As a few days passed, the video lingered in Daryl's mind. He couldn't help but think of this poor girl all alone, trying to follow her brothers rules all these years and how hard she must have fought to survive. Watching her as she had a pair of microscope glasses on, soldering something electrical, he couldn't stop himself, "You can come back with me, when I go."
Ren stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him, her eyebrow raised. He tried to explain, "You've got skills, I've seen you fix pipes, wires, a door…me. We could use those skills, if you're willing to come back with me."
She shook her head no. Pointing to herself, then crossing her arms, then like she was holding a bunch of things, he knew she was saying she didn't like groups. He moved over to her, "I didn like them either. But they're family now."
He watched her jaw stiffen at the word family and he hoped he didn't just ruin his chances. Looking down at her he tried one of Ricks lines, "We're stronger together."
Shaking her head again she went back to her electrical chip and finished what she was doing really quick. He watched before she took the glasses of and picked up the now fixed part. Heading to the stairs she waved him over.
This was the first time she was letting him go with her anywhere other than when he'd followed her down the stairs, but this time they went up. Three flights and she was opening a door to the roof. As the sunlight hit him for the first time in a while, it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to it. But when they did, he saw the rooftop had a section of solar panels and the rest of it was transformed into a garden. Looking around he saw that there were other buildings around the one they were in and that they were in a college campus.
She'd blocked off the areas to her building so that only she knew how to get in and out and he noticed there weren't any walkers. As he moved around, he noticed wooden planks that had been made long enough to stretch from rooftop to rooftop and those also had different kinds of plants growing on them. Daryl couldn't believe it, she was completely self-sustaining. She never had to leave if she didn't need too.
He looked back at her as she finished attaching the chip to one of the solar panels and he watched as she pointed to herself then held up her arms flexing then pointed to the ground below her. Nodding he understood, "Yeah, you're strong here…but you could still come."
Ren hated how nice he was sometimes. It was a tempting offer to go with him, to be around people again…people like him again, like she had been before all of this happened. But it wasn't guaranteed that they were all like him. She gave him a small smile and a half nod of thanks before heading across one of the bridges to another roof top. He followed her and watched as she grabbed a bucket and began pulling stalks of wheat off, placing them into the bucket.
Walking over he grabbed another bucket and began doing what she was doing, helping her since he'd had the last of her bread and that's what he assumed she was going to use the wheat to make. They worked together in silence until both buckets were full and he followed her back inside and to the kitchen. Daryl watched as she pulled down what looked to be a mixer, but she'd fashioned blades to it and she began putting the wheat into the bowl, turning it on and making the wheat into flour.
She began looking around in the drawers for things, pulling out salt, and sugar, oil, but then she couldn't find the most important thing. Sighing she stopped this mixer, putting both of her hands on the counter. She'd never gotten what she went out looking for the day she saved Daryl.
He stepped forward curious, "What is it?"
She turned and pointed to herself then stopped, she had no idea how to sign what it is she needed to say. After a brief pause, she grabbed a sticky note and wrote on it: I don't have yeast.
"I know where to get some." He told her. Ren shook her head, she wasn't going to his community, she still didn't even trust him completely despite the fact he hadn't done anything the whole time he was there. She couldn't risk anything just for some damn bread. He continued despite her head shake, "There's a road of stores not far from where you found me, one was boarded up so everythin should still be in there. C'mon, I'll take you."
She didn't know if she needed bread this bad, so far everything had been on her terms, on her ground, out there it wouldn't be like that. He was already grabbing his crossbow and she sighed, putting her knives on her arms. Daryl stopped seeing them, "What're those?"
Going over to him as she finished strapping them on, she moved her hand to the back of her arm, and he watched as the movement released a blade the length of most of her forearm out of the sheath and when she repeated the movement it retracted. He looked at her, "You make that?"
She nodded and he couldn't help but be impressed, it was an easily concealed weapon that didn't get in her way at all. Once they were both ready, they grabbed the keys to the building and the car and headed downstairs to outside. Daryl was careful to follow her exactly, seeing traps set up between the front door and where she kept her car hidden. He realized she really didn't want to be accidentally stumbled upon.
Daryl directed her where to go as they drove, and he was glad she had better taste in music than Rick did. When they pulled up to the area that he knew about, they got out of the car and he check every corner before they went, making sure everything was safe, he knew she was capable of surviving, but he didn't know how careful he needed to be.
She followed him close, but she made sure to remember every single turn they made so she could make it back to her car if she needed too. When they got to the small grocery store, he lowered his bow and began taking the boards off the door before knocking on it to make sure that any walkers would be right at the door when he opened it, but he had been right, the place was empty. Ren was hesitant to follow him into the place, but she did anyways, mostly because he was in front of her and if he did try something, she could defend herself quickly.
"It's clear." Daryl told her after checking the back office. She nodded, taking her bag off her shoulder and looking for activated yeast, and anything else she might need. Daryl kept an eye on the door but after a while of quiet he told her, "I'mma check for stuff in the other room."
Nodding again she made sure to see where he was going and hopefully be able to see him if he managed to sneak around behind her. Ren went back to looking at the shelves, her eyes looking for that bright yellow package she'd risked way more than she was comfortable with for and when she saw it, she smiled, grabbing every single one. She didn't want to have to make this trip again for a while. Deciding that this was a good place to look for more things she began walking the aisles again, checking for anything that would be useful to her since she never went to the same place twice to get supplies.
Heading around to the back of the counter, she tried to see if she could see Daryl in the back room but she couldn't, and tried to push the distrust from her mind before she heard two voices outside, "Dude, there were like twenty cars out there and we've passed at least a hundred like that one."
"No, I'm telling you, it's her car." The other voice said. Ren ducked down beneath the counter and crawled into the room behind her.
"You're gunna have to let it go, we've been chasing her for two years now." The first man responded.
"No!" The other man yelled, and she could tell they were right at the front door. She covered her mouth to keep her breathing from being to loud and she wasn't sure if her heart had stopped beating or was beating to fast to feel it. "Every day I look in the mirror and see what she did to me, all I think about is skinning that little bitch!"
Daryl came out of the room he was in and saw Ren against the wall, her eyes shut and hands over her mouth and he was next to her in an instant, "Wha-"
Her hand was covering his mouth now and he could see in her eyes, this wasn't the look of a wounded animal that would strike, this was the look of pure, unadulterated fear. The second man spoke again, "C'mon, look around."
Daryl gripped his crossbow tight, but she shook her head at him, her face pleading for him not to do anything. Putting his arm around her back he pulled her in close to him and knew that she just wanted to hide, she didn't want anything to do with these people, whoever they were. He held her tight as he moved them quietly to the small storage room he'd found in the very back of the building.
She couldn't help but let her hand grip the leather of his jacket tightly as they quietly made their way to the back, she wasn't breathing and she knew if she didn't have something to keep her moving, she would freeze.
Opening the door to the room he moved her inside and slowly closed the door. He moved any boxes that were in the room against it so that even if they tried to open it, they couldn't. As he slid the last, and heaviest box into place they heard the second man say, "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" The other man asked.
"It sounded like rustling, or something from back here." The second told him.
Ren backed up to the furthest wall and just stared at the wall of boxes, knowing that if they managed to open that door, they would take the boxes down and she would be found…and so would Daryl. He moved in front of her, blocking her whole body from view as he held up his bow, pointing it at where the door was as they heard the footsteps getting closer and heard a call, "Here little bitch, where are you? Come on out, we just wanna play."
Daryl felt her hands grip at the back of his vest, and he was really beginning to wonder if she knew these guys as she pushed her head into his back. If that was the case and she was this afraid of them then he knew they weren't good people, this was one of her brothers' rules, get away from bad people. He kept his bow steady, she'd saved his life, he wasn't planning on letting anything happen to her, and listened as the steps got closer to where they were.
She was sure she could taste blood with how hard she was biting her lip to keep from making any noise. They'd never been this close to her before, she'd always managed to avoid them, stay hidden, but she'd been in this location for to long and they found her. But she couldn't leave, this had always been her final destination.
"C'mon, it was probably just a rat or something." The first guy said, "Let's grab some stuff and go, it'll be getting dark soon and you know she doesn't move at night."
"If she's been here long enough, she might." The second replied.
"I'm telling you it wasn't her car. She's not here, she's too smart for that and you know it." The first told him, "Look I'm grabbing stuff and going, you want to hunt rats that's on you."
"Fine." The second's voice started going back down the hallway, "But we're going to find her, and I'm going to make that little bitch wish she'd never been born."
Her grip didn't release from Daryl even as their noises left the back of the store, but he lowered his bow and turned to look at her as much as he could with the grip she had. Carefully he reached for her hands, pulling them away from the leather, and he could feel her shaking. He put his arm around her and pulled her head into his chest, whoever those men where she didn't like them at all, and he knew that based on how she was acting, they were hunting her.
Daryl held her until they hadn't heard anything for a while, more quietly than before he moved the boxes away from the door and he turned to her, his voice low and quiet, "I'm going to make sure it's clear from here to the car."
She shook her head hard in objection, her hands reaching out for his arm, gripping it tight. He sighed, "Then stay close."
Ren nodded and followed him closely as he led them out of the store with his crossbow ready if anyone or anything came at them. He took out a walker and as they approached her car, he saw spray painted on the windshield LITTLE WHORE.
Her jaw quivered seeing this and he moved around the car making sure that there was no damage to the wheels or anything so they could make it back to her home. When he didn't see anything else out of the ordinary, Daryl walked over to her and moved a lock of hair out of her face, "We'll clean it off tomorrow. Let's go."
She looked up at him and realized that he was different from the others in this new world, that he had protected her when she couldn't protect herself. Her arms wrapped around his waist and she held him tight for a moment, before letting him go and moving to the driver's side.
A/N: I always enjoy a gentle protective Daryl. He used to be like that a lot more before Carol turned into a total badass and I wanted to bring it back a little. Anyways, let me know what you guys think :)
