𝐇𝐀𝐙𝐀𝐑𝐃 │ 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐗𝐎𝐍 ¹ [✔]

[10]: silent

I was still a little shaken up from what happened at "The Castle". My sides hurt every day as they healed. I was just constantly thanking the Dixon brothers for helping me, and keeping me safe.

It seemed that despite Merle saying that I should fend for myself days ago, it seemed I had woven my way into his heart. Or so I hoped so.

The three of us; Merle, Daryl and I, had fallen into a routine - one I had rarely any part in.

We spent days circling around the forest and any town near, for supplies. I would usually stay in the car whilst the boys went in the buildings. I didn't know how to hunt, and I could barely use a gun, it seemed that they had no reason to keep me safe, but they just did.

Merle had reminded me one night, as we sat around the campfire, that there was still people out there who knew me as Ariel, and they wouldn't see me as anything else.

I wondered every day where the princesses had ventured off to, if they were lucky enough to get someone like Daryl and Merle to protect them, or if they could fend for themselves.

Although, if I did need to go into a place for supplies, I had made it so I wasn't hanging offDaryl's arm like I used to. That was usually only when I needed something specific.

Normally, I would hate getting dirty and not having a shower for days, but I really didn't have a choice. I currently had a three-day-old shirt on, and my hair was limp with grease and dirt and water.

We had changed vehicles, from a 5 seater to a 3 seater truck, and Merle eventually went back and got his black motorbike, which had a white supremacist sticker on it. Merle would be ahead on his motorbike, whilst Daryl and I stayed in the truck.

I rarely voiced any words to the brothers, and I had become timider than before crap hit the fan.

Merle and Daryl would always deal with the Walkers - I think that I had only dealt with one, or maybe two, and I dealt with them terribly. I wasn't scared of them, it's just they always seemed to be averaged taller than me, we had only seen a few shorter ones.

We had planned to make our way around Atlanta to see what was on the other side, maybe if there was a survival camp or even some survivors. At least.

I think that if I talked more, the Dixon brothers would probably have kicked me out by now. Jimmy said that to me a lot... If I had talked more than I would worse off, he found me annoying sometimes.

I did think a lot about Jimmy. Despite his bad side, he always seemed to surprise me. Even though the surprises were sparse to be good.

I remember that one night, he brought me my favourite dinner, straight from the restaurant, and he told me how he made a daring escape from the restaurant just to get this dinner to my apartment.

Jimmy paid for my apartment, he bought me dinner regularly, but he often told me it was because a pretty face like mine would be wasted on the streets.

I know I shouldn't be thinking about him, especially because he never changed, and he was now dead.

I looked over the fire to look at the person who killed Jimmy. If I had truly loved Jimmy then I wouldn't be anywhere near Daryl... I would simply resent him. But I didn't really feel anything towards Jimmy's death, I didn't even feel relief from his permanent absence. I never felt relieved, I still felt chained.

Somehow, I would have to one day let go. Or I would die.