I tried to write a Daryl story a little while back, and I realized that compared to the other's I've read on this site, mine sucked. He was too nice, and didn't fit his character. So now I'm writing this, trying to keep his counterpart in this story as mean and broken as he is. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I wish I could have created this story, but I did not. Everything belongs to its rightful owner.
The Georgia sun beat down, taking all of the fight out of me. I was drenched with sweat, and didn't want to go on. All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and fall asleep, something I haven't be able to do for a long time. But a zombie apocalypse is not the time to catch up on your sleep.
"Is it clear?" The little girl beside me asked in a whisper. Her light red hair was plastered to her face from the sweat. Her nine year old hand clutched onto the back of my shirt, head on a constant swivel.
We were in a building in Atlanta. Some sort of hotel by the looks of it. The floor we were on, just above the lobby, didn't show any signs of the No Souls. "Looks it. But stay close. Gather anything useful, then we'll keep moving." She knew it by now, never stay in one place for long. With the No Souls wondering the streets, you need to be on your toes, always ready to run, or kill, if needed.
She nodded, then slowly loosened her grip on my shirt. "I'll be in room seventeen." Her voice was so quiet, from fear, from innocence, from her youth. She was so fragile, and I knew I had to protect her.
"Alright, I'll be in eighteen. Holler if you need me." She nodded, and gently ran her finger over the blade that was tucked into her belt loop. We had pocketed it off of a No Soul, and I taught her the basics of using it. She had yet to take out a No Soul, but I wasn't going to leave her without knowing she could.
I checked one of my many guns, making sure it was ready for use. My pistol was loaded, but I was running out of ammo, same with the shotgun that was slung over my shoulder. I had an axe in my belt loop, and a hunting knife attached to my leg. I hated using my guns; they were too loud and every No Soul near by ran towards it like it was the ice cream truck song.
Slowly opening the door to room eighteen, I had to pull my shirt up over my mouth and nose. On the bed laid a middle aged woman who had opted out. She was a coward and had shot her brains out. Next to her laid a note, surly begging for forgiveness from some sort of God. I didn't bother to read it. If there was some sort of God, then we wouldn't be living in hell.
Moving around the room, I pulled my bag off my back and opened it. It was scarcely filled, and I knew that I could only grab the essentials, then hurry back to room seventeen.
Opening the mini fridge, I threw anything I could find into the bag. Peanuts, crackers, water bottles, and some juice for the little girl. As a last thought, I tossed in three of the small bottles of liquor, focusing on the vodka and tequila.
Moving over to the bathroom, I grabbed the soap, shampoo, conditioner, and a towel.
Hiking the bag onto my shoulder, I grabbed my pistol firmly in my hand and opened the door and checked the hall quickly. When nothing moving, I moved into room seventeen.
"Come on, we gotta get moving." I whispered, and my companion got to her feet, pulled her bag onto both shoulders, and moving towards me. Seeing how full the bag was, I gave her a look. "What the hel…heck did you grab?" It took all of my effort to not curse in front of her. She was still a little girl and I tried my hardest to let her stay that way. When I had to kill a No Soul, she would hide behind me and cover her eyes, same if we passed a dead person.
Shrugging, she quickly latched onto the back of my shirt and I guided us down the halls of the building. Surprisingly we didn't pass any No Souls, but we were stuck in this building. Earlier today, some asshole loaded off a ton of bullets on the No Souls. Now they were all flooding up the Atlanta streets, feasting on something that I hoped was an animal. Some jackass in a red sports car also sped by our spot with his car alarm blaring. There weren't as many No Souls as before, but there was no way I was risking this little girls life if we were safe here.
We made our way up one floor to the next, still not coming across any No Souls until the stairwell from the fifth to sixth floor.
"Stay here." I whispered. She nodded, covered her eyes and ears, and hid in the corner. Sighing, I slowly walked up the stairs. The No Soul had yet to spot me, or even smell me, which I could only guess was from all the dirt, No Soul blood and guts, and sweat that I was incased in.
Slipping the gun into the back of my waistband, I slipped the axe out of my belt loop, brought it over my head, and brought it down onto the No Soul's skull before it could turn around. Repeating the blow, I made sure it didn't move and was not about to come back alive.
After wiping the gore off of my weapon on the No Soul's clothes, I slipped it back into place on my belt loop and went back to the quivering figure in the corner.
"Keep your eyes closed." I muttered, then led her carefully up the stairs and onto the sixth floor, the last floor before the roof.
"It's getting late." She whispered, looking out a window into the quickly approaching night fall.
Nodding, I looked around. "You tired?" I can't comprehend how she could possibly slept as much as she did. She never screamed out if she had a nightmare, never lied awake with terrible thoughts running through her mind. She always fell asleep at night, and woke up in the morning as if it was like any other morning before all hell broke loose.
"Yeah." Her stomach rumbled softly, but she didn't say anything. She knew that food was scarce, and that I would make sure we ate when we had to.
Pulling my bag off my shoulders, I tossed her one of the five water bottles I found, and one of the three bags of peanuts. "For protein." She gave me a look and I sighed. "Drink and eat it all." If she got dehydrated or starved, we would move slower, and that could be death. Plus I felt bad for the poor girl.
"Stay here, keep your knife out. I'm going to do a sweep of the floor, then barricade it for the night. I'll be back in ten minutes. Call out if anything happens." I moved her so her back was pressed into a corner. Yes, this meant that if anything happened she would be trapped, but it also meant that nothing could sneak up behind her. She could fend off anything that she saw long enough for me to come and help her, but if it came up behind her she wouldn't last.
She nodded and took a large sip of the water. I left my bag with her, knowing it would just slow me up. I checked my watch and made sure that I would be back in no more than ten minutes, meaning I had until 7:23, or she would worry. She checked her watch to make sure she knew the time as well.
Pulling my knife out, I checked each room, making sure each one was clear. We would scavenge them later. For now, I checked each window and made sure they were locked, and left it at that. Most didn't have a fire escape or anything, and the ones that did; well No Souls wouldn't be able to climb them.
Glancing at my watch, I sighed. Five more minutes to finish everything up. Making my way down the hall, I saw another stairwell. I found a pole on the ground, looking like a pole that holds up a curtain. Shoving it between the door, I made sure that it wouldn't break if a No Soul, or ten, tried to get in.
Going back towards where I started, I saw the she had finished her food and water. "Come on, there's a room down the hall. It looks untouched. You can sleep on a bed tonight." I didn't mention that there was a great fire escape in case we needed to get out fast. She didn't need to worry about that.
We picked up our bags, and I jammed a piece of two by four, that was supposed to be used to fix the ceiling by the looks of it, into the stairwell doors. Then I led her a few doors over, and turned right into a pretty large room.
"Okay, lay down and fall asleep." I said a little too harshly. I wasn't running on a lot of sleep, but I didn't mean to take it out on her. She was used to it though, nodding as she sat on the edge of the bed. She slipped off her shoes, put the knife on the bedside table, and curled into a ball under the thinnest sheet. Within a few minutes, I heard her breathing even out, and her soft snoring filled the room.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I held my axe in hand, and put my loaded gun next to me. I kept my gaze trained on the door, but my vision got fuzzier and fuzzier.
I awoke with a jolt to the sound of tapping. Cursing at myself, I checked the bed. She was still asleep, but I couldn't believe I had followed suit.
There was more tapping, and I picked up my gun and turned. I thought it was from the door, maybe a No Soul, but it was from behind me. Turning, I saw four men crowed on the fire escape. They didn't look too friendly either.
The man in front had black hair, and I noticed he was in a police uniform. Behind him stood a large black man, bald, in a light gray shirt with the sleeves pulled up to his shoulders. A young Asian man was behind him, and he kept eyeing up the other guy. His face was covered with a ball cap. Those three didn't look too threatening, but the fourth one defiantly did.
He wore a dirty, sleeveless shirt. His weight kept transferring from one foot to the other, either as a nervous habit, or to keep anger from bubbling over. The crossbow in his arms, loaded, was pointing at me through the window. I leveled my gun with him, raised my chin, and tried to hide my fear.
"Who the hell are you?" I whispered, not wanting to wake and frighten the little girl.
"We're just trying to find someone. We won't hurt you." The man in uniform tried to calm me, his southern accent peeking through.
"Not until he puts away his weapon." At this, the man with the crossbow scoffed, and I just shrugged. "You do it, or you stay out there." Yeah it was risky, but this glass was thick due to the height of the floor. It would take one arrow to break the glass, and one to hit me. I could shoot him by that time.
"Daryl, put it down." The uniformed one ordered, and the man, Daryl?, glared at him, but listened.
"The rest of ya got guns?" I muttered, not liking the odds if they all had weapons.
"Just my pistol, but I wouldn't shoot it here. Too many Walkers." He seemed honest enough, but that type of logic could get me killed. The girl was waking up though, and I didn't want her to wake up to this.
"Fine. It stays in it's holster. Keep quiet." I unlocked the window and moved back so they could walk in.
"What are you-" The officer started, but I shook my head.
"We'll talk in the next room over." I pointed with my gun towards the door. They followed, the only one putting up a fight was Daryl, who I realized his crossbow was strapped, in reach, on his back.
He finally followed, and I glanced back at the girl in the bed one last time before shutting the door. I left all the time, but always came back. It would be fine.
We got into the next room, and I raised the gun, keeping it locked at the crossbow wielding Daryl.
"What do you want?" I muttered, keeping one ear out for any noise outside this room.
"We're looking for a man." The Asian one muttered, looking between me and Daryl.
"Haven't seen any that can talk for the past three weeks." No Souls don't talk, an easy way to tell them apart from the living.
"That's all we needed. Can we help you in any way? You taking care of that little girl?" The officer asked. It seemed nice enough, but I wasn't one for taking help.
Before I could answer, there was a loud scream from the other room. I didn't block her door. I didn't wake her. Something might have gotten her.
Running through the door, I heard the men behind me. Getting to her room, I saw that the door was open, and she was laying on the floor, a man on top of her, snarling. A No Soul.
"No!" I screamed, pulling out my knife and lunging at the creep. Hitting him through the temple, I felt him go limp under me. Leaving my knife in his skull, I crawled over to her.
My leg was stinging, and looking down I saw that there was a large gash in my leg. My heart stopped. It wasn't a bite, but a scratch was just as bad.
Looking over at the girl, I saw that she clutched her knife, and blood was dripping off of it. My blood.
"Lucy?" I whispered, looking her over. There was a bite on her shoulder, and blood seeped over her clothes.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, looking at my leg. "I was trying to kill him…I cut you…" She seemed to be in shock, not feeling the pain. I wasn't feeling mine either, just a dull throb which should have been much worse. My hands hovered over her wound, not sure what to do.
"Lucy, I'm so sorry…I didn't save you." I brushed hair out of her eyes, feeling a lump in my though.
She took a sharp inhale of breath, and I realized she must have felt the pain now. Tears streamed down her face, and she let out sobs.
"It hurts! Make it stop, it hurts!" Her back arched in pain, and I was struggling to keep everything at bay.
"I know Lucy, I know." I pet her face, trying to sooth her.
"I don't want to die. Please, I don't want to die!" She took another sharp breath. "It hurts!"
I've seen this happen. She would be in pain until she bled out. I couldn't let her go through that, and then she would turn into a No Soul. I couldn't just let her go through that. With trembling hands, I pulled out my gun.
"No! I don't want to die." She cried, eyeing up my gun.
"Lucy, it's okay. I'll make the pain stop. And then you'll be with Mom and Dad, and Brian. Don't you want to be with them? There won't be any No Souls, and you can run and play, and there isn't anymore pain." My eyes began to water.
"Henry too?" The tears still trailed, but I could tell the pain wasn't lessening. The wound wasn't big, a small bite at most. It would take another few minutes of this pain until she bled out.
"Yeah Lucy, Henry too." I placed the gun to her head, trying to steady my hand so it would be one shot, painless.
"That sounds good." I nodded, and her eyes locked with mine. "I love you."
"I love you too, Lucy." A tear fell from my cheek, and landed with hers. With a twitch of my finger, I ended her pain. The best that I could do. One shot, one bullet through the head, then eternal peace.
Pulling myself into a seated position, I saw all the boys looking at me, horror in some faces, admiration in others. My eyes flew to my leg, and I pulled a breathe though my clenched teeth, the pain hitting me full force.
"Yes." I whispered.
They looked at each other, confused. The Asian boy had his eyes on Lucy, in utter shock himself. The officer met my gaze. "Yes what?"
"Yes, I could use some help." I brushed away a tear, and leaned my head back against the wall, the black creeping around me, narrowing my vision. "Just don't leave her here…"
There was shuffling, and I felt a pair of arms wrap around me, one under my knees, the other around my shoulders. Leaning my head against the person's chest, I clutched my gun tightly in my hand. Then everything went black.
How did y'all like it? It's said, but I thought one of my better story intro's. Now there is so far that this can go. I want to try to follow the show's story line as closely as I can, just adding some here and there so that my character is in the story. I want to leave mystery, and have things that seem so trivial hidden until the right time. The first few chapters won't follow it perfectly, you know, a few bumps in the road, but after that I'll follow it closely. Leave a review, and let me know what you think.