Hey guys! Happy Friday! But there'll be no more Walking Dead until February! NO! Life goes on (sniff). Here's the next chapter for With My Life! Thanks for all the views, reviews, follows, and favorites! PLEASE review! I love y'all so much! Thanks and as always, happy reading!
Chapter 4
The next morning, everyone was eating there oatmeal, well, mostly staring at it. Eventually Reagan got Carl to eat some as she was feeding LAK. Reagan had shocked everyone with a funny confession earlier.
"Nice ink." Oscar told her and she looked down at her arm to see her tattoo of five, small blackbirds flying.
"Oh, thanks." She replied with a small smile. "My friend did it himself for free and I did his."
"You know how to give tattoos?" Glenn asked.
"Yeah, well prison style." She explained and she got funny looks from the group. "What? A cop's sister can't have friends in prison?" Oscar snickered and everyone else tried to hold back their laughter but failed. Even Carl laughed.
"Alright I have to ask." Maggie began. "How did you know guys in prison?"
"I'm intrigued myself." Herschel added chuckling.
"One of my friends had some trouble in college." Reagan explained. "He helped a guy rob a bank so he went to jail but I visited him every week. When he got out of jail, he taught me how to give tattoos. I helped him get a job at the bar I was working at and we were best friends, as easy as that." Desmond was always the wild one of the group.
"Why did you never tell me this?" Carl chuckled.
"I didn't want you to get any ideas about tattoos kiddo." She replied with a cocked eyebrow. She patted his back. "Eat up."
"Hey everyone." Rick said lowly and they turned to see him coming out of the hallway.
"Hey Bro, what's up?" Reagan asked.
"Just figured out my sister was best friends with that bank robber I caught." He replied and she bit her bottom lip. "I was just checkin' on Carl." Rick grabbed his son's shoulder and walked towards Daryl and Oscar. "How are we doin'? Everyone got a gun and a knife."
"Yep." Daryl replied. "We're runnin' low on ammo though."
"Me and Maggie were planning on making a run today. Get some stuff for LAK as well." Glenn intervened.
"Axel is working on the power. We were planning on sweeping the lower area." Daryl informed and Rick nodded.
"Good, who's all goin'?" he asked.
"Me, Oscar, Carl, and I think Reagan." Daryl said.
"Definitely Reagan." Reagan added and Rick nodded.
"Alright then." He said and quickly went back to the hallway. Reagan stood up with LAK still in her arms.
"Rick!" Reagan called in annoyance. He let anyways and she sighed and shook her head.
"I'll check up on him later." Herschel said as he grabbed her arm. LAK started to cry and Reagan quickly comforted her. She bounced as she held the infant.
"It's okay kiddo, it's okay. Aunt Rea's got you." She whispered. "Alright, when are we going?"
"Soon, we gotta make sure everythin's in check." Daryl told her and she nodded.
"Just tell me when." She said as she walked back over to the crib on the other side of the room.
"You like her, don't you?" Oscar asked him quietly.
"Wha?" Daryl asked.
"Reagan, you like her." Oscar repeated.
"We're friends." Daryl told him. "She's saved my ass and I've saved hers, 's as simple as that."
"Alright." Oscar sang as he took another bite of his oatmeal. Daryl shoved him a little and Oscar snickered as he walked away.
WMLWMLWMLWMLWMLWMLWMLWMLWML
"Alright, everyone stick together." Daryl told the small group as they walked through the lower area.
"I'm surprised that there aren't as many walkers." Reagan commented as they began to walk again. They heard banging noise and they looked over to see a door only opening a little bit due to a walker blocking the door. Daryl walked in front of Reagan and closed the door several times.
"They ain't goin nowhere, let's go." He told them. Oscar went an opposite direction briefly while Reagan checked another hallway. She overheard Daryl talking to Carl.
"I was runnin' and all the other kids were starin' at me. I realized all the people and sirens were at my house. My momma and my house was burnt down to nothin'. It was all so unreal ya know?" Daryl told Carl. Reagan stopped in her tracks.
"I had to kill my mom. Shoot her in the head while she was out." Reagan looked back from her corner and saw the two had stopped. "She hadn't even turned yet." Daryl clapped his hand on the young boys shoulder and gave him a look of sympathy. Reagan felt a nudge and she looked behind to see Oscar.
"We better catch up." He said and she nodded. They walked up to the two as they walked through the halls. Oscar went into a cell. "Oh hell yeah!" he grabbed a pair of slippers.
"Why do you need slippers?" Reagan asked.
"At the end of the day, relax and kick your feet up." Oscar replied and she laughed. They heard a groan and she quickly pulled out her tomahawk. Carl and Oscar shot it but Daryl had already finished it off.
"Wait Daryl," she said and grabbed his arm. "There's something in its neck." The two bent down and Daryl pulled out the small knife.
"This is Carol's knife." Daryl realized and Reagan looked up at him.
"You two, go back to the cell block." Reagan said as she stood up. "We're looking for Carol."
"Aunt Rea…" Carl said.
"We'll be fine but we have to find her." She told her nephew and kissed his forehead. "Go back and be with your sister. I'll be there soon." Carl nodded and Oscar led him back to the cell blocks. Daryl was still observing the knife by the time she turned around. "Come on, we aren't going to find her by staring at the knife." She held out her hand and Daryl took it. She helped him up, well she didn't have to help him all that much, and they were off. She had her tomahawk in her hand, ready to strike and Daryl and his crossbow. "Thanks for helping Carl out."
"No problem." He said and she pursed her lips.
"I'm sorry about what happened." She told him.
"Don't be, it happened so long ago." He said. "I really don't think about it all that much."
"Was Merle really that cruel to you?" she asked and he looked at her. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to pry." There was a little more silence as they walked through the halls.
He started talking again and it took her by surprise. "I never got to hang out with the kids on my street unless he wasn't around. He would make me help him break into houses and he took me to strip clubs when I was only eight." He looked over at her and saw that sadness filled her eyes.
"That's awful." She said quietly but loud with truth.
"Yeah but it happened." He replied. "He's my brotha."
"Whatever happens happens." She quipped and he nodded.
"Exactly." He said and decided to ask her some questions before she could ask anymore. "Come on, tell me about yer childhood."
"Um, well, I grew up in King County my Dad was an FBI agent and my mother was a doctor. They were gone a lot but they made sure they spent time with us. My older brother Robert and Rick, the oldest, would always steal my Barbies or my books and would hold them up high enough that I couldn't reach." Daryl snickered a little bit and she playfully shoved him. "When I was a teenager, Robert went into the military and Rick was in the police force. All three of the men in my life taught me how to fight and defend myself. Rick and Dad had seen some pretty fucked up stuff so they wanted me to be able to get out of those situations like rape and assault. When I was eighteen, I got a phone call from the General. Robert had gotten shot by enemy fire. Twice in the chest, once in the leg, and once in the head. He was only twenty three. I remember breaking down in the middle of the streets and people stopped and asked me what was wrong. 'My brother was shot! My brother was shot!' I remember just wailing out in the middle of UGA. Then when I just turned 26, Shane walked into the bar while I was performing…" Daryl listened intently as she talked about her past.
(Ready to Run by The Dixie Chicks)
"When the train rolls by Oh yeah
I'm gonna be ready this time
When the boy gets that look in his eye
I'm gonna be ready this time
When my momma says I look good in white
I'm gonna be ready this time
Ready, ready, ready, ready...ready to run
All I'm ready to do is have some fun
What's all this talk about love" Reagan saw Shane run into the bar with a frantic look on his face. The band stopped playing as he ran over to Reagan. Melissa and Rebekah looked at Shane as he breathed hard.
"You need to come to the hospital." He told her as he led her off stage.
"Why? What happened?" she asked.
"Rick's been shot." Reagan stopped. Both of her brothers had been shot to death.
"No!" she cried.
"He's alive but they're operatin' on him right now." Shane told her. "We need to leave." They ran out and went to the hospital. They waited for hours as they waited for the news. They saw Doctor Kenway walk out into the waiting room and they all stood.
"We tried and got all the fragments out but he's in a coma." Reagan had to sit back down. The doctor talked some more but Reagan couldn't hear anything.
"Why don't you go visit him?" Shane offered and she snapped out of it. She walked to the room almost feeling weightless as she gripped the handle. She turned it slowly and walked in. She almost had to walk away when she saw Rick's lifeless body. She walked over and held his cold, limp hand.
"Hey Rick, it's Reagan." She began with a grapefruit size lump in her throat. "I want to let you know that I love you very much, I mean, you're my brother. I wouldn't want to have any other brother than you." She started to cry and held his hand to her cheek. "I need you to stay here Rick. I can't lose you, I just can't. Carl and Lori need you to stay too. Carl wouldn't know what to do with himself. I've never seen him, so…so… depressed. Shane keeps on telling himself it's his fault but I need you to wake up soon to tell him it's okay. He needs to hear it from you Rick. He's so broken about this and I really and truly don't know how to fix it." She reached up and fixed a piece of hair that was out of place. "We all need you to be here Rick, I mean it. I know it'll take you a while but we just need you to come back as soon as possible. I'll come and visit you every day until you wake up because you're my brother and I love you. I could probably make a routine you know how I like routines." She chuckled sadly. "I could come in the morning to read you the paper and tell you what happened on the last episodes of Criminal Minds and Castle. I could tell you how Carl's doing in school. I could do that for you, I mean that's what they did in all the movie's anyways." She could hear the beep of the monitor going to a steady rhythm and the air pump working hard. She sighed and wiped her eyes. "I guess I'll come and send someone else in then." She leaned and gave Rick a kiss on his cold cheek. "I love you bro." she walked away from him and out into the hall.
Reagan stopped her story and held a hand up to Daryl's chest. She steadied her tomahawk and went to the edge of a corner. She whistled and a walker appeared from the far side of the hall. She jumped up in the air and took down the walker with a hit in the middle of the head. The weapon sliced into its head as she brought down the body with hers pushing it down. She was crouching on the ground when the walker hit the ground and she pulled out her weapon. She stood up and was breathing hard.
"I'm sorry about what happened to Robert." Daryl said as she came back to him.
"Thanks but I've learned to deal with death as well." She replied and he smirked at her.
Three hours later:
They were out of luck. They had searched every corner, every inch, every centimeter but there was still no sign of Carol. They went back to their spot where the small group dispersed and the door that had the walker trying to escape. Daryl was sitting on the ground, scraping the floor with Carol's knife while Reagan paced, trying to figure out where to look next. Daryl huffed and stood up quickly.
"Daryl?" she asked but he didn't respond. He moved the walker away and put both hands on the door.
"Ya gonna do anythin' or jus' stand there?" he asked angrily and she pulled out her tomahawk.
"Open the door…" she waited a little. "Now!" he opened the door and got the knife ready to stab. "Stop!"
"What?" he asked but then he saw a woman against the wall with bright blue eyes and gray hair.
"Carol!" Reagan cried and ran over to her friend. "Let me see…" she checked Carol over. "No bites but she needs water and food." Daryl quickly swooped Carol up and the quickly went upstairs to their cell block.
"Herschel!" Daryl called but they didn't see him. "They're outside." Daryl told Reagan and they ran outside to see Herschel.
"Oh my God!" Beth exclaimed and they all rushed over.
"Get her inside." Herschel instructed.
"Wait, where's Rick?" Reagan asked and they looked over to see Rick watching a woman slicing up some walkers.