The Next World

Chapter 16

Two months later...

We had rebuilt the wall that the clock tower had collapsed on. Removed the broken tower and started to work on a new one. The expansion was almost finished. Deanna would have been proud. Rick had told me everything that had happened while I was out looking for Enid. I had begged him to. It was hard when it came to talking about Jessie. He really liked her. But as time went on, he started to heal. He finally came to a point where he was okay. Carl was moody the first month after the incident. It was tough for him to get used to seeing out one eye. I encouraged him to give it his all. I was grateful to be there for him. He needed us more than he ever had. And we were all there for him. We assured him of this. He was slowly going back to his old self again. Daryl had told me about how he, Sasha, and Abraham had gotten split up. How he ran into a man and two girls who held him hostage in a burnt forest. They had stolen his bike and crossbow. On their way back, they came across these group of guys who mentioned the name 'Negan'. He told me that one of them had cut him. But they got blown to hell. That RPG had come in handy for a second time. After hearing all of this, I was so thankful to have the three of them back. We hadn't been going out as much. With rebuilding the wall and cleaning up the streets, we were too busy to go out. But now, we were finally ready to start going out again. We were lucky to have the food last us these two months. But we were running low. Rick and Daryl were going on the first run today. I wrapped my arm around Daryl as I slowly started to wake up.

"Hey," he whispered rubbing my shoulder.

I opened my eyes and grabbed hold of his hand.

"Morning," I said watching as our fingers intertwined naturally.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. Just...it's the first run and you and Rick are going," I said.

"You don't want us to go?" he asked.

"No. You have to. The kids need the food. I just worry. Two months is a long time. Who knows what's out there. I wouldn't want you running into someone like the guy who took you hostage or some damn biker group who demands your shit," I said.

"Look at me," he said.

I looked up at him.

"We've made it this far. Ain't no way we gonna let anyone take that from us," he said.

I reached up to him and gave him a kiss.

"All right. We better get dressed then, huh?" I asked.

"Guess so," he replied.

"Okay, fine," I said unconvincingly.

We got up and helped each other get dressed. Michonne had just gotten out of the shower.

"Morning," I said.

"Morning. How'd you two sleep?" she asked us.

"Good. Could've had more if this guy hadn't kept persisting we roll around on top of each other all night," I said teasingly pointing to Daryl.

She chuckled.

"Right. I was the one who wanted that," he said.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Rick said coming out of his room, clipping his watch on.

Carl had been throwing a ball against the wall in his room. I was glad he hadn't heard any of that.

"I was just teasing, Rick," I said.

"Yeah. Right," he said looking between Daryl and me.

"I kinda want something to eat," Daryl leaned in and said.

"Me too. Come on. We'll see you down there, Rick," I said, quickly taking Daryl's hand and heading downstairs.

"You gonna tell him that you weren't teasing?" Daryl asked once we got to the kitchen.

"He probably suspects already. He knows that I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it," I said looking over at him and smirking.

"Yeah well, you ain't the one who's going with him today," he said.

I grabbed some cereal and served us a bowl.

"An awkward ride that I'm glad I'm not having," I said.

He nudged my shoulder.

"What? He should be fine with our relationship by now. He did say that he was okay with it when we first started this thing," I said.

"Yeah. Still awkward though," he said taking a spoonful of cereal.

"It shouldn't be. The two of you are like brothers. He just likes to tease us. That's all," I retorted taking a bite of cereal myself.

"Whatever you say," he said.

We finished our breakfast.

"Come on," he said taking my hand.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Gotta help me pack some shit," he replied.

"Fine, bossy," I said.

"Let me just grab a bag and we'll go to the armory," he said.

"All right. I'll wait here," I said.

He kissed my cheek and went back upstairs. A few minutes later he came down and we took off to the armory. He packed two guns.

"You miss your crossbow?" I asked him.

"Not really. Just feels kind of off not having it," he replied.

"Well, I miss it," I said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because it made you look sexy," I teased.

He scoffed.

"That so?" he continued.

"Yeah. I mean, a man that can make a crossbow look good, that's hard to find. And I do believe that is what initially attracted me to you," I teased again.

"Shut up," he said.

"It's true. The way you'd reload one of the arrows and how your muscles flexed..." I started.

"Why I outta," he said cutting me off by picking me up and carrying me out.

"Daryl. Put me down," I said once we were out of the armory.

"Not til you call bullshit on what you just said," he retorted.

"Geez. Fine. Bullshit. Now put me down," I said.

He did as I asked. I laughed and slapped his arm.

"Of course it was bullshit," I said.

"I know. Just needed to hear you admit it," he said.

"Jerk," I said.

"Love you," he said leaning in and kissing me.

"Love you more," I said wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Now let's find Denise. Gotta ask her some questions bout the list she gave me yesterday," he said as we parted.

"Okay...damn. He goes on his first run in two months and suddenly becomes bossy," I said jokingly.

He wrapped his arm around my neck and kissed my cheek. We headed down the street.