Chapter 19

Moore lay in his tent, which he had pitched far away to keep his distance from those guys. Daryl, who had disappeared for a day, had finally condescended to return to this small tent. "Hey, Daryl, you don't actually like that kid, do you?" Moore looked at Daryl with a somewhat inscrutable expression.

“What nonsense are you spouting?” Daryl ignored Moore, simply lay down on the small mattress, turned his back, and poked at the tent.

“Hey, look at this group of people, the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled. Why should we follow these burdens? We should leave, just you and me.” Moore sat up and said to Daryl in a low voice, “If you can’t bear to, fine, we’ll just take a few things, okay?”

“No,” Daryl sat up, looking at Moore in disbelief, “I thought after all this…”

“No, Daryl, Daryl, you’re so naive,” Moore shook his head helplessly. “Look at this place, a storm is brewing.”

Daryl rubbed his hair in frustration and hung his head in defeat.

“Leave those guys alone, Daryl. Let them fend for themselves,” Moore advised Daryl. “You know we don’t belong here.”

“No,” Daryl glared fiercely at Moore, then turned and lay down on the bed without saying another word.

“Fine! If you want to watch this place fall apart, go ahead,” Moore lay down as well. “It’s just a brat like Daryl, you can’t…”

Moore was a little depressed. His younger brother's heart was starting to fall for someone else, which made him very, very unhappy.

He should have been tougher and forced Daryl to come with him. These guys won't survive, especially that stupid girl. Good-natured people die the fastest, and this camp is full of them.

Moor turned away in frustration. Damn camp, damn strong woman.

Daryl's feelings were also complicated. He had long been used to relying on Moore for survival, but now, what did this mean?

Is he going to leave? To watch Lina stay behind, follow these people, and die somewhere he doesn't know?

He didn't know.

Damn Mole.

*

The next morning, Lina was awakened by Daryl's knocking on the door. He took care of Lina like a dutiful caregiver.

No wonder Mor called her Dalia, she's so sweet.

Lina looked at Daryl, who was carrying her out of the bathroom, and suddenly leaned forward to kiss his cheek.

Daryl paused, looking at Lina somewhat awkwardly. "What?"

"I just think you're so cute," Lina said matter-of-factly.

"Shut up." Daryl glared at Lina (in Lina's eyes) with a shy and timid look, placed Lina on the bed, and then sat quietly on the edge of the bed.

"What's wrong?" Lina asked Daryl curiously. "Are you in a bad mood? Why?"

Daryl glanced at Lina silently. "I," he paused, "am fine."

Lena looked at Daryl with confusion, but Daryl seemed unwilling to talk about it, so Lena could only mutter under her breath, "A secret makes a man man."

Daryl glared at Lina, who then made a playful face.

Daryl looked at Lina and suddenly relaxed. Anyway, he wasn't leaving now, and he could deal with the future later. If... he would take Lina with him, if she wanted to.

"I think I can walk around tomorrow, what do you think?" Lina tentatively moved her legs. As long as the wound doesn't tear open, her injury isn't too serious, at least not serious enough to keep her in bed all day!

She was so fed up with spending all her time in bed!

Good heavens, she's actually starting to complain about the bed!

“You can take it slow,” Daryl said, frowning. She was also feeling uncomfortable being confined like this. “Would you like to go outside and get some sun?” Daryl asked.

"Okay." As long as she's not confined to the house! Anywhere is fine!

The barn won't do!

Daryl picked up Lina; damn it, she was such a tiny little thing, and this injury made her look even smaller.

Daryl carried Lena to the doorway. He remembered there was a recliner there. "Hehehe," Lena whispered, tugging at Daryl's clothes and gesturing for him to look at Glenn and Maggie at the door.

"11? 11 minutes? One per minute on average?" Lina looked up at Daryl.

Daryl paused. "That's too short."

“Hmm—” Lina hissed, “We should get some deer antler velvet or something for Glenn to nourish him.”

"...Let's talk about this again when you're better," Daryl said, somewhat speechless.

As Glenn watched Maggie leave, he turned around and was terrified by the two pairs of eyes at the door.

“Hi—” Glenn smiled stiffly, “You guys…”

Lina shook her head regretfully, "Oppa, endurance is very important."

Daryl glanced down at Lina, wondering if she even knew what she was saying.

Glenn felt like he was going to vomit, looking at Lina and Daryl in despair.

"Don't worry, we're the most discreet people, right?" Lina nudged Daryl, who reluctantly nodded in agreement.

Glenn wandered absentmindedly away from the doorway, while Daryl placed Lina on the rocking chair and sat down on the other side.

Lena picked up the guitar Glenn had left behind and started strumming it casually.

The song she knew was simple, "You are my sunshine," Lina hummed softly.

But she only tugged at it a couple of times before putting it down; her shoulders weren't strong enough to support such reckless exertion.

Glenn, who was halfway there, suddenly stopped. Wait, what just happened? Lina and Daryl... um? Uh?!

Glenn, with his incredibly slow reaction time, finally realized that the atmosphere between Daryl and Lena was no longer the camp friendship he had previously thought.

No wonder Daryl was so flustered that day; he thought it was because Daryl was kind-hearted.

Glenn clutched his head in pain.

Daryl and Lina basked in the sun, gazing at the lush green pastures outside, leisurely swaying in their rocking chairs as the breeze blew.

They were looking at the scenery, and someone was looking at them.

Amy, carrying food, walked past the side of the house. She cautiously approached and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Ugh!" Amy was covered in the mouth and pressed against the side of the room.

"What's wrong, Daryl?" Emily heard Lina's voice.

“No, it’s nothing,” Daryl said, looking around the house with a puzzled expression.

Moore released his hand from Amy's mouth. "Shh!"

Amy picked up the fallen potato, somewhat speechless. "You're acting like a freak right now. Daryl and Lena are fine, can't you do something else?"

“Shut up,” Moore glared at Amy, he was in a very bad mood!

Amy got angry too. She stomped on Moore's foot and turned away angrily.

Morley ignored him and continued to peek from the side of the room.

Amy took a couple of steps and turned back. Seeing Moore's expression, she became even angrier. "Hey! Moore, why don't you go and help check the farm fence!" Amy shouted deliberately.

Moore stared at Amy with a deathly gaze. Amy sneered, gave him the middle finger, and turned away.

Daryl rolled his eyes; no wonder he felt something was off.

"Moll?" Lina raised an eyebrow at Daryl. "What's wrong?"

"It's okay, don't worry about him." Daryl pursed his lips. Mor still wanted to leave.

“Oh—” Lina nodded thoughtfully, “He wouldn’t want you to leave with him, would he?”

Daryl was silent for a moment. “Yes.” He didn’t deny it; it was true.

"Are you going with him?" Lina asked Daryl cautiously.

“I don’t know,” Daryl said honestly.

“…I want you to stay,” Lina said, sounding unhappy.

“…I want you to come with me,” Daryl also offered his opinion.

The two of them silently gazed at the scenery before them, their moods quite different from before.

*

"Hey! Girl, what's wrong with you?" Moore grabbed Amy and angrily cornered her under the tree.

"What's it to you?" Amy glared at Moore and slipped out from under his arm.

"Hey!" Moore grabbed Amy. "You better not cause me any trouble, you hear?"

"Making trouble?" Amy sneered. "You're looking at Daryl like a freak. What? What are you trying to do? He doesn't want to go with you, does he?"

“What do you know? It’s all bullshit! That’s my brother, he’ll definitely come with me,” Moore said angrily.

“Bullshit! You know he won’t,” Amy said, staring unyieldingly at Moore. “You’re scared, coward, you’re afraid to stay, you… um…”

Moore chose the simplest and most direct way to silence Amy: a kiss, a fierce, emotionless kiss.

"Oh shit!" Moore clutched his crotch and curled up like a shrimp.

The kind that's perfectly ripe.

Amy put her foot down, wiped her mouth with her hand, and said, "Get away!"

Moore wailed and looked at Amy speechlessly, "You weren't like this that night!"

Amy turned her back to him and gave him the middle finger.

Ouch—that hurts. Moll grimaced as he went into the tent.

Dale, who was on lookout duty, lowered his scope in disbelief.

Fortunately, Andrea didn't see it.

Hey, Dell!

Dale jumped in surprise and looked awkwardly at Andrea under the RV. "Hey, Andrea, what's up?"

“Can I stand guard? Please, I want to do something,” Andrea said.

Dale hesitated, afraid that Andrea would see something she shouldn't see—it would be the end of the world, or rather, it already was.

"Well, okay." Seeing Andrea's pleading expression, Dale couldn't bring himself to refuse and let Andrea come up.

As dusk approached, Lina heard a commotion outside. Daryl wasn't there; he had gone hunting with Moore that afternoon.

But Lina felt that he was just running away, running away from the problems between the two of them.

To stay or to leave.

Lena propped herself up on the bed and slowly moved to the doorway. Maggie and Herschel seemed to be arguing.

"Hey! Why do you always fidget?" Maggie turned around and looked at Lina helplessly.

"Sorry, I just couldn't stand it anymore," Lina looked at Maggie pitifully. Maggie looked at Lina for a while and then sighed helplessly, "Okay, okay, come here."

Even so, she still went to Lina's side and helped Lina to sit down in the restaurant, which was the liveliest place.

Lina sat to the side watching everyone, and when she had nothing to do, she even helped peel potatoes, though she was a little slow.

Despite the lively atmosphere, Lina looked out the window. Why hadn't Daryl returned yet? Had he and Mor had simply left?