Chapter 24: One Day Like This
I held my breath while waiting to see even a glimpse of Rick. We had all stopped shooting now, trying to see if the walkers had got to him or not. My heart raced with regret, if we had lost Rick I don't know what we would do. Then I spotted him, he stepped out of the top of the guard tower, swinging his right arm in a circle above his head.
"Light it up!" he shouted, queuing us to shoot up the remaining walkers in the field.
I looked over to Daryl, laughing, a massive toothy grin across my face. He did it, we did it. I brought the scope back up into my line of vision and joined in on taking down the remaining walkers, claiming this prison to be ours. Within less than a minute the walker's dead bodies littered the yard, they were like sitting ducks for us.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I dropped my weapon, I could hear T-Dog cheering in victory from the tower adjacent to us. I laughed again for the first time in a while, tonight we would be safe, and hopefully, many more nights to come.
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Nightfall came quickly. We all sat around a fire Carol had successfully made while chowing down on a couple of squirrels Daryl was able to bring back from earlier. Still not having many supplies, all we could do was roast the meat over the fire, but my stomach was now full and I was happy.
Rick still didn't rest though, he continued to pace back and forth around the perimeter of the fence making sure there was no way a walker could sneak through in the night. He also had Daryl standing watch for the first shift, he stood over on the fallen bus surveilling the woods by the front entrance of the prison.
"Mmm, just like mom used to make," Glenn said as he picked his squirrel leg clean before throwing it across the field. We were all in such high spirits, enjoying this moment while it lasted.
"Tomorrow we'll pull the bodies together, we wanna keep them away from that water," T-Dog was already beginning to plan ahead, to make this place livable, "now if we can dig a canal under the fence we'll have plenty of fresh water."
"And the soil is good. We can plant some seeds, grow some tomatoes, cucumbers, soybeans," Herschel added. This conversation was leaving us all hopeful for our future here. Herschel then looked to Rick, pointing our attention back to him. "That's his third time around. If there was any part of it compromised, he'd have found it by now."
I looked over at Lori, trying to read her expression. She looked worried for Rick, concerned for his mental health. I knew she wanted to talk to him, help him, but ever since that day when Rick confessed to killing Shane things were different between them, they looked at one another differently.
Beth then caught my attention as she spoke to Lori, "this will be a good place to have the baby, safe," she smiled wide. Beth was young, only seventeen, she was probably the most hopeful out of all of us but that also made her naive. Lori simply smiled back, nodding her head in agreement.
Silence then fell among us as people continued to pick apart their food. I grabbed the last plate left, which was actually just a flipped over jar lid, and brought the remaining squirrel over to Daryl. He didn't notice me approaching the bus until I walked around the front side and stood directly underneath him.
"A little help?" I asked, raising my hand out to him as I began to climb the bottom of the bus to get up. With one swift pull, he was able to yank me up. He then picked up the plate I brought for him, pushing the meat around with his fingers like he was looking for the rest of his squirrel. "It's not much, but if I don't bring you something you won't eat at all," I said.
He finally took a bite of his food, looking up at me, "Yeah I guess lil' Shane over there has got quite the appetite," he said, referring to Lori's baby.
I couldn't help but snort at his joke, as terrible as it was, "Don't be mean," I laughed, he smiled at me knowing I'd find that funny.
Daryl and I had grown a lot closer over the winter, in a world like this you couldn't help but attach yourself to someone. It was hard to believe that that person had become Daryl for me, I couldn't explain it. If you would have asked me a year ago, I probably would have guessed it to be Glenn and laughed in your face if you told me it'd be Daryl. Don't get me wrong Glenn is still my best friend, and Carol is the one that comforts me most, and Rick and I think the most alike, but everyone has that one person that they care for and gravitate towards the most. And that person turned out to be Daryl.
"Nah, I'm playin'. Rick has gotten us a lot farther than people cared to give him credit for, Shane could have never done that," Daryl then defended Rick from his own joke.
"The only person that really believed in Shane was Shane," I agreed with him. I then crossed my arms and rolled my neck in discomfort.
"What's the matter?' Daryl asked, taking notice.
I rubbed my own shoulder, "Months of sleeping curled up in a car or on the floor," I laughed, "my body is in knots."
I could see him staring at me from the corner of my eye as I continued to keep my line of sight on the trees.
"Hold on," he said as he placed his jar lid on the door of the bus we stood on. I finally looked over at him smiling as he motioned for me to turn so my back was towards him. He placed his hands on my shoulders and began to rub out the knots.
I looked back at him and smirked, making eye contact with him. Daryl was not an emotional or sharing person, but he did little things like this that showed that he cared. Not just towards me, but everyone. He stared back at me, slowing down his hands as the moment was starting to get uncomfortable for him. He knew I knew how much he cared.
"This is very romantic," I said, teasing him.
He dropped his hands, "Shut up," he said.
I smirked again, "Thank you, but please never do that again, you're terrible at massages," I pushed further as he now picked up his crossbow to fling over his shoulder.
"You're the worst," he shook his head, but I could see him crack a smile from me teasing him. "Come on, let's go sit with the group," he said as he jumped down from the bus before turning to help me down.
Just as we sat down in the circle, crowding as close to the fire as possible, Beth was asking a question.
"What's one thing you miss the most from before all of this?" she asked. "Besides the obvious answer of family and friends, something that you use to do or just something normal."
I don't know what brought on this question from her, but it left us all thinking. Now that we were safe in this yard, it was nice to think about something we missed. I looked over at T-Dog to see him smiling from ear to ear.
"I miss Super Bowl Sunday," he chuckled, which caused us all to crack a smile. "My friends and I used to throw a huge party for it, everyone chipping in for beer and wings, and just enjoying ourselves," he explained.
To be honest, I could never imagine T-Dog as a person to host a party, it was nice to hear how people were before they lived in fear constantly.
"I miss picking Carl up from school," Lori then spoke up, "you were only gone for eight hours, but you used to get so excited every time you'd walk out the school doors and spot me," she now directed her conversation towards Carl, he giggled.
"Well, I miss video games," Carl then said which caused us all to laugh. A typical answer from a little boy. Lori rubbed the back of his head, smiling.
"What about you?" Beth then looked over at me, wide-eyed.
I had to think about it for a bit, there were so many things that I missed from life. I missed school, I missed playing sports, I missed having sleepovers with my friends, I even missed my mom yelling at me for not cleaning my room.
"I don't know if this counts from your rules," I said, "but I miss my dog. I miss him sleeping on the edge of my bed every night and taking him for walks. I don't know I just miss the comfort of having him there."
Beth smiled at me. "What was his name?" Glenn then asked.
I laughed when thinking about it, I named him when I was younger, "Butters," I confessed, "in my defense, he was a very chunky Golden Retriever puppy, he reminded me of a slab of butter." This caused an uproar of laughter.
"How about you? What do you miss?" Carol now asked Daryl as the laughter died down.
He played with the grass between his fingers, ripping it out of the ground and not making eye contact with anyone. He looked like he wanted to avoid being asked this question.
"Nothing," he finally mumbled out. His eye still remained glued to the ground. Although we knew Daryl now, none of us had the slightest idea of what his life was like before all this, he still refused to share anything. The only story I'd ever heard him talk about was how he got lost when he was younger and not a single person in his family had any idea.
"Come on, there has to be something you miss doing," Beth pushed further, her voice still cheerful from the conversation she created. She wasn't picking up on Daryl's discomfort.
"I found my people, there's nothing I miss from my life before this," he stated, ending the conversation as he stood up and walked away.
That left us all in silence, even though he didn't share anything with us, that told us enough about his life beforehand. He was more content facing an apocalypse with us than going back to his life before.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
kaboo
kaboo Hello! I took today off work, so I'll be doing some writing today :) I hope you enjoy this chapter and please comment, vote, and leave me a review on what you think (whether you like the book or what you believe I should improve on). Much appreciation to those who are being so supportive!
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