Different Worlds |Daryl Dixon Fan Fiction- The Walking Dead|

Two: A Family Reunited

               A huge scuffle broke out as Mattie and Otis pounced onto the huge body on top of me. "Release!" I huffed, sitting up and letting Tom pull me to my feet. I looked back around to see Mattie grumbling softly as she sat still, watching Barnie at my feet. Otis had his head laid on his paws, as if he had never moved.

I knelt down to Barnie's level, allowing him to give me a thousand kisses. He looked unfazed at the fact that two dogs, both slightly smaller than him, had just tackled him. In fact, he looked rather happy. Which was no surprise, this was his reaction every time I returned home. "Good boy!" I cooed, laying back so he could lay on me, resting his head on my chin.
"He does the same thing every time." Tom laughed, patting Mattie on the head.
"Since when has Barnie been able to go out on runs?" I asked, checking him over with my hands. Barnie seemed to have zero imperfections.
"A while after it started, I got into a tough spot out in the fields. He just jumped out of no where and took the thing down. All I had to do was bring my foot down on the fucker's head." My mom gave Tom a look, which said no swearing.
I got up, leaving Barnie to sniff Otis and Mattie. Barnie was a mix of a couple dogs; German Shepherd, Husky, and Great Dane, leaving him to look like a black and white Husky, with attributes of a German Shepherd, and almost as big as a Great Dane. His eyes blue like a Husky's, but one with a patch of brown.
"We leave for hardly a day, and we miss something exciting." I let Tom pull me into a strong hug, and hugged back as he continued talking. "While we sort through the stuff we just found, I want to hear everything." I nodded into his shoulder before pulling away.
"It's not much of a story." I told him what I'd told my father as we sat inside, but added in a bit more detail of my trip home. "I had to find places to stay occasionally, and I had to leave the truck behind to get fuel about five times. It was hard getting enough to feed all three of us, but I kept them first." I earned a look for that, but ignored it. "These guys get hungry, I don't need them trying to eat the corpses. I've already seen a couple dogs that do."
"How long were you on the road for?" Mom asked, and I tried to remember. I had no idea what day it was.
"Today is?"
"We're in April, now." Dad said, pointing at the calender.
"A few months, left Tulsa in late December when it started to warm up. I would've been here earlier, but there's just so many road blocks in between cities, and I had to take weeks off the road. I did meet a couple of others, but I didn't stay with them. They did help me, and I helped them, but they understood that I was heading somewhere." I explained. Everyone was gathered in the living room now, all settled on the couch. The sun was starting to drop bellow the horizon, and my dogs were half asleep.
"We're glad you're back, hon." Mom smiled.
"Me, too. I missed it around here. You're lucky you have power, I saw a couple of windmills on my way here and most looked broken." I looked out of the window at the large windmill, steadily turning in the breeze.
"This winter was a bit brutal, I'm surprised it didn't break off. But all the windmills you saw didn't have anyone caring for 'em." That was true. As Dad had said, most of the neighbors were gone.
"I'm gonna turn in, night everyone." Mom got to her feet and disappeared up the stairs.
"Night Momma!" I called after her. Tom's friend Jake looked like he'd already passed out, and Tom was slowly falling asleep.
"Do y'all have someone who stands watch?" I asked Dad. He snapped his attention from the window, and I assumed he must have been watching over the front yard.
"Yeah, it was supposed to be one o' these guys. I guess their trip tired 'em out." He let out a soft chuckle before grabbing Jake and putting him over his shoulder.
"Need some help?" I asked, looking worriedly at the stairs Dad had to climb.
"If you think you can, grab your brother." I saw his smirk as he said those words, he was joking around. However, Tom wasn't that big, just tall. He was mostly muscle, being a farmhand and contractor. I slid off of the couch and grabbed Tom slowly and urged him to wake up enough to climb onto my back.
"He's in his old room, yeah?" I puffed, fixing Tom on my back.
"Yep." I followed Dad up the steep stairs, almost falling backwards several times. Dad turned off into my room to deposit Jake, and I headed down the right of the hallway to put Tom to bed. I tucked him in and shut the door behind me.
"I'll take watch tonight, it wasn't that much of a drive today. I stopped last night at the Wilson's outside of town and slept in until well noon today." My dad looked at me for a solid minute before nodding.
"If you need anything, just send one of the dogs." I nodded before heading to the front door. I pulled on my boots and jacket, checking to make sure my gun was in it's holster and calling for Mattie to come with me. I let Otis stick back with Barnie, since both looked tired out.
I grabbed my baseball bat from the back of my S.U.V before heading towards the barn, which gave me a good view of most of the property. I picked up Mattie and pushed her butt until she was able to scramble onto the platform which had proper stairs to the loft. I climbed the ladder, then stairs, and followed her to the big window in the front that led out onto a small roof. Before walking onto the roof, I looked down into the heart of the barn. It was lined with stalls, three of them occupying a horse.
"Stay." I commanded Mattie, before leaning my baseball bat against a bale of hay and climbing down into the barn. I looked at the three horses, one was a palomino mare named Queen, another a solid chestnut brown stallion named Thunder, and the last a black stallion with white socks named Boot. Boot, being the youngest of the three, and Queen being the oldest. Queen belonged to my father and mother, Thunder being Tom's, leaving Boot to be mine.
"Hey, buddy." I smiled, stroking Boot's face. He snuffed, showing his appreciation. "I'll bring you out soon, alright?" I smiled, then turned back to climb the ladder. I heard Boot stomp, and couldn't help but smile. I'd named him for that reason, he was always kicking and stomping. Tom had named Thunder after the fact that he was loud, and Queen was the only mare we'd ever owned. Queen had had a filly with Thunder, however we sold her to someone in Georgia. A nice farmer with the last name Greene, he had a farm about the size of ours. He even had two daughters around my age, so we had a good time playing while our dads discussed the horse. I remember my dad saying he'd gotten a call from Mr.Greene, and they'd named the filly Nelly, like Nervous Nelly, because she was pretty skittish.
"How's it lookin'?" I asked Mattie as I sat on the roof. She gave a little grunt before settling down next to me, her ears perked high. The moon and stars were the only source of light. It was pretty calm, until a stray came wondering over the property. Mattie jumped up, her claws scratching on the tiles. "Sit." I hissed at her, causing her to plop down on her butt.
I watched as the Geek shuffled through the tall grass. I couldn't be sure what direction it was going for, it tended to zig-zag. Once the Geek made it past the majority of the field, I could tell now it was heading to the sounds of the cattle just across the fence. Of course, it didn't know that there was a fence in the way. "Go get 'em." I whispered to Mattie, and she tore off of the roof and to the stairs. I heard the thud of her paws as she landed onto the dirt, and watched as she streaked towards the unsuspecting thing.
I took my time getting off of the roof. I knew one Geek wouldn't stand a chance against Mattie, not to mention that she's immune anyways. I stretched out my arms as I jogged towards the scene, Mattie was running around in circles, confusing it. I readied my swing before getting a clean hit at the head. The whole head almost popped off, and the skull dented, most likely into the brain. With a cut off growl, it fell to the ground right in front of Mattie, who jumped back. "Good girl." I smiled, scratching her ears. I took a look around the yard before walking back to the barn.
"Grace, I can take it from here." I jumped at the sound of a voice. I turned around to see Jake on the porch, a shotgun and axe in his hands. Mattie began to grumble softly, but I just rubbed her head to reassure her.
"I just started not long ago, are you sure you don't want to sleep?" I asked, keeping my voice soft. It was so dark I couldn't see all of the fields, let alone if there was another one of those things nearby.
"The sun's going to rise in about an hour. You've been out all night, I think you're the one who needs a break." Jake chuckled, stepping down from the porch.
"Really? I- I guess I'll go in then. Thanks." I gave a small smile before walking towards the house. "Mattie, stay." I commanded, and she sat on the porch.
"Leaving your dog to watch over me?" Jake laughed, scanning Mattie.
"She's saved my life many times. Just in case something happens, say my name to her and she'll come after me. I can't promise she won't nap, though, it's been a long night." Jake nodded and made for the barn once more, then paused at the dead Geek. "Oh, and clean that up." I smirked, before turning to the house and walking inside. Jake was right, the sky outside had turned from black to blue, and the stars weren't as visible. I kicked off my boots by my bed and tugged off my uniform, then slipped on one of my dad's old shirts that fell to my mid-thigh. I plopped down onto the soft sheets, and sleep enveloped me within seconds.