"Beth!"
"Beth?"
"Beth!?"
His body jerked up out of his sleep. It was the fourth bump in the road the car had hit that hour, and it looked like it was only getting worse. He raised his left hand up to his face, rubbing his tired eyes. At the rate this car ride had been going, he hadn't gotten a proper amount of sleep in days. As his hand slid down from his eyes to his mouth as he looked out the window. Georgia had been far out of sight for weeks now. He was grateful. He had never wanted to see Atlanta again.
"Mmm..Daryl.." The soft voice was muttered low enough for only him to hear. Without looking he could feel the warm body nudge into him more, his right arm pulling the petite body closer. He could feel skinny arms wrap around his body and his eyes finally glanced to his right, not yet moving his head. First thing he noticed was her salt and pepper like hair. They took over the shoulder they rested on, her face positioned so it could not be seen.
At least one of them could sleep after all that happened.
Daryl placed his forehead on her head whispering for only her to hear. "M'here. Sleep." He tightened his grasp on her, letting her know she was safe. As he lifted his head his eyes looked into the rearview mirror. Rick had been driving for the last hour, or so he thought. In the passenger seat was Michonne. Next to Carol was Judith in a car seat, and in the back Carl was laid out cross the two seat; hat over his head as he snored softly. Behind them in a van was Abraham, Rosita, Eugene, Glenn, Maggie, Tara and of course Sasha and Ty.
Washington had been a thing in the past, the only thing on their mind was getting as far away from Atlanta as possible.
They had been in Virginia for a few days. What would of been an 10 hour trip before the world went to total shit ended up lasting over a week. In that time Judith threw up all over the car; twice, both cars ran out of gas. Abraham's car got a flat and the saying 'are we there yet?' was over played. Daryl thought he was gonna go bat shit crazy in that car but being out of Georgia; far far away from Georgia, was quite the adventure to be had.
"Ya got t'map?" Daryl called out quietly to the first of the car. He was careful not to speak too loudly since he didn't wanna wake Judith. Last thing they needed was that girl to start screaming bloody murder and wake everyone else up.
Rick look at Michonne, who was passed out with her head against the windshield. He reached out his hand and grabbed her shoulder, carefully moving her until her head flopped to the other side. In her lap was the map, spread out like a blanket. "Look's like Michonne is busy with it."
"Ya know what exit we at?" Daryl asked trying not to sound like a broken record.
Rick shrugged, "Not sure."
From behind them the high beams of the other van flashed twice, and then started to stop. Rick followed their lead, knowing what the sign had meant. As they pulled over to the side of the rode Michonne shuffled in her seat. She opened one eye as she looked back to the car behind them, "They stopped?"
"Something must be up." Rick told her as he slightly rolled Judith's window down, and then continued to turn off the car. "I'll go figure it out, stay put."
Rick removed his seatbelt and proceeded to get out of the car. Unfortunately he wasn't careful enough when closing the door and the slam it made woke up the baby. As Judith started crying, Carl jumped up in the back seat a look of panic in his face. "What happen?"
"We stopped." Michonne grumbled, shuffling in her sleep.
Carol yawned as she lifted her head from Daryl's shoulder, stretching her arms out above her head. With tired eyes she unbuckled Judy from her car seat and pulled her into her arm. She cuddled the baby close to her body, "Oh sweetie, what's wrong? Did daddy wake you?"
Judith's crying continued no matter how much Carol tried to calm her. Daryl could hear Carl groan as he fell back into the seat and covered his face with his hat. Agreeing with the teen Grimes mood, Daryl covered his face again this time with both hands. Carol could see the frustration in his face, and the bags under his eyes was a dead give away of his sleep deprivation. His head lowered down closer to his knees, his hands still over his face as he tried his hardest to block out Judy's crying.
Realizing how miserable Daryl was, Carol nudged him with her shoulder, "Go with Rick, we're fine here." Daryl's head look to the side, his hands moving away from his face. She just smiled, The babies screaming become a little less obnoxious as she rocked her, "We'll be right here when you come back, baby sleeping and all."
"God I hope so." Michonne mumbled as she tossed and turned.
Carol smiled as she and Daryl watched the woman in the front seat become anxious in her seat. Once she stopped moving Carol looked back to Daryl nudging him again. "Go Daryl, its okay."
r32;Daryl nodded okay, taking his seatbelt off and leaving the car to find Rick. In front of the van that was parked behind them Rick was standing with Abraham, Glenn and Sasha. A map of Virginia spread out on the hood of van. "So why we stop?" Daryl asked standing behind Rick.
"Been riding on E for the mile n'a half." Abraham explained, "We need to fuel up, find a place to stay for the night. Preferably off 95, don't like sleep to close to the big roads. Not the safest shit to do."
"So what we got near us?" Sasha ask, look over to the map.
Glenn pointed to the part of the road he suspected they were on, "Alexandria, Belle Haven or Huntington. Pick your poison."
"So close to DC.." Abraham grumbled frustratedly.
Rick scratched the back of his head, giving Daryl a glance as he did so. "We can still try Washington, Abraham, but not tonight. We need to be ready."
Even if there was no cure maybe sanctuary was still out there.
Maybe.
"There's countless of military base's around here, one of them have to have made it." Sasha tried to explain, looking back and forth from Rick an Daryl to Abraham. "We can't be on the run forever."
"She's right, 'sides, we don' know how t'rest of t'states been making due. It might not be so bad up 'ere." Daryl knew this positive outlook bullshit was nothing less that that, but he knew hope was something the rest of the group needed.
Besides as an old friend had once told him: you should have a little faith.
Abraham grumbled crossing his arms, "Fine, we can head a little more north. The Alexandria exist isn't too far off. We should make it." He grabbed the map and rolled it up, heading back to into the van. Sasha was soon to follow, leaving just Rick, Daryl and Glenn standing alone.
Rick looked at Glenn, and then glanced behind him into the van. He could barely see into the back, where Maggie was sitting down with her head on Tara's shoulder. "How is she?"
Glenn sighed, crossing his arms and looking back as well. "Tired. Quiet. She won't say anything to us. She need's proper sleep.. a proper place to mourn." They hear him huff as he looked back to the others, mainly at Daryl. "How's Carol?"
Daryl bit the inside of his lip, looking back to the car Carol was still in. He could see her putting the baby back into her car seat. She was sleeping again, he hoped. "She's been okay. Lil' ass kicker keeps her busy." He was partially right. Physically Carol was fine, fit as a fiddle even. Mentally, however, Daryl had no idea. There hadn't been time to talk about what happened back in Georgia.
What happen to Beth. What happen to Lizzie, and to Mika. There just wasn't enough time.
Beaming lights made the three men turn back to the van. In the driver seat was Abraham looking rather annoyed with the three of them standing in the middle of the road. They all smiled, and Daryl could even hear a chuckle in Rick's voice. "We should get back in our cars, before Abraham runs us over."
"Well ya know what they say bout Gingers."
There was a scoff and a heckle heard amongst the three of them before they all headed back to their designated cars. As Rick and Daryl got back to their car, Daryl gently swatted Rick's arm. "Want me t'drive?"
"No I'm still good. You stay with Carol." Rick replied as he reached the passenger seat. He didn't enter the car just yet, but his hand held on to the door. "She need's you now more than ever, Daryl."
Daryl didn't say anything as he reached out for his door. Sheepishly his head tilted Ricks way, not fully making eye contact with him. He was right. Very right about that. Right now his top priority was taking care of Carol. He wasn't going to lose her, never again. Without words he agreed with Rick and then entered the car. As he closed the door softly and put his seatbelt on he could feel Carol's eyes watching him. He tried to get comfortable as Rick turned the car on, waiting for Abraham to go first. They would follow the others back on to the road in silence.
Carol continued to watch him as they drove, Daryl keeping his eyes out his window. He knew she was staring. He just knew Carol. After a few minutes, he finally made eye contact with her. He could see that she was dozing off, her body swaying with the bumpy terrain of the road. With a sigh Daryl opened his arm out to her, inviting her in closer. "C'mere. Yer goin' pass out on Judy." When her body was too weary to obey him Daryl pulled her in himself, resting her head on his chest and holding it their with his hand. Her hands curled up against him, holding on to his shirt. Before he knew it his eyes were closed and he could hear her fast asleep. With his free hand he held up his head, his elbow rested against the window. He kept his eyes on the road as much as he could, occasionally looking over to see if she was okay.
Now if only he could fall asleep.
"Sophia?!"
"SOPHIA!"
"Shit! Everyone up!"
Like clock work Judith started to cry causing Daryl's head jerked up from where he was finally sleeping. When he looked around he could see Carol had jumped up as well, immediately checking on Judy. Carl had gotten up as well, looking around to check his surroundings. "Dad? What's wrong?"
Daryl could see a car flipped over in front of them. "Fuck." He cussed as he turned around to the back seat where his crossbow was being stored next to Carl. As he grabbed it he could hear Rick and Michonne getting out of the car, and as he quickly followed them he could see Carol and Carl starting to move with him. Putting up his hand he growled for them to stop. "Wait 'ere."
"But Daryl-"
"Wait 'ere for us!" He growled again, closing the door and then following the other's to the van. He could smelled the smell of spilled oil in the air as well as the burning rubber the van had left behind before it's crash.
He helped Rick open the back door of the van, Michonne keeping an eye out for walker's.
When the doors swung open, they could see Maggie, Tara, Glenn banged up at the floor. "What hell happened?" Rick snapped, a spark of angry and frustration lighting as he helped the three of them out of the van and to their feet.
Daryl let a hand out for Tara as she pulled herself up out of the truck, "We don't know, we just heard a pop then the car started to skid.."
"Everyone else alright?" Rick asked helping Glenn up.
Glenn looked back into the van to help his wife. He tried looking passed her as he helped Maggie to her feet. "Ty?! Sasha?!" His whispers were raspy and anxious.
They could see movement as someone body stumbled around a darker part of the van. "Ty? Sasha? Abraham?" Rick called out hoping for a response.
"Rick?!"
It was Sasha voice they could hear. Suddenly her body appeared from the shadows, Rosita being held up on her side. She handed Rosita of to Maggie and Glenn as she looked back into the van. "Tyreese, Eugene, and Abraham are still back in there."
"Head's up, we got walkers!"
The group looked back to the approaching walkers coming from the forest. Daryl could hear Rick mumble a curse as he climbed back into the van with Sasha to pull out the others. The rest of them tried to take out as many walkers as they can while Rick and Sasha helped Abraham and Tyreese out of the car. As they crawled out the van, Abraham and Rick closed the van door. Daryl counted the heads and then soon realized someone was missing. He wasn't the only one.
"Eugene?"
Abraham shook his head no.
Before they knew it the amount of walkers coming out of the forest doubled in size. They all started to back away from the fallen van that at that moment caught on fire.
"We gotta go!"
"There's too many!"
"Rick.. Daryl.. the car!"
Rick and Daryl's head shot around the car that Carol and the kid were still in. Walkers had surrounded it, and suddenly Daryl's heart went into panic mode. Carol! They all made their way back to the walker surrounded car, Daryl taking the lead as he pulled his knife and put down the first walker he could reach. He pulled as many as he could off and away from the car, Rick and the others at his side. "Carol!" As he got the last walker off, he opened the door letting Carol, Carl and the baby out of the car. Carl ran into his fathers arms the moment he was free. As for Carol, she quickly reached for Daryl's chest. She was looking for a safety anchor, he could see it in her eyes.
"Here, I got her." Tyreese put his hands out, reaching for the baby as Carol passed her off, as well as the baby bag.
As she pulled out her knife Daryl stopped her, lifted her head up to him with his thumb, "Ya alright?" She only shook her head yes, reaching her hand out for his.
"We gotta go! Quick, into the forest!"
Just like that there were right back to square one. No supplies, no cars and no home. And always on the run. Sooner or later, they had to stop.
They just had to.
