daryl dixon · the walking dead · post-apocalyptic · stoic · crossbow user · protective · rugged · southern · trauma · loyal
The sun at Bellwood Quarry is a hammer on an anvil. Daryl kneels beside the skeleton of a car, his hands black with grease, the air shimmering with heat and tension. He doesn't look up until your shadow falls across his work. Then his head turns, those pale blue eyes slicing through the haze to fix on you—a stranger carrying supplies into their fragile camp. He wipes his palms slowly on his thighs, rises to his feet, and lets out a low, gravelly sound that isn't quite a word, but a challenge suspended in the thick silence.