*WARNING: Please be advised that this chapter contains mature content and strong language.*
Chapter 2
Quinn's POV
After we finished shooting at the monsters, I leaned my back against Daryl's, huffing deep breaths.
He turned around. "You good?"
"I'm good, you?" I replied.
He nodded.
The stench hit me like a wall of bricks. I looked around the camp. Walkers, and even some of their people, lay on the ground covered in bites and blood.
Rick was holding Carl and the brown-haired woman near the RV. Shane was huffing, sweat dripping down his face. The rest of the group was either huddling together, or crying. No sign of Merle, though. I heard a soft whimper and then it got louder.
There was a blonde-haired woman hovering over a body. She kept screaming, "Amy!" as if expecting her to come back, which she would, she just wouldn't be Amy anymore.
We started a small fire and sat around it. I sat next to Glenn and Daryl. Eventually people started filtering into their tents. All that was left was Daryl, Shane, and T-dog.
"We should head to bed, big day tomorrow," Shane mentioned.
I yawned. T-dog stood up and went off to his tent, Shane, too. Daryl stood up and stretched.
"I'll keep watch," I offered. "Get some sleep."
He huffed and stalked off.
___
I had fallen asleep in the chair and was woken up by the smell of burnt coals. I opened my eyes. It was still kind of dark, the sun just popping over the trees. I heard something crunch behind me. I stood and whipped around. It was just Daryl.
"So much for keepin' watch," he mumbled, throwing his bow over his shoulder.
I rolled my eyes and sat back down.
He walked off into the woods. By the time he came back, the sun was high in the sky and everyone was up doing chores around the camp. I decided I'd help Daryl skin some of the squirrels he brought back.
"Hey, need a hand?"
He looked up and half grunted, half shrugged. I grabbed a knife and a squirrel. I watched as the brown-haired woman, Lori, bent down next to the blonde, Andrea, who was still in the same position as she was when we went to bed. After a few moments, Lori laid a hand on her back before she walked off.
I had already done two squirrels and when I went to reach for another, I realized Daryl and I had finished skinning the breakfast/dinner for everyone. Daryl tossed me an axe as he grabbed a pickaxe for himself. He laid the sharp object into a dead one's head, as did I.
They littered the camp.
T-dog and Glenn came over and dragged the bodies into a fire. I headed back over and stood near the camp fire in the center, resting my arm on the axe.
"She still won't move?" Rick asked, wandering over.
"She won't even talk to us," his wife informed. "She's been like that all night, what do we do?"
"We can't just leave Amy that way. We need to deal with it, same as the others," Shane ordered.
"I'll tell her how it is," Rick said.
Shane nodded and we watched as Rick walked over to the girls.
"Andrea?" Rick said, squatting down a bit.
Andrea pulled her gun on him. Immediately, my left hand was resting on my hip, feeling the cool metal of the gun.
"I know how the saftey works," she mumbled.
"Alright, okay, I'm sorry." Rick slowly stood up to full height and backed away, arms up in surrender. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Andrea put her gun down and focused on Amy again. Rick stalked back down to where we were gathered.
"You can't be serious," Daryl grumbled. "Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb."
"What do you suggest?" Rick asked.
Daryl stepped forward. "Take the shot. Clean, in the brain, from here. Hell, I could hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."
"No. For God's sake, let her be," Lori spat.
Shane, Rick, Daryl, and I made eye contact with each other. Nobody said another word, so I shook my head in disappointment and walked off. Daryl let out a scoff from behind me and was soon by my side.
"Wake up, Jimbo. We got work to do," Daryl said, walking by a man I assumed was Jim.
I slammed Daryl's pickaxe into another head as he and a spanish man dragged a body to the fire.
"Hey, hey, hey, what're you guys doing? This is for geeks. Our people go over there." Glenn pointed to a different pile.
"What's the difference? They're all infected," Daryl pointed out.
"Our people go in that row over there," Glenn repeated. "We don't burn them!" he yelled. "We bury them, understand?" he asked more calmly. "Our people go in that row over there."
Daryl and the man picked the body back up and started to drag it across the dirt. I lifted the axe and dropped it down.
Daryl let the body go. "You reap what you sow!"
"You know what? Shut up, man!"
"Y'all left my brother for dead! You had this comin'!" Daryl spat, leaving the other man to lift the body by himself.
I slammed the axe into the ground and walked over to the body. I lifted the shoulders and dragged it to the pile by myself, seeing how the boys were too childish to get it done.
As I laid the person down I heard a woman yell, "A walker got him, a walker bit Jim!"
I jogged over to a circle that the group had formed.
"Show it to us," Daryl demanded. "Show it to us!"
Jim turned around and picked up a shovel.
"Easy, Jim," Shane warned.
The group was yelling and causing a big commotion.
"Grab him!" Daryl yelled to no one in particular.
I ran behind Jim and barely held his arms up above his head, he was resisting pretty hard. The shovel clattered to the ground, creating a cloud of dust from the dirt. Daryl stomped over and lifted Jim's shirt. I couldn't see, but by the way that the group got quiet and the look on Daryl's face, I already knew.
Jim was bit.
I let him go and I backed away.
"I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay..." Jim repeated over and over.
But we all knew that he wasn't okay.
___
"I say we put a pickaxe in his and the dead girl's head and be done with it," Daryl spat.
"Agreed, this is bullshit," I mumbled.
Shane turned to me, obviously shocked that I agreed. "You don't even know them. Is that what you'd want if it were you?"
"Yeah and I'd thank you while you did it," I answered. "I was asked to join this group and I'll be damned if I let you put my life at risk, and that goes for every single one of your people as well."
"I hate to say it, but maybe they're right," Dale piped in.
"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog," Rick interjected.
"I wasn't suggesting it—" Dale started.
"He's sick, a sick man," Rick started. "We go down that road, where do we draw the line?"
"The line's pretty clear; zero tolerance for walkers," Daryl snapped.
"Or soon to be," I added, glancing at Jim.
"What if we can get him help? I heard the CDC was workin' on a cure," Rick informed.
"I heard that, too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell," Shane remarked.
"What if the CDC is still up and running?"
"Man, that is a stretch right there."
"Why?" Rick demmanded. "If there's any type of government, any structure at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs...wouldn't they? Shelter, protection..."
"I know you want those things. I do, too, alright?" Shane started. "Now, if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning."
"That's a hundred miles in the opposite direction," Lori interjected immediately.
"That is right, but we'll be away from the hot zone. Now listen, if that place is operational, we'd be heavily armed...we'd be safe there," Shane explained.
"The military was on the front lines of this," I said. "They were overrun. You'd be leading this group to their death."
"The CDC is our best choice and Jim's only chance," Rick added.
After a few moments of silence, Daryl spoke up. "You go lookin' for Aspirin. Do what you gotta do. Somebody's gotta have the balls to take care of this damn problem!" He raised his pickaxe and ran for Jim.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Shane stood in front of Jim.
Rick held a gun to Daryl's head. "We don't kill the living."
Then Daryl said my exact thoughts, "That's funny, comin' from a man who just put a gun to my head."
"We may disagree on some things but not on this. You put it down, go on," Shane ordered.
Daryl glanced at me with just his eyes, almost like he was asking if he should put the axe down or not. I gave him a stern look. He slammed the axe into the ground and stormed off. Finally, I huffed and walked off as well.
I found myself putting more walkers out and dragging more bodies to the fire. Daryl soon showed up by my side and helped. We were about to put down a half eaten body, but Carol showed up before I slammed my axe down.
"I'll do it. He's my husband," she said.
I looked at Daryl. He somewhat nodded and shrugged all in one. I handed her the axe.
She brought it up over her shoulder as sobs racked her body. She hesitantly brought it down onto his face. She brought it back up, and slammed it back down, her sobs becoming louder and harder. She did this at least three more times. I looked at Daryl in shock, but he didn't really have an expression.
Finally, she handed the axe back over. I took it from her and slammed it into the ground. Daryl and I grabbed his body and dragged him to the pile.
"He doesn't deserve to go here," Daryl said, dropping the body into the pile anyway.
"Why not? He's her husband," I retorted.
"Yeah, if ya even wanna call 'im that," he said.
With that, he walked off. I headed back down behind him. I walked a little ways away from him, though. I came out into the clearing and saw Amy was gripping at Andrea's scalp.
I found Daryl was at my side again.
Finally, Andrea drew her gun and placed it at Amy's head. She whispered something and pulled the trigger. She continued staring at Amy even after she knew she was completely gone.
Daryl tapped my shoulder and walked away from the scene. I walked beside him as we made our way to his truck.
"Help me wrap these bodies," he said, grabbing some sheets and ties from the truck.
I thought it was kind of strange that Daryl was asking me to help him and that he was constantly standing beside me. His first impression gave off a vibe that he did not play well with others. Not gonna lie, I kind of like the thought of him trying to get my attention.
I laid out a sheet and we lifted a body from the bed of the truck. He tied their feet and upperbody and I laid out another sheet. Eventually, we had a pile of sheet covered bodies. One by one, we lifted them into the back of his truck. When about half were in the truck, Rick and Shane wandered over.
"Hey, we could use a hand in digging the holes," Rick said.
"I got this," Daryl said.
"Alright, I'll go," I said.
Rick, Shane, and I started digging in silence once we reached the top of the hill. It was quiet, but I could feel the tension.
"Say it," Rick said.
"Okay," Shane started. "I'm thinkin' if you'd of stayed here, if you'd of looked after your own — instead, you took off and took half of our manpower with you — I'm thinkin' maybe our losses wouldn't of been so bad," Shane explained.
"If we hadn't gone off and brought back those guns, I think our losses would of been alot worse...maybe the entire camp," Rick opposed.
"Well," I started, "sitting here arguing about it doesn't help. You can't change the past, it already happened."
They stayed quiet and we went back to digging. I heard Daryl's truck in the distance. He backed it up the hill so it'd be easier to get to the bodies. He got out of the truck and walked over.
"I still think it's a mistake not burnin' these bodies," he started. "It's what we said we'd do right? Burn 'em all. Aint that the idea?"
"At first," Rick said.
"So China-man gets all emotional, says it's not the thing to do, and we just follow him along?" Daryl asked. "These people need to know who the hell is in charge here, what the rules are."
The others wandered up from the camp, forming a circle around us.
"There are no rules," Rick retorted.
"And that's a problem," his wife said. "We haven't had one minute to hold onto our old selves. We need time to mourn and we need to bury our dead; it's what people do."
We stood in a line after placing all the people in their assigned holes. After a few moments of silence, the group started to filter away. I walked down the small hill and back to the fire. I didn't sit, I just stood there.
"Hi, I'm Carl."
I turned my head to see the same little boy who asked me about homework yesterday. I believe he was Rick and Lori's son.
"Hey, kiddo."
"Will you help me with my math?"
"Well, I can try. You're probably better at math than I am."
He laughed and lead me to a small table where him and another little girl were doing work.
"This is Sophia," he said.
Sophia smiled shyly and went back to her papers. I sat down and explained the problem.
I never really liked school, but I was pretty good at math. I had actually helped Sophia out, too. The three of us made small talk about how life was before it traveled to shit, but in a kid version way like school and chores.
Carol smiled as she walked over. "What do we have here?"
"Quinn was helping us with homework," Carl informed before I could.
I looked up at Carol. "Hope you don't mind."
"Not at all," she said. "Dinner will be ready soon." She kissed Sophia on the head and walked away.
After a few more minutes of talking about school and math, the smell of roasting squirrel filled my nostrils.
"Okay, let's put this away and we'll work on it some other time," I said. "Dinner is probably ready."
We closed the folders and I carried them back. Carl directed me where to put them and I set them just inside the camper. I sat down at the fire and Carol handed me a plate of food. I realized everyone was here except for Shane and Rick. As if on cue, they appeared in front of me. Shane cleared his throat, making the group focus on him.
"I've been thinkin' about Rick's plan. Look, there will be no guarantees, I'll be the first to admit that. I've known this man for a long time, I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is that we stay together." The group was silent. "So those of you that agree, we leave first thing tomorrow morning."
___
Daryl and I had talked a little bit after everyone went to bed. Just small talk, we hadn't got into much detail. He was still cold-hearted towards me but it seemed different than the way he talked to everyone else.
He left the fire for just a second and when he came back, he had a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand. I looked at the watch on my wrist; 12:31 A.M.
We took turns sipping from the bottle until it was empty. For the first time, I saw Daryl laugh, and for the first time in a while, I was laughing. We decided to head to bed, so we got up from the fire and walked a ways from the camp to his tent.
He unzipped the two-man tent and climbed inside. It was then that I realized I didn't have a sleeping bag. I curled up next to him. His body was warm and I could tell his eyes were still open.
He reached down and kissed me. I pulled away to look at him. Screw it. I leaned back in, deepening the kiss. His hands caressed my face, and mine traveled down his body. I climbed on top of him, but continued the kiss. The night went on, and eventually, at some odd hour in the morning, we fell asleep.
___
I woke up the next morning outside of the sleeping bag and sprawled across the hard ground. I sat up, thanking the heavens that I didn't drink enough alcohol to receive a hangover. I stood, putting on my clothes and my boots. I noticed a note on the ground by the door.
THE TENT NEEDS TO BE TAKEN DOWN
I sighed, a small smile on my face. The tent came down easily. I put it into its bag and rolled Daryl's sleeping bag up. I made my way down towards the camp.
Daryl noticed me and for a second, I thought I saw a small smile creep across his face. I handed him his belongings. He gave me a look, like he was thanking me without saying it.
"Everybody listen up," Shane said. "Those of you with CBs, we're gonna be on channel forty. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now, you gotta problem; don't have CB, can't get a signal, anythin' at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?"
"Uh, we're...we're not going," the spanish man spoke up.
"We have family in Birmingham. We wanna be with our people," his wife spoke up.
"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back," Shane warned.
"We'll take the chance," he said confidently. "I gotta do what's best for my family."
"You sure?" Rick asked.
"We talked about it, we're sure."
Rick handed Shane a gun and a box of ammo.
Shane walked over to the man and handed him the box and gun. "The box is half full."
This earned a scoff from Daryl.
"Thank you all, for everything," the girl said, tearing up. Lori hugged her and kissed the kids' heads.
"Channel forty if you change your mind," Rick said.
The man nodded.
"What makes you think our odds are any better?" Shane scoffed to Rick. "Come on, let's go!"
Everyone piled into the vehicles and left me standing there. The RV was getting pretty full, the Cherokee was full, so my options were the jeep with Shane, or the truck with Daryl.
I jogged to Daryl's truck and opened the door.
"Can I hitch a ride? I took your tent down for you this morning." I added a smile for extra emphasis.
"And I gave you a good time last night. Consider us even."
I scoffed. "I gave you a good time last night. I guess maybe if you give me a ride, I'll just have to owe you another favor...anything you can think of."
You could hear the smirk in my voice. Daryl didn't take any time to think this through. He started the truck and I climbed inside. We began our long road trip.
___
Daryl's POV
"Nice bike," Quinn said, looking through the window that separated the bed from the driver's seat.
She had taken off her shoes and curled up on the front seat. She found a map in the glove box and was studying it.
"Not mine," I replied. "My brother, Merle's."
Even though I hated to speak of his name, I couldn't lie to her. There was something different about her. I've never felt so close to someone without even knowing them. I hope she didn't think last night meant anything.
"Oh...I'm sorry about him," she replied.
"He's still alive. Like I said, nobody can kill Merle but Merle."
She stayed quiet for a moment. "Still, I'm sorry that they left him there...I mean, there had to be another way to get him out of those things."
I grunted.
It stayed quiet for about an hour or so, but it was a comforting quiet. Quinn didn't like to talk just as much as I didn't. The line of cars came to a stop. Quinn and I made our way to the front.
The RV was spewing with smoke.
"I told you we'd never get far on that hose. I said I needed the one from the cube van," Dale said.
"Can you jury-rig it?" Quinn asked, with her hands on her hips.
"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose...and I'm all outta duck tape." Dale shook his head.
"I see something up ahead — gas station if we're lucky," Shane said, looking through the binoculars.
"Y'all. Jim; it's bad. I don't think he can take it anymore," Jacqui said as she ran out of the RV.
"Hey, Rick, wanna hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead, see what I can bring back," Shane said, handing the binoculars to T-dog.
"Yeah, I'll go, too. I'll back you up," T-dog said.
"Y'all keep your eyes open now. We'll be right back." Shane and T-dog got into the jeep and left.
___
Quinn's POV
I followed Rick into the RV. He squatted to next to Jim and Jim cautiously backed into the corner.
"We'll be back on the road soon," Rick informed.
"Oh no. Christ," Jim said shaking his head. "My bones are like glass. Every little bump. God, this ride is killing me." After a moment of unsure silence, Jim spoke up again, "Leave me here. Just leave me. I want to be with my family."
"They're all dead," Rick notified. "I don't think you know what you're asking. With the fever, you've been delirious more often than not."
"I know. Don't you think I know? I'm clear now, but in five minutes, I may not be. Rick, I know what I'm asking. Leave me here. Now that's on me. Okay?"
Rick nodded and walked out of the RV.
"Rick, that's his decision, not your failure," I whispered from behind him.
He nodded. "I just wish he would make a different decision." Rick caught the attention of the crowd. "Jim is staying here, it's what he said he wants."
"And he's lucid?" Carol asked.
"He seems to be," Rick responded.
"I would say yes," I added.
"Back at the camp," Dale interjected, "when I said Daryl and Quinn might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just going to suggest that we ask Jim what he wants and I think we have an answer."
"We just leave him here? We take off? Man, I'm not sure I could live with that." Shane shook his head.
"That's not your call," Lori spat. "That's not your decision to make. If Jim wants to stay, then he wants to stay. It's his choice."
After, Rick and Shane carried Jim to a tree and proped him up against it. I stood back with Daryl. People said their words to Jim and filtered away. I gave him a nod and headed back for the truck. I got into the passenger's seat, Daryl climbing in a few seconds later.
___
Daryl's POV
I climbed in the driver's side. I started my truck and we drove off. It was about an hour's ride of peace and quiet.
We finally arrived, and I parked the truck behind the line of cars. Quinn and I got out and the stench hit me like a wall of bricks. I slammed the door closed and quickly walked over to Quinn's side. We walked side-by-side to the group.
"Alright everybody, keep moving," Shane said, guiding us through the graveyard.
We reached the doors and Rick rattled it.
"Nothing?"
Shane tried lifting it. "Nope." He pounded on the door.
"There's nobody here," T-dog said.
"Then why are these shutters down?" Quinn asked.
"Walkers!" I alerted.
As I lifted my bow to shoot, I noticed that dusk was settling in, and that was not a good thing. Carl and Sophia started crying. I let an arrow pierce the walker's head.
"You lead us into a graveyard!" I yelled.
"He made a call," Shane defended.
"Well it was the wrong damn call!" I yelled back.
"Shut up!" Shane yelled, pushing me backwards. "You hear me? Shut up! Rick this is a dead end."
"Where are we gonna go?" Carol cried.
"Do you hear me? No blame," Shane continued shouting.
"She's right," Lori said. "We can't be this close to the city after dark!"
"Fort Benning. Rick, still an option," Shane said.
"Forget Fort Benning already. Okay? It's not an option." Quinn yelled.
"Quinn's right. No food, no fuel...it's a hundred miles," Andrea piped in.
"A hundred twenty-five. I checked the map," Glenn added.
"She's right. We need answers tonight, now!" Lori shouted.
"We'll think of something," Rick said, holding a hand up.
"Let's get out of here!" "Let's go!" "Come on!" people yelled. I followed along.
"The camera; it moved!" Rick said.
I paid no attention, just kept moving.
"You imagined it," Dale said.
"It moved," Quinn reassured.
At the sound of her voice, I stopped and turned around.
"It's an automated device," Shane said. "It's gears, okay? It's dead. They're just winding down. Now come on. Man, just listen to me. Look around this place, it's dead, okay? It's dead. You need to let it go, Rick!" Shane shouted.
"I know you're in there! I know you can hear me!" Rick yelled.
"Everybody get to the cars, come on!" Shane ordered.
I wrapped an arm around Quinn's waist and pulled her backwards towards the cars. She resisted stronger than I thought her little body could possibly resist.
"Please! We're desperate! Please help us! We have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left!" Rick shouted.
Quinn was yelling inaudible swears at me and the person who was supposedly inside the building.
"Rick! There's no one here!" Lori yelled.
"We have nowhere else to go!" he yelled towards the camera.
"Keep your eyes open!" Shane ordered as he went to get Rick.
I kept a tight grip on Quinn as she tried to pull away.
"If you don't let us in, you're killing us! Please!" Rick shouted.
"Come on, buddy. Let's go." Shane pulled Rick backwards with ease.
"You're killing us! You're killing us!" Rick yelled.
My arm was still around Quinn when a white sheet of light covered my eyes.