A/N: The Walking Dead is owned by AMC, I am simply borrowing there great work and adding a spin.
I`d like to thank my BETA - stAnd out-SHOUT OUT.
Chapter Two.
Making Friends.
The gunshot had all their nerves on edge as Daryl led them through the woods, heading back in the direction of the highway.
"You still worried about it?" he asks a distraught Lori, while he carefully looks down at a sleeping Tahlee. His voice was low, careful not to aggravate the sleeping woman. He'd broken bones before and he knew the agony that she must have been experiencing. It was best to let her sleep.
"It was a gunshot," Lori snaps harshly before flinching at her own tone. "I`m sorry," she apologizes a moment later.
Tahlee unconsciously presses herself closer to Daryl, bringing her arm up to wrap around his neck as she continues sleeping. He tenses slightly at the physical contact before he replies, "We all heard it."
"Why just one shot?" Lori wonders, voicing her concern to the rest of the group.
Andrea answered before Daryl could, "Maybe they took down a walker?"
"Please, don`t patronize me. You know Rick wouldn`t risk a gunshot to put down one walker, or Shane. They'd do it quietly," the mother argues. Everyone could see that she really was concerned over the entire thing, fidgeting with her bag and looking around more alert than before.
Andrea glanced into the surrounding trees behind them, as though she expected to see Rick and Shane come through the brush at any moment. "Shouldn`t they have caught up by now?"
Daryl cast a quick glance back at her. "There`s nothing we can do about it, anyway. Can`t be running around chasing echoes."
The voices had slowly penetrated Tahlee's subconscious, waking up the aching woman. She had heard the tail-end of the conversation and realized that they had reached a roadblock. "What do we do?"
"Same as we`ve been doing, beat the bush for Carol, working our way back to the highway." Daryl says as he checks their surroundings for walkers, not even stopping as he pivots his body, Tahlee moving with the motion.
Glenn tries to reassure the women, "I`m sure they`ll hook back up with us at the RV."
Tahlee asks quietly, "How long have you all been together?" Her face was beginning to go pale from blood loss and shock, but it was a relief to know that she was awake and lucid.
"Since this shit started, we met at an abandoned Quarry just outside of Atlanta - lost some people so we moved to the CDC - then that shit-hole blew up and now here we are camping on the fuckin` highway just waitin` to be picked off," Daryl growls.
They could barely overhear the end of Andrea`s conversation, " - for what it`s worth."
"I`ll tell you want it`s worth - not a damn thing. It`s a waste of time, all that hopin` and prayin`, We`re gonna find this girl`s mother and she`s gonna be just fine. Am I the only one Zen around here? Good Lord," Daryl ranted causing them to smile.
After several minutes of silence, Tahlee brushed her fingers across his cheek, "That was a good thing you just did, Daryl. You gave Sophia hope, although I wouldn`t call that being Zen; more like..." she trailed off.
"Like what?" He asked looking down at her.
She smiled sheepishly. "I dunno yet, I think I need to get to know you better before I answer," she replied with a faint blush staining her cheeks..
Daryl, realizing that he was blushing, cleared his throat, "We`re losing the light, we should head back, we`ll pick it up again tomorrow."
"Yo, man wait a minute, we need to change Tahlee bandage, it`s dripping," Glenn calls out, motioning down to where his shirt, once semi-clean, was now saturated with red.
Daryl carefully places her down on a fallen tree as Andrea kneels down and unwraps the bloody clothing article, Tahlee wincing heavily as she did so. It was not only uncomfortable, but altogether painful.
"Jesus, it`s still bleeding!" she mutters in awe and concern.
Just noticing how pale Tahlee has gotten, Lori rushes over and slaps her across the face startling her awake, getting startled flinches and gasps from everyone. Seeing Lori, the mother-hen of the group, up and slap an injured woman was not what they had been expecting.
Daryl growls protectively, "What the fuck, woman."
"Listen, she is losing too much blood, soon she`ll pass out and slip into a coma. That`s what happened to Rick, she needs to stay awake," Lori explains quickly. Finally hearing her logic made it easier to understand why she had slapped her, but it was still very sudden and surprising. Lori brushes her hand across Tahlee redden cheek, "Honey, listen we need to know your blood type? Can you remember that for me?"
She struggles to remain alert as sleep creeps up on her. "Huh, umm, A-Positive I think."
"Good. So is Carl and Rick." Lori muttered.
Glenn stood having finished wrapping the bloody foot in his ripped shirt. "We should hurry."
WALKINGDEAD
"How much further?" Sophia whined two hours later as her legs ached.
Sweat was dripping down Daryl`s face. "Maybe a hundred yards, as the crow flies," he grunted out. As light as Tahlee was, it was getting tiring to carry her not only through the forest, but through the heat of a Georgian summer as well.
"Too bad we`re not crows," Andrea snaps in annoyance, stumbling over the roots that were everywhere in their path. There was silence for only a moment before Andrea's scream punctuated the forest, drawing everyone to an abrupt stop.
Groggily, Tahlee begs from Daryl's arms. "Quick, put me down!"
"Sophia, stay with her," Daryl ordered as he placed her down carefully before running towards Andrea`s screams for help.
A snarling walker had pinned Andrea down, her knife out of reach as she fumbled desperately through the leaves. "No!"
Before anyone had a chance to act, the thundering trot of a horse disrupted Andrea's screams as a woman's riding a chestnut mare galloped passed Andrea and the walker, swinging a baseball bat to the walker's head with a sickening crack.
"Lori?" the woman asked, looking down at Andrea's petrified face. "Whoa, girl, easy" the mysterious woman settles her horse, slipping the now bloody bat into a side slip on the horse. "Lori Grimes?"
Lori raises her hand, stepping forward. "I`m Lori."
"Rick sent me - You`re got to come with me now," she demands.
"What?"
The mysterious woman was getting impatient. "There`s been an accident - Carl`s been shot. He`s still alive but you`re got to come now. Rick needs you - Just come." She offers Lori a hand up. Coming out of her shock, she throws Andrea her bag and Daryl`s spare gun, before climbing onto the horse.
Daryl exclaimed, "Whoa, we don`t know this girl. You can`t get on that horse!"
Fed up with all the talking, "Rick said you had other`s on the highway, by the big traffic snarl! If you back-track to Fair-burn Road, two miles down is our farm. You`ll see the mail box the names Greene. Hee-yah!" And the two women take off leaving the rest of the group in their wake.
The downed walker groaned. Daryl, fed up over how shitty the day has gone, raises his crossbow and shoots it in the head, "Shut up."
WALKING-DEAD
The pain was unbearable by the time Daryl sat her down gently on the bonnet of an abandon car. Hanging her head as she begins to feel faint again she doesn`t see Daryl leave or coming back. "Here, Princess," he held out two little white pills in his hand.
She grimaces a thank-you before she swallows them dry, coughing but gratefully accepting a bottle of water and chugging down half of it.
Dale spoke worriedly from the RV, "Andrea, are you okay?"
Except Andrea glares at the poor man as she stalks pass him to the RV and slamming the door behind her.
"What are we going to do? We can`t stay here exposed like this," Glenn asked as he fiddled with his cap.
Sighing, Dale was the one to answer first, "We need to regroup."
A terrified cry escaped Sophia, "We can`t just leave, what about Mommy?"
"I`m sorry sweetie, but we need to regroup," Dale pattered the young girls shoulder in sympathy. Now he knew how Rick felt, having to make the decisions that would be best for the group.
"What if she comes back and we`re not here?" Sophia tears up.
Tahlee`s heart broke at the distraught girl, wishing she could take that beautiful young girl into a hug to help comfort her.
"If Carol does come back and we`re not here, that would be awful," Andrea joined in. They all knew the truth to it, but to know that Carl had been shot and they were missing a large number of their group set them on edge.
"So what, we just stay here? What about Carl? We need to go and join them." Glenn wasn`t comfortable with staying here out in the open, and neither was Tahlee.
"No, we need a plan. What if we stay here tonight, and in the morning we pull-up stakes. That gives us plenty of time to rig-up a big-ass sign and leave her some supplies. I`ll hold here tonight with the RV," Daryl instructed.
Dale refused, "If the RV is staying, then so am I."
Crying, Sophia unexpectedly hugged Daryl, leaving him to pat her back awkwardly. His experience with children was slim to none, especially one who had lost her mother.
"However, we have two very injured members who need medical attention; T-Dog`s arm is severely infected and from Glenn`s description that foot also needs a doctor. I think that Glenn should take them both to this farm and pray they have antibiotics, otherwise we`ll lose them both." Dale pleaded.
Growling Daryl stormed over to his motorbike throwing an oily rag on the ground, "Why didn`t you say something earlier Old Man, got my brother`s stash. Got some crystal, X - don`t need that, got some serious kick-ass painkillers, Doxycycline and not the generic stuff neither, it`s first class." He threw the little orange bottle at Dale, before adding, "Merle got the clap on occasion." Causing Tahlee to choke of a mouthful of water, Daryl smirked as he patted her on the back.
"Jesus, Daryl, are you trying to kill me?" Tahlee coughs.
"Nah, Princess gotta get my amusement somewhere." Daryl smirks.
However, Sophia did not understand and asks, "What`s the clap?"
Which made everyone laugh and Tahlee struggles to answer.
Glenn is stunned at the display of flirting the usual grim red-neck is showing Tahlee' at least he was until Dale smacks him over the head; "What man?"
Frowning, Dale says, "Help me with T-Dog, so we can get him into the Cherokee."
WALKINGDEAD
The drive up to the farm was quiet as T-Dog slept in the back while Glenn drove. He nervously tapped his fingers against the steering wheel to a beat only he could hear. Tahlee touches his knee, "They`ll be fine, Glenn," she tries to assure.
"Nah, Tahlee, it`s not. Everything`s gone to shit in the last few days. Losing Merle (even though he was a racist jerk), having the quarry over-run, losing Amy - Jim - Jacqui and now with Carol missing. I don`t know how much more we can stand to lose." Glenn laid everything out on the table.
Sorrow squeezed her heart. "Carl will be fine, Daryl will find Carol and we will survive. I know I haven`t been with you guy`s long but I believe we - humanity - can survive this and continue on." She tried to comfort this troubled young man as best she could, even with her own fears.
"I hope you stick around, I mean I know you told them that you`ll leave after we find Carol but I think you`ll be good for the group, a positive influence." He blushed at his honestly, but it made Tahlee smile.
"I need to think about it Glenn, joining another group is a big decision and it`s not completely up to me either."
He nodded in understanding, "I think we`re here," as he stopped at a closed gate.
A sign read "Greene Family Farm", lit up by the headlights from the car.
"I guess so," she mumbled before offering, "I`ll get the gate."
Glenn grabbed her hand, "No I`ll get it, you need to rest your foot." Putting the car in park, he got out to open the gate. The metal had rusted over time and it shrieked as he opened it, and once more as he closed it behind them.
After a mile long driveway, they finally spotted the lit up farmhouse.
Tahlee struggled as she got out of the car as Glenn struggled with T-Dog. She limped up to the front porch as Glenn stood in front of the door. "Do we ring the bell? I mean someone is obviously home." He gestures to the lit windows.
Tahlee immediately notices the young woman sitting off in the dark, "We`re past this kinda thing, aren`t we?" T-Dog mumbles.
Smiling Tahlee winks to the mysterious woman, "We should be polite and knock right fella`s."
"Did you close the gate as you came through?" She made both men jump in surprise as Tahlee laughed.
Glenn was grateful that it was dark as he blushed, "Uh, hi. Yeah we closed it - did the latch and everything." He mimicked the motion with his hands.
Tahlee jumps in, "Hello, we haven`t officially met - I`m Tahlee, this here is Glenn and T-Dog." She pointed to the African American man.
"Maggie Greene," she introduced herself before quickly stepping back, her eyes lingering on the makeshift bandage.
"It`s not a bite, Miss - I cut myself on a jagged piece of metal," T-Dog explained, understanding her concern. After what happened with Jim, it was easy to fear unknown injuries.
Glenn added, "Yeah, Tahlee needs help too with her broken toe, it`s pretty disgusting."
Tahlee cried out, "Hey," as she smacked him over the head. Admittedly, it was disgusting but she didn't need to hear him tell that to someone they didn't know.
Maggie smiled. "We`ll be able to help you once my father is finished with the boy. I`ll tell them you`re here, we don`t have much as we`re still waiting for Shane and Otis to come back from the FEMA shelter."
"We do have some antibiotic`s and painkillers." Glenn offered as the door opened to let Rick step out.
"Hey, Is Carl okay?" Tahlee immediately asked as children are her weakness, something she`s always wanted.
Rick shook his head. His pallor was paler than hers and she'd been steadily bleeding all day. "We're just waiting on Shane. Carl woke up briefly but he`s asleep now." He sounded exhausted, but he still asked about the group.
"Daryl and Dale had everything under-control when we left, they`ll be here first thing in the morning," Tahlee informed him.
"And Sophia?"
Frowning, "She wanted to stay just in case, Andrea is staying with her." Tahlee informed him.
Rick nodded. "Come on in, I`ll get Hershel to have a look at your foot," he gestured for T-Dog to enter first as Rick wrapped his arm around Tahlee's waist and helped her in as Glenn held the door open.
"Rick, man, whatever you need just let me know," Glenn offered.
"Thank you."
WALKING-DEAD
Tahlee watched as Patricia stitched up T-Dog`s arm, she grimaced as the needle went in and out of his skin. 'Oh God,' she mumbles as she covered her mouth 'please don`t throw up' she prayed as a young blonde girl placed a sandwich and a glass of juice in front of her.
"Are you alright?" Beth asked politely.
Tahlee dragged her eyes away. "Not a fan of needles."
"Daddy says he`ll be out to check on your foot as soon as Carl is stable," She tried to distract the pale Spanish woman. For someone with dark skin, she was whiter than Beth at this point.
Tahlee smiled at the pretty young girl before she dug into her sandwich as her stomach rolled in pain and nerves.
-Back into the Woods-
He listened as Andrea stomped through the wood causing him to wince. That woman would not know subtly if it kicked her in the face.
"You really think we`re gonna find Carol?" Andrea asked, tripping over a root in the process.
'Fucking hell,' Daryl swears to himself, "What the hell`s wrong with you people? We just started looking."
'This is why I like being by myself,' he thinks to himself.
Raising an eyebrow, Andrea continued to prod, "Well do you?" Causing Daryl to growl his irritation.
"It ain`t the mountains of Tibet; it`s Georgia. She could be holed up in a farmhouse somewhere. People get lost all the time and they survive."
"She`s a scared woman with no knowledge of how to survive." Andrea commented.
Spotting an odd color amongst the trees Daryl changed directions. "Hell, I got lost when I was a kid. Nine days in the woods eating berries, wiping my ass with poison oak," he informed her, barely even registering the conversation as he focused on the rest of their surroundings.
Andrea frowned, "They found you?"
He raised his crossbow. "My old man was off on a bender with some waitress, Merle was doing another stint in Juvie, didn`t even know I was missing, made my own way back, went straight into the kitchen and made myself a sandwich. No worse for wear - except my ass itched something awful."
Laughter escaped her as Andrea laughed for the first time since Amy died.
"I`m so sorry," she tries to apologize through her giggles.
"I`m sorry, that was a terrible story," she apologizes, but Daryl waves her off just being glad to see her happy for once. The whole moping female shtick was starting to get tiring for everyone.
"Only difference is Carol`s got people looking for her, I call that an advantage." Daryl finished as he spots a tent ahead.
Back at the farm-house.
Hershel yells, "Don`t. It`s a seizure, if you hold him down, you could hurt him."
Tahlee stands and hobbles to the bedroom door, as she listens as Lori cries, "You can`t stop it?"
Hershel shook his head. "He just has to go through it, his brain isn`t getting enough blood, his blood pressure is dropping as he needs another transfusion."
Immediately offering his arm Rick says, "Okay I`m ready."
"If I take anymore out of you, your body could shut-down. You could go into a coma - or cardiac arrest." Hershel informed them.
"What`s his blood-type?" Tahlee asks startle them.
Hershel answers, "A-Positive."
"Excellent, so am I." As she offered her life force to the dying boy, punctuating her words by holding her arm out, exposing the inner crease of her elbow.
Rick was so thankful, that a practical stranger offering to help save his son`s life and it killed him to decline, "No, Tahlee, you lost so much blood today already."
"It`s been ages since it stopped bleeding, besides a little blood is better than none right Mr. Greene?" She argues as she hobbles towards the bed.
"She`s right, Rick" Hershel agrees, he gestures for the injured woman to sit beside the bed as he gathers the equipment, Hershel calls out, "Maggie!"
Kneeling down beside Tahlee, Rick takes her shoulder in hand with a heartfelt smile on his face. "Thank you," taking care not to knock her sore foot.
"It`s what people do for each other Rick." She smiled, forcing herself not to look at the needle that Hershel was preparing to stick into her vein.
In the Woods.
Daryl immediately raises his crossbow as a rustling appears rather close to where he and Andrea were walking, emerging from around a large tree they could see the source.
"What the hell?" Daryl swears, as Andrea starts gagging from the smell and sight of the hanging walker. Daryl moves closer as he spies a note pinned to the tree.
"Got bit, fever hit, world gone to shit, might as well quit." Shaking his head in disgust, "Dumb-ass didn`t even know enough to shoot himself in the head, turned himself into a giant swinging piece of bait." He turned around seeing Andrea still hunched over. "You alright?"
She stood up with the back of her hand to her mouth. "Trying not to puke!"
Not fazed in the least, he shrugs "Go ahead if you gotta."
"No, I`m fine." She takes a deep breath of air, her eyes still averted from the hanging water. "Let`s talk about something else. How`d you learn to shoot?" she inquires.
"Gotta eat," he grumbles. "That`s one thing these walkers and us have in common. I guess we`re the closest he`s been to food since he turned. Hanging up there like a big-ass pinata, other geeks must of came by a striped him of all his flesh on his legs, see!" Except all he hears is Andrea vomiting so he smirks.
After she finishes, she wipes her mouth. "Thought we were talking about something else?"
"Call it pay-back for laughing at my itchy ass," he grunts before turning away. "Let`s head back." They had been out long enough, he honestly doubted that they'd find Carol anymore. She was a smart woman and would know better than to be out in the open so late, in the dark.
Startled, Andrea blurts out, "What about him?"
"Nah, he ain`t hurting anyone, beside he made his choice. Opted out. Let him hang." Daryl refused before asking, "You still wanna die?"
Andrea frowned, "Answer for an arrow?"
He nodded.
"I don`t know if I wanna live or not, maybe it's just a habit!" she hedged.
Daryl fired his crossbow and hit the walker in the forehead, "Waste of an arrow for that answer." He walks off.
Back at the Farm.
Hershel had Tahlee`s foot resting on the table as the poor girl had Glenn`s hand in a death-grip. "You got here just in time, any longer and we may have had to amputate your toe. Exposed bone like that is prone to infection," he explained as he handed her two Doxycyline tablets to numb the pain.
"Merle Dixon? Is he a friend of yours?" he inquired as he distracted her.
"No Sir, I never met the man, his brother Daryl gave them to us," Tahlee winced as Hershel cleaned off the dry blood.
"Not much of a friend," Glenn frowned.
"Well he is today, these tablets will have saved at least two lives today. Do you know why Merle was taking them?"
Giggling, Tahlee answered, "He had the clap." Glenn smiled, seeing his friend high on painkillers. Better than for her to be completely sober during this process. He was kind of envious—his hand was going numb.
"I`d say Merle Dixon having the clap was the best thing to ever happen," Hershel added knowing that he`ll soon cause this young woman tremendous amount of pain.
Glenn groaned, "I`m trying not to think about that."
"AHHHHHHHHHH, shit, fruit cake with Brussels sprouts," Tahlee screams as Hershel pushes the bone back into place as Tahlee squeezes Glenn`s hand a little too hard.
"Oh, shit! Tahs, let go!" Glenn cried out. Tahlee's grip slackened as she passed out forcing Glenn into catching the unconscious woman.
Rick ran out from his son's room at the commotion that they were causing. "Tahlee, wake up, Tahlee!" Risk shakes her, trying to pat her cheeks to get her back to consciousness.
Hershel stopped him as he spoke in a soothing voice, "She`s alright, she just fainted from the pain. It`s better that she sleeps for the rest anyway." Patricia hands him a needle and thread, everything already disinfected.
After he finished up, Hershel wrapped her foot before indicating that Rick, with Glenn`s help, moves her over to the couch as she continues to sleep. She dreamed of a sweaty red-neck as he carried her off to safety.
ThE eNd- If you like this story please send me a REVIEW - Chapter Three is with my BETA so I should have it posted shortly.
