A/N: sorry guys, I'm still new at this, gonna take me a little bit to get used to this, just bear with me :)
Amanda
The cab of the truck was stuffy as I sat with a duffel bag full of my meager belongings on my lap. Merle had insisted that I hold it so it wouldn't jeopardize a scratch to his beloved bike, which was held down by ropes in the bed of the truck. Sweat dripped down the back of my neck as I tried to reposition myself between the Dixon brothers. However I didn't complain because the two of them wouldn't let me live down being such a girl. Instead, I settled for rolling the hem of my shirt up so at least the light breeze coming through the window could cool off my midriff if nothing else. To my right, Daryl stiffened and from the corner of my eye you saw him quickly admire and look away. I slightly smirked but said nothing. Merle however, wasn't so shy and let out a low whistle.
"Damn kid, when did you grow into a woman?" he leered at my toned stomach and slightly revealed cleavage.
"Same time you turned into an asshole, Merle." I snipped at him, earning a chuckle from Daryl.
I was used to Merle's incessant remarks towards women. Growing up in the house next to the Dixons for years had accustomed me to his crudeness. The two men sitting beside me were the closest I had to family or friends, and as rough as they got, from short tempers to moonshine-drunken nights, they were my tethers to sanity.
I reminisce the first time I met the Dixons. I had been 10 years old.
The sun had just set as I stumbled out of my fathers' house. I hadn't set his TV dinner and beer out for when he arrived home tonight, something I knew better than to do. His already drunken rage was just waiting for an excuse to be set free and that was it. Now I sat on the old lawn chair on the small cement porch, staring at the star-riddled Georgia sky through my one unswollen eye and listened through the screen door to my father snoring as The Price Is Right played on the old TV. A twig snapping to the right of the house startled me, jumping quickly to my feet, I yelled "Who's there?!" A boy about four years older than me peered around the corner, looking apprehensive. The first thing I noticed was his bright blue eyes, holding mine, they caused a strange sense of calm.
"You ok?" He asked quietly.
I dropped my gaze to the concrete and mumbled "I'm fine." I looked back up to his concerned and unwavering stare, and noticed he was sporting a deep purple bruise of his own along his jaw.
"Are you?" I questioned, trying to take the attention off of myself.
"Fine" he said quickly before adding "Come with me" and abruptly walking off to the neighboring house.
"Oh, what the hell" I whispered to myself before running off after him.
Sitting on the porch of the neighbors house was a boy a few years older than the one walking in front of me. As I got closer I could see the concern in his eyes as well.
"Heard a ruckus, sent Daryl here over to see what it was" he drawled in his southern accent.
Once again my eyes found the dirt and I mumbled " S'nothing I can't handle". I looked up and caught a brief glance exchanged between the two.
That night had been the first of many to follow. The three of us were stuck together like white on rice after that, Daryl and Merle became a family to me that I had never imagined I could have. It wasn't until a few years later and Merle took off however, that I really started to get to know Daryl. He was a different person without Merle constantly putting him down. He joked, laughed, had full heartfelt conversations, hid with me in the woods if either of our fathers came home drunk and angry, as well as hold an icepack to my face whenever I wasn't fortunate enough to get out of the house. It took a few years to catch on but I was slowly began to recognize the heavy tension between the two of us. While he was trying to teach me to hunt, I would admire him from my perch in the tree. His taught muscles and intense eyes were just part of the magnetic pull I felt for him, there was something more between the two of us. No doubt, he was feeling it too. Every so often I would catch him looking at me, just staring, only to look away quickly when he was caught. He made sure to put plenty of space between the two of us at all times. I had taken the hint, neither of us wanting to say the words that could possibly lead to a break in the most important relationship in our lives… 20 years later and everything was still the same…
"Come the fuck on!" yelled Merle, honking the horn and shocking me back to the present. The traffic we were stuck in had come to a stand still and tempers were starting to raise as the hot Georgia sun beat down.
"Daryl, lemme get out real quick. I can't stand the heat and loud-ass over here yellin' in my ear" I said. Merle threw me a look as Daryl opened the door and got out himself, allowing me to get out and stretch my tense muscles.
"Looks like we ain't gonna make it to the huntin' grounds anytime soon" Daryl grumbled as he leaned against the truck, lighting two Marlboro's and handing me one. Graciously, I took it and inhaled the carcinogens. I knew he was perfectly content hunting in the woods around the house, he had only agreed to come because it was what I had wanted to do. I exhaled and watching the small smoke cloud float away, my eyes landed on a woman with dark hair sitting in the car next to us, supporting her head in one hand while the man and young boy with her talked to each other.
"I'm gonna go ask them what's going on" I said to Daryl. Ignoring the grunt he gave me as reply, I walked over to the car. I had always been better at talking to people than he was. As I leaned down to knock on the window of the car, the woman jumped and rolled it down. Taking in my appearance, then looking behind me to the glaring Daryl, she looked back to me, waiting for me to talk.
"Any idea what's going on?" I asked bluntly, not liking the judging look I was getting from the man in the car. People always gave me that look, the one that said, "what the hell does this redneck chick want?"
"We're headed to the FEMA camp being set up in Atlanta" said the woman, giving my cigarette a pointed look as smoke drifted through her open window. I held it away from the car, not used to being around people that didn't smoke.
"FEMA?" I paused to take a drag, then blew it out. "why are they setting up an emergency management place in the city?"
"Dunno. All I've heard is that people are getting real sick, real fast" she said gazing off up the road, seeming distracted.
"Oh, ok." I said, "I'm Amanda, by the way" holding out my hand to shake hers.
"Lori." She said, briefly shaking my hand "and this is Shane and my son Carl" she gestured to the two others in the car.
Just then, the old Winnebago a few cars over gave a groan and smoke poured out of the front. Not knowing what else to do, I went back to stand by Daryl. Shane got out of Lori's car to go help the old man in the bucket hat who had gotten out of the motorhome to check the damage, along with a few other men in the cars that had been surrounding ours.
"They're setting up a FEMA camp down in Atlanta" I said as I leaned back onto the truck. Another grunt came from Daryl as he glared at Shane. Looking over at the group of men now looking under the hood "what's got yer panties in a bunch?" I asked Daryl quietly, so as not to let Merle onto the fact that something was bothering Daryl, he would just make fun of him for being sensitive.
"He was starin' at yer tits the whole damn time the two of you were talkin'" he spat on the ground and continued to glare. He had always been protective of me when it came to other men. Sometimes I wondered if he just didn't like other men, or if there was another reason for his guard dog demeanor. Those looks were common too, I admitted to myself. Although I didn't flaunt it very much, I had a pretty nice body, and a large set of breasts. My physique probably came from all the time Daryl and I had spent in the woods hunting, climbing and swimming.
I looked over again at the group of men as they appeared to fix the problem and close the hood of the Winnebago. Things seemed pretty calm, regardless of the threatening way Daryl stared at Shane as he crossed over the road to head to the tree line.
All of a sudden a low rumble started as two fighter jets flew overhead, headed toward the city. A few moments after they flew out of sight, Shane came barreling out of the trees yelling about the city being bombed. My body tensed immediately and I looked around wildly to Daryl. The road erupted into chaos as cars started trying to get out of the gridlock. Daryl firmly grabbed my shoulders to push me into the truck back next to Merle.
"Let's get the fuck out of here!" he yelled to Merle over the noise of the panicking motorist around us. Merle threw the truck into drive and drove off the shoulder of the road into the grass. Looking behind us, I watched as several cars followed our truck off the road, including the motorhome and the car carrying Lori, Carl, and Shane. Looking over, I saw Daryl watching me with a look of concern mixed with ferocity, this time he didn't look away. He was going to protect me, no matter what. Always had, always would.
