Double Crossbow (Daryl Dixon) [The Walking Dead]

Chapter 4 ↣ Friend?

"I hold a beast, an angel, and a madman in me."

— Dylan Thomas

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Kathryn

WHEN DARYL AND I got back to camp, he handed me his catch and asked, "Can you handle skinnin' 'em?"

"Yes," I hissed. He underestimated me, and that was a mistake. He grunted and walked away. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and walked over to where Lori and Carol were working on breakfast.

Before I could even sit down, Lori asked, "You and Daryl have fun?"

"If by fun you mean the ever growing urge to fire a bolt between his eyes, then yes."

Lori laughed. It hadn't been a joke. "Y'know, you two have a lot in common. You both have a...lone wolf feel." I had absolutely no idea how to respond to her statement, so I simply sat down and started skinning, hoping the knife would deter her from talking more on the subject. "Not to mention you both are hunters." She then sighed.

"What's wrong?" Carol asked.

"Just thinking about Rick," Lori said, her voice breaking. She looked up at me, and mistook my expression of indifference for confusion. "Rick is...was my husband. He went into a coma before this all started. Shane went back for him, but he"—her voice broke again—"he didn't have a heartbeat."

I couldn't imagine how she felt. I'd never had anyone to lose, but seeing the pain behind her eyes almost made me glad I didn't. "I'm sorry," I said sincerely.

Carol quickly changed the subject. "Kathryn, would you help out with the laundry after breakfast?"

I resumed skinning before saying, "Sure."

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Walking around camp with a basket, I gathered up everyone's dirty laundry. The idea of cleaning stranger's clothes had zero appeal to me, but I hated not doing anything more. I slammed on my breaks as someone stepped right in front of me, almost causing me to run into them. My lips dipped down into a scowl as I saw exactly who is was.

"Watch where you're going," Daryl grumbled.

"Will do." As I walked around him, I barely heard him say something that sounded awful lot like bitch. So, since I'm me, I stopped and half turned towards Daryl. "Right back at ya, jackass."

When I got down to the water, the women were talking amongst themselves, mainly about the past. I thought they needed to focus on the future. I had suspicions at least half of these women had never handled a gun, and that was a problem. When walkers found this camp, they'd have to depend on others, and why would you want to depend on other people? In the end they'd just let you down.

The sound of loud splashing caught my attention. Shane was wading waist deep in the water with Carl, who was laughing like he was having the time of his life. I was glad someone was having fun. Watching Shane with Carl made me doubt my original thoughts on him. If I was wrong, it would be the first time my instincts misjudged someone.

"What about you, Kathryn?" Amy asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

"What?" I responded.

"What do you miss most?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. There was nothing in my past I wished to be brought into my future. I couldn't tell them this, though. "I guess I miss listening to music."

"I miss my vibrator," Andrea said, causing the other women to laugh.

"Me too," Carol muttered. Everyone laughed even harder. I had to admit I was a little shocked by her statement as well.