Here it is, chapter two! I was a little busy searching for a nice fathersday present, sorry for the delay.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or it's characters.
The next few days had been relatively the same to those first few hours after getting chased out of the prison. They drove for most of the day, rummaged houses, and occasionally stopped at the side of the road if Daryl spotted an animal or even just a trail in the woods they drove past. Sometimes they slept in the car, sometimes they found a house or store that they considered safe enough to settle for the night. They moved further and further away, out of the Governor's 'territory'. No one was certain if he was still alive or not, but they weren't willing to take the risk of bumping into him by staying in the same area. They were going to eliminate him without a doubt, but needed to find a safe place to stay and a lot more weapons and ammo than they had now.
On the fifth day everyone had become noticeably irritable, as the new lifestyle they were forced into reminded everyone of the awful winter they had spent like nomads – only this time it was 95 degrees outside, which made everyone literally hotheaded. People were starting to get oversensitive and the conversations sounded more like arguments, even little Judith had begun fussing about everything.
On the sixth day, they all came to the conclusion something had to happen. They had to find a more permanent place to stay and it had to be soon.
Exactly one week after being chased out of the prison, they decided to stop on a side road and stretch their legs for a little while after having been on the road for most of the day. After making sure there were no walkers straggling around, Daryl walked over to Rick, who had a lost look on his face. Together they stood in silence for a few minutes.
"I just don't know what to do with that boy anymore," Rick suddenly sighed.
He quickly scanned the area, and found Carl leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, glaring at the people that surrounded him. He had a look in his eyes that he couldn't quite place. Daryl didn't really know what to say to that, so instead he just kept quiet, waiting for the cop to continue.
"He's become so.. cold. It started when Sophia came out of that barn, and it only got worse ever since. The whole situation with.. with Lori," his voice cracked a little at the name of his late wife, "didn't make it any better, of course. And now he just shot that kid in cold blood."
"It was a Woodbury soldier," Daryl argued.
"It was a kid, just a few years older than Carl. He surrendered, Daryl, even tried to hand over his rifle. Hershel told me. He just shot the boy in the head without hesitation, didn't even flinch."
Well, that was new information. He had heard about the young Grimes shooting a soldier, but had decided to just stay out of it, since he figured it wasn't really any of his business. He glanced at the angry boy again, and suddenly recognized the look in his eyes. It reminded him of Shane, the way he scowled at everyone – especially Rick – in the last few weeks of his life. He wondered if his friend saw the same. He started chewing on his thumb nervously, the feeling of a second Shane making him uneasy. He had never really liked the unpredictable man with his sly smile, and was actually glad he was gone. But now with Carl.. The boy obviously didn't hesitate to kill, and that was dangerous. He wondered if it was still possible for him to change for the better, now that he was still so young.
Then he heard someone hiss Rick's name quietly, and they both turned their head to see who it was. Glenn and Maggie eyed them from the woods, motioning for the men to follow them. They looked at each other for a moment, and Rick shot another look at the group, knowing Daryl would understand what he meant.
"'s Alright," Daryl said on a low tone. "I'll go check it out." He swung his crossbow over his shoulder and stalked towards the young couple. They turned around and he followed them without a word, wondering what was going on.
After a minute or so, a wrought iron fence became visible through the trees.
"What the fuck?" He narrowed his eyes and looked past the fence. There was a big house, it definitely belonged to rich people before the world went to shit. It was white with a bright red roof and a balcony. It was one of those houses that usually had a fancy porch and patio as well, maybe even a pool, but those weren't seen from the side they were watching it from.
"So what do you think?" Maggie asked. "It looks safe, right? With the fences and all."
He let his eyes run along them. They were around seven and a half feet high with sharp finials at the end. Every ten feet the fences were separated by brick pillars.
"We could get the rest 'n see what's inside," he agreed.
Glenn kissed Maggie on the cheek. "Nice find, babe," he said with a smile, before turning around to inform the others. Maggie looked at him for a moment before looking back at Glenn, and decided to accompany her boyfriend. She shrugged with a bright smile on her face before she rushed to catch up with the Korean guy.
Daryl shook his head at the two lovebirds, and decided to walk around the house to see if anyone – or anything – was in there. It turned out he was right about the porch and patio, the porch even had two white rocking chairs. There was no pool though, but instead there was a small pond with some carp swimming around in it. He smirked to himself, they'd finally eat something different than squirrel or rabbit for a change.
While walking around the house, he kept his eyes out for any movement, any indication of trouble, but it appeared to be empty and safe. Once he got back where Maggie and Glenn had brought him, the rest of the group had already arrived and was now hopefully waiting for him to bring them the good news.
"And?" Rick asked.
"Looks fine to me."
Enthusiastic sounds filled the air, and he smirked at all the happy faces. He couldn't disagree with them, it was beyond doubts a perfect place to hold up for a while.
After a few moments everybody had calmed down, and Glenn spoke up.
"How are we going to get in?"
"There's a gate on the other side, but it's secured with chains and padlocks and everything," he said. "Someone didn't want people to get in."
"So what do we do now?" Maggie asked.
After a brief silence, Daryl said, "We could try to climb it."
Carl snorted. "With those sharp tips? No thanks, I don't want to arrive as a Swiss cheese."
"I was talking about one of those brick columns," Daryl grumbled.
The boy just rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
Rick sighed audibly and scratched the back of his neck. "We could see if we can find anything to stand on. But don't go alone. Pair up, and take something with you. We'll meet back here in not more than thirty minutes."
Hershel waved with one of his crutches in front of Rick's face. "I'll wait with Judith, it's not easy to hobble through these woods with only one leg."
"I'm staying with my father," Beth said while looking at the older man. "There wouldn't be an even number anyways."
"Alright then," Rick said. "C'mon Carl, let's go."
He walked east with the boy slowly trudging behind him, and disappeared between the trees.
"Are we going that way?"
Daryl jumped and looked down at Carol who suddenly stood next to him, pointing toward the west.
"Christ woman, don't sneak up on me like that," he grunted.
She chuckled. "Sorry."
He looked around, but Maggie and Glenn had already disappeared behind the house.
"That way's fine," he said, and shifted his crossbow on his shoulder before walking into the direction Carol had just pointed at.
They walked in silence for a few minutes, before Carol growled something.
"Hmm?"
She stopped in her tracks and gestured around them. "What are we even looking for? There's nothing but trees and dirt. There aren't even any animals."
"There were animals before you came."
She crossed her arms. "Why just me?"
"I'm not the one snappin' twigs every two seconds."
When she kept quiet, looking behind her like she wanted to see if there were any un-snapped twigs on his side of the path that could serve as evidence, he chuckled.
"Oh c'mon now. We're just lookin' for something big enough to stand on. 'n besides, chances are Rick and Glenn find shit too, so we don't necessarily have to find anything."
She snapped her head up at him with a smug smile playing around her lips. "So it's basically just a nice, romantic walk in the woods?"
He narrowed his eyes at her. Why did she always pull that shit? Then his tracker ears detected a sound and he smirked as he saw where it came from.
"Dunno, I guess it could be pretty romantic with that dude over there," he said, nodding at a walker that was about a hundred feet away and hadn't noticed them yet. She took her eyes off him to look at what he was talking about, and instinctively stepped closer to him.
"I wasn't talking about that dude," she said softly. "If you could just shoot it now, it's spotted us."
She was right, the walker was now stumbling towards them, loudly groaning as it stretched its bony fingers out at them. It was slow though, and still far away, so he decided it was okay to get back at her.
"Ya sure? The guy looks pretty eager to meet ya," he said.
"Daryl," she hissed, stepping even closer to him. "The guy looks pretty eager to chew on my face."
He smirked, and didn't hurry to get his crossbow. "No romantic walk, huh?"
She replied with a firm elbow in his ribs, and he shot it with a crooked smile while it was still fifteen feet away.
"Quit jokin', get searchin," he said, and started walking again.
The rest of the way they walked in silence, occasionally bumping shoulders as she kept walking close to him, just in case. It was a comfortable silence, he knew she wasn't mad. He'd never really seen angry, to be honest. Even when he lost his temper with her back at the farm she just kept quiet and let him rage, even though it was completely unfair, undeserved and just plain mean. He still felt so ashamed when he thought about it, but never apologized. He decided he was going to do that soon.
They didn't find anything, so after around fifteen minutes they turned around and walked back.
"I hope the others have found something, because I'm going to die if we'd have to leave that house behind," Carol said after a while.
"If they didn't, I'm gonna use the Korean kid as a stool," Daryl grunted. He could hear a soft giggle next to him, and couldn't help but smirk himself. He liked it when he made her laugh.
When they got back at the house, Rick and Carl were already there. It didn't look like they had found anything, but he still asked, just to be sure.
"And?"
"Nothing. Just plastic bags and other useless stuff, nothing that could come in handy."
"Same here. Let's hope Glenn and Maggie found something."
A few minutes later, they all heard a familiar, loud ringing sound.
"What the.." Daryl started, but stopped midway as Glenn came cycling around the corner on a bright green male bicycle, with Maggie sitting sideways on the stand, beaming.
"Surprise!" She smiled as she hopped off. "We can place it against the pillar and then stand on the stand to climb over it."
"Great work, guys," Rick said.
"Ima go check it out first, see if it's really safe before we all lock ourselves in there," Daryl said as Glenn got off the bike and placed it against the wall. "Someone can get Hershel and Beth."
Rick gave him a quick nod, and he stepped forward and placed one foot on the stand of the bike. He looked around and met Carol's eyes for a moment, and couldn't help but feel a fluttery sensation in his stomach as she smiled at him. He turned back to the wall, and grabbed the edge as he lifted himself on the bike. He placed one foot on the saddle to get a little higher, and then jumped and pulled himself on the pillar. He stood up and looked down carefully. It was high, he had to be cautious if he didn't want to break both his ankles. He decided to play safe and sat down, legs dangling over the edge. He slowly turned around and let himself hang for a second before letting go, only falling twenty inches. He dropped quite graciously to the ground, and gave the group a thumbs-up through the fence.
"Be right back."
He walked around the house, to see if the front door was open. It wasn't – of course not, these things never went the easy way. He looked over his shoulder, but he was still alone. He promptly slammed the butt of his crossbow through the window closest to the doorknob, pushed a few remaining glass shards out and waited to listen if anyone was inside. When everything kept quiet, he shoved his hand through the hole and opened the door.
He checked every room, but the house was empty. There was food though, and the house looked like it had just been thoroughly cleaned, so he had his suspicions. But these days coming home safely wasn't a guarantee, so it was perfectly possible that the owners of the house were getting eaten at that very same moment. Besides, they always kept someone on watch at all times, so if the owners were to come back, they'd know about it right away.
A few hours later
As Daryl marched around the house while keeping watch, he involuntarily rubbed his belly. The people before them left the house in a fantastic shape, with plenty of food, a barbecue, and the fish in the small pond of course, so they ate grilled carp and jacked potatoes for dinner. His body hadn't processed that much food since the few days they'd spent at the CDC, so now his stomach was starting to protest a little.
He turned around the corner, and flew backwards immediately while grabbing his crossbow and aiming it at the woman that pushed the end of a shotgun barrel in his face.
"Put down your weapon," she said.
He stepped a little closer, still aiming at her forehead.
"Fuck you."
"I don't want to do this, kid. Just put it down," she ordered.
He glared at her. "Got fifteen people inside, kill me and ya've got a bullet between yer' eyes before ya can even blink," he said, guessing exaggerating a little couldn't hurt.
She seemed to over think this, but just as he opened his mouth to utter another threat, something forcibly slammed into his temple and everything went black.