A/N: I was going to update last night but I couldn't, so here it is. I really hope this chapter is okay, I tried my best. Thank you guys so much for the reviews, favourites etc it's awesome! I will try to update on a weekly basis. Any feedback is much appreciated. I couldn't resist keeping a certain someone alive. lol.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Once breakfast was finished everyone went to go grab their stuff so we could on the road, it was a shame really; this place was nice. I let out a sigh as I pulled my combat boots on, they had killed my feet when I first found them in a hunting store they seemed practical but they really weren't at first. Chris had made so much fun of me for it because he'd warned me about it; I hadn't known that my brother was right for once.
I stood up pulling my hair brush out of my bag; it was one of my prized possessions now. It was kind of crazy how all the little things you take for granted become important. I started brushing out the tangles wincing every so often when I would brush through a really bad knot. Ironically that was exactly why I didn't brush it sometimes, it was a twisted cycle.
After a few more minutes I tied it into a pony tail pulling on the spare cap I'd scammed from Glenn, he only needed one…he and Chris had become close since we found the group on the highway. They were so much alike it was scary; if Glenn weren't Korean I'd swear he was our long lost brother. I guess that made him our long lost Korean brother from another mother.
"Are you ready to go?" Carol spoke up breaking me out of my trance
"yes ma'am" I picked up my bag walking out of the room with her, I spotted Daryl walking out of his room at the same time and smiled at him, from what I could gather at the breakfast table whatever he and I had going was supposed to be a secret. I fell into step beside him as he exited the house. The thought of kissing him crossed my mind but I decided against it, if he wanted to keep it a secret then a secret it would be. Sometimes you never really knew with Daryl, he could be tender (or at least his version of tender) one minute and then get all snappy the next.
"Taking the bike?" I raised an eyebrow trying to keep it casual
"yep" he answered simply
"can I ride with you?" I was probably pushing it but being close to Daryl was something I really wouldn't mind
"hell naw" he gave me a hard look
"why not?"
"s'not safe" he answered simply
"well then you shouldn't be riding either Daryl" I grumbled, I knew I was getting a little pouty
"I'm used to it, yeh aint" he huffed, I was clearly starting to annoy him.
"Well what better time to start getting used to it" I grinned playfully
"it aint happenin' Isabella" he gave me a stern look that said quit it.
"Fine, I'll ride in RV" I hated the idea of him being on the bike alone
"good, I just want yeh to be safe. That's why I don't want yeh ridin' with me" he patted my arm "I'll be fine"
"better be" I gave him a smile before heading off toward the RV.
I stepped inside as everyone turned to look at me, around the small table sat Amy, Andrea, Chris, Glenn and Maggie; they looked like a can of sardines all squeezed in there. Dale was in the driver's seat and Carol sat in the passenger's seat beside him. Rick, Lori and Carl were in her Cherokee, she'd stayed away from the Grimes family since Sophia's death for obvious reasons. Carl reminded her too much of the loss of Sophia, though she was slowly getting back to normal but it would take some time. T-Dog and Shane were also riding in the Cherokee, Shane had ditched the jeep back at the highway when we'd found them. I felt sorry for T-Dog having to sit in the Cherokee with Shane, Rick and Lori, that was one awkward love triangle no one wanted to be stuck in the middle of.
"Nice of you to join us Sis" Chris snickered
"about time, haven't seen you properly since we got to the Greene's farm" Glenn added
"Keep this up and you won't see me again for that long" I took a seat on the floor "don't move on my account little bro"
"thanks I won't" he out right laughed this time
"someone keep me company" I pouted as the RV started with a loud rumble, Daryl rode ahead of everyone. I tried to push away the panic that was setting in as Carol turned her head, she gave me a look that said I needed to calm down, I knew what she had said last night was right. He could take care of himself.
"Alright, I'll give you some company" Amy smiled and squeezed her way out of the seated area before taking a seat beside me on the floor
"Thanks Amy" I smiled, at least someone was willing to sit on the floor beside me
"she's just trying to impress her boyfriend's sister" Andrea chuckled, Amy gave Andrea a look that said she was going to die later and I narrowed my eyes at my dear brother
"when were you going to tell me Chris?" I reached over and hit his leg
"I figured you might have noticed sooner but Daryl's been the centre of your attention for so long you never noticed" he gave me a cheeky grin
"that's no excuse bro, I'm a bit oblivious when it comes to most things and you know it" I frowned, I knew I really had no right to be upset because I had no intention of telling them about Daryl but that was different, he was different.
"I'm sorry sis, I promise it won't happen again" he leant down and pressed a kiss to the top of my head
"that's more like it." I grinned up at him and then turned to Amy who now looked a little sheepish "Chill girl, I'm only mean to those who earn it." I chuckled getting properly settled beside her
We spent the next 20 minutes chatting, the main topic of discussion as the RV came to a halt had been the things we missed about the world before it ended. Looking up I watched Daryl rush to the RV, leaning up to the driver's side window to speak.
"Walker herd comin', looks like there's thousands of em. Gonna tell the others" he moved fast as I watched, I got up and swung the door of the RV open for him as he rushed inside, I shut the door behind him and hit the locks. By now everyone was hidden, Glenn and Maggie had gotten into the small bathroom together, Andrea and Amy were under the table, Carol, Chris and Dale were lying flat on the floor in the middle as Daryl and I rushed to lay in the back between the beds.
He pulled me into his strong arms as I allowed my head to rest against his chest, we heard their hungered moans first; the sound of awkward broken shuffling came next. I began to tremble as my mind filled with all the horrible possibilities, I couldn't lose my brother or Daryl, though I suppose If the walkers got to them, they'd get to me too.
I tried to hide the shock that came over me as Daryl hesitantly began to stroke my hair; it was a very tender sentiment from someone like Daryl. I began to calm down; my trembling subsiding after a few more minutes of the same. I was surprised that Daryl didn't stop stroking my hair once I stopped trembling; in all honesty though, I was glad he hadn't stopped it made me feel all gooey inside. He was slowly softening up and learning to acknowledge his feelings as well as others.
After what seemed like hours the sounds of the walkers faded into the distance, we all waited until we couldn't hear them at all before moving, we were damn lucky none of the walkers got curious. It only took one trying to get in to fuel the others. Daryl and I stayed in the same position as the others slowly began to move arpund us, I allowed myself to enjoy the feeling of laying in his arms and the warmth I felt before I decided it was time to sit up, as we both sat up the two of us received curious looks from everyone in view excluding Carol.
At this rate it was going to be a hard thing to keep from everyone, though the curious looks could very well have been because no one was used to seeing Daryl act in a gentle manner. I didn't think he was even used to acting this way with anyone. I smiled at Daryl and got to my feet as he followed suit.
"Daryl…" I trailed off trying to come up with a polite way of telling him but I came up with nothing "I'm riding with you" I said bluntly, had to be firm or he'd just say no again
"I ain't lettin' yeh get on that bike Isa" he gave me a look that said he wasn't budging
"Don't care what you want, I'm coming on that bike with you" I glared at him "I'd feel safer being on that bike with you, I need to be there and know you're okay."
We were in the midst of our whisper argument when Glenn and Maggie finally came out of the tiny bathroom, Maggie's eyes were bloodshot and swollen from crying and she looked incredibly distressed. Glenn looked pale and kept throwing worried glances in her direction.
"The walkers…they're heading toward the farm" she finally spoke becoming increasingly hysterical
"I'll go warn em'" Daryl offered right away, I suspected he was eager to please and show that he wasn't worthless. No one actually thought he was but after losing Sophia he'd lost all the progress he'd made in terms of what he thought about himself.
"If you go, I go" I gave him a look that said not to argue but I doubted he'd listen. The passengers of Carols Cherokee approached the RV, also thankfully all in one piece as Daryl and I exchanged equally stubborn looks. Neither of us intended to budge on this, Dale opened the door for the five of them as they entered the RV, as Rick spotted Maggie you could see the light bulb go off in his head.
"The herds headin' toward the Greene's farm, I said I'd go warn em'" Daryl spoke up
"and I said I'd go with him" I added, I knew he'd rather I stay here with everyone but there was no way in hell I would allow him to go on his own "It'll be easier for two people to round the family up and help them get everything ready" I explained, by now everyone was exchanging weary looks, Chris looked like he wanted to murder someone (probably me) as did Daryl "we can take a root that avoids the herd and get to the farm before they do"
"That sounds like a decent plan" Rick finally agreed. I turned to Daryl giving him a happy smile, instead of the smug look I'd been considering; he obviously didn't share the sentiment as he sent a glare in my direction. Chris looked like he wanted to argue with me, but he knew how stubborn I could be when I wanted to do something.
I followed Daryl out of the RV once we'd mapped out the route we were going to take, he trudged over to his bike, picking up his crossbow and slinging it over his back, a rather obvious way to try and stop me from climbing on the back of the bike.
"Give me the crossbow" I held my hand out as I stood in front of him, he sent yet another glare in my direction
"Hell naw, if yer comin' get on and lets go"
"fine, whatever" I climbed onto the back of the bike, his crossbow somewhat in the way as I tried to reach around it and him to hold on, the crossbow dug into my chest making it rather uncomfortable "this isn't going to work, just give the damn thing to me"
"or you could just let me go alone" he suggested, sounding rather pleased with himself.
"that would be a definite no" I wasn't sure why he was so against me coming, I couldn't tell if it had to do with his reluctance to allow me to ride with him or if it had to do with the threat of the herd of walkers.
"You ain't Gonna give up are you?" he huffed
"nope, so you should give me the crossbow" I reasoned
"fine, if you get hurt I'm gonna kill yah" he leant forward and took the crossbow off, handing it to me as I slung it over my back. I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist, linking my hands in the middle as he started the bike.
Thus far the ride had been smooth, we'd passed a couple of walkers on the way but that had been it. We were heading toward a more isolated strip of highway. The further we went the more walkers we saw; they were simply drifting in the area, never fast enough to catch us. It was just one lane surrounded by leafy green trees, the trees portrayed an entirely different world to the stark contrast to the reality that was the vast amount of ambling walkers, the dead body's that were roaming around us, covered in blood and guts.
I found myself wondering if the blood was theirs or if it was the blood from their last meals, it was hard to tell. Most of the walkers were incredibly emaciated, as if they were walking skeletons. Their frames carried little to no fat, some of them had been torn open and disembowelled. They hardly looked like the people they once were, they looked more like the monsters they'd become. I had tightened my grip around Daryl, something he hadn't seemed bothered by. I began to feel slightly less worried as the walkers thinned again and we were down to one or two. We were headed toward a suburb called Oakville; it was similar to the subdivision Shane and Andrea had explored.
I snapped back to reality as the bike began to get wobbly, as Daryl struggled to control it. Before we had a chance we hit something on the ground and the bike began to fly as did Daryl and I, I released him mid-air before we both hit the ground with thunderous and very painful thuds. There was a dull ache in my head, my right cheek throbbed and my body ached from the impact as I crawled toward Daryl who had been knocked unconscious, I was to out of it to really panic but aware enough to realise we needed cover; I noticed a van across the empty street as I struggled to get to my feet. I shook Daryl trying to wake him but all attempts failed. It was time to get moving.
A surge of much needed adrenalin hit me as I took Daryl's leg and began to drag him toward the van. The small distance seemed a lot greater with his life in my hands. After a struggle I managed to get him over to the van rolling him under it and crawling under there myself. I took Daryl's hunting knife from its sheath that was hooked into his belt, the crossbow was still on my back but I couldn't risk getting a bad shot with only two bolts left.
I finally took a moment to actually survey the damage to the still unconscious Daryl, he had a large gash in his left arm and a head wound that was bleeding profusely. It was thankfully only small but he definitely had a concussion. I sighed to myself and said a little prayer for him. I didn't hear any moaning or shuffling as we laid there; I slowly slid out from under the van and got to my feet keeping an eye out. I moved to the driver's side of the van and found the door unlocked, the keys were in the ignition.
Woah, someone wanted us to survive. Opening the door carefully in case there were walkers in there I was thankful to find no walkers jumping out at me, I took a look inside and found it empty. I needed to get Daryl in here and get the doors locked fast. I opened the sliding door at the side of the van and knelt down, reaching under it and grabbing Daryl's undamaged arm, I put all my weight into dragging him out from under it.
After a few minutes of straining he was in the right position to be lifted into the van. It turned out that this was a van for transporting physically disabled people or at least that seemed like what it was. It had a ramp inside the back door and two long seats with room for a wheelchair in the back. I placed Daryl in a sitting position against the van and got in. Wrapping my arms around his chest I bit my lip to keep quiet as I pulled him up into it, before struggling to get him up on the seat behind us. After while of struggling I finally managed to get him in a lying position on the longest seat directly beside the door, in the time that it took his head wound had finally stopped bleeding. I pulled the sliding door shut and moved to the front of the van hitting the central locking button.
I knelt on the floor beside Daryl, tugging his shirt off and used his knife to tear a strip from it, using the strip of fabric as a make shift bandage and wrapping it tightly around the gash on his left arm. When he woke up he was going to be in a lot of pain, I remembered the stash of Merles that Daryl had kept in the bike, maybe there were pain killers in there. I let out an audible sigh and I allowed myself a moment to peak through the window, a few walkers had gathered and they were sniffing around the motorcycle.
I tried to think of ways to be able to grab that bike but it was looking rather difficult. I'd never felt so helpless before, I spent a while longer trying to come up with a viable option but I knew that right now I was on my own and leaving the van open left Daryl at risk, my only weapon was Daryl's hunting knife and the one thing I wanted had 6 walkers sniffing around it.
I moved to the front of the van making sure the doors were locked before turning the keys in the ignition, the van sputtered to life and I let out the breath I hadn't realised I was holding. The sound of the vans motor caught the walker's attention as they slowly crossed the street; I put my foot on the accelerator and speed off leaving them behind. We were only about 15 miles away from the farm. I drove as fast as I could, I let out a sigh of relief as I drove down the gravel drive way and found no signs of the walkers having been there yet.
I watched as Hershel and the rest of the family rushed out onto the front porch, weapons in hand. Thankfully they lowered them when they recognized me; I got out of the van rushing toward the deck. I knew the herd was getting closer.
"We have to go now, there's a herd of walkers…" I paused to catch my breath "…coming this way, there's thousands of them!" I exclaimed "we were on the highway when they passed us; we had to hide in the RV and the Cherokee. We were damn lucky nothing happened to us."
"Please just come Maggie's extremely upset, please listen to me" I really didn't think they'd listen but suddenly they were snapping into action.
After about 20 minutes of rushing around they were all set to go. The back of the blue truck was packed full of their stuff and they'd put a few things in the van. The house had been locked up tight as well as the stables; they had nothing to transport the horses in and had reluctantly left them behind. Jimmy and Beth were in the truck whilst Hershel and Patricia rode in the Van and tended to Daryl's wounds.
I'd explained what happened with the bike crashing when we'd been rushing around. They now sat in the back stitching up the gash on Daryl's arm. I drove carefully and slowly to ensure they could do a proper job, we reached Oakville with some time to spare. I backed the van so the bike was right by the back door.
Jimmy was already out of the truck as I leapt out the van we both leapt into action rolling the bike up the ramp into the back, some walkers were approaching as we shut the back door, he made it to the truck unscathed as I pulled the hunting knife out of my pocket I spotted a walker by the driver's side door, the walker had a missing arm and a completely unnaturally bent ankle, it was hard to tell whether it was male or female, it's chest had been ripped open and all its rotting organs could be seen, I plunged the knife into its eye, cringing at the sound of its eyeball popping and the squishing of the knife entering its brain. The walker dropped and I stepped over its body quickly opening the door and getting into the van, turning the keys in the ignition before speeding away.
Whilst we were driving Daryl gained consciousness, grumbling about how he'd told me not to come. Only Daryl Dixon would be involved in a serious motorcycle accident and still have a point to prove.
"Well I'm not the one with concussion am I?" I retaliated cheekily, Daryl didn't like being coddled and I wasn't about to start coddling him.
"Yeh still have a gash in yer cheek" he grumbled
"You have a gash twice the size In your arm…" I responded, sometimes we were like kids with our petty arguments "I saved your life so ner" I poked my tongue out knowing Daryl was watching.
"Least I don't act like a 5 year old" he mumbled
"sure you don't, now shut your face and rest." I responded effectively cutting the conversation, Hershel and Patricia were exchanging amused looks. Every part of me wanted to lunge over the seat and hug Daryl so tight he couldn't breathe but he needed his personal space right now and there was no one to drive the van for me right this moment.
We reached the part of the highway at dusk and found the RV sitting in the same spot along with the Cherokee. Everyone approached the van looking confused, whilst Maggie ran to the truck behind it hugging her sister. As I got out of the van I was picked up in a pair of strong arms that could only be my brothers
"thank god you're okay Bells" he whispered in my ear as I hugged him back
"You need to have more faith in me bro" I chuckled and he placed me on my feet finally surveying the damage.
"What happened to your cheek?" he leant down to get a closer look
"we crashed the bike…" I trailed off and turned in time to see Hershel helping Daryl step out of the van "he got the worst of it, the van was a across the street so I got him in it and drove to the farm." By now others had gathered around us and were listening "Daryl was knocked out for a fair chunk of the time, he hit the ground a lot harder than I did" I explained hoping Daryl accepted my explanation of events
"not sure why, but the bike started getting' wobbly an' I couldn't get it under control, I think we hit a rock an' it sent us flyin." Daryl explained.
"We can clear some space in the RV for you both" Dale offered, looking between Daryl and I.
"rather sleep in the van" Daryl said
"me too" I moved to stand beside Daryl
"well we found a range rover with tinted windows and No dead smell so you could take that" Shane suggested, I looked at Daryl who nodded
"okay."
We settled in the back of the range rover about 20 minutes later having locked the doors, we laid together in silence his good arm was wrapped around my shoulders and my head was resting against his chest. Neither of us really knew what to say as we both drifted off to sleep our mutual exhaustion taking over.