Hello all! This is my first Walking Dead story, so be gentle with me and let me know you're thoughts. This is only an ntroduction to my character if it seems a tad vauge, I promise you she will get better. This is a Daryl X OC story because I think Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon is just pure genius! Please let me know what you think and enjoy!
Isabella Grey knelt behind a broken counter, a long, white marble handled hunting knife gripped tightly in her hand ready to attack if a walker happened upon her hiding place. Her ears pricked up, catching footsteps running up the metal stairs from the floor above her the roof, 'That's too fast for walkers.' she whispered to herself creeping out into the trashed shop, her black clad body kept low to the ground. Edging her way as noiselessly as she could out of the door, she too gripped the metal bannister of the stairs and hurled herself up the steps to the roof where a bright shaft of warm sunlight led her to the outside world. Stopping at the open entrance she squinted against the harsh brightness, a faint cry escaped her lips and she fell to her knees in a mix between exhaustion and relief as she took in the sight of four living people stood talking across the other side of the roof.
"Noooo! No! No! No!" Shouted the sandy haired hill-billy, as he watched the now empty handcuffs swaying in the light Georgian summer breeze. "You, you son of a bitch! this is your fault." he shouted lunging towards the hefty black man who looked sheepishly at the floor, the blond's crossbow being held mere centimetres from his nose, the tall dark haired policeman immediately reacted to the scuffle and held a silver pistol to the offending man's head. "I won't hesitate." He warned, pulling back the hammer and sliding the safety ketch off. The young Korean who was stood a safe distance from the arguing men, narrowed his eyes towards the open doorway where the figure of a woman lay propped up against the white washed wall, her pale face streaked with blood and tears, and her long dark curls escaping from her bun in all angles. "Uh, guys ..." he whispered, trying to attracted the rowing trio's attention, "Hey!" he tried, a little louder, but still received no response, "Guys, we aren't alone ..." The cop dropped the gun from his companion's head and swung it around scanning the area, "A walker? Where Glen?" Glen sighed and removed his hat, running a hand through his thick black hair, "She's not a walker... over there by the door."
Swiftly holstering his weapon the police officer, ran to the collapsed woman, shortly being followed by Glen and T-dog while the blond red neck stayed behind a few minutes wrapping the hand in a blue bandanna. "You …" the young woman breathed, her big dark eyes searching the faces of the three men surrounding her, "you're alive." the officer chuckled and nodded, "We are, I'm Rick. Rick Grimes" he indicated to the Asian to his right, "Glen" Glen smiled and raised his hand in a tiny wave, "And this here is T-Dog." he finished indicating to his right. The girl nodded and looked over his shoulder, her eyes glued to the blond as he crouched low to the ground examining a blood trail, feeling her gaze on him, he turned his head to look at her and straightened up to his full height, his long fingers tensing on the handle of his crossbow, "The fuck you staring at?" he shouted making her raise her eyebrows in surprise and turn her attention back to Rick who grimaced "And that is Daryl Dixon." She pursed her lips and nodded holding her hand out for Rick in a friendly gesture that he readily accepted, "I'm Isabella Grey."
"Are we going to look for Merle or what?" Daryl shouted over at the collection of people, just another fucking damsel in distress that needs her ass saving he thought to himself as he watched Rick pull the small woman to her feet, and advance towards him with the others close behind. "He must have used a tourniquet, his belt in my guess, or he'd have lost too much blood." Daryl continued, as he led the group along a splattered blood trail on the concrete, the one he had been studying before they joined him. The blood led into what looked like a locker room, nodding his head at the others, Daryl raised his crossbow and entered the room, his eyes and ears alert for any sign of the restless undead. "Merle! You in here?" he shouted as they wound their way down the steps, the metal was slick underfoot and Isabella felt herself sliding, a short exclamation of "oh!" escaping her lips as she felt a strong muscled hand grip the back of her black trousers, hoisting her back up with ease, "Watch yourself little girl." The Hick warned, as he fell back into the front of the precession, "Toughest ass hole I've ever known my brother," he mumbled kicking the two dead zombies as he walked past, "Feed him a hammer and he's crap nails."
"Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is." Rick said, concentrating as the group entered another room.
What looked like a kitchen stretched out before them, broken and open fridges, scattered pans and a still connected hob made up the dismal room. "What's the burned stuff on that paddle?" Glen asked, pointing out a blood covered piece of metal. Isabella moved closer and sniffed what was left of the burnt sludge, recoiling instantly at the smell, "Its skin, your brother, Merle is it … well he must have quortorised his stump, to stop the bleeding." Daryl looked at her properly for the first time, her pretty face held a beaten down look, with purplish bags under her eyes from lack of sleep, but even with the imperfections, she was the prettiest girl Daryl had seen in a long time, he nodded at her and made his way into another room, "How'd you know that anyway? You a nurse?" he asked as he bent to inspect a big hole in a glass window, "He must have got out through here, he's out there, surviving." T-Dog let out a barking laugh, "You call that surviving? Out there in the streets? Nearly passing out?" Daryl rounded on him, "No less than he had been thanks to you sorry bastards leaving him chained on that roof." Isabella sighed and moved between the fighting men, one hand on both their chests, "Now, I've been here about 5 minutes, and I can feel the anger you have because its family Daryl, but fighting will do you no good. If you want to find your brother you have to be methodical." both men looked at her, and sighed, moving away. "We need to get those guns and get out of here, the city isn't safe." said Rick watching the swarm of walkers milling about on the streets below. "Its suicide down there … we'll have to split up and be fast." Glen said thoughtfully as he scanned the streets for the bag of guns.
"Ok, Daryl and I will go down this alley here close to the guns, I'll grab the bag if Daryl covers my back. You, T-Dog and Isabella head to the left and in about 500 yards there's an alley that leads straight to the road where the van is, If you get in the van and pull round to the back of the mall, we can get to you there. Ok?" Glen looked at the figures around him as they all nodded in agreement, getting up and splitting off in their own directions.
"So uh, Daryl Dixon, is he always such a dick?" Isabella asked as they ran towards the road where they had parked their van, finding but empty roadway. "Where is it? Where's our Van?" Shouted T-dog as he placed his hands on his head in exasperation. "Merle." Rick exclaimed, "What do we do now? Hmm? We're screwed." The bigger man groaned.
A Small smile slipped onto Isabella's lips as she dug around in one of her pockets, her fingers grazing a set of car keys. "I have a plan..."