❛ SURVIVOR'S HEART ! ❜
chapter thirty-four ―― silence

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ THEY EASILY FELL BACK into a comfortable silence as Daryl finished sharpening his knife and pulled Charlie's knife from the dirt at his feet. The girl still had her eyes closed and every so often Daryl would look up just to check on her, one time he thought she had fallen asleep so he leaned forward and lightly hit her boot making her open her eyes as she glared at him. He had told her he was making sure she wasn't dead then went back to sharpening the knife and she let her eyes fall closed again.

"Moving to the suburbs?" Lori questioned as she neared the two but neither moved, Charlie didn't even bother opening her eyes – she was kind of sick of people, Daryl excluded only because he didn't ask many questions, if any at all. "Listen, Beth's in some kind if catatonic shock. We need Hershel."

"Yeah. So what?" The man mumbled, not looking up as he scraped Charlie's knife against the arrowhead he held.

"So I need you to run into town real quick and bring him and Rick back." She told him as she squatted down next to him, her eyes only momentarily moving to the girl that was still slouched against the tree. "Daryl?" He finally looked up at her.

"Your bitch went window-shopping. You want him? Fetch him yourself." He told her, looking back at the knife. "I got better things to do."

"What's the matter with you?" She asked. "Why would you be so selfish?"

"Selfish?" He pushed himself up, his eyes narrowed. "Listen to me, Olive Oyl. I was out there looking for that little girl every single day. I took a bullet and an arrow in the process. Don't you tell me about getting my hands dirty! You want those two idiots? Have a nice ride. I'm done looking for people." He sat back down and went back to sharpening Charlie's knife as Lori turned to the girl, who had yet to move. "She's sleepin'." He stopped her, knowing she was gonna ask Charlie the same thing, except he knew Charlie wouldn't have told her no. Lori sighed, looking at the girl before glancing back at Daryl before she walked away. Once Lori was out of ear shot Charlie made a noise that was close to a snore and Daryl looked over at her, his eyebrows pinched as he stopped sharpening the knife. She opened her eyes, a laugh leaving her lips and he shook his head, fighting back a smile.

"Thanks for the save." She told him, still chuckling to herself. "Not really in the mood to be going anywhere."

"Figured as much." He shrugged, going back to sharpening her knife as she sat up and pulled her legs in, sitting criss-cross on the ground. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." She nodded, her hand tearing a piece of grass in half and she expected it to be about Sophia or about how she was feeling. The questions she had wanted to avoid, which is why she had been shooting her bow by herself, but she'd let him ask and she'd give him the answer she gave everyone.

"Who taught you how to hit like that?" He asked and her brows pulled together as she looked up at him. "Shane looked like hell, his lip busted and a bruise on his cheek."

"He did, actually." She mumbled, her eyes dropping to the ground again. "When I started high school he wanted me to be able to protect myself if need be. Even before the world went to shit, it wasn't exactly safe for women. Him being a cop, he got more than a few calls about women who had been hurt by random men they passed on the street." She looked up at him, his eyes were narrowed and his hands tight around the handle of the knife he held. "Lucky for me, I have Mason. He never let me go anywhere alone. Stuck to me like glue, especially at night when we'd go out with our friends. It helped that we were both athletes so most of our friends were too."

"Good." He mumbled, mostly to himself as he went back to what he was doing. The idea of her having been hurt didn't sit right with him and just the thought had pissed him off whether it was before they had met or not. He stopped when a thought popped into his head. "If you can fight like that, how'd Merle get the drop on you?"

"I let my guard down." She shrugged, her eyes on the blade of grass in her hand. "I knew he was unpredictable but I figured he remembered me and I wasn't expecting it when he clocked me. I was too stunned to react. And when he started checking my pockets, not gently at all, I couldn't think straight." He watched as her eyes went distant, like she was thinking about something before she shook her head. "But, uh, yeah. It won't happen again. Can we go back to sitting in silence? That's one of the reasons I like you so much, you don't ask annoying questions."

"Sorry." He looked down at his hands.

"No, don't be. I don't mind questions, not really. It just gets annoying when everyone keeps asking the same questions over and over again. How are you after what happened to Sophia? You okay? Why'd you hit your brother?" She told him, listing off a few questions she heard from more than one person in the span of five minutes. "You don't ask stupid questions and I like sitting with you." She mumbled, ripping at another blade of grass.

"Yeah." He hummed. "Me too." She smiled up at him, getting the smallest of smiles in return as the two fell back into silence, the only sound around them was the scraping as he continued sharpening her knife and she leaned back against the tree. She was slouched down like before, her legs were stretched out in front of her and her eyes were focused on her hands as she pulled another blade of grass from the ground and ripped it in half.

>>>>> • <<<<<

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ THE QUITE WAS NICE, even as the sun had gone down and the temperature had dropped a few degrees. Charlie wished she had more than just her tank top on as she pushed herself up off the tree, stretching once she was on her feet and Daryl watched as she rounded the fire he had started when the sun had started to set.

"You good?"

"Cold." She mumbled as she sat next to him, rudding her arms to generate some heat then she pulled her knees up to her chest, keeping her arms tucked between her torso and her thighs.

"Why don't you go get a jacket or somethin'?" He asked, looking over at as she shifted closer to the fire.

"It ain't that bad." She shrugged. "Besides, Mason would ask me a million questions and I'm avoiding Shane, again."

"You spend a lot of time avoiding him."

"He's a dick." She shrugged, wincing slightly when a pain surged through her shoulder. "He didn't used to be like that. I mean, he always had a bit of a temper, but he wasn't as . . . I don't know." She shook her head, not being able to think of a word to describe that way her brother had been acting. "When I was little, our parents split, I might've been six. My mom got me and my dad got Shane. It wasn't a great set up, they used us to get back at each other so when Shane turned nineteen he adopted me so they couldn't use me to get back at each other any more. He raised me. He made sure I had food and that I went to school. He talked me into joining a few sports, he made sure I could take care of myself. He taught me how to shoot a gun when I was fifteen and he got me my first pocket knife – the little blue one in my collection." She spoke, shaking her head a little as she closed her eyes. "Sorry, you didn't need to hear any of it. I'm just trying to. . . I don't know. Convince myself that my brother, the brother that I know, is in there somewhere."

"Don't apologize." He shook his head. "He's your brother, you wanna see the good in him."

"Is that why you stick up for Merle?" She asked, looking over at him as she rested her chin on her knee. "When someone says something, I can tell it bugs you."

"Yeah, I guess." He nodded, his eyes dropping from her to look at the ground. "I mean, he wasn't brother of the year or anything."

"Still, he's your brother." She shrugged. "You wanna see the good. Hey, we have something in common." She chuckled, her smile wide.

"We have brother's that are dicks?" He asked, his own lips tugging into a smile.

"Yep." She nodded, picking her head up and he chuckled, his was a low gravely sound and it made her smile grow bigger. "You have a nice laugh." She stated. "Remind me to make you laugh more often."

"Sure thing, princess." He mumbled and her cheeks flushed at the nickname and the fact that his eyes, which she hated to admit but she loved, were on her. She liked this, being with him, talking or not. She was comfortable and that alone was a luxury of sorts.

"That freakin' nickname." She mumbled, shaking her head as she looked away from him. Her eyes settled on the fire and she inched closer, trying to keep warm but he didn't look away. He watched as she pushed her hair back, tucking what few strands had fallen from her ponytail behind her ears before she tucked her arms between her torso and her thighs again. He couldn't explain the ease he felt sitting next to her, like there weren't any expectations. She didn't demand he talk, but he knew he could if he wanted to and she wouldn't do anything other than listen. He also liked that she preferred the silence they had sat in for most of the day, he liked that she didn't need to talk. But if she did, he'd listen. He shook his head, looking away from the girl and back towards the fire as that same familiar silence enclosed around them, the only sound in the air was the crackling of the fire and the crickets that were singing around them and it was nice.

Though, he'd never admit it.

NOVA SPEAKS !

so how are we liking it??