Blood Soaked Arrows (On Hold)

(22) Finding the Will to Leave

The moment my lips touched his dry hard ones my stomach twisted into tight knots and a rush of heat surged right through it. My skin tingled with sparks of electricity and a moan rumbled in the back of my throat. I used my hands on his back as leverage and lifted myself up higher and pressed my lips harder against his.

Daryl’s hands were still gripping my shoulder in a mid-shove but the power behind it was delayed. The heat of his body, the hardness of his back all made my body heat up with desire but no matter how tightly I pressed myself against him or how deeply I kissed him he stood still. I felt the pain of rejection coil in my chest as the heat from my body began to flicker. My body slowly began to lower its self away from him with a deep form of depression that was indescribable.

The tears that had been streaming down my cheeks dried, as if they had given up on displaying how torn apart I was. Daryl was going to leave me, just like Dr. Candace, the other doctors at the CDC, and Adam had. He was going to leave to kill Bryan and I was going to be all alone again. Knowing that this was going to be our last moment together I let my lips linger over his for as long as possible but the heat that I had felt had gone cold.

A sob was caught in my throat as I pulled away, our lips slipped apart as my feet flattened themselves to the floor. My lower lip was trembling as it tried to hold back a whimper. I wanted to yell something nasty at him or cry again but before I could do anything Daryl’s hand slipped down from my shoulders until they reached the small of my back and then he yanked my body against his.

My chest slammed against his with such force that it knocked the wind right out of my lungs. Before I could even try gasping for air Daryl’s lips smashed against mine. In that instant the fire that had gone cold inside of me erupted into a blazing inferno. He didn’t give me time to think as his mouth moved over mine in a commanding way. He forced my lips apart with one thrust of his tongue and stole the last remaining breath from my lungs. His tongue ravaged my mouth, taking as much as he could, forcing me to bend to his will, and feeding the flames inside of me.

When he abruptly broke the kiss I felt all of my strength leave with it. My body sagged against his completely drained of energy but yet it was so warm that my skin was buzzing. My lungs sucked in air as if they hadn’t tasted it in days but no matter how much I took in I couldn’t seem to get enough.

Daryl’s hot breath blew against my face as he leaned his head down and rested his forehead against mine. At some point my fingers had found their way to his chest and I could feel his heart bounding against them. I gazed up at his eyes, the sky blue color of them had somehow morphed into a color that I only could describe as electric. Just looking into those eyes sent a volt of electricity coursing through my body and suddenly I had this urge to kiss him again.

Daryl’s grip tightened on me as he held me a little closer to him. “It’s time to go.”

I felt the fluttering in my stomach cease and my throat grew tight. “Daryl,” I whispered out in a crackly tone and tightened my grip on his shirt. “I’m not leaving without you.”

I felt his brow furrow against mine. “How far away did ya’ say they were?”

Leaning in a bit closer I soaked in his musky oily scent. “A block…probably less now-”

He jerked his body away from me and started heading back the way we had come. His large calloused hand was wrapped around my slender wrist as he dragged me around. I felt the tightness in my chest lighten a little bit as I stumbled after him. “Does this mean that you’re coming back with me?”

He ducked underneath the garage door and I quickly followed suit. As soon as we were outside his hand fell away from mine. “Didn’t really give me much of a choice.”

My heart was pounding against my chest. “Daryl,” I whispered his name and went to reach for him again.

His cold stare however stopped me dead in my tracks. I felt my throat grow tight when his hard stare caught mine. “We don’t have time for this shit right now.” He gestured a grease stained hand between us and then he bent down to the side of his bike and quickly started to screw something back in.

I folded my arms across my chest and frowned down at him. “What kind of shit are you talking about? The kiss? Or what it meant?”

He gave whatever tool he was using a hard turn and the screeching sound of metal made my teeth ache. “I said that we’ll talk about it later. Move some of that fucking shit around in the truck will ya’.”

I bit the bottom of my lip, trying to hold back my frustration and anger at him. I hadn’t been expecting him to be all happy and a completely changed person after we kissed but I didn’t think he would be so pissed about it either. However Daryl was right in that we didn’t have time to sort things out here. Bryan was closing in on us. So without further delay I climbed up the back end of the truck and moved some of the supplies around so that there would be room for the bike that we obviously weren’t leaving here without. “How are you going to get the bike in the bed?”

The tool that he was using clanked carelessly to the ground once he was finished. “There’s a metal sheet leaning against the building in the alley.”

The ends of my hair whipped against my cheek as I stacked some of the supplies on top of each other. “Will you be able to roll the bike up here on that?”

His picked up another tool that was carelessly laying on the ground and tweaked something else up on the bike. “It’s gonna have to work.”

My stomach turned uneasily at the whole situation. I was used to the feeling of being in danger, I mean who wasn’t in this damned reality, but right now it felt different. I wasn’t sure if it was because we were wasting time trying to load up Daryl’s bike or if it was just because Bryan and his crew weren’t very far away, but whatever the cause was for it this unsettling feeling didn’t sit well.

I slid the last box against the side of the truck’s bed then took a step back to examine my work. The boxes of supplies were stacked along the tall walls if the truck. With nothing to tie them down with the boxes were bond to move around once we hit the road again but for now there was enough room to get Daryl’s bike in. I hopped off of the back of the truck and quickly walked over to the alley way that Daryl had indicated for the metal sheet.

The alleyway between the shop and the hardware store was tight, probably no wider then Daryl’s shoulder length, but by going in sideways I was able to sneak in. The tight alleyway was dark, and held a moist moldy smell that the rest of the town didn’t have. It made my nose crinkle in displeasure and I quickly brought a hand up to try and mask the musk. Peering through the darkness I was able to see what Daryl had described as the metal sheet, once I got closer to it I realized that there was a slight problem with this thing; it was more rust then actual metal.

I let a groan settle in the back of my throat and knocked the back of my head against the moist brick wall beside me. I would be lucky to get that metal slab out of this alleyway without crumbling it to pieces much less hold up a motorcycle. I moved over to the stained red metal and grabbed ahold of it. Even if it did crumble and break on the way there Daryl would still want to at least try it out. The bumpy and brittle slab made an odd combination to the texture making it almost feel as if it was a piece of glued together woodchips instead of metal.

When I finally got the slab out into of the alleyway I turned to Daryl. “Is this the thing that you were talking about?”

He peeled his hands away from the oil pipe under his bike and wiped off the slick black liquid on his already stained jeans before looking over to me. I could tell by the way his eyes narrowed and nose scrunched that he hadn’t expected the metal to be so corroded. He ran a black smeared hand through his dark hair and hissed out a curse. “Shit,”

“That’s what I said.” I smuggled replied and dragged the thing over to the edge of the truck.

By then Daryl was already standing beside me and I could feel the warm heat of his body inches away from mine. Almost instantly my palms became sweaty and my pulse was racing. My body yearned to have that brief moment of contact, to feel his hard skin pressing against mine, but I quickly knocked those wicked desires aside. I didn’t know how Daryl felt about the kiss first off and if he happened to have not liked it then touching him now would only make things worse. I let out a disappointed sigh and leaned my chin and little closer to my chest. This whole thing that had sparked between the two of us had better be dealt with soon because I was definitely already compromised.

“Are ya’ sure that this was the only metal slab in there?” Daryl’s rough voice snapped me back to reality.

“Ah,” I gave my head a little shake. “Of course I’m sure.”

“Damn,” He sighed and ruffled the back of his hair some more. “I didn’t think it was in this bad of shape.”

“Yeah well,” I leaned the slap over the back of the truck, creating a small ramp for the motorcycle. “It’s going to have to work Daryl because we don’t have time to look for anything else.”

As if on cue the yells and stomping feet of Bryan and his men came trampling around the corner of the end of the block. They all looked like figurine toy soldiers at this distance but that didn’t make them any less dangerous. I let out a loud curse as I turned back to Daryl. Daryl frowned at the men as they took aim and I could see the anger flash behind his eyes. He didn’t want to be here with me right now and I knew it, he wanted to be off in a hiding place somewhere with his crossbow taking those motherfuckers out.

“Daryl,” I yelled his name like a curse and watched as his blue eyes slowly turned to mine. “We need to leave.”

His hands shook by his side as he looked between me and Bryan and his men. Each time he turned his head back to the group of men his face became a little more heated until suddenly his whole body was shaking. Then suddenly he let out a roar of frustration and hiked his crossbow over his shoulder before rushing over to his bike.

“Hold the ramp in place.” He commanded curtly as he wheeled his bike over.

I tossed my own gun into the back of the truck and quickly did as he commanded. The weak metal groaned underneath the added weight of Daryl’s bike as he wheeled it up. The cracked rusty metal pierced into my skin as I held it in place and I could feel small splinters break off in the padding of my hand.

“I’m not a coward.” Daryl grunted as he pushed the rest of his bike onto the back of the truck.

I let the metal fall to the ground and quickly closed the door to the back. “I never said you were.”

“Ya’ were thinking it,” He spat as he stood next to his bike in the back.

I looked up at him with a confused expression. “You’re a lot of things Daryl, stubborn, ridiculous, strong, but cowardice is not one of them.” I looked back at the men that were getting closer by the second. “We might be running away now but don’t worry, we’ll get another chance at them I promise.”

“Which one is him?” He asked with a hard icy voice.

I let out a sigh but pointed him out anyway. “The one in the middle with the rifle and brown hair.”

“That’s Bryan.”

I nodded. “Yea,”

“I’ll kill him.”

“Only if I don’t get to him first.” I whispered to him before making my way over to the driver’s side. As soon as I was settled into the car bullets started to fly. Through the side mirrors I could see the bullets fall short and blast into the ground next to the truck. They were well in range for their guns but still couldn’t hit their marks. I couldn’t help but smile a little at that.

“Ya’ getting in here or what?” I yelled back to Daryl as I shifted the truck into gear.

Through the rear view mirror I watched as he spun his cross bow around from his back and took aim at the group. “Naw, I think I’m fine right here.” The arrow flew from his bow and hit the gun next to Bryan right between the eyes. Daryl let out a little curse at missing his intended target and drew back another arrow.

The splinters of rusty metal pinched my hands when I tightened them around the steering wheel. “The wind is to strong right now Daryl, you’ll never hit him like this.”

He let out a curse before strapping his crossbow back onto his back and then climbing into the passenger’s seat by using the open window. When he was settled into the seat and he looked over at me with a frown. “It was still worth a try.”

I rolled my eyes at him as I drove out of the deserted town and started heading back to our group. “Yeah I know.”