Broken Wings (Daryl dixon x Reader)

It has been a few months now, it had to be early January or Late December, the bitter cold told me so. We had found shelter in a storage unit, and Lori was beginning to show already, a tiny bump appearing more and more every day.

"Come on, it's your turn now to go shootin'," Daryl said gruffly, handing me a gun holster with a revolver in it. It had a suppressor on it; it was technically Carl's gun, but we used it to practice with. We had come across it in this very same storage unit.

I nod, standing up and following him outside, the cold air hitting me straight in the face. It wasn't snowing, but it was about cold enough to. Daryl and I walked into the woods for a while, leading me to the old farmhouse we had found weeks ago, where we had set up a temporary shooting range. Each day, someone would go with Daryl or Rick to practice shooting, one person at a time, so that way if a herd came through. They would only have to worry about each other and not the whole group.

"Show me what you remember." Daryl said sitting down on an old tire swing near by. I nodded taking the gun out and holding it up, aiming at the cans that were set up along the old fence rails.

"Don't tense up, you gotta mean it when a walker is coming at you." I let out a breath, trying to relax, but how could I relax? It was so cold, and he was staring at me.

I fired the bullet, hitting a tree nearby. He sighed and stood up, coming over, putting his arm around my shoulder and the other hand on top of mine that was holding the gun, he straightened my arm and fixed my eyesight.

"There now, don't move," He said, releasing me but continuing to stand beside me. I used the sights on the gun this time, aiming at the can and hitting it square on.

"Good, see ya just gotta make sure your stance is correct, you can't be fixing yourself when one of them are on you can you?" He asked, and I shook my head in response.

I fired a few more rounds before we decided to wrap it up and start heading back. I followed behind him, holding a crowbar in my hand in case we came across any of the dead. We hardly saw any now that it was so cold, but we still had a few run-ins.

I was watching the ground, not looking where I was going, when I walked right into Daryl's back. He had stopped walking, and he nearly fell to the ground when I did that.

"Watch it!" he warned in a whisper.

"Sorry, why did you stop?" I asked, positioning myself so I was beside him now.

"Tracks." He said, looking at the ground.

"Where?" I ask, staring blankly at the ground, not seeing anything but leaves and dirt.

He just sighed and began to walk to the right, keeping his eyes glued to the ground, holding his crossbow ready to fire.

"Wait, we are supposed to go back. Straight back." I followed after him.

"You are free to do that, I know the way back do you?" He asked not even looking up.

"I uh." Did I know the way back? I knew a few trees and markings, but I didn't know exactly.

"Exactly," He said, continuing, "Besides, this could be food for the group."

I sighed and followed him, keeping an eye on his vest, staring at the wings of it. I was partly wondering about his life before and the other part was making sure I didn't walk straight into him again. He turned to the left now and still I followed.

He stopped again holding up his crossbow and pointing it at something, I looked around him to see and it was a deer, a small doe, I smiled seeing her, I watched as he had his finger on the trigger, but before he could fire a small fawn walked out of behind it's mother. Daryl sighed, lowering his crossbow.