If anyone had told Terrwyn Argall that she would be fending for her life on the highway, she would have assumed that they meant that she would be trying to live through traffic. She wouldn't have dreamt, even in her wildest dreams, that she would be fighting off the Walking Dead. Why would she have? She had never been a strong follower of pop culture, so the idea of walking dead had been absurd to her. She had never understood why people watched movies and read books about things that didn't exist. Of course, things had to go in the one direction she never expected them to go. Now she was wandering down an unknown road in what she believed to be Georgia, although she had no real way of being sure.
She remembered seeing the standard "welcome to Georgia" sign when she entered the state and she had seen Atlanta, so the natural assumptions was that she still resided in the peach state.
She stopped to look into a car, where she had heard a strange, gurgling sound. Her face contorted momentarily as she realized what was making that sound. It was a baby, no older than two years old. It was fastened into a child seat but she could tell from the way its flesh seemed to be melting off its face that it had been a victim of the virus. It took her only a moment to contemplate what to do. She pulled the door open and was met with the baby wildly waving its arms towards her. The corners of Terrwyn's mouth twisted as she pulled out a machete she kept for close combat. "I'm sorry kiddo," she murmured, her voice filled with melancholy. She took only one swift hit and the gurgles and hissing ceased immediately.
No one was safe. Old people, young people… Even tiny babies were infected with this virus that made them all into bloodthirsty beings who had only one thing in mind: food. Terrwyn was in the unfortunate position of being the food that they were looking for. Even her family hadn't been safe from the virus. Terrwyn had come from a small Irish-American family from New York. Her mother had been a second generation Irish-American while her father had been almost fresh off the boat when he met her mother. They had settled down at a young age and produced two children: Terrwyn and her brother.
Her mother had been the first one to go; almost a week after New York had become infested with Walkers. Her father had subsequently taken his own life, only to come back as one of those… things as well. Terrwyn's brother however, remained a mystery. Last thing she knew he had been in Atlanta, which was probably why she had set her heart on going all the way down to Georgia. Growing up they had been particularly close; she followed him around, hung out with his friends and took part in the shady business that later on became his life.
Terrwyn pushed the memories of her family away, reminding herself that to survive in this crazy world she had to be able to stay strong. Emotional breakdowns were a big no-no and she was certain that if she let her mind dwell long enough on the death, rising and second death of her parents she would be on a good way to getting one. She moved swiftly to the trunk of the car and kicked it a few times until it slowly opened, revealing to her the good that were within.
Terrwyn grinned as she began picking out the good stuff. There were a couple cans of baked beans, a can of peaches, a can with pineapple bits and a big bag of chips. "Bingo, we have a winner," Terrwyn mumbled to herself as she opened up the can of peaches with a small knife she had pocketed from the butcher shop. The first thing she did was down the juice that was in the can. She couldn't remember when she had such a pure form of liquid. Usually she had to make-do with the sauce that baked beans. She licked her lips clean and let out a pleasurable squeal, obviously happy with her find. She placed the other cans in her duffle bag and she quickly climbed up on to the car and took a seat.
Far too often had she been ambushed by Walkers while she was busy devouring whatever food she had managed to find. Recently she had made it a habit to get up on to the cars and consume her food there. Even if the Walkers ambushed her while she was eating, she would at least have a slight advantage, involving her being on top of the car. She took her sweet time fishing out the slice of peach and she allowed the peaches to sit in her mouth before swallowing. Her eyes welled up from the joy of having something as sweet as peaches.
Feeling perfectly safe she opened up her duffle bag, carefully placed the shotgun she had inside of it to the side and she rummaged through the bag momentarily until she found what she was looking for. "I've missed you baby," she said with a grin on her face as she stared at the whiskey bottle in front of her. She didn't waste any time; she opened up the bottle and pressed it to her lips, knowingly wasting away the fruit juices she had been enjoying earlier. She chugged for a while before pulling the bottle away from her lips and closing it back up.
She couldn't afford to get drunk in an open area like the high way and she was well aware of that. But tipsy couldn't be so bad, now could it?
"Behind you!"
Terrwyn nearly lost her balance as someone shouted in her general direction. However, trusting the person blindly, she picked up her machete, stood up and turned around. Once again she was pretty close to being Walker chow. She jumped off of the car and landed in front of the Walker. It was a woman who looked like she might have been in her early thirties. There were only a few strands of red hair hanging from her head, indicating that she had been a Walker for quite a while. Terrwyn made the mistake of inhaling and anyone would have been able to tell that the smell was horrendous from the way her nose scrunched up.
"You really smell bad," she said as she swung her machete with all the force she could muster, effectively cleaving the Walker's head. She climbed back on to the car and she had resumed picking the peaches from the can before she remembered that someone had warned her about the Walker behind her. Instinctively she picked up her shotgun and she swallowed the peach she had in her mouth before setting down the can.
"Show yourself, stranger," she said loudly as she positioned herself at the edge of the car, allowing her feet to hang over the edge. She held the shotgun with both hands in a terrible attempt to stable her hands, which were hopelessly unsteady.
"Why would I do that? You've got your finger on the trigger," the voice said from behind what seemed to be an RV. Terrwyn looked down at her hands and realized that she was ready to pull the trigger. Whether it was something that had become an automated reaction or something she had done on purpose, she had no idea. She pulled away from the trigger and merely held on to the handle. "That's more like it," the voice said and soon a hand adorning a crossbow appeared from the side of the RV.
"No fair, you can shoot no problem with that crossbow, with your hand on it like that," Terrwyn retorted suddenly, her fingers moving back to the trigger. The hand, obviously belonging to a male moved the fingers away from the trigger on the crossbow and instantly Terrwyn's fingers relaxed. She didn't move her eyes away from the RV as the figured slowly appeared. Her right hand, however, left the shotgun and pulled out another peach, which she pretty much stuffed it into her mouth causing the corner of the man's mouth to turn slightly upwards.
"See, I mean no harm, girl," he said, allowing his hands to lower, lowering the crossbow in the process. He couldn't help but stare at the woman he had been watching from afar for nearly half a day. He had been able to tell that she was dressed nicely for someone going through an apocalypse from afar but that was about it. Up close he could see that her hair, tied up into a messy knot, was dirty blond instead of the light brown color he thought he had been seeing. Her eyes were a steel blue color and it felt as if she was staring him down. Her clothes were torn, indicating that she had been wearing them for quite a while.
"Who are you calling girl?" she questioned, her eyebrows raised. "I believe I qualify as a woman," she added with a slight frown.
"Woman wouldn't have sounded as good at the end of that sentence," he said, with a shrug.
"Thanks," she said, throwing the now empty can carelessly on to the road. He looked puzzled for a moment. "You know, letting me know about that Walker," she said, closing up her duffle bag and sliding off of the car, the shotgun in one hand and a machete in the other. She quickly put away the machete in the makeshift holster she had made for the machete. She pulled the duffle bag down from the car and put it on. "Are you traveling alone?" she asked.
"Sort of," he answered. "I am with a group but I went out hunting."
"Out by the highway?" she asked, with a look of incertitude on her face. She tilted her slightly as she began to take in this strange man. He was dirty, that went without saying. He had short dark hair and the clothes he wore made her guess that he was a local, at least closer to being a local than she was. She couldn't help but think that he was rather handsome. She couldn't even remember seeing a decent looking guy who wasn't a Walker or well out of her comfort-zone in regards to age since the whole apocalypse deal began. Her cheeks flushed slightly as her thoughts began to wander.
"Well, I went out hunting originally… But then I came across your camp and I've been-"
"Following me?" she interjected, slightly more worked up than she meant to be.
"Well, observing you," he answered sheepishly. "Seeing if you were someone to be trusted and if you were really alone," he elaborated, hoping to alleviate the situation.
"I don't care why. You were following me like some… creep," Terrwyn said, shaking slightly at the memory of the things that had gone down in North Carolina. She had been followed by a group of survivors who eventually trapped her and later attempted to consume her. She frowned momentarily before she looked at the man again. Her gut was telling her that he wasn't going to try and eat her; he really didn't look interested in consuming human flesh.
Her stomach growled and she silently cursed the man for interrupting her meal time. She could have dealt with the Walker fine, as long as she avoided getting bit. She sighed and returned to the trunk and pulled out a can of tuna that she had planned on ignoring earlier. But her stomach was beckoning for food and she didn't want to open up her duffle bag once more. She opened the can with ease; it had one of those pull off lids. Prior to the dead walking, Terrwyn had been the type who scorned canned food because of its lack of freshness. However, she had come to appreciate the fact that the food could be eaten well after its fresher counterpart would have rotted away.
She began picking out the tuna, turning away from the stranger. She was attempting to ignore him in hopes that ignoring him would make him disappear. It took a few minutes but she began to hear the shuffle of his feet. Taking it a sign of victory she turned herself around so that she could watch him walk away. Instead she saw that he had only moved so that he was leaning against the car next to the one she had positioned herself by. It looked like he was waiting for her to finish the tuna.
"What do you want?" she asked, obviously vexed by his company now. The giddiness over seeing a handsome male had now worn off and it had been replaced with a strong yearning to be alone.
"I'd like to help you. A woman shouldn't have to wander this place alone. Not with the Walkers around every corner," he said, honestly worried for her sake.
"Are you kidding me?" Terrwyn asked before letting out a short, loud laugh. "I'm sorry, but I've manage to survive this long by myself," she added before shoveling another dose of tuna into her mouth. She chewed slowly, trying to ignore the revolting texture of the tuna.
"Look, things aren't getting any better out here. Their hoards are getting bigger. It's not safe for anyone to be out on their own."
"And you're telling me it's better to be in a group?" she challenged.
"It's better than being on your own. For survival," he said, not wholeheartedly agreeing with his words. His group wasn't what he would call a good group. It was filled with people who didn't do jack-shit unless they were forced to and like he had told them so many times before, their group was broken. But they had gotten this far with only a few casualties in their group and with their combined skills, he was sure that they would be able to survive at least another year in this environment.
"On my own I don't have to worry about others. I don't have any obligations to run a little slower or to keep an eye out for anyone other than myself. I don't have to worry about someone flipping their shit and losing their minds. I have managed to survive this whole damn time with little assistance from anyone else," she stated, obviously convinced that it was better to be without companions. "But my favorite part about not being in a group is that I don't have to pretend to like someone to keep the peace."
She took the last of the tuna and shoved it into her mouth as she threw the can on to the ground. She looked at the man with a raised brow and waited for him to come with some sort of reply, something that was supposed to convince her that she was still wrong. After a while of silence she shrugged and headed off to the next car where she once again kicked the trunk a few times, hoping that the trunk would fly open. "Piece of shit Ford," she muttered, kicking again with all her might.
Suddenly the trunk popped open, much to her surprise. She looked up and there stood the man with the driver's door open. Terrwyn mouthed something incomprehensible to the man as she began to dig through the trunk, careless throwing things on to the ground.
"You don't have to get along with everyone. You can think about yourself and tell people you don't like them. Hell, I do what I want. I don't give a damn what I'm supposed to do. I do what I want," Terrwyn listened carefully as he went on about his group. There was obvious disdain for some of the members but slight fondness for some of them. She tried to act as if she didn't care but sometimes she found herself looking up at him, curious to hear more about what had gone down. Much to her dismay, he stopped after telling her about the other members, not bothering to tell much of their story.
She stood up straight and looked at him.
"If you really want me in your group that bad," she said, her voice almost containing a hint of playfulness in it. "I guess it wouldn't be so bad. I haven't really talked to people since the-" she paused momentarily, wondering what to call the incident with the creepy group that tried to eat her. "The cannibal incident," she finished, settling on the obvious name.
"But it should be perfectly clear: I'm not going to stick my neck out the window for people I don't know or don't like. I'm not going to give my stuff unless I want to and I am sure that I am going to actively dislike at least one of the members of this group."
The man smiled slightly, happy that he had managed to coerce her into following him to the group. He didn't know why it had felt like it was important to him to get her to join them. She had just seemed like she was the type who would get herself killed simply by walking out of the house. Maybe it was sexist, but had it been a man traveling alone he wouldn't have worried about the man as much as he worried about this woman who barely reached his shoulders.
"We should go before it gets dark," he said, suddenly looking around at the sky which was beginning to darken.
"Alright. Where'd you set up camp?" she questioned, stuffing items from the trunk into a bag she had found in the back of the trunk.
"In a prison," he answered, catching her attention.
"If you would have told me that you had an actual building, you could have saved both of us a lot of time," she said, closing the backpack and putting it on backwards, so that it was resting on her front. The idea of an actual building was so enticing that she didn't think to ask any more questions. She followed obediently as he headed back into the woods.
"I didn't catch your name," she suddenly pointed out.
"Daryl," he said, not bothering to reveal his last name. "What about you, woman?" he said, making sure that he emphasized woman.
Terrwyn laughed. "Terrwyn," she answered.
"Terrwyn… Ain't exactly easy on the tongue," he commented as he marched on.
"Then it's Terry."
A/N: So I hope you like the first chapter of A Simple Twist of Fate. I realize that Daryl might be out of character, but hey, that's fine and dandy. Otherwise you wouldn't have read to the end, now would you? I fully plan on ignoring whatever happens in Season 3. The prison is however an idea I took from bother the ending of season two (the building in the end, remember?) and the comics. I won't say anymore to avoid spoiling anything for anyone. But that's about all. From this story on, I'll be making things go my way. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! Reviews would be appreciated. (Hint: I might post chapter two, which is complete, sooner if I get encouragement!)