A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update. This is a shorter chapter and a little bit of a filler but let me know what you think of it. The reason it's taken so long is that I've pretty much planned out the entire story so updates should be more frequent. It was more than a little weird planning out characters deaths and I was eternally thankful that people couldn't read my thoughts. Lol. Hope you guys like this anyway. I couldn't add anymore to the chapter without it being too much in one go. Also, Daryl won't always been quite as soft as he is in this chapter, I have plans for his and Isabella's relationship as well. Excuse any mistakes. This is once again unedited. Thanks heaps for the reviews! See you next time I update.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"We should go to Fort Benning" Shane spoke rather calmly. I think he was trying to show people he wasn't always the bad guy
"do you really think that's a good idea after the CDC?" Glenn spoke up, he usually kept quiet but I guess something like that changed people. The group had told us about what happened at CDC and where they planned to go, but then Sophia had gone missing and Carl had gotten shot, things changed after that.
"Do you really think that a military base could stand up to the last two herds we've seen? No one would have the focus to shoot every single walker in the head during a massive attack that could ensue from the walkers descending upon them." Rick spoke up; he had a logical reason worked out, that was what we needed.
"Well, what the hell do you suggest we do?" Shane was beginning to get angry.
"What about a large estate?" I suggested, speaking up for the first time. Daryl was sitting on the back of a car looking increasingly pissed off.
"Where are we finding one of those?" Shane prompted smugly
"well there are a lot of wealthy places in Georgia, like Savannah, there are places close to the coast that are isolated, we'd be close to the ocean for fishing, there are townships close that we could get supplies from or we could gather supplies on the way and then settle." I proposed. Chris and I had been in Georgia looking for places to live because we both had new jobs in Atlanta.
We'd left our parents as soon as I turned 18, they weren't abusive they just didn't care. They had paid for a new place in Columbia, South Carolina. That was where we'd lived up until now. Our parents had stayed in Red Bank, with more money than sense. Once we'd driven into Georgia and made our way to Atlanta we'd found that Savannah had been a lot further away than either of us had realized. Since we'd made it all the way there, so we agreed to have a look at Savannah anyway.
"That sounds like a wise idea" Rick smiled, as the group agreed
"So that's it? We just go. We skip the potential safety of a military base for a pipe dream like a seaside estate" Shane looked extremely pissed
"So you suggest we risk our damn lives an' go ta Fort Benning instead of making our way to somewhere that has a low population and is more isolated and could provide us with huntin' and fishin'?" Daryl finally spoke up, he was sounding rather calm for himself.
"How about we go through or at least passed Fort Benning on the way?" Chris suggested; he'd clearly been trying to contain his anger and had finally calmed down enough to speak. He wasn't as hot headed as Daryl but he had a temper on him and you never wanted to be in the firing line. We hadn't fought since before the breakout, we had little spats before we met the group but it was just that normal brother and sister bonding.
We'd been on foot when we'd found the group, our car had broken down about a mile down the road on the other side off the cars that the RV and the other vehicles had stopped at. We'd been running from the herd that had snuck up on us, as we were darting through the cars Daryl stopped us, telling us to get under one before leaving to help T-Dog. Chris and I had laid there absolutely terrified holding onto each other for dear life.
Once the walkers had passed, Daryl came back to get us, we weren't sure he was going to or even whether he'd survived but no screaming had been heard from where we were, but he did. Daryl and Chris helped T-Dog back to the RV as I kept watch behind them. The group had accepted us right away; most of them were more worried about Sophia. Shane had some issues when we came back but the majority had outweighed him.
I knew what Shane had meant, taking on two people was going to be a strain on resources but Chris and I could hold our own. We'd eventually been able to show him that we would pull our weight by going out there searching for Sophia every day and helping with the farm and hunting. We were now firmly a part of the group with Chris and Amy together and Daryl and I being whatever it is we were.
After 20 minutes of going over the map and agreeing on a route, we were on our way to Savannah. We had agreed to take a direct route through Fort Benning so Shane could see just what he wanted us to head to, it was risky but necessary, if we missed out on the opportunity for safety there was no going back. Daryl, Hershel, Patricia, Chris, Amy and I were in the van. Chris had insisted on driving which I didn't entirely object to.
Though I had a feeling of unshakeable dread in the pit of my stomach; as our convoy of cars drove through Fort Benning the manmade (un-dead and alive) destruction was clear, there was no sign of any living breathing human being. The rotting bodies lined the streets and there were a lot of walkers around. After a 40 minute drive we had pulled to a stop about 10 miles out of Fort Benning when Shane had made the signal.
"There were a lot of weapons around; I saw a few guns in a pile. We need them." Shane said as soon as the rest of the group had gathered around him "I want to go get them"
"You need to take someone with you" Dale spoke up, the two of them really never saw eye to eye on anything
"You're right" Shane agreed, that was weird "I ain't gonna force no one to come"
"I'll go" T-Dog offered, everyone agreed with this.
"and me" Daryl spoke up
"You aren't going Daryl" I turned to look at him "you have a concussion, you can only just walk in a straight line"
"She's right Daryl, you need your rest" Carol gave him a meaningful look
"You can stay and protect the group" Rick offered, he knew Daryl would blow up if he really wanted to
"Whatever" Daryl huffed seemingly in agreement.
"With that out of the way, I'm coming" I offered "Aside from Andrea I'm one of your best shots" I continued
"If she goes, I go." Chris spoke up, I wasn't surprised by this; he really didn't want to let me out of his sight.
"Well that's settled, Myself, T-Dog, Chris and Isabella will head back into Fort Benning to get the weapons. That way Andrea, Dale, Rick and Amy can keep watch and keep the group safe" Shane said effectively ending the conversation.
Daryl followed me back to the van as I went to grab my handgun and some ammo. He placed his calloused hand on my arm as I went to reach for the door
"Yeh sure 'bout this Isa?" he spoke quietly, he almost sounded sad.
"I'll be fine Daryl, I promise." I tilted my head to look him in the eye as we held each other's stare
"Make sure yeh come back to me" he sighed "an' take this, I want to make sure yer safe" he unhooked his hunting knife sheath from his belt and handed it to me "don' let them get close enough to use it" he leant down and placed a soft peck on my lips.
"You be safe too Daryl, you're not invincible. Stick with the others for me please" I hooked the sheath to my belt and took the gun and ammo I needed
"I don't know Isa, I seem ta be pretty invincible compared to all the others." I raised a curious eyebrow at him "Fine" he huffed and got into the van "yeh better come back or I'm comin' after yah."
I nodded and left Daryl in the van and made my way to the Cherokee.
Shane drove us into Fort Benning in Carol's Cherokee. Chris and I sat together in the back seat giving each other nervous looks as we approached the area with the weapons, the plan was for Shane and T-Dog to grab what they could whilst Chris and I covered them from behind. Shane pulled into the military base; it had obviously been completely over run at some stage with well-rotted corpses littering the area, both soldiers and walkers.
We all got out of the Cherokee careful to shut the doors quietly, Chris and I followed at a slight distance, close enough that we could keep them safe, but far enough that we could all move. There were a few stragglers but nothing Chris and I couldn't deal with, they weren't close enough to shoot.
Shane began picking up guns like a mad man as Chris covered him, I followed T-Dog to the other weapons as he started picking them up. My heart was in my throat as I risked a glance in Chris' direction, I watched as he fended off the walkers just fine, much like the walkers I'd seen with Daryl were emaciated and easy to dispatch. Most of the walkers had noticed Shane and Chris, making things a little easier for me.
I was startled back to reality by T-Dog letting out a fear filled scream; "FUCK!" he shouted a walker had its hands on his shoulders about to take a chunk out of his neck. Its teeth were inches away from sinking into his skin. I pulled Daryl's knife from its sheath, and made quick work stabbing the walker through the eye. T-Dog gave me a grateful look, one I quite frankly failed to deserve, if I'd focused on the job at hand then he wouldn't have come so close. More walkers began their slow descent on us attracted by T-Dog s scream.
We got what we could and made our way back to the Cherokee with Shane and Chris. We barely had time to buckle ourselves in before Shane floored it and we left Fort Benning for good.
"What happened back there?" Shane questioned "what was the scream about?"
"A walker crept up on us and got hold of me, Isabella saved me though" T-Dog explained as I bowed my head in shame, I didn't deserve the praise. Chris wrapped a comforting arm around my shoulders; I didn't think he understood why I was upset.
We arrived back to our base (the side of road) and were greeted by the rest of the survivors. I found myself searching for Daryl in the small crowd of people as I got out of the Cherokee. I spotted him standing behind everyone, he gave me a small smile, which to most would count for nothing but to me meant a lot. Daryl rarely smiled and when he did it, it was the small smile that was in a weird way his version of a grin.
The weapons were distributed evenly between each group and soon everyone scattered as Chris and Amy became wrapped up in each other, Shane and Andrea walked off talking and T-Dog moved toward Carol who was offering him a smile. As far as I was aware they were nothing more than friends but I hoped it would change. T was a noble man and he'd treat her right.
I walked toward Daryl, unhooking his knife sheath from my pants and held it out for him to take. I smiled as he took it.
"thanks, it really came in handy"
"Yer welcome. Jus' glad to have yeh back" his voice was gruff with thinly veiled emotion
"Glad to be back…how 'bout we get away from prying eyes?" I suggested
"Good idea"
We walked out the semi-circle of vehicles that formed our temporary camp in an attempt to find some privacy, we found a Chevy about 10 metres away we both checked it out before climbing into the bed of the truck. We sat in silence for a while both gathering our thoughts. I couldn't stop thinking about how close the walker had come to biting T-Dog; I allowed it to happen too.
"What's on your mind?" Daryl spoke breaking me out of my thoughts
"T-Dog almost died because of me…" I sighed
"What do yeh mean?" he wore a confused expression
"The reason the walker was able to creep up on him is because I was watching Chris" The image of the walkers teeth inches from T-Dogs neck flashed through my mind "If T-Dog hadn't yelled and screamed he would've been a goner."
"Yeh shouldn't feel bad" Daryl took my hand in his as our fingers entwined "he's yer brother, of course yer gonna be watching him"
"but my job was to watch T" I argued
"He's alive aint he?" he had an amused look on his face "Can't get much betta than that, Yeh did yer job"
"Whatever" I mumbled.
He let go of my hand and cupped my cheeks placing a light kiss on my lips "don't be stupid" he placed another kiss on my lips lingering a little longer this time "I'm jus' happy yer back."
We sat there for a lot longer just caught up in each other, kissing and whispering to each other. There was a surprisingly lack of walkers, which scared me more than if there were walkers around.
"HAH I knew it!" a familiar voice bellowed startling us as we let go of one another; we found Amy and Chris standing there. Amy looked amused and Chris looked completely unimpressed.
He was over the top protective; he'd scared just about every boyfriend I'd ever had away. He was a lot taller than I was and even with his ginger hair and ocean blue eyes he could look scary.
"Wipe that look off your face right now Chris" I hissed
"Why didn't you tell me?" he questioned, he sounded mighty pissed
"because we wanted to keep things quiet, we haven't labelled it." I sighed; he wouldn't let this go
"why did it have to be kept a secret from me? I'm your brother" he exclaimed, I got out of the bed of the truck and approached him
"I'm sorry Chris; I didn't think you'd be upset." I looked up at taking his hand in mine
"She didn't make the decision, yeh can't be too angry at 'er. She was jus' respectin' my wishes" Daryl spoke up.
"Why did it have to be a secret?" Chris growled at Daryl
"because without TV nothin' is private no more, everythin' is everyone's business an' I wanted to get to know Isa without anyone's input. Apparently that can't happen" he huffed in response
"Fine, just don't expect me to be happy about it" he snatched his hand away from mine
"You don't even fucking know him Chris, you don't get to feel anything about it." I hated how much of an opinion he thought he had. This had always been a problem between us "he's done more for the group than most people have; he fell down a fucking cliff looking for Sophia. You should be happy that I'm happy" Daryl moved from the bed of the Chevy coming to stand beside me. Amy was already with Chris looking concerned, she obviously hadn't been a witness to his temper until now.
Chris gave me a look that said he still wasn't impressed "we'll sleep in the RV tonight" He stated before storming off with Amy.
"I'm sorry Daryl…" I looked down, this was it, he was going to end things like every other guy did.
"Why are yeh sorry? Yeh didn't do anything" he reached out, tucking a piece of my fringe behind my ear
"because he's done this before and you didn't deserve it." I looked up at him
"don't be ridiculous, I understand where he's comin' from. Yer his sister an' he wants to protect yah. Nothin' wrong with that, he jus' needs to know he can't scare me off" he shrugged, I felt a hell of a lot better with just one statement.
We made our way to the van and climbed in locking the door behind us, Patricia and Hershel were already settled in as Daryl and I squeezed onto a seat together, Daryl held me close to him with his good arm as we soon drifted off to sleep.