This chapter is dedicated to my very good friend on Wattpad, Cori_twd_1d. So everyone, pls follow her and read her brilliam walking dead fanfic xx
I stared at them, shocked. Then I spoke.
"What? No, I didn't. What does it mean?" I asked, confused. Could I somehow be the cure that Jenner said didn't exist?
Caleb scoffed. Cori just shot him a glare and smiled at me.
"It means that if you get bitten by a biter, you won't turn. You'll just get a really unattractive wound." She explained.
I nodded. "What if a walker tries to eat me? Do they blow up?" I was joking but Cori looked serious.
"Well, no. But this is the most weridest part. If someone is bitten, you can save them." She said.
I looked at her, shocked again. "So, are you sayin' that I'm the cure that seemingly doesn't exist?" I asked. Hell, wait 'till Daryl heard this.
To my disapointment, Cori shook her head. "No, sorry. Once someone has turned, that's it. No choice but to put a bullet in their head. It's only if someone's just been bitten." She said.
I nodded again. "Ok. So, how does that work exactly?" I asked. Even though I had a good interest and knowledge in science, medical science wasn't really my thing.
"Well, the imunity thing is in your blood. Basically all around the inside of your body. Like a shield in a way. So if someone's bitten, if you put a bit of blood on the wound, then the infection will be kind of cured." She explained.
I was relieved. I could save people if it came to it then. If Daryl was bitten, God forbid, I could save him. Then a thought pinged like a pinball in my mind. The group needed to know. Daryl needed to know. Why was Rick keeping secrets from us? Why had he kept this from me?
Cori saw the tense expresion on my face. "What's wrong?" She asked, concerned. Caleb looked at me curiously. I couldn't see Caleb concerned.
"Nothing. I just need to get back to the group. They need to know about this." I replied.
Cori looked stunned. Caleb just looked angry.
"You can't." Cori said, shaking her head sadly.
I looked at her, confused. "What? I can't go back? I need to! This cure doesn't change anything! My brother's probably tearing his hair out wondering where I am." I cried.
"No. You can go back. There's no problem with that. It's safer. This place isn't exactly biter-proof. What I meant was you can't tell them about what's in you." She said.
"Well, honey, no offence, but that plan's dead in the water 'cause my leader knows. Look, I'll be fine. No-one's got scientific knowledge but me. And I'm not going to go blabbering about it." I said, trying to keep calm. I couldn't keep something like this from Daryl. It was too important.
Cori, however, didn't look convinced. Caleb scoffed.
"Yeah, right." He scoffed again.
I shot him a death glare. "I won't, alright?" Ok, if there's anyone I will tell, it's Daryl. But that's 'cause he's my brother." I replied. I couldn't keep any more from him. It was damaging our relationship with each other. Not to mention, probably pissing the hell out of Dale.
But Cori still shook her head. "You can't even tell him. Look, you don't get how serious this is." She sighed.
"No, you don't get it. I would do anything to save Daryl. What if he gets bitten, not that he will, but it could happen. I could cure him. I can't just go and nick my wrist and putting my blood on his bite without telling him. He'd be wondering what the hell I'm taking." I argued.
"I'm sorry. But you can't tell him." Cori whispered sadly.
Now it was my turn to scoff. "Well, like I said Rick, our leader knows, so he's going to find out anyway so bang goes that theroy." I snapped, now annoyed.
Cori nodded, appearingly not fazed by my annoyed retort - or if she was, she didn't show it.
"You're right. It's better if your leader tells your brother and everyone. If you try to tell him yourself, he might find you crazy." She smiled kindly.
I couldn't argue with that. "Ok, you win. Thank you for fixing me and your hospitality but can I go now?" I asked.
They nodded. "Sure. We'll escort you there." Cori said. I noticed Caleb was smiling knowingly. Of course he had his heart set on setting up camp at the farm. I bit my lip suddenly doubting that Hershel would let them stay. For whatever reason Hershel and Rick had disappered couldn't have been a good one. Nothing good happened nowadays.
I nodded back and smiled. "Ok, thanks." I said. They smiled back and we made our way out of the house. Suddenly, a herd of walkers besieged us.
Weaponless, all three of us quickly jumped into the truck. Cori struggled to start it up but eventually managed to as Caleb and I rolled the windows up while hitting the walkers in the head with tennnis racquets that I had found on the floor by the back seat.
We sighed with relief, as we quickly sped away - well as quickly as a Chevy could go. We made sure that the walkers weren't following us to the farm. They weren't - they were clustered around the house trying to get in for some inane reason.
"Shit!" Caleb exclaimed. "Well, i guess we're defiantley crashing at your farm then if those are still around by the time we get back."
Cori braked the car so hard, I had to hang on to the back of Caleb's seat so tight in order to prevent being flung out the windshield. Luckilly Cori and Caleb had their belts on or they would have been walker takeaway in a few seconds.
"What did you just say, Caleb?" She asked, her brown eyes angry.
Caleb gulped. I'd never thought he'd be scared. It was kind of funny if Cori, for all her kindness, didn't have such a terrifying temper as she did now.
"Um, well, I kind of asked Angel here if her leader would mind if we joined the farm, ya know, like we talked about?" Caleb offered, hoping that Cori would see his point.
She didn't. She was seething. "ARE YOU CRAZY, CALEB! YOU DON'T JUST ASK A STRANGER IF WE CAN STAY WITH THEM!" She yelled. I was grateful that the windows were safley up or we would be in deep shit. Her voice would have attracted every walker in the whole country.
"Ok, Ok. I know. Don't have a cow, sis. Anyway, you were the one that said that we needed to move somewhere else because that house would be a deathtrap if a herd of those things invaded." Caleb retorted stubbornly. God, it reminded me of Daryl and I when we were both being stubborn.
"Yes, I know I said that, Cal. But I didn't mean ask a little kid who was nearly going to get chewed on when I found her. We don't know her. No offence, you're a great girl, but we can't take that risk, ok?" She said, turning to me and smiling apologetically.
Even though I was hurt at being called a "little kid", I smiled back kindly. "Hey, don't worry 'bout it. I understand, you got to be careful, I totally get that." But, look, I'm involved now. I can't turn my back on you guys and leave you stranded if the walkers are all over your house. It'll give me peace of mind if you come stay with us. I'll persuade Hershel somehow." I said.
Cori thought for a second, pursing her lips. Then she sighed. "Ok, we'll stay with you. If your leader agrees, that is."
I smiled and felt like cheering. But I held back. "That's great." I said.
Cori smiled. But Caleb was grimancing.
"That's brilliant, believe me. But the thing is we've left all the ammo and supplies at the house. So we'd be rubbish at helping defend the farm against walkers and camping." He said glumly.
I shrugged and my blue eyes locked with his dark brown ones in the rearview mirror. "That's no problem. We've got plenty of guns and supplies." I assured him.
He and Cori nodded. "Ok." He said.
Caleb was silent for the rest of the journey while I gave Cori directions to the farm. We soon arrived and she pulled up.
We got out and Caleb got the motorbike down for me. I collected my bow and sighed frustrated at the jammed string. Maybe Daryl would be able to fix it. I shook my head at that ridicolous thought. Yeah, right. Daryl was pissed off with me.
I led Cori and Caleb to the house where we were intercepted by no suprise Daryl. Unfortunatley, my predictions were right. Daryl was really pissed.
"Where the hell have you been, Angel? Rick. Hershel and Glenn have been back hours. And who the hell are these idiots?" He fired these questions at me while aiming his crossbow at Cori and Caleb, who was pissed off as well.
"These "idiots" saved your stupid sister's neck from being bitten! So, how about some gratitude huh?" Caleb retorted.
Suprisingly, Daryl was shocked and reluctantly put his crossbow but still fixed Caleb with hell of a dirty look. I ignored them.
"This is Cori and Caleb Evers. They saved me. I kinda fell off the cliff after being spooked by a walker and nearly got bitten like he said. Their place got walkerfied, so I was wonderin' if Hershel would let them stay." I said.
Daryl looked at me. "Hershel and Rick ain't in the right moods to ask if your new friends can camp." He said, grimly.
"Why? What happened?" I asked, confused. Something must have gone on. I glanced at Cori, who was looking anxious, and Caleb, who looked as if he wanted to punch Daryl. The mood I was in at the moment on account of my injuries, I was happy enough to let him.
"While you were joyridin' on my bike, Rick and Glenn found Hershel in this bar in town, drinkin' himself to death. They got in a shootoff with this other gang. This boy fell off the roof, got his leg impaled on a spike and of course Rick went all hero and decided to bring him here. So Shane's pissed as usual. I don't know what they're plannin' to do with the kid." Daryl told me moodily.
I nodded. "Well, they need to crash for the night. If Hershel and Rick are better tempered tomorrow, I'll ask them. I need to." I said.
Daryl nodded back. "Fine. I'll see if we've got two spare tents." He grumbled and went off.
I rolled my eyes and turned to Cori and Caleb. I smiled apologetically. "Sorry about him." I said.
Cori smiled back and shrugged. "Brothers, what can you do?" She joked. Caleb looked at her, offended by this comment.
"Hey, Angel has the annoying brother. I, however, am the ideal brother." He smirked. Despite his obvious arrorgance in this statement, I couldn't help but laugh at him. He was, I had to admit, funny.
Now it was Cori's turn to roll her eyes. "Yeah, right. Keep telling yourself that, bro." She shot back, jokingly.
I smiled at their antics. "Don't worry, we're always like this." I said.
Cori shrugged again. "Hey, it's no biggie. So are we." She smiled and dug Caleb in the ribs with her elbow playfully.
"Oww!" Caleb moaned and rubbed his side with his hand. Cori and I burst out laughter at his reaction.
"Seriously, Caleb? What are you, a 19 year old man or a little girl?" She teased, still laughing.
"Well, excuse me if you've got extremley sharp elbows!" Caleb protested. We laughed even harder.
Just then, Daryl came back carrying two folded up tents in his arms. When he saw Cori and I laughing, he raised an eyebrow. I smiled and went to help him. I took a tent from him and handed it to Caleb. Suddenly, I noticed that when Daryl gave Cori her tent, she smiled specialy at him. Daryl didn't notice and neither did Caleb luckilly. But only I could tell the meaning of that smile. It was a "you're kind of cute" smile. Was Cori crushing on Daryl?
I shuddered to think. Daryl wasn't exactly dating material. But each to their own, I guess.
As he passed me, he whispered, "Angel, I need to talk to you." I nodded and said goodnight to Cori and Caleb.
I followed him to our part of the camp. Before he started to speak, I knew that I was going to get a lecture off him.
Daryl sat down and so did I. "Look, as much as I'm relieved you're safe and unbitten, I'm pissed, I'm not going to lie." He started.
"No shit, Captain Obvious." I retorted moodily.
"Will you stop jumping down my throat and let me finish! Jesus!" He grumbled.
"Ok, sorry." I said.
He rolled his eyes at me. "You're so stubborn, ya know that?" He asked.
I shrugged. "Hey, you can't blame me for goin'. And you're more stubborn than me, so you can't say much." I replied.
Daryl kind of smiled. "Like brother," He began.
"Like sister." I finished for him and smiled.
He started chopping up squirrels for our supper. "So, what happened?" He asked as he worked.
"Like I said, a walker sneaked up on me, frightened me, I fell down the cliff, just sprained my ankle. Walker tried to bite me, damn nearly suceeded, if Cori and Caleb hadn't appeared, I wouldn't be sittin' here. I would have put a bullet through my own head." I said grimly.
Daryl frowned. "Ok, I'll admit that it's lucky they came. But what about your bow?" He asked.
"The string jammed. That's how I fell off the ridge. I was hopin' you could fix it." I hoped.
He nodded. "Ok, fine. Just as long as you promise not to go gettin' yourself killed anymore." He said.
"Hey, it's not my bloody fault that a walker sneaked up on me. I'm not Andrea, ya know." I shot back.
Daryl sighed. "Not the point, Angel. Do ya have any idea how worried I've been? I took my anger at you out on Carol!" He exclaimed.
"Daryl! She had a lifetime of that from Ed! She doesn't need you filling that gap just 'cause he's gone, ya know?" I fired at him.
"Will you listen to what I'm sayin' a minute? God, Angel. Actually it was her fault anyway." He ranted.
"How was it her fault, Daryl?" I huffed.
"She's always stickin' her nose into our business. It's annoying!" He said, angry.
I rolled my eyes and sighed. There was an obvious reason for that. Daryl looked questiongly at me.
"What?" He snarled.
"You're a dumbass sometimes, ya know that. She cares about you, that's why she's "stickin' her nose into your business"; she cares about you and me. And I don't think you know how much." I replied.
He shot me a deadly glare. I ignored it and said, "Don't look at me like that, Daryl; 'cause you know I'm right and the sooner you realize that the better."
He looked shocked. "What the hell's got into you, Angel?" He asked, cleary bewildered.
"Nothin'. Maybe I'm just tired of you pushin' everyone away." I replied calmly.
He stared at me, squirrel in one hand. "I ain't pushin' anyone away!" He protested.
I rolled my eyes. "Daryl, you don't have to hide things away from me. I know you. You're feelin' guilty 'bout not findin' Sophia. That's why you're takin' your supposed anger at me out on Carol. You feel bad." I said, knowing I was right no matter how much he tried to protest.
"You think you know that, huh?" He asked angrily. Now his temper was coming out.
"I do know that. There's no thinking about it, Daryl. I'm worried 'bout you. You goin' to push me away if Merle's dead? I challenged, tired of being amicable.
"You know I'd never do that, Angel. I swear." He said, truly sorry.
I didn't believe him. "For once, Daryl, I don't know that. You can swear all the time. 'Cause I don't believe that." I retorted.
"Angel, don't be like this." Daryl said, attempting to hug me despite his hands being covered in blood from the squirrels.
"No, Daryl. Sorry, but I don't know you anymore. I know you've never been the most social person; But hell, you would never have pushed anyone away before. Face it, you've changed." I spat and walked away, exasparated before he could react.
This world was going to shit.