I drive up next Daryl, Old Abe is at his other side, rolling down the window. Against my better judgement, I cut the music. M. Shadows voice is replaced with the chorus of moans and groans of the dead behind us. A bad feeling dances through my blood.
"That noise might be pulling half of the herd." I moan, hitting the handlebars in frustration.
Daryl ignores me, shouting frantically into his radio, "Rick!"
"I'm here." Rick's voice finally comes through. I bring my own walkie talkie close, listening intently.
"What's going on back there?" Daryl demands.
"Half of them broke off. They're going toward Alexandria." I fucking called it.
Cold fear slices my soul. Charlee. Wren. Kelly. Jordan. My family... "Again, what the fuck?" I peer over to Daryl and Abraham. "We have to go back." Daryl holds up his hand, telling me to wait.
"Towards you?" Abraham inquires.
Rick's tone comes again, "we ran ahead. There's a horn or something. Loud, coming from the east. It's not stopping."
"I'm gonna gas it up, turn back." Daryl grunts.
"We have it. You keep going."
"They're going to need our help." I chine in, radio close to my mouth. "I can't-"
"Gotta keep the herd moving." Rick orders, interrupting my worries.
"Not if it's going down, we don't." Daryl's face shows the discomfort we are all feeling.
"The rest of that herd turns around, the bad back there gets worse. Daryl?"
"Yeah, I heard ya." Daryl grumbles.
"I can run back on foot. Abe can take my bike." Panic sets my blood on fire, "Charlee and Kelly can handle themselves, but Wren..." I've seen what Charlee is capable of. Some bitch got froggy and decided to bully me in school. One day she took it too far. I got injured in one of her pranks. Charlee wiped the hallway floor with her. They both got suspended while I had to be rushed to the nurse's office. Like her brother, she knows how to handle any type of combat. Like me, she's not someone to underestimate.
Daryl shakes his head, "Nah, you're stayin' with me. I need ya. Jordan's ex-military, I'm sure he's keepin' his girl safe." Like what he's trying to do, I realize. I cock my head at him. He knows I can hold my own. Though, I remember, we have a herd between us and home. I might not make it on foot. He faces our friends, "Hey, we gone five miles out yet?"
"Give or take some yardage. You got a reason for asking?" Abraham narrows his light blue eyes at the redneck.
"Next intersection we're gonna spin around and go back."
"The plan is to go fifteen more." Sasha barks.
"Yeah, I'm gonna change that. Five's gonna have to work." Daryl argues.
Abe's eyes widen, watching him. "The magic number's twenty. That's the mission. That's making sure they're off munching on infirm raccoons the rest of their undead lives instead of any of us."
Sasha sighs. "You want to go; we can't stop you. But without you or Vanessa, they could stop us." She gestures to the party trailing after us.
His beautiful Georgian blue eyes find me after considering the weight of her words, I nod without hesitating. "Nah, I got faith in ya." Their shouts follow us as we speed off, veering into the intersection.
Charlee and Kelly are somewhere with Rick and company. Knowing that the back half of the herd broke off, my heart sinks; they are in danger. Wren is back home. God knows what is going on back there. This shitshow just went from bad to worse. I need to get to them. Daryl knows me well enough that he's trying to get me back to them.
Rick's voice comes in after a few minutes. "There's gunfire coming from back home. We gotta sit with it and hope they can handle it. I think they can. They have to. We keep going forward for them. Can't turn back 'cause we're afraid. We ain't afraid. This is for them. Going back now before it's done, that'd be for us. The herd has to be almost here." The sounds of a gun firing off rounds come through the static. Swearing, we pull over while Daryl tries to get his attention. I hang my head, weighing the options laid out in front of me. I park my bike, walking up to my archer.
Coming to a resolve, "Babe." Daryl's blue eyes find me, a frown etches into his stressed face. I tuck a strand of hair behind his ear. "Rick's right. Let's go find Sasha and Abe. They need us. We need to finish what we started, or this half could find its way to our home." I bring my hand to his face, "I promise, I'll stay with you every step of the way. I need to trust Kells and Char made it to back to Wren and the rest of our family." He leans into my touch, dragging me into an embrace. "While you were out with Aaron, Abe told me I need to stop trying to protect everyone when some things are out of my control. I think it's time we both listen to that giant redhead."
He nods. His eyes travel my face as his mouth crashes into mine. "Right. We have to play this right." I take a moment to enjoy the feeling of home I get from being in his arms. I don't remember a time his arms didn't feel like that. I pull away, stalking back to my bike.
After a long, grueling ride, we make it to mile marker 642. We finally fucking made it twenty miles. I turn the music off. Now, it's time to put distance between us and the herd. Rounding the corner to head back home, I pick up speed only for us to be met with a hail of bullets. I duck, maneuvering in a zigzag, trying to make it to safety. "What in the fuck is this shit?" I snarl. My eyes find Daryl, swearing, realizing that he's down. I pull out in front of the cars, giving him enough time while he jumps back on his bike. Spotting a car trailing after Sasha and Abraham while two more follow us, I let out a string of very creative curses. As if things couldn't get any worse, they just did as we drive into a small group of walkers. Startled by the sudden appearance, I collide into a stranded car, I'm tossed off my own bike. Fuck, I loved that damned thing. I groan, feeling blood trickle down my leg. Daryl loops around, gesturing for me to get on. I follow his direction, wrapping my arms around his middle.
We veer off onto another side road, leading the cars away from Sasha and Abraham. We pull off into the woods together, losing our tail. For good, I hope.
I groan in frustration as his bike begins to sputter, throwing both of us off. I land on top of him. He wraps his arms around me, his hand finding itself in my hair. We lay there for a second, before getting up. We start to hick his bike through the mud. Luck being nowhere to be found, I'm limping from my own bike falling on me, not offering as much help as I had hoped to. He trips on a rock, bringing both him and the bike back down. He stalks out of the shrubby, trying to radio Sasha. Still not finding a fucking break, I kick the rock that took down the archer. I saunter my way over to him.
"Dare, your arm." I murmur. I reach for his hand, carefully peeling his glove off. Realizing it goes up higher, I help take his coat off. I pull off my red scarf, shredding it. I stalk back to the bike, finding a bottle of a water. I return to Daryl as I pour the water over the wound before I wrap it. "Once we get home, I'll take care of it the right way."
Branches snapping drags our attention away. He grabs his crossbow while pulling a fallen tree limb over the motorcycle, keeping it out of view from any onlookers. I take out one of my guns, watching the world around us. I follow his lead as we stalk towards the sound.
Two women, one with dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, and another with a short blonde pixie cut, come into view with their arms up. I keep my gun trained on them.
"You found us, okay? Here we are!" The brunette shouts in fear. "We earned what we took!"
The fuck? I turn at the sound of something or someone lurking behind us. Bad idea. The world around me fades to black as something connects to my skull.
"Hey, get up!" A rough voice pulls at my attention as I regain consciousness. I groan, glancing around, trying to get my bearings. A man with blonde hair and hazel eyes is staring down Daryl and me, holding my archer at gun point while the brunette does the same with me. When I try to get closer to Daryl, I realize my hands are bound in front of me. I frown. That's a new one for me. "We're moving. Here's the deal. You don't say shit and I don't kill you."
My eyes flick between the man and Daryl. This trio believes he is the biggest threat. I decide I'm going to use that to my own advantage to get us out of this. I return my glare to the bitch in front of me.
"I aint who you think." Daryl grunts. The sound of the hammer clicking sends my body into a frenzy. I would never hesitate to save him; give up my life for his.
"Don't fucking move." The brunette snarls at me, hoisting me up. "Just follow us."
"Don't fucking touch me, cunt." I seethe. "My two feet work just fine."
She snorts. "You're limping."
"It's better than your grimy ass hands on me."
I fall in line with Daryl, not wanting any distance between us. I watch the women in front us while simultaneously being hyperaware of the man behind us. I ignore the conversation between the four of them. I just want to get free, head home, and check on my family. I realize they still believe I'm harmless enough, despite my mouth running away from me. I smirk. I'm going to sit and find my opening.
"Yall don't think you're being stupid now?" Daryl quietly inquires. I limp to his side, keeping my eyes on the man who has the gun pointed back at him.
"Are you saying I should kill you? I mean it, are you gonna try and pull something on us? Are we just being thick here by not removing all doubt? Right now, by me not pulling this trigger, is that a mistake? I'm serious. I really wanna know. You made a choice to kill for someone else, to have them own you for a roof over your head and three squares, so maybe I'm not considering all aspects here. You tell me, am I being stupid?" The male sneers in Daryl's direction.
"No." I growl. "Look, we have somewhere to be. People that need us. We can make a deal, and we will help you." That man's eyes find me, scrutinizing me. I cock my head at him, staring him down. I feel the scowl etch itself into my face.
He shakes his head. "You're one of them. You're both hurt and alone and you'd say anything. We should've never trusted you people to begin with. Go on. Keep moving."
"One of who?" I whisper to Daryl. Growing frustrated with these lunatics, I glance around, trying to find an opening to escape. Luck finds me as the blonde girl collapses. Daryl grabs our bag, and we dash off into the woods. Once we are safe enough distance away, he tears off his ropes before ripping mine off. Fuck, "that girl needs that." I gesture to the box of insulin. "I can't leave her without it."
I rummage around in the bag, hiding my knives inside the hem of my pants. If we find these people, I realize there's a chance they will take my guns, but not my knives if they don't see them on my person. They don't seem smart enough to do a pat down. Daryl watches me, understanding in his pretty face of the precautions I'm taking. We cannot be left unarmed.
He hasn't seen what Kelly has taught me in his absence. I'm hoping we won't need to put his training to the test, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.
"I know." He groans, "that's part of why I fell for ya. You do things for others even if they ain't deserve it. I remember that ya found me in the woods, puttin' up with my shit, just to make sure Hershel could put me back together. Ya ain't even know me, and I ain't gave you a reason to care, I was mean to ya, but ya did. That's when I realized ya were goin' to mean more to me than I ever dreamed." We stalk off, looking for our kidnappers to return their medicine. "My feelings for ya are much deeper than I think ya realize. I meant what I said, I ain't ever lettin' ya go. I waited too long to make ya mine."
He wraps his arm around my waist. My right arm hooks around his shoulder, so he doesn't have to help support my full weight. Though it doesn't take us long to discover the trio of lunatics.
Daryl barks, "drop the gun!" He aims his crossbow at the man. Taking his lead, I train my gun on the brunette. "Give it to me." The stranger follows Daryl's orders. "We came all this way. What you got for the duffel? You put us through too much shit just to give it back. Principle of the thing. What you got besides this gun?"
"Just give it to them, she's sick." I shake my head. "I want to get home." He nods, tossing the bag at their feet. We start the trek back to find our friends. I groan as the sound of a vehicle barrels through the forest. I spin on my heels, glancing around. "Someone's crashed the party."
"Let's end this." A new voice echoes into the air. A bad feeling creeps along my spine.
"Fuck, we have to help them, Dare." I take off without waiting for him. I spot the group. I limp over, motioning for them to follow us. Daryl helps support the blonde woman, while the man wraps his arms around me. We find safety behind a tree. I watch with bated breath as Daryl shakes some leaves. Soon, one of the strangers gets tangled into the trap, getting bit by a walker. Our unwanted company decides to take a leave after chopping off the arm, trying to save the big man from succumbing to the infection.
"We thought you were with them. We knock you over the head, tie you up, threaten to kill you... why the hell did you come back?" The blonde man faces us.
"Maybe we are stupid, too." I offer.
After narrowly escaping the strangers undetected, Daryl and I listen closely as Dwight and Sherry, the brunette, recount memories of how they had liberated themselves from a place that forces everyone to kneel and comply with some janky ass rules under one man's reign of terror. I shake my head, not comfortable with the idea of this community. Though the fun doesn't end there, we all watched in horror as Honey gets bitten by a walker. She mentioned something about it being their fault. Realization dawns on me, my blue eyes sweep the area, finally seeing that it looks like a bomb went off. The whole place is charred and burnt to all hell.
Daryl peers over at Dwight while helping him bury their fallen friend. I sit next to Sherry, observing the men work. I chew on my bottom lip, still not trusting these two new people. "I'm from a place where people are still like they were.; more or less, better or worse. I can walk it from here. Till we meet up with my friends. They got a car. You can ride with them." Daryl's eyes find Dwight.
Once the mission is complete, we walk in tandem to where my archer had hidden his bike. Daryl helps support me as I limp along with everyone. Though, I offer my assistance, helping Daryl uncover his bike
"How many friends you say there were?" Dwight questions. Swearing, the bad feeling returns. I glance over my shoulder, not wanting to take these two with us. But this was Daryl's call. Not mine.
Daryl shakes his head. "I didn't. There's two of 'em."
"Where are they?"
"We're going to find out." I shrug. I hope.
"How do you know they even got away? That they didn't get taken?" Doubt drips into Dwight's words.
"We don't." Daryl growls.
The gun cocks while we have our backs on these people. I let out a stream of curses, we spin around, I raise and aim my gun, frowning. Dwight fires a warning shot behind us. I refuse to duck as red clouds my vision.
Dwight and his wife demand that we hand over our weapons. Unwilling to comply, but also, not wanting to put my boyfriend into further danger, I kick my gun over while Daryl helplessly hands his crossbow over. "Pussy." I snarl. "Going back to kneel to Hitler Jr."
"I'm sorry." Sherry offers.
"Sure, you are." I snort.
"You're gonna be." Daryl grunts.
Out of anger, I toss my knife, watching it lodge into Dwight's leg. "I still got my other one." I whisper, gripping Daryl's hand. "Let's go find our friends. I could use a drink."
His wide eyes find me realizing I'm the scary one. I smirk, waving. Remember me, cunt, because I'm death and I will be coming for you.
Upon our hike out of the woods, we had discovered a truck hidden behind from fall limbs. Finally, luck holding out, Daryl drives it back, my head falls on his shoulder, following the bread combs our friends had left for us. They rush out of the building, meeting us at the truck. I jump out of the massive vehicle, coming around the front.
"Hey, little Blue - I patched your bike up, good as new." Abraham smiles, gesturing to my baby.
"I could fucking kiss you, you big old redhead." I grin.
Sasha chuckles. "Good, because there doesn't seem to be room for four in the truck."
"Not a problem. I need some alone time with my girl here." I rub my hand along my motorcycle, winking.
Daryl shakes his head. "Let's go home." He places a kiss atop my head. "Drive safe and close, got it?"