Flip Side {Daryl Dixon}

{Steel Castles}

Hot air blasted across her shoulder, the sleepy woman laughing lightly at the feeling. Another warm draft swirled down her back, followed by a low rumbling sound that Daryl could never muster even in his most husked morning voice. Fear skittered down her spine as her eyes shot open to show the paneled inside of a stall wall. Warm skin bumped against her shoulder blade, whiskers poking and scratching at her skin as she twisted around at the waist to see what in the hell was sharing her sleeping space with her.

"Oh, it's just you." Eevee ran her fingernails over the horse's long nose, the big beast squinting in pleasure. "You scared the hell out of me, Bucephalus. You hungry or something?" The woman pushed to her feet and scooped up a large armful of the hay she had been sleeping on so she could toss it in the trough while she looked around for all the tack and supplies she could bring on their journey north. The western saddle still looked in good condition under the dust and shine-less leather, but the bridle was in poor condition. The thinner leather of the bridle had rotted through and the metal bit was beginning to discolor with rust.

"I'm not putting that in Bucephalus' mouth. I'm not risking making him sick halfway there. Maybe there's a bit-less bridle around here somewhere. Or I can just ride bareback, but that's a decrease in control on a horse with a significant size and weight advantage over me." Eevee mulled her options over as she lugged the heavy western saddle out onto a saw horse by the stall to be cleaned and properly checked for weak spots and breaks in the leather.

Scooping up the saddle soap and the scrub brush beside it, she dropped them down beside the saw horse before grabbing a bucket and filling it with the water from the spigot outside. It took some convincing, but after rubbing it between her hands for warmth she finally got the saddle soap to squeeze out a few ounces of clear liquid. Dropping in the scrub brush, she flaunted her hands around until the mix bubbled and she coated then brush with soapy water. Eevee started on the seat of the saddle and scrubbed in small circles until the bubbles formed into a thick lather. It took almost thirty minutes for her to clean the saddle off completely, the small woman struggling to move the water logged tack out into the sun to speed up its drying process. As it dried, Eevee found the halter for the big draft horse and slipped it over his head gently.

The metal shoes clacked against the concrete isle as she clipped the horse to the leads that kept him still in the isle so she could brush him down. Moving back to the tack room, she stared at the endless amount of brushed and scrubs that she had no clue what they were supposed to do. Eevee checked to see if there were any walkers hanging around before she took off for the house. Moving from room to room, she scoured the remnants of the previous owners belongings hoping to find a book she could skim through so she didn't hurt her new companion as she tried to brush him off. Spotting a book with exactly what she needed, she slid it off the shelf and flipped through the pages as she sped back to the barn. Propping the book open on the wall, she flipped to the needed pages just in case she had to recheck her work and got started.

First she used the pick-looking object to clean out the underside of his hoof around and arrow shaped "frog" of flesh. Once all four hooves were liked clean and moved out of the way so the dirt wouldn't get packed back in, she moved along to start combing out the mats and tangled in what the book called "feathers" of thick hair around their legs. Bit by bit, she cleaned and brushed the spotted equine until he was glossy and smooth.

"Look at you, a beautiful and handsome boy. I bet the saddle is dry now." She moved out to grab the saddle and saddle down the isle towards the horse, it's nostrils flaring wildly in excitement as it's dark eyes brightened in recognition at the sight of the tack she lugged along. "You're ready to get out of here too, aren't you?"

Moving from the cleaning chapters to the tacking up chapters, Eevee slowly managed to put the pieces together and twist the halter's lead rope around his head to create a makeshift bit-less bridle since she didn't find any in the tack room or the house. She lead the big draft beast out towards the door and closed it behind her. She wasn't sure why, maybe she wanted to leave someplace safe behind for Morgan should he come by this way or maybe she wanted to leave a safe place for someone to take a second to get a good nights rest like she did. Either way, the two were on the move.

It took a bit of shifting and experimenting, but after about ten minutes of getting a feel for the horse's gait and movement, Eevee was beginning to settle into a smooth and comfortable rhythm as Bucephalus moved over the terrain at a long-legged trot. They'll be in D.C. in no time at this rate. Stopping at noon, the two stood in the shade as the small woman went looking for a bucket of some sort to pour out some water for the draft horse.

"There's one!" Eevee waded out into the shallows of a nearby pond to reach for a floating pink plastic bucket she was pretty sure was meant for a little kid to make sandcastles with. Waves erupted as a walker burst from the murky waters and lunged to take a bite from her forearm. Loud snarling came to a sudden halt when she buried the hilt of her broken snake dagger into the back of its head, the corpse sinking back into the muddy depths it came from as she sighed and scooped up the bucket before anything else decided to try and make her into their next meal. Setting the bucket next to the steed, she poured out two of her mason jars of water for him as she sipped at the third. They were halfway through their water now, hopefully they find a source of water cleaner than that pond.

"That's enough rest for now." Eevee muttered as she picked up the empty bucket and tied it to the saddle for later when they stop for the night. It was a peaceful ride, given the imminent dangers of walkers and hostiles. From the highway they could see nothing but rolling hills as far as the eye could see, dotted and specked with walker herds and burnt shells of homes and buildings. Obelisks to a dead world peppered the landscape like gravestones.

It was a world she never belonged to anyways, so there was no love lost when she scanned over these remains. Leaning down, she lightly patted the gelding's neck as she gently nudged him to a quicker speed- the lolling hills skimming by as she moved him up into a ground-eating canter. She wanted to cover as much ground as possible before the sun went down and they were forced to stop and take shelter.

Loud rumbling made the woman yank back in the reins and pull the big horse to a quick stop. Two cars gunned around a corner and slammed to a stop a few feet away. Eevee slid her new staff from its place strapped to Bucephalus' saddle. She held it up and parallel with the ground in preparations to lob it at the strangers to give her a second to whip the big animal around and make a getaway. Two men stepped out of each car with their hands held up to show that they held no weapons and meant her no harm.

"Hello, weird sorry to scare you with how loud these cars are. That's a beautiful horse you have." Spoke the man from the first car,  her dark eyes turning down towards him with their lifeless gaze sending chills down his spine. She looked more like a machine than a human.

"His name is Bucephalus." He was shocked to hear such a songbird voice to emit from such a terrifying woman. "What do you want?"

"We've been looking for people. People like you that we can save. And protect." This came from the second man, a thinner and much more feminine person than his counterpart. He sounded nice. They both did. But nice people don't make it anymore.

"I don't need protection."

"Of course not, but you do need a home. And we can give it to you. You and Bucephalus both. There's more than enough room at the community." The last word stopped her words before they could escape and refuse their offer. A community? Are those still standing?

"Community?" They both nodded and smiled.

"Yes, we have steel walls reinforced with square rolled braces each standing over 15 feet tall. Nothing will ever harm you again when you're there. If you would like to follow us, we'll be outside the gates before the sun goes down. You can sleep in a real bed again, have a hot meal and a warm shower for the rest of your life." The horse heavily sighed like the sound of it all was a beautiful daydream. It'll be a good spot to get grounded and make her search for her family much more organized. She can't keep running.

"Where?" The two looked at each other before brightly smiling once more.

"It's called Alexandria."