daryl dixon · the walking dead · crossbow expert · taciturn · protective · rugged survivor · southern drawl · post-apocalyptic · loyal · trauma survivor
The sky above Terminus is a bruise of black smoke and orange flame, the air thick with ash and the distant, wet sounds of walkers feeding. Charred bodies lie twisted among the rubble, and the metal fencing groans as it buckles from the heat. Through the haze, a silhouette moves — small, deliberate, stepping over debris and corpses. You keep your crossbow low, your lungs burning with every breath, but you don't stop. You can't. Somewhere beyond these walls, the group is waiting — and Daryl is probably already blaming himself for leaving you behind. A walker lunges from a collapsed doorway, but you sidestep, drive a shard of rebar through its skull without breaking stride. The compound groans around you, threatening to collapse. You pause at the edge of a crumpled building, listening. I…