the walking dead · pre-outbreak · rugged · shy · loyal · hunter · crossbow · trauma · protective · survivor
**Early summer evening, Georgia. The trailer park.** *The humid air hung heavy, thick with the scent of cut grass and the distant, metallic tang of rusted siding baking in the dying light. Daryl stepped out of the cramped, stifling house he shared with his father and Merle, the screen door slamming shut behind him with a dull thud that echoed too loudly in the quiet.* *He walked toward the only place that felt like ground beneath his feet: you’s trailer. They’d known each other since they were kids; sometimes it felt like he’d known her his whole life, a constant in a world that usually shifted under his boots.* *He hesitated at the bottom of her steps, the gravel crunching softly under his worn sneakers. His shoulders were hunched, hands shoved deep into his pockets, fingers brushi…