Breathless (DarylxReader)

Chapter 11

The rest of your day went by slowly. Minutes lasted hours and hours lasted years. You had parted ways with Daryl when he was called out for a hunting run, as he did often, and your shift for watch duty began. As much as you hated to stand watch, the view was absolutely astonishing, given that no walkers ruined it.

On most days, the wind would send a soft wave through the tall grass and the leaves; a gentle shuffle down on the earth that reflected vivid greens and yellows, sometimes reds and blues if the flowers were in bloom. The quiet chirping and fluttering of birds in the trees was white noise in the background. The bits of trash and rubble surrounding the area faded away more and more as the summer went on and the plants grew taller, hiding away reminiscences of the fall of the world.

Zoned out in the beauty of the nature around you, you stared out to the horizon as your mind trailed off. You lost yourself in thought, wondering about silly things like where you'd be if nothing ever happened. Would you be happy? Are you happy now? It all flowed through your head as you watched the perimeter. Eventually, you stopped actively thinking and just stood blankly at the wall. Who knows how long you were like that, or how weird you looked doing it.

A pebble flew into your back, quickly bringing you back to your senses. Your rifle up, you spun around quickly with an almost automatic lock on the target, until you realized what doofus had thrown the rock.

"What's that for?" you yelled down, lowering your rifle. "I could have shot your stupid ass."

"I've been trying to get your attention for like, a million years. There's a communal dinner tonight, Carol cooked up something. Smells real good, if you want to come." Carl called up, cupping his hands around his mouth to be louder.

You looked around at the mention of dinner, seeing the sun almost set and the sky getting darker with each passing minute. Climbing down from your post, you followed Carl to a line of picnic tables bustling with chatter and laughter. Almost the whole community had shown up and the empty seats were few and far between. You spotted Daryl out of the crowd, but he was surrounded with other people and he seemed to be deep in conversation, too. You sat where you could, seeing as there was no use in bothering Daryl while he was being social for once.

It was a self serve sort of deal, with lots of pots and platters of various dishes all down the middle line of the picnic tables. You picked a couple different things from near by, what looked like cornbread and pulled deer, some steamed vegetables and such. You hadn't picked a seat near anyone you knew and kept to yourself for a while, eating the meal in front of you in silence.

You glanced down the row at Daryl every once in a while, seeing if he was still rambling on with some of the other guys, and he was. He had a beer in hand, the most probable culprit of his sudden chattiness. Someone must have looted some packs when out on a run, or maybe found them a while ago and saved them for a special occasion. It wasn't all that often that the community shared nights like this, so it seemed appropriate to bring out some booze.

The man to your left had a beer, too. You looked around and spotted a cooler at the end of the rows of tables, deciding you'd grab a cold one. There was only a few cans of beer left and most of the ice in the cooler was melted already. You grabbed one and went back to your seat. You sipped on the beer and finished the rest of your food, but now you just looked sad and lonely. Daryl still hadn't noticed you, and at this point you figured he probably wouldn't at all. After finishing your beer you stood up and started walking home. The bustle of the gathering faded into silence as you came closer to your house, and the silence continued as you got ready for bed. Nights are pretty uneventful when Daryl isn't around, huh?