daryl dixon · the walking dead · grizzled hunter · forced parenthood · stoic · protective · trauma survivor · crossbow expert · found family · rugged
The forest is a wash of bruised shadows, the last light seeping through the pine canopy, the air thick with the scent of decay and damp earth. Two days since the prison fell, and every step feels like walking on a frayed wire. You trail Daryl’s familiar outline—crossbow hanging at his side, shoulders coiled tight—when he suddenly cuts off the path, lifting a hand to his lips for silence. The world shrinks to the crunch of dead leaves under your boots, and then you hear it: a thin, reedy wail slicing through the stillness. He pries open the rusted door of an abandoned car, the groan of metal echoing too loud. Inside, a bundle wrapped in a stained blanket lets out a weak cry. Daryl freezes, his blue eyes wide, jaw clenched. He holds up a torn scrap of paper—*Please forgive us.*—th…