Some Things Last - Chapter two - Another Newcomer
They had been born in the same neighborhood. Well, the same trailer park to be more specific. Everyone knew each other, it wasn't a very huge trailer park, nor the town. She was about two and a half years younger then Daryl. She remembered the few times they had been playing outside, or together at their homes. Both of their moms could quite get along with each other. Mostly when they went to visit each other, she or Daryl came along to play with each other. They went to the same school, they had a lot in common.
Like every morning she was standing down the road, waiting for Daryl to go to school together, but he was late. They were still in Elementary school, Daryl was already in the fifth grade while she was in the third grade. It was getting warmer everyday now, summer was coming. She smiled at the idea of summer, sun and no school!
After she waited five more minutes, she went to Daryl's house. She knocked on the door with one hand while the other hand was holding her bag. She didn't had to wait long before someone opened the door. It was his mother whom was wearing a bathrobe and holding a cigarette in her hand. ''Goodmornin' Lizzy.'', Daryl's mother said with her tick accent. ''Goodmornin' Mrs. Dixon.'', Lizzy replied with a smile on her lips. Daryl's mother made a gesture that she could come in. Lizzy walked in and looked around in the house. It was a lot like her own house, expect for the mess. Her home was even more messier, because her mother still needs to clean up which she hadn't done for a few weeks now. ''Daryl! Get your ass over here!'', Daryl's mother shouted and she took a puff of her cigarette.
When Lizzy was about to take a seat when Daryl walked in. ''Bye ma!'', Daryl yelled back to his mother. He grabbed his bag and went outside, ofcourse Lizzy followed him. ''Goodbye Mrs. Dixon!'', Lizzy said before she shut the door behind her.
To be honest, Lizzy was waiting for an explanation from Daryl. What had taken him so long? She let out an annoying sigh when she realized she wasn't getting one. She grabbed his arm and stopped walking. ''Daryl!'', she shouted. He stopped walking and turned around. She looked at him and her eyes noticed the bruise on his cheek. The bruise was quite large and pretty tick. ''W-what happened?'', she asked in shock of seeing the bruise. ''Nothin'.'', he replied while he looked down at the ground. ''It was your dad, wasn't it?'', she asked. He responded to her by giving her a small nod. She grabbed his hand and showed a small smile in hope to comfort him. At the touch of their hands, he was quite surprised, he looked back into her eyes. She knew she didn't had to say anything to him, this would just do fine. She knew he didn't like to talk about his problems. He wasn't much of a talker, but that was fine to her. ''I'm glad I don't have a dad. Must be horrible.'', she told him. He let out a small chuckle and shook his head. ''C'mon let's go to school before we're late.'', he replied to her. Even through Lizzy was younger then him and didn't quite understand the world as much he did, he enjoyed her company. She didn't hate him, she didn't blame him for everything. Not yet.
For him it was just another hunt trip. He left the camp he had made for his own, took along his crossbow and went out for a hunt. Hoping to find something eatable. A few squirrels would do fine. He never expected to see her, to see his Lizzy. At first he thought he was seeing things again, like when he had hit his head and saw Merle. But this was different, there were walkers all around her and it was looking like she could pass out any minute. He didn't hesitate. He had to go to her, get a closer look on her and making sure it was her.
It didn't took very long before he had taken out all of the walkers. There were like seven or maybe eight of them. ''Liz?'', he mumbled when he got closer to her. Daryl looked at her more observant, she could have been bit. He looked at her body, searching for bite marks or scratches. Soon he noticed the wound at her leg, it looked like a bullet wound. Most parts of her body were covered in bruises, scratched and blood. But nothing a walker could have done to her, it seemed to look that the damage was done by humans. Walkers weren't capable of this. Daryl could feel an anger grow in himself, but it was cut off when he could hear her whisper his name. He knelt down beside her when she was about to pass out. He took her in his arms and carried her bridal style. He couldn't take his eyes off her the first minutes. It really was her, she was here with him. He had been terribly missing her, his best friend ever since childhood. He hadn't seen her like for an year before shit hit the van. He continued walking his way back to the farm. What if she still was angry on him?
When he arrived back at the farm, he could see Rick and Shane were back with the boy called Randall. Why the hell didn't they got rid of the kid already? He irritatingly thought. Soon the others noticed him carrying Lizzy. ''Get Herschel!'', he heard Lori shout to the others. Rick, Shane and Andrea were the first to arrive to him. Before Rick or anyone else could ask what happened, Daryl spoke. ''She needs help.'', was all he said. ''Is it worth it? We can't afford it to have another newcomer. '', Shane replied. Daryl quickly shot an angry glare at Shane and continued walking to the house. ''She ain't dead yet!'', he spat out to Shane.
After he had laid her down on the bed he had been laying on days ago, after he almost got killed by walkers and had been shot by Andrea. He had stayed the night in the bed, but as soon as the morning arrived he moved back to his own tent. Herschel walked in and observed her quickly. He looked at her leg. ''Get Patrica, we need to take the bullet out.'', he told Daryl. Soon he arrived back with Patrica. Herschel looked at him, waiting for him to leave. ''I ain't leavin' her.'', he spat out to Herschel before he could ask for Daryl to leave. ''C'mon Daryl. I need you!'', he could hear Rick yell to him from down stairs. He let out a hiss and went down stairs.
Rick told him about everything that had happened when they got to drop Randall off at a nearby public works station, expect for the part he had been fighting with Shane. Rick told him that he returned with Randall because he knew the location of the farm. When Rick was done talking it was Daryl's turn to talk about what had happened. He told him he knew her, from his old hometown but not any details. They checked up on Randall and Daryl asked himself if Randall knew about her. Rick and Shane both agreed to let Daryl get information out of them.
Nothing, he couldn't get anything out the kid. Nothing about her. Only about the group he had been with. From what he had heard from Randall, it wasn't a very nice group. They had been torturing and raping some other girls before. What if they had done the same to Lizzy? He clenched his fists in anger when he thought about it.
After that, Daryl went back to the house, back to check up on her. Herschel was already done and he sat down in a chair close to her. Holding her hand and not letting go of her. ''Something has happened to her. This ain't be done by walkers Daryl. It looks like she is pretty beaten up.'', Herschel informed Daryl. Daryl looked at the old man and before he gave him a small nod.
When she opened her eyes carefully, her eyes needed to adjust to the bright light. She looked around and noticed she was laying on a strange bed, in a strange room and in a strange house. In the corner of her eye she could see someone sitting in a chair. She didn't try move, she just tries to remain silent in hope the guy in the chair hadn't noticed she had woken up already. She needs to get away from here. That was the first thought that crossed her mind.
Her eyes wandered off to her arm and she could see she was on a drip. She got out the needle and sat straight up in the bed. Suddenly she could feel someone grabbing her arm and without a second thought she slapped the guy right in his face. She could hear him growl in anger. She quickly got out the bed. Once she stood up, she could feel a pain crossing her leg. Her bullet wound. She collapsed down on the ground, before she could hit the ground she could feel someone helping her up, but holding a tight grip on her arms. Forcing her to look at him, but she didn't look at him.
"Let me go!", she hissed while trying to get out of his grip. "Dammit Liz!", she could hear the guy say. She looked at him in confusion, their eyes meeting. How did he know her name? She took another look at his face and remembered him. "Daryl?", she softly whispers.
Daryl noticed she calmed down already and he softened his grip, but he didn't let go of her. He just couldn't let go. ''What happened Liz?'', he asked with his tick Southern accent. She just rolled her hazel colored eyes in response. ''Alot of things happened when you were gone Daryl. You know I can take care of my own.'', she spat out to him. She got out of his grip and pushed him back. She shook her head and sat down on the bed again before she quickly rushed a hand through her dirty blond hair.
Her eyes took a look at her leg. It was still hurting, but the wound was stitched up and looked clean. Someone had taken care of her very well, in time the wound would heal. Daryl couldn't be the one who stitched her up this good. ''Are there any others?'', she asked while her eyes looked into his. Daryl only nodded in response. ''I'm leaving then.'', she said, before she could stand up, Daryl was standing right infront of her, blocking her way, making sure she wouldn't get a chance to leave again. ''Hell no.'', he said on a stern tone.
Lizzy wanted to shout at him. All of her anger, everything that had bothered her about him, everything that had happened. Everything she had been going through without him. How he left her and didn't return to her. Before she could even open her mouth, she could hear the sound of a door going open and watched two people walking in. One of them had white-grey hair, probably because of his age and the other guy was much younger but it looked like he hadn't shaved himself for a while. She watched Daryl again, if Daryl trusted them, maybe they would be good people? She bit down her lip, she couldn't take anymore risks. She had to leave and soon. Daryl made a gesture to her that she didn't had to stand up and she did what was told, she didn't move from the bed.
''I'm Rick Grimes.'', the one with the growing beard said. ''Lizzy, right? No offense, but you seemed pretty fucked up when Daryl brought you here. We'd like to know what happend.'', he continued.
Lizzy looked away at first, ignoring him, but Daryl gave her shoulder a nudge and gave her one of his angry annoying looks. She annoyingly sighed, she knew she had to respond. They took care of her, so she sort of owed them. ''Fine.'', she spat out to Daryl. ''A couple of days ago I arrived at a small town. It was quiet, so I searched for some supplies and I tried to set out a camp to stay the night. When I was looking for supplies, I suddenly heard some gunshots. I left my stuff on a safe place and went back to the road. I could see alot of biters coming from everywhere and two guys sneaked up behind me and knocked me out. When I was out they got me into their car and brought me back to their camp, to their people.'', she said. Suddenly she could feel everyone in the room staring at her, Daryl, the guy called Rick and the older man. She wasn't sure if she wanted to continue telling what happend.
''We just want to know it for the safety of our group. We don't need another thread.'', the old man said to her, noticing her doubts. She gave him a nod in agreement, but instead Daryl responded. ''She ain't no thread!'' She could see Rick taking a step closer to Daryl. ''How'd know?'', Rick asked. ''Would you trust her with your life?''
Daryl nods in response. Lizzy grabbed his arm and their eyes met. ''It's fine Daryl'', she told him as she let go of his arm. She let out a sigh as she continued her story. ''When I woke up I was tied up against a chair. They asked me these questions about someone called Randall and Sean. They also asked me if I was with another group. I can tell you they don't take no or I don't know for answers. I'll leave out the details.'', she said as she noticed Daryl's fists tighten. ''After a few days they realized I wasn't lying and just a waist of their time, so they tried to get rid of me. Some asshole shot me in my shoulder and then biters came. Before they left someone else shot my leg and they all left me for dead. I tried to ran away from the biters, took care of the bullet wound in my shoulder and I guess that's when Daryl came.''
Rick and Daryl shared a look and then Rick's gaze went to her. ''What do you know about Randall?'', he asked. Lizzy shrugged. ''Not much, just that he was part of a group, but I don't think they will miss him alot. They moved on I guess. Why?'', she confusingly asked. Why would he want to know about Randall?
Lizzy could see Rick didn't want to answer that question. Which made her even more curious. They were hiding something from her. Suddenly the door slammed open and someone walked in, clearly not amused. The guy was tall and had black and very short hair. He gave her a quick look before he faced Rick. ''The girl woke up and no one told me, huh.'', he spat out to Rick. ''Shane.'', Rick started, but before he could say anything else, the other guy spoke again. ''This girl could be a danger to us. All of us. She needs to leave. She might be a thread Rick.''
Before anyone else could response, Lizzy opened her mouth. ''I don't plan on staying anyway. I'm leaving.'' She stood up, but before she could take a step Daryl blocked her way once again and their eyes made contact. ''Hell no!'', he said. ''You're staying with me.'' Even through she still wanted to leave, Daryl's reaction made her show a small smile on her lips. She looked down, in hope to hide her smile from him or anyone else.
Just when Rick and the guy called Shane wanted to start a discussion, the older man jumped in. ''If I may ask, how'd know Daryl?'', he asked. She could see she had also Rick and Shane's attention. ''Eh.. It's complicated.'', Daryl replied. Lizzy rolls her eyes and glared at Daryl before her eyes went to the older man. ''I'm his fiancée.'', she answered to him.