, I have to go get dinner ready, I’ll leave you two alone.”
She chuckled, looking at Daryl who still seemed a bit grumpy, and she reached out to wrap an arm around his shoulders to forcefully squeeze him to her and press a quick kiss to his forehead. Daryl broke away, grumbling something you didn’t catch, but you noticed his small, fond smile as he looked at Carol walk away. You got the feeling those two were close too.
“Good friend?” You asked, sitting down at the other end of the table.
“Family.” Daryl nodded, looking down again. “She was just messing around though, she does that.” He muttered.
“With everyone talking about me…I kind of feel like they’re making fun of me or something, I don’t know…I know it’s not true and that they mean well, but I can’t help it. It’s embarrassing.” You admitted, blushing.
“What? Nah, it ain’t that.” Daryl looked at you, frowning. “We just ain’t used to bring in people skilled at fighting, most of the people who came from Woodbury had never had to fight walkers or nothing.” He explained, training his eyes back to the ground. “And you good at it, you got skill.”
“Thanks…” You said quietly. “But you all are really good at it too, with your runs and fighting the walkers and all. And I’d never seen anyone shooting a crossbow before, and you’re impressive with it. I don’t think I saw you miss. I bet you never miss.” You joked awkwardly.
Daryl looked at you with a small, crooked smile. “I do miss sometimes.”
“Yeah? I’d like to see that.” You joked, chuckling quietly.
Daryl didn’t say anything for a little while, but you noticed him stealing glances at you through the corner of his eye. “Maybe then you could come hunting with me if you want, I might miss the target.” He told you quietly without looking at you, surprising you.
“Really? I know nothing about hunting…”
“Just thought you could be good.” Daryl shrugged, eyes still trained on the ground. “Cos you move silently and all that, animals wouldn’t hear you come... but you don’t have to, it’s okay, whatever.”
“I think I’d like to, if you really don’t mind.” You liked to learn new skills and you felt like you’d like to know Daryl more, you were kind of intrigued by him, he seemed like an interesting guy.
“Okay. I’ll tell you next time I go.” Daryl looked at you, the corner of his mouth twitching into a tiny smile, before dropping his gaze down again. “I’m gonna go help Carol.”
“Alright.”
That night you were once again walking around the yard as you found yourself unable to sleep, haunted by memories, and again you found Daryl smoking on top of a table. You walked towards him, sitting down at the other end of the table, and without a word, he passed you the cigarette.
Daryl’s eyes were trained forwards towards the darkness beyond the prison fences and the walkers that rattled them, and you stole a glance at him, wondering what he might be thinking about and why he was yet another night out there alone. You didn’t ask, though, he didn’t seem talkative and he didn’t strike you like the kind of guy who liked to share his mind. You were still intrigued by him, though, and by the fact that he didn’t seem to mind you joining him, but you were glad about it too. It helped to keep the memories at bay. Even in the darkness, you could see the marks that your nails had left on his cheek.
“Do those hurt?” You asked him and Daryl turned his head to look at you confused. “The scratches I meant.” You pointed at his cheek.
“Nah.” He shook his head and his eyes darted to your arms, covered by your shirt, but you knew he was thinking about the bruises. “Do those?”
You shook your head and gave him a small smile. Daryl looked guilty anyway, and you didn’t know what to say. He nodded softly and looked forwards again. For a little while you both stayed there in silence, passing the cigarette back and forth, until it ran out.
“Gotta get up early to go hunting tomorrow,” Daryl suddenly said out of the blue, getting up.
“You meant it? Taking me with you?”
“Yeah…if you want to, you don’t have to or nothing. It’s okay if you don’t come. Don’t need to.” He shrugged without looking at you as he began to walk.
“No, I’d like to.” You rushed to say as you followed him back to the prison.
“Alright.” Daryl nodded, looking at you for a second, the corner of his mouth twitching into the smallest smile ever. “We leave when the sun begins to rise.”
“Okay!”
*
Next morning, you almost didn’t wake up on time to join Daryl, and you weren’t sure if he would have waited for you or not. He hadn’t gone to wake you up, but Carol had, also bringing you a cereal bar for breakfast and telling you to get ready quick and join Daryl.
Daryl had been silent the whole time as you followed him through the woods, and you weren’t sure of where he was going or how he decided where he wanted to go. Sometimes Daryl looked at you through the corner of the eye, other times it seemed like he’d forgotten you were there, but he always checked you were following him.
He looked around as he walked, until suddenly he stopped, totally still, and you almost bumped against his back. He pointed at a tree and you saw a squirrel there on top of a branch, he quickly aimed his crossbow and shoot.
“Impressive!” You said as Daryl went to retrieve the arrow and the squirrel, and he shrugged, seeming a bit uncomfortable. “I knew you never missed,” you joked once he came back, and he snorted but smirked.
“And I told you I miss sometimes.”
“You’d have to prove that.” You teased and you began following him, biting your lip as you considered sharing something with him. “I think I’d have no aim, I can’t shoot guns or nothing.”
“Seriously?” Daryl stopped to look at you surprised and you nodded, embarrassed. You’d only learned to use knives, since you’d only had a couple of guns in your old camp, and they were barely used anyway.
“I never had a gun or nothing and we didn’t use them at my camp so as not to attract walkers.”
“You could get a silencer or something, but there ain’t many.” Daryl frowned as if thoughtful. “But you should learn anyway, you’re gonna need it and not only to hunt. We got some spare rifles and guns at the prison, they’ll give you one and someone will train you.”
“Thanks,” you said quietly and Daryl nodded once before he began walking again. You wondered if maybe he’d be up to teach you himself, but you didn’t ask, afraid of maybe bothering him. Maybe you could ask someone else, like Maggie.
At some point, after Daryl got some more squirrels and also a rabbit without you seeing him miss a shot, you both heard a rustle and as you approached the sounds you saw a group of walkers.
“What do we do?” You asked Daryl quietly, both of you crutching down. “Do we hide until they go or do we put them down.”
“Dunno…” Daryl frowned, looking from you to the walkers and back to you, seeming unsure.
“They aren’t too many, we put them down.” You decided and began to move to surround them in silence, still keeping yourself down and hid in bushes.
Daryl got up, aiming his crossbow and loosing an arrow. One of the walkers dropped dead while the others turned their attention to him, which helped to distract them from you. Silently but quickly you moved to circle the walkers as they began to approach Daryl while he shot another dead. You reached the monsters and began to sink your knives into the heads of the ones who had their backs to you until they noticed you. Daryl joined you with his knife and soon all the walkers were dead.
You smiled to him, nodding at a work well done while he retrieved his arrows. “We aren’t a bad team.” You said proudly but shyly. You did think you didn’t work bad together, maybe it wasn’t like when he worked with Michonne or the others, but you hadn’t done bad.
“Yeah,” Daryl nodded, looking at you with a small, half smile. “Come on, let’s keep hunting.”
“You keep hunting. I do nothing. Can’t shoot, can’t track…” You let out a sigh. “Don’t even know why you’d want me to come…” Daryl said nothing, just shrugged while looking down, pulling at his fingers. “It’s not that I don’t like it, though.” You rushed to say, afraid he thought you were complaining and he wouldn’t take you with him anymore. “I’m enjoying it. Would want to do it again, if you want to…even though I’m not doing much.”
Daryl still didn’t say anything, just nodded and began walking again. As you followed him, this time he began to point things at you, little changes on branches, leaves and on the ground, as if he were subtly trying to teach you how to track, or at least show you what he could see and notice.
It was hard to learn, so hard no matter you did your best, and by the time you walked back into the prison, you didn’t think you had been able to notice anything yourself. You had to think you’d eventually learn, though, if Daryl kept taking you with him, which you hoped he would.
Back at the prison, you followed Daryl into the kitchen area where he began to get his kills ready. You took one of the squirrels and began cleaning it too, finally glad to have something you could do, you’d cleaned enough pieces at your camp. You both hadn’t been working on it in silence for long when you were joined by Carol.
“Seems like you two had a good hunt,” she said and you nodded and smiled to her while Daryl just grunted, not looking up from the rabbit he was working on. “Did you have fun?”
“Yeah, it was good.” You answered. “I didn’t do much though, but we put down some walkers and Daryl hunted all that. I tried to learn something about tracking but it’s hard…don’t know if I’ll manage…”
“Have you been teaching her?” Carol asked Daryl who still didn’t look at her.
“She needs a gun or a rifle, and training,” Daryl said instead of answering. “She can’t shoot.” You blushed, mortified, but nodded at his words.
“Really? Did you survive that long without shooting? You must be really good with those knives.” Carol blinked at you and you just shrugged, feeling more and more embarrassed. “I’ll get you a rifle so you can keep going hunting with Daryl and he could teach you to shoot.”
“There ain’t no group training anymore?” Daryl asked and you wondered if he didn’t want to train you himself. It made you feel more disappointed that you thought you would, wondering if maybe he hadn’t liked much to spend time with you. You didn’t like how the idea made you feel.
“Yes but it’s on the mornings while you are hunting, and if you’re going to keep taking her with you...” Carol shrugged, looking at Daryl, and he just grunted without looking up from the rabbit.
“It’s okay, I can’t hunt, so…” You shrugged, feeling self-conscious and stupid at having thought Daryl wanted you to keep going with him when you had done nothing today. “I’ll join the training, thank you.”
“Okay…” Carol frowned but didn’t say anything else. “Do you want help with that?” She pointed at the squirrel and you nodded.
“Yes…actually, if you could just finish it for me…I just remembered I had to ask Maggie something.” You half lied, suddenly feeling like you wanted to be out of that kitchen. Carol looked at you, frown still on her face, but muttered a sure, and after thanking her you rushed out.
You did go to talk to Maggie who was with Glenn on the watchtower, asking them to count with you for all the runs as your contribution to the community, which they accepted so eagerly that made you feel a bit better about yourself. You spent the next hours until dinner up there with them talking as they explained you their system of watches and then just getting to know each other a bit better. They were friendly and nice, helping you feel a bit better.
During dinner, though, as you caught sight of Daryl sat down with Carol and Rick a few seats ahead of where you were sat down with the Greene’s, your self-deprecating thoughts were back, and as soon as you finished your stew you excused yourself for the night and went to your cell.
You light some candles to allow you to read a book Beth had lent you, hoping to lose yourself in it, and sat down on your bed. You read for a couple of hours, hearing everyone go back to their cells and every lantern and candle was eventually turned off.
That was usually the moment in which the other two days you’d tried and failed to sleep, ending up going to the yard, but tonight you didn’t feel like maybe finding Daryl there, you didn’t want to feel like a disappointment again and so you kept reading, hoping the blanket that hung over the door of your cell would stop the flicker of the candles from bothering the people trying to sleep. After a while, you heard a quiet knock on the bars of your cell.
“Come in,” you answered quietly, wondering who could be at that hour.
For a couple of seconds, nothing happened and you began to wonder if you had imagined the sound, but then the blanket lifted and Daryl took a couple of steps inside, looking at you and then to the ground. He had an old fashioned looking hunting rifle on his hand, and he held it out for you.
“Thanks.” You sat up and reached out to take the rifle, feeling a bit surprised Daryl had gone there to give it to you.
Daryl only nodded and turned to leave, lifting the blanket again, but he stopped before getting out. For a second he didn’t say anything, but then he spoke without turning to look at you.
“So… you don’t wanna go hunting nomore?”
It took you aback. It was you who had thought he didn’t want you to go anymore, disappointed at your lack of knowledge. While you had been with him in the woods you had felt like he didn’t think you were a bother, you had thought he was even teaching you how to track, but then when Carol had joined you in the kitchen…
“I thought…” You didn’t know how to put it into words and you shrugged, embarrassed. “It’s not I don’t want to...”
“So?”
“I thought you didn’t want me to. Cos I can’t shoot or track or nothing.” You shrugged.
“Ain’t easy, you ain’t gonna learn in just a day,” Daryl said, still without looking at you. “You put down those walkers and you moved in silence, didn’t scare the game away or nothing…”
“So you don’t mind me joining you?” You ventured, daring to feel a bit more hopeful.
“If you want to.” He shrugged.
“I do.” You nodded and you couldn’t help your smile as he nodded too. Daryl turned his head to look at you, the shadow of a smile at the corner of his mouth.
“We’ll leave at the sunrise again tomorrow.”
“Okay.” You’d miss shooting practice but you felt you rather go out with Daryl. He nodded too and made to leave, but you called after him. “Hey Daryl,” you didn’t feel like trying to sleep, knowing memories haunted you. “How long it took you to learn to track and hunt and all that?”
Daryl seemed hesitant but finally he walked back into the cell, leaning his back against the wall in front of your bed. “Lots and lots of months. More than what it took me to learn to work the crossbow and shoot at things.”
“And how’s that you began learning?”
You both kept talking for a little while, Daryl telling you about how his uncle had got him his first crossbow and taken him hunting with him when he was a little boy. You told him about how you began sneaking around as a kid as a game until you became quite good at it, and you also told him a bit about your job. Time seemed to fly as you shared little things about yourself with each other, and it was late at night when Daryl finally left. You were bound to be sleepy in the morning, but you didn’t regret it. You kind of liked it, getting to know more about him. There was more to him that what could be seen at first glance, and somehow, you felt you wanted to know it all.
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They’re hunting together! What did you think of this? if you have a moment, please let me know your thoughts of this chapter. Also, I love richonne but I thought, back in season 4, that Daryl and Michonne could have been good together, and I think Michonne’s one of the people left who loves Daryl the most...it’s going to hit him so hard when Danai leaves next season, I don’t even want to think it.
As always, English is not my first language so sorry if there are mistakes.
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