"Do you hear that?" Dale called up to me, scanning the quarry cliffs with his binoculars.
"Think it's them?" I asked, peeking through the scope on my rifle and spying a whole lot of nothing. The hot Georgia sun beat down as I stood perched on the roof of the old Winnebago. In the distance a blaring car alarm grew steadily louder. Shane suddenly appeared next to Dale, his black hair slicked down with sweat.
"Talk to me, guys! What can you see?" Shane asked.
"Can't tell yet." Dale mumbled, still looking through his binoculars. The air grew tense, unease twisted my belly. The crowd around the RV grew. I squinted into the scope, hoping to see a little clearer in the distance. A trail of dust kicked up the top of the quarry hill.
"Is it them? Are they back?" It was Amy talking this time.
"Well I'll be damned!" Dale exclaimed.
"What is it?" Amy responded.
"Looks like a stolen car!" I hollered. Whoever was driving seemed to be having a hell of a time.
Within seconds a red Challenger with the alarm wailing came screaming into the quarry basin, coming to a screeching stop in the middle of camp, dirt flying out in all directions. Glenn stepped out, waving as Amy rushed to him. I slung my rifle over my shoulder as I rushed to climbed down the ladder on the back of the RV and join the rest of the crowd. The car alarm continued to holler, setting my nerves on edge. Fucking thing was going to attract every corpse within 10 miles. My momma was waiting for me at the back of the camper, her long grey hair tied up in a bun, face tight with concern.
"He's alone." She said, her raised voice close as she tried to talk over the alarm.
"I'm sure it's fine, Momma" I said, hands coming up to plug my ears as I walked towards the crowd. Jim was bent over the open hood, triumphant as his hands found the car's battery and disconnected it. The silence was sudden and welcome.
Amy stood next to Glenn, shouting at him about Andrea. "Where is she? Is she okay? Why isn't she with you?"
"She's ok! Everyone is!" Glenn finally answered back, "well, Merle not so much."
Shane jumped in front of Glenn "Are you crazy, driving this bastard up here? Are you trying to draw every walker for miles?"
"I think we're ok." Dale said, coming to stand next to Glenn and Shane. Ever the peacekeeper that man. As the three of them got into it, I turned and scanned the quarry, Momma next to me with her eyes squinted in the sunlight as she looked around as well.
"Sorry," Glenn shrugged, finding me in the crowd. "Got a cool car." I rolled my eyes at him. Idiot didn't look sorry at all. Though, I don't think I would have been either.
"Looks like the rest of them made it too" Momma said, placing her hand on my shoulder and pointing to the dust cloud and the rumbling box truck coming down Glenn's trail. I nod, watching the truck get closer until finally it pulled up next to the Challenger. The back door opened and everyone stepped out. Amy came running for Andrea. Tears fell all around as worried family members reunited.
"I knew they'd be fine." I say, standing to the side with Momma as everyone hugged each other.
"God forbid you don't know something." Momma quipped, looking at me sideways. "I imagine you've been scoutin' from the top of that camper this whole time because everything was just fine and dandy."
"Yup," I let the P pop and hang in the air. "Never worried for a minute." I looked at her and grinned. Suddenly I noticed Lori and Carl running for a strange man that came staggering out of the truck bed.
"Dad! DAD!" Carl yelled as he ran into the man's arms.
My mouth hung open, eyebrows shot up to my hairline.
"Bet you didn't know that was gonna happen." Momma said, smiling with disbelief at the happy scene.
I looked at her, eyebrows still raised.
Later that night the entire group sat around the campfire. Momma and I were stationed next to Carol and Sophia. Momma had made fast friends with Carol. I think she reminded her of her sister, Lisa. Carol was sweet and kind, though timid too. She had a knuckle dragger of a husband that spent his time passed out in his tent when he wasn't storming around camp. Momma confessed to me one night she figured he puts his hands on Carol in an "ungodly way". It was good for Carol and Momma to have found each other in this world. Momma would fix that timid nature of hers real quick, Ed or no Ed.
The stranger, Rick, was telling the group how he had escaped the hospital in Atlanta.
"Mom said you died." I heard Carl mumble.
"She had every reason to believe it. Don't you ever doubt that." Rick responded, hugging his son closer. By the warmth of the fire I could feel my eyelids getting heavier as the seconds passed. As Rick, Shane, and Dale continued talking about Rick's escape and catching him up on what happened since the hospital fell, I struggled to blink away my fatigue.
"Why don't you go to bed Jenny?" Momma asked me. I turned and looked at her, a weary smile gracing my face.
"I'm not a kid Momma," I said. A huge yawn split my face at that moment.
"Uh huh." Momma said. I wrinkled my nose in response before standing up.
"You coming too?" I asked.
"You go, I'll sit with Carol and Sophia a bit longer." I nodded and walked towards our tent, my rifle still slung across my back. I had been on watch since dawn that day with my .22. The .22 wasn't anything impressive, more like a supped up BB gun, but it could take out squirrels and put down a corpse which was all that mattered in this new world. Plus the high-powered scope I had looted from a Bass Pro let me play sniper from the RV top.
I reached our tent and set the gun on the floor just inside the door flap before sitting down to take off my boots. I took a moment to unbraid my long dark blond hair. I never could sleep with it tied up. Momma and mine's tent was situated near Carol and Ed's in a half moon with the others a little away from the camp fire. As I snuggled into my sleeping bag I could hear the group still chatting quietly.
"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon?" I heard Dale say.
"I'll tell him. I dropped the key. It's on me." T-Dog responded.
What the hell happened with Merle? I had missed Rick's explanation after he arrived at camp. Merle was a giant rednecked pain in the ass for sure. Had to be a meth head or something. But…still…. In the four weeks Momma and I had been with the group I had gotten to know everyone. Oh well, nothing to do about it right now.
My eyes started to drift shut. I was hot and sweaty. The Georgia heat suddenly felt smothering. Should have jumped in the quarry pond before I slept. I reached down and unzipped my bag to hang my legs out. Thunder rattled in the distance. Maybe the rain would soften the humidity tomorrow.
Momma was still sound asleep next to me when I woke up in the morning. I crept over her to grab some breakfast down by the RV. As I sat in front of the tent putting my boots back on I noticed Glenn bellyaching to Jim as they stripped down the Challenger. I snatched a granola bar on my way by the RV and stopped once I reached Glenn.
"Look at 'em. Vultures." He muttered to me, "Yeah, go on, strip it clean!" He shouted to Dale and Jim.
"Generators need every drop of fuel they can get. Got no power without it. Sorry, Glenn." Dale responded, continuing to siphon fuel from the tank.
"Sorry buddy," I clapped him on the back. "It was nice while it lasted."
"Maybe we'll get to steal one another day," Rick said, appearing from behind us.
"A better one!" I said, grinning at Glenn. I turned to Rick and stuck my hand out.
"Jenny Lingle, didn't get a chance to introduce myself properly yesterday, nice to meet you." I greeted.
"Rick Grimes, nice to meet you too." He nodded and shook my hand. "'Scuse me, gonna go find my wife." He tuned and walked away. I faced Glenn and the car again.
"He seems nice. What's his deal again?" I asked Glenn.
"Sheriff or something. Apparently he was left for dead at the hospital in Atlanta. Woke up from a freaking coma or something crazy like that. Can you imagine?"
"Yikes," I said, crossing my arms and looking back at the sheriff. "It's bad enough trying to convince myself this shits all real after living it from the beginning."
"I know, right?" Glenn responded. "They want to go back to Atlanta for Merle." He lowered his voice. "What do you think would happened if we just—" Glenn was cut off by a loud screaming coming from across camp. We looked at each other and sprinted towards the sound.
Sophia and the other kids came running into camp like bats outta hell. Sophia, with tears streaming down her face, lunged for Carol. Momma appeared jogging next to me, having just woken up and started her morning routine. The kids all huddled around Momma, Carol, and Lori while Glenn and I joined the others. There was a rotten putrid corpse leaning over a downed buck, tearing at its shoulder.
Rick, Shane, Glenn, the others and myself picked up what we could and started beating on it. It turned towards us, stumbling and fumbling to get up, hands reaching out. Out of nowhere, Dale appeared with his axe. Heaving it above his head and swinging it down on the rotten flesh of its neck, cleaving its head from its body.
Sweating and panting Dale said, "It's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up the mountain."
Jim was the first to respond, "Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what."
I shifted uneasily, looking back at Momma, Lori, and Carol with the kids. This wasn't good, that's for sure. A snap and a shuffle had us all swiveling our heads to the left as Daryl Dixon pulled himself out of the brush.
"Oh, Jesus." Dale said.
"Son of a bitch. That's my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this… filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!" Daryl raged, kicking the corpse and prodding at the deer.
"Calm down, son. You're not helping." Dale told him.
"What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond'? I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" Daryl tilted his head as he contemplated the deer and the corpse. Oh god, the thought of eating that meat now made me squirm. My face screwed up at the idea.
"I wouldn't risk it." Shane said, a slightly nauseous look crossing his features as well.
Daryl started mentioning something about squirrel as I made my way back towards Momma and the others.
"Everything OK?" Momma asked. I nodded, looking at Lori and Carol.
"Great, Daryl's back…" I looked over my shoulder at the scene. "I'm thinking it might be best for us all to go work on the wash or something…while they break it to Daryl about Merle."
"Amen to that." Momma said. "Come on kids, Carl, I can smell ya from here. Let's all go take a dip." Lori chuckled with her. Carol wrapped her arm around Sophia, leading her along with the rest. I heaved a sigh and headed towards the RV. My watch was slated to start closer to lunchtime, but since everyone was tending to either the kids or the Dixons at the moment, I figured I might as well make my way to the RV and resume post. Besides I hated doing the washing. I sat my butt in the sun warmed lawn chair and peered out through my scope, scanning the horizon.
Moments like this I missed music most of all. Honestly it wouldn't be so bad, sitting up here with some sweet tea, or God, a beer even, enjoying the sunshine, listening to some bad 90s mix on the radio, sipping that beer…scratch that. Maybe I missed cold beer most of all.
The slam of the camper door rang out. I stood up and looked down on the scene. Rick stood there shaking his head at something. Shane stood behind him. It was difficult to hear everything from my perch. A scuffle, commotion erupted, shouting, Shane had Daryl in a headlock. Fucking men. One by one nearly the entire camp started congregating under the RV awning and around Rick. Momma appeared, joining up with Andrea and Amy under the awning after flashing me a wave.
"So that's it, huh? You're just gonna walk off? Just to hell with everybody else?" Shane called out.
"I'm not saying to hell with anybody… Not you Shane…" Rick replied, turning to face Shane.
"Lori least of all. Tell her that." Shane called back. I looked around, noticed Glenn and T-Dog standing awkwardly to the side. What was going on? I looked for Momma but the RV awning below me blocked my view of her.
"She knows." Rick stated.
"Well, look, I… I don't, okay, Rick? So could you just… Could you throw me a bone here, man? Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?" Oh shit. They were going back for Merle?
To the side Daryl exploded, "Hey, choose your words more carefully!"
"No, I did. Douche bag's what I meant. Merle Dixon…The guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst." Shane loudly explained to Rick. Rick brought himself closer to Shane and said something I couldn't hear. Lori's voice called back from inside the RV, her words muffled by the vehicle I was on top of.
"Oh, come on!" I heard Glenn groan.
"You know the way. You've been there before… In and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It's not fair of me to ask… I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too." Rick called to Glenn from over by Shane. Glenn caught my eye watching them from on top of the camper. "I'm not going without a spotter." He pointed his finger at me. "Jenny's coming too!" Now everyone turned to eye me on top of the RV.
"Uh….I'm sorry?" I tilted my head and look around. "I don't remember volunteering for anything."
"She's a great shot and can spot us from the roof with her scope." Glenn continued. He looked at me imploringly. I hurried to climb down the ladder and join the group. With my rifle slung over my back I moved into the crowd. Glenn and I were friends and all, but this felt like he was overstepping his bounds.
"Again, not sure I'm really feeling a field trip to the big city right now." I answered looking back and forth between Rick, Glenn, and Daryl.
"Please?" Glenn whispered. "I really don't feel like dying." I groaned and rolled my eyes, looking to Momma under the awning, imploring her to bail me out of this somehow. I don't want to leave her here, especially not for stupid asshole Merle Dixon. She raised her eyebrows and mouthed "GO" at me. Traitor. Fuck.
"Fine." I ground out.
"Thank you. I appreciate it." Rick said.
"That's just great. Now you're gonna risk four people, huh?" Shane threw his hands up.
"Five." T-Dog chimed in. Daryl huffed. While everyone continued to bicker I rounded on Glenn.
"What the fuck, dude?"
"Sorry, I just feel like we need more guns on this gig." He avoided looking at me, choosing instead to watch the deputies go back and forth. "Also, I really don't want to go alone. Or die. Come on, you're my friend, right?"
"You are literally the worst you know that?" Glenn just smiled broadly. Rick walked over our way, considering the two of us for a moment.
"Thank you, both. We'll take the box truck, let's pack up what we need and be ready to move out as soon as possible." I nodded.
"I'll run and grab my stuff." I gave Glenn one last sour look before heading to pack up. Momma met me at the tent.
"You'll be fine," she said.
"I'd be a lot finer here with you watching over the camp." I said. I kneeled in the tent and grabbed my handy "Bucket O' Bullets" (1000 rounds of fun!) for the .22, my preloaded magazines, and my water canteen, and shoved them all in my daypack. I crammed my beat up old Braves cap on my head.
"We can handle it," Momma stated, "Shane will be here." I turned and regarded her carefully.
"I don't like this Momma." I stood up and put my pack on my shoulder.
"I know, but I think it's more important we keep the group together. Merle may be a right bastard but it's not the time to be saying who gets left behind. All God's creatures and all that." There she goes, believing in humanity.
"Language Momma!" I chastised, a small smile gracing both our faces. "You just want alone time with Dale, I know what this is about." She thought I hadn't noticed her finding quiet moments with him, making breakfast, sitting by the fire. You see a lot when you're on watch.
We turned and headed towards the truck, the full gravity of the situation starting to bear down on us. Momma grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into a hug. "Be safe. Stay up off the ground when you can. You're smart, you can do this." She grabbed my face with both hands and kissed my forehead, pushing my hat brim up. "I love you baby girl." She pulled the brim back down and pinched my cheek.
I looked at her, the love shining out of her crinkled blue eyes. "Love you too, Momma. I'll be back as quick as I can." She nodded. I met up with Glenn and climbed into the back of the truck.
"And don't let them boys get into trouble!" She hollered. Rick smiled as he too jumped into the back of the truck. Daryl was up by the cab with T-Dog, twitching impatiently.
"Let's get this fucking show on the road!" Daryl cried.
"Head out T." Rick said. We all went quiet as the truck began to rumble along back into Atlanta.
A/N: First chapter of what is planned to be very very many. This is a slow burn Daryl/OC. It will start out initially following the script, but once the group starts to branch out on their own a bit more there will be plenty of original scenes to enjoy. So far I have about 7 chapters written. I'm going to update once a week, sometimes more hopefully. Constructive criticism is always welcome! I do struggle with tenses a bit so if you notice something please feel free to politely point it out so I can go back and fix it. I'm definitely open to having a beta reader if anyone is interested! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! XO He'sGotHeart