"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change."
---Charles Darwin
Three days. It's been three days since Hunter was shot. Three days since Levi died. The entire apocalypse was a war and they were currently on the losing side. Kaylie was currently glaring out the big window. Travis and Anthony had taken Levi's corpse off of the property. She glared at a walker that shuffled by a dead deer corpse on the edge of the property.
"There's a lot more fucking dead deer than humans! Why won't you eat those damned things!" Kaylie yelled to the walker.
She felt a hand clasp over her mouth and started to freak out. When she looked and saw it was only Darcie, she stopped fighting.
"Doing dumb shit like that will get you killed," Darcie told the child.
Kaylie stared at Darcie until she took her hand off her mouth.
"Why don't you trust anyone anymore?"
Darcie looked down into the child's doe-like eyes.
"I don't know. I think after the shit that's happened with Tori, Hunter, and Levi, I think my mind just reset and I don't want to trust anyone who I don't have a strong relationship with."
"That's going to be the death of you."
Darcie pulled away from the child and went outside to where Dawson was in the barn.
"Dawson?" she called.
The blonde turned around and walked towards the girl.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I think I fucked up. I gave up on everyone except you and Travis. I really think I may need you all. I don't know if I'll survive if I can't trust."
Dawson wrapped his arms around the girl and placed a kiss into her hair.
"You need to do what you think is best for you. If what you decided in an emotional haze is best, keep it. If you think it's wrong, it's wrong and fix it."
Darcie pushed away from Dawson and walked to the door.
"Darcie?"
She turned around.
"I love you."
She smiled and blew him a kiss before walking outside. She saw Travis on the roof looking for something.
"Travis?" she barked.
Travis jumped and nearly fell off the roof.
"What the fuck do you want?" he demanded.
"You seem grumpy. I'll just leave you alone and figure it out for myself."
Darcie turned on her heel and walked back into the house. She grabbed an old notebook and a pen.
"Darcie?" Kaylie asked.
The girl looked up and Kaylie approached her. Darcie pulled the small girl up so she was sitting beside her.
"So are you going to trust us?"
"You know what, Kid? I am. I've managed to trust and put up with you guys for so long, what the point in changing my opinion now?"
Travis just stared down at the map. His mind was going a mile a minute.
"Travis? What are you doing?" a voice asked.
Travis looked up and saw Leo standing at the door, his hands in his pockets.
"Thinking."
"You've been staring at the map for nearly twenty minutes. What's going through that pretty little head of yours?"
"Kaylie opened her goddam mouth and it got me thinking. Military walkers need to come from a military base. There is no military base in town but it has to be close enough that they would come here instead of wandering into another town. A military base would have enough weapons and food to last a lifetime. This base could be the difference between life and death."
"I think I know what you're getting at. We need to find and raid this base."
"Exactly. But I don't want this to turn into a suicide mission. It's dangerous and risky."
"Well let's put together a dream team. You, me, Dawson, and Dar-"
"Anthony."
The darker-haired raised an eyebrow at the older's interjection.
"Like I said, this is dangerous and a possible suicide mission. I don't want Darcie to get wrapped up in this. I know she belongs on this team, I just can't let myself put her there knowing there is a chance that we could never return. Also, if something does end up happening to us, Darcie is the most qualified to look after Kaylie. Plus, Levi would prefer if Darcie was watching Kaylie if we all die. There's just less risks overall."
"Dude, Anthony on this dream team takes away the whole dream aspect. I hate to say it, but he isn't as useful as Darcie. She's better with a gun, she's smarter, she's faster, she's-"
"I know what you're saying."
Leo sighed as he sunk into the couch beside the leader.
"Travis, Darcie needs to be on this team. It's our best shot."
"I know. I understand. But this is a risk I'm willing to take."
"If you are of the male persuasion, meet in the living room! Darcie, Kaylie, no eavesdropping!" Leo called throughout the house.
Dawson sighed as he rolled off of Tori's old bed which he had been lying on. Darcie looked at him strangely before she pulled her legs up onto her bed and sat cross legged.
"What could this be about?" she wondered allowed.
"Anything," Dawson answered.
He left the room and Kaylie came wandering in.
"How long had you been eavesdropping for?" Darcie asked before leaning on her side, knowing the kid would had been listening to whatever conversation lead up to Leo calling a meeting for the boys.
"They're planning a military base trip and they're putting a dream team together to go," Kaylie explained.
Darcie shot straight up, offended she wasn't on the dream team.
"And I'm not on it?" Darcie barked.
"Leo was pushing for it. Travis was fighting it so you wouldn't be in danger and so, if anything did happen, you could protect me. They both knew you were better for the team, just Travis wanted to prevent the worst case repercussions."
"I don't know how I feel about this huge vocabulary of yours."
Kaylie jumped up onto Darcie's bed and laid down so her head was resting on the older girl's lap.
"If I were you, I would like it. Imagine if I barely knew as many words as I do."
Darcie lifted Kaylie's head up off her legs so she could pace. She walked over to the window and stared out.
"Darcie?"
The older girl looked at the child.
"If I was creating the dream team, you would be on it."
Darcie grinned at the child.
"What do you think the guys are going to find at the camp?" the older girl asked.
"A shit ton of walkers?"
"Stop swearing. You're too young."
"Shit's not a swear. It's a thing."
Darcie rolled her eyes at the child.
"You know, I've always looked up to you as a role model more than Tori," Kaylie admitted.
The older brunette whipped around.
"What?" she paused. "Actually, that explains a lot."
The boys were having troubles finding the military camp.
"Why is it so hard to find a walker filled camp?" Anthony asked.
"Just cause we don't know where they were coming from," Travis said.
"Damned walkers, coming out of nowhere," Leo said.
Five walker growls sounded to the right. The guys all stopped and looked that way. They slowly made their way toward the sound.
"Holy shit," Dawson whispered.
In front of them was a huge military camp. There were walkers everywhere and most of them were by the weapons tent.
"They all have helmets on," Anthony whined.
A walker walked by them. It stopped and growled at the four. It had a blood stained hoodie on. The walker roared at them and charged the bush they were hiding in. The guys all screamed and ran out of the area. The walker watched them leave. It turned around, walked away and began to chew on a elk horn.
The guys came running to the base, squealing like little girls.
"Oh. Shit. That was you guys. We thought a group of girls came to town," Darcie told them when they walked in.
"There was a fucking horde of them! There was a different type there too. It charged us, but didn't follow us for some reason," Leo said.
"What colour were his eyes?" Kaylie asked.
"Ice blue!" Anthony said.
Darcie stood up and walked away from the room only to return with a leather bound journal. She sat back down beside Kaylie and Dawson sat on her other side.
"What's that?" Anthony asked.
"Hunter's walker classification system. He had notes on all types of walkers and everything you need to know about them. I'm going to see if I can find something about ice blue eyes," Darcie explained.
She flipped through the pages looking quickly at eye colour.
"Nothing on blue eyes, let alone ice blue, and about charging but not attacking."
"So we're dealing with another new walker type?" Travis asked. "Did you even get a chance to record on shredded yet?"
"Yes, I put shredded into the book."
"Darcie?" Kaylie asked.
The older girl looked down at the younger.
"Maybe we should go investigate the base and see how big of babies the boys are being," she suggested.
"No! You two are not going to that camp!" Travis said.
"Too late," Darcie said.
She grabbed Kaylie and ran out of the base. Kaylie came running back in and grabbed Leo's and Dawson's guns and she quickly ran back out.
"Did she just do that?" Leo asked.
"She just did that," Dawson said.
"That kid is sneaky," Travis said.
"She's probably got cat-like reflexes like Hunter did."
Darcie and Kaylie snuck up to the military base.
"That's a lot of walkers," Darcie whispered, looking around at all of the military walkers laying on the ground or sitting against something. Kaylie began to sneak out of their hiding spot.
"Get back here!" Darcie whisper yelled.
Kaylie ignored her and made her way over to the weapon's tent. There was a special walker in the back corner. It was chewing on an elk antler. It raised its head and had a staring contest with Kaylie, but it quickly left through a large tear in the back of the tent.
"Darcie?" Kaylie called nervously.
"Get back here! We don't know what that thing was. It's probably what charged the boys."
It slowly came out of the tent.
"Kaylie! Get the fuck over here now!" Darcie screamed.
The special walker slowly approached Kaylie. The child was frozen in fear. Darcie pulled Dawson's gun out and aimed it at the walker as it reached out and touched Kaylie's face. It then made a hand gesture for Kaylie to follow it. She started following the thing. Darcie lowered the gun and slowly followed Kaylie and the walker.
Helps the living, Darcie made a mental note for when she was adding information to the book later.
"Kaylie," she whisper-called.
The walker leading the little girl turned and sprinted towards Darcie. The older girl dodged its lunge and sprinted to Kaylie, picking up the little girl.
"Darcie," it moaned.
Darcie froze in shock that the walker said her name.
Can say names and seems to know mine
Darcie held Kaylie tight to her and slowly backed up as it crept towards them.
"I no hurt. Follow," it moaned.
Can speak in broken English
"How do we know we can trust you?" Darcie demanded.
"Friend," it muttered.
Wants to be friends with the living
"Darcie, I think we can trust it."
Darcie set the child down. Kaylie started to follow the retreating form. Darcie quickly caught up to the child and put her hands on the her shoulders. The walker lead the girls towards the weapon tent. When a military zombie reached towards the girls, the walker leading them grabbed its arm and tore it right off its body. Kaylie reached up and grabbed Darcie's hands which never left her shoulders.
"This is a horrible idea," Darcie whispered to the child. "Let's just turn and run."
"No. I think we'll be okay. This thing is protecting us."
Darcie lifted Kaylie up. Kaylie wrapped her legs around the small of Darcie's waist and held tight around her shoulders. Darcie wrapped her arms around the kid's middle. She couldn't help but feel like they were marching to their deaths.
"Kaylie, I feel like we are being marched to our deaths, not a weapon tent," Darcie whispered to the child.
Kaylie wrapped her arms tighter around Darcie.
"How fast can you run? Anywhere near as fast as Hunter?" Kaylie asked.
"If I couldn't run fast, I wouldn't be alive. Hunter's metal leg helps him move faster than humanly possible but, since I don't have a leg like him, I'm stuck with what my body can actually do on its own."
"You'll be faster than whatever these things are. The blue eyed things seems to want to help us," Kaylie mentioned.
"I know he seems that way but I still feel like this is a death trap."
The blue eye walker suddenly stopped moving and turned to Darcie. She tightened her grip on the child.
"Duck," he instructed.
Darcie ducked down and made her body a shield for the child. The blue eyed thing jumped over her head and tackled a military walker that was sneaking up behind the girls. Darcie was on her feet and holding the child even tighter than before.
"No bite. No injure. No touch," he growled at the military walker before ripping its head off.
The blue-eyed walker stood back up.
"All. No bite. No injure. No touch," he roared.
Has control over all types of walkers
The blue-eyed walker had told them not to even come close to the girls. None of them seemed to listen and it was angering him more than he wanted to be. He looked at Darcie who was doing what she needed to in order to keep distance between him and Kaylie yet she still was protecting her. He walked up to the older girl and she set the child down and stood in front of her, literally used her body as a human shield.
"I swear. I don't know who you are, why you're trying to protect us, or why these walkers seem to listen to you but I don't trust you. I'm not letting you get close to her," Darcie growled, referring to the child she was protecting.
"I no hurt. I protect and help."
He grabbed Darcie's arm. She went to pull away but he placed a hand on her face as well.
"You no recognize me?"
Darcie shook her head. She couldn't see the top half of the walker's face and what she saw, including the glowing eyes, were not enough for her to draw conclusions. He pulled her towards the weapon tents. Darcie wrapped an arm around Kaylie as he pulled her towards the tent. Once they were inside, it threw a duffel bag to Darcie and one to Kaylie.
"Load fast. I return soon," the walker said before scurrying out of the tent on all fours.
"Kaylie, get anything that looks new. Get both guns and ammo," Darcie instructed. "We aren't staying here long. Max of two minutes here. As that walker said, load fast."
They spent about a minute loading until the large bags were full. Darcie put Dawson's gun over her shoulder above the strap.
"Give me Leo's gun," Darcie instructed.
Kaylie picked the gun up off of the ground and handed it to the older girl.
"Stand behind me. We have forty five seconds left until we have to be off the property."
Darcie aimed the gun at the opening to the tent as the blue eyed walker came into the tent. He had two duffel bags over his shoulder. He handed them to Darcie and she threw them over the shoulder with Dawson's gun and her bag.
"Let's get you gone." It growled.
A horde of military walkers were in front of the tent.
The blue-eyed walker roared. It was a loud roar. The same roar they had heard the first time their base had been infested with walkers.
The military walkers parted.
"Listen better to roar. Not words," it growled.
The walker roared again and the military walkers stepped away even farther. He lead the girls to the edge of the camp.
"Run. Go home. I see you again."
The walker gave the girls a slight nudge. The two females started running back to their base. The blue eyed walker roared again, this time louder and deeper. The girls ran past another horde of walkers. They just watched them. Even though the horde was mostly sprinters.
"He must have told all of the walkers not to attack us," Kaylie said.
"Let's hope the ones by our base heard that roar then," Darcie said.
The girls got to the base. When they entered, Travis and Leo started to check them over for any injuries.
"We're both fine," Darcie snapped, pushing her brother away.
"Go. Be gone," Kaylie said, trying to push Leo away.
"What happened there? We heard a roar," Travis said.
"That blue eyed walker that charged you was the one that roared," Darcie said.
"He made the other walkers not attack us," Kaylie added, heading over to her window.
"Are you fucking kidding us?" Dawson asked.
"No. He protected us from the moment we walked in the camp to after we left. He's probably still half-ass protecting us," Darcie said, walking into the living room so she and the boys could talk a little more privately.
"He literally chased us off the property but he helped you get away for four big duffel bags of military supplies?" Anthony asked.
"Pretty much. And he was also talking to us a little bit. Like physical words. His speech pattern was broken but he still had one. Believe it or not, he filled two of these bags."
Leo immediately grabbed two of the bags and opened them.
"Food?" he asked.
"And the other two have weapons. I really don't understand why you feared him. He helped us."
"He tried to kill us, Darcie. Yet he helped you. This doesn't make sense," Travis groaned.
"It doesn't have to."
She walked into the room and grabbed the zombie log book and started to write notes for this new walker.
Name:
???
Eyes:
Ice blue
Notes:
Helps the living
Can say names and seems to know mine (Darcie)
Can speak in broken English
Wants to be friends with the living
Willing to kill walkers to help the living
Has control over all types of walkers
Thinks this group has knowledge of who he is/was
She stopped writing for a second before she remembered one final thing about him.
Would save females over males any time and every time
"Is that really needed?" Travis asked.
"Yeah. How do we know it's more willing to save girls?" Dawson asked.
"Need I remind you who it charged and who it protected?"
That shut all the boys up.