ᴅᴇᴀᴅɢɪʀʟᴡᴀʟᴋɪɴɢᴡᴘ (On Hold)

Hope

Hannah woke early the next morning, sitting up and groggily taking in her surroundings. She frowned as she realised she was in Jacqui's tent instead of her own and then shuddered as she recalled the events of last night.

She heard low voices drawing closer to the tent and then Jacqui peeked her head through the opening. "Hey peach" she smiled, Hannah was unable to return the smile however. "I brought you a change of clothes, you wanna get dressed and come out?" Jacqui asked, handing her a small pile of folded clothes. She nodded in response and Jacqui waited outside the tent to give her some privacy. Hannah looked down and saw she was still covered in blood and gross walker gunk from last night and tried to change as quickly as possible. Once she was in clean clothes she breathed a sigh of relief, her hands and face were still dirty but there wasn't much she could do about that just now, so she took a deep breath and stepped out of the tent to face what remained of their temporary home.

It seemed that all of the bodies had been wrapped in sheets and piled in a mass grave on the outside of camp. Hannah's nose wrinkled in disgust as the scent of rotting flesh and blood still lingered in the air. She was about to join Jacqui and Dale who were talking next to the RV when Lori called her over. Hannah went to sit next to her beside the Grimes' tent where Lori had a bucket of water and a relatively clean looking flannel cloth. "Let's clean you up a bit before breakfast huh" Lori said and dipped the cloth into the water, wringing it out and turning her upper body to face Hannah. She flinched at the feeling of the cloth on her skin, Lori noticed this and drew her hand back immediately. She was aware of the girl's past as Dale had told her the whole story of how he got sole custody of his granddaughter, and she didn't want to do anything to upset Hannah. "You ok? you can wash your face yourself if you like" Lori offered, handing her the cloth. She nervously took it and quickly wiped the grime from her face before passing it back to Lori. Hannah allowed Lori to gently clean her hands, which were still shaking due to the previous night. Lori was just about finished when she noticed something on tbe girl's skin. She looked closer and ran her thumb over what looked to be remnants of cigarette burns between her thumb and forefinger. She flinched and quickly drew her hand back, mumbling a thanks and darting away to Dale and Jacqui, leaving Lori sitting in shock next to her tent.

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Hannah made it her mission to avoid Lori for the rest of the morning, choosing instead to crawl into a corner of the RV with her favourite stack of books. Her solitude was briefly interrupted as a gunshot rang out across the camp, she peeked her head up to look out the window and spotted Andrea in the distance, holding Amy's body to her chest. Hannah sniffled and crawled back into the corner, trying desperately not to think about everyone they'd lost in such a short time. When Jacqui finally managed to drag her outside, she learned that Jim had been bit, Daryl was in a mood after learning that Merle was assumed to be dead and the group had collectively decided to head for the CDC, in hopes for finding a cure and helping Jim.

After packing up her own belongings into the RV, which didn't take long as she didn't own much, Hannah wandered around camp in search of something to do. Her eyes landed on Daryl, who stood at the edge of the camp, aggressively trying to shove his bike onto the back of his truck and failing miserably. She tentatively approached him and quietly cleared her throat, Daryl's head snapped in her direction and he grunted in annoyance. "What d'ya want lil pipsqueak?" Hannah's heart dropped at his words, she hated being called pipsqueak, it reminded her of her father but she didn't know how to explain this to Daryl. He must've already noticed the look on her face however, as he stopped what he was doing and knelt down next to the little girl, unsure of what to do next. "What's wrong huh?" he asked, instantly feeling ashamed as Hannah looked up and met his gaze with tears in her eyes. "I just um, I wanted- I wanted to see if you needed any help" She stuttered, struggling to keep her composure. "Yeah aight you can help me but what ya cryin' for?" Daryl responded, now almost panicking and wracking his brains for how to solve this. "I aint a pipsqueak, don't call me that" She replied, her voice wobbling but now with a slightly angry look on her face. Daryl noticed she was absent mindedly picking at the scars on her hands and instantly realised where he'd went wrong. "Shit" he muttered under his breath, "I'm uh, I'm sorry alrigh'? Look why don't you help me and throw ma stuff there into the truck?" he offered and received a small nod in response. He took a deep breath as he watched Hannah scurry off to throw his bag and crossbow into the cab of his truck. He finally managed to get his bike secure and slammed the tailgate shut, a thought crossed his mind as he spotted Hannah making her way back over to the RV. "Hey kid!" he shouted and she spun round and walked back over to him, dragging her feet nervously. "Wanna ride with me in the truck?" Hannah's face lit up at this but she tried her best to conceal it. "Really?" "Yeah, as long as your pops says it's alrigh'" Daryl replied, trying to contain his own smile at the girls excitement, all traces of sadness from the previous conversation now wiped from her face. She nodded furiously and sprinted back over to the rest of the group, Daryl chuckled and went to wait in the driver's seat.

"Woah woah what's all the excitement for?" Dale laughed as Hannah came bolting towards them and skidding to a halt, almost landing on the gravel in the process. Jacqui quickly caught her arm and steadied her, she leaned on her knees and caught her breath, now aware that she was being watched intently by everyone. "Can I ride with Daryl? Please? He said it was alright I promise" Hannah begged, looking at Dale with the biggest puppy eyes she could muster. "I don't think that's a good idea kid" Shane butted in, standing firmly with his hands on his hips. Dale simply shook his head and waved his hand in dismissal at this comment, "Sure, just be on your best behaviour and your always welcome to join us in the RV at any time OK?" "Thank you thank you thank you!" She squealed, sticking her tongue out at Shane and running to grab her bag from the RV before going back to join Daryl again.

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Hannah huffed and drummed her fingers on the door of the truck in boredom. "When are we gonna get goin?" she asked Daryl, who simply shrugged "Whenever these people get a damn move on" he replied, raising his voice towards the end to make sure the rest of the group could hear it. "He's right, we're losing daylight people" Rick announced and the group finally made a move to get going. Hannah watched in the side mirror as Morales and his family told everyone that they weren't going along and frowned, she wasn't that close to them to begin with but she knew there was strength in numbers. Everyone said their goodbyes and they finally got on the road.

Daryl and Hannah were contently sitting in silence for what seemed like the longest time, with only the sound of Daryl's music tapes and the rumbling of the truck to entertain them. Daryl noticed her nodding along to one of the songs and smirked, "Ya like this one?" he asked, making her jump slightly at the sudden break in the silence between them. "Yeah" she smiled. "Didn't take ya for a Nirvana fan kid" he chuckled. "Look at my t-shirt Daryl" she giggled and rolled her eyes sarcastically. It was only now that he spotted the Nirvana t-shirt she was wearing, "Damn ya got good taste" he was impressed that a ten year old kid's music taste was the same as his. The conversation fizzled out after this and they both sat in content silence once more. Daryl noticed Hannah's head start to drop a few times out the corner of his eye and glanced over to check on her, realising she was struggling to stay awake. "Go sleep if ya wan' it'll be a while till we get there anyhow" he told her. Hannah nodded at this and within minutes she was asleep, her head resting on the window and her legs tucked underneath her.

It was almost dark by the time they pulled up outside the CDC building. Hannah was still asleep, she had remained asleep all through the journey, including the group stopping to leave Jim behind and Daryl was unsure on whether to wake her or not. He grabbed their bags and his crossbow from beside her and made his way over to the passenger side door, slowly opening it so as not to disturb her. He slowly unbuckled her seatbelt and lifted her out, holding her on his hip as he attempted to close the truck door as silently as possible. Daryl made his way over to the group, her head now resting on his chest and both his bag, Hannah's bag and his crossbow hanging off his shoulders.

Hannah remained asleep as the group made their way towards the closed shutters, but was quickly jolted awake as Rick and Shane began to panic and argue as it got darker and walkers began appearing behind them. Everyone started making their way back towards their vehicles as Rick banged on the shutter doors and screamed towards the security camera. Hannah clung to Daryl's shirt in fear and he instinctively rubbed her back in response. Everyone was stuck on what to do next as their path back to the vehicles was blocked and Rick was still refusing to move. Their panic was interrupted however, as the shutter doors began to open and a bright light flooded the immediate area. Hannah squinted and hid her face in Daryl's shoulder as the group cautiously made their way through the doors.

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A/N -This is not proofread at all lemme just start there and it's not as long of a chapter as I would've liked but we're finally getting some more Hannah and Daryl scenes omg. I can't wait to see where their relationship goes and how much he helps her. They're so similar in so many ways and it's so fun to write them I stg. I'm not looking forward to the next chapter tho it's gonna be full of angst.