CHAPTER FOUR

Rhiannon offered to keep watch so Daryl could sleep, but he just shrugged her off. She couldn't get back to sleep so they had been sitting in silence for a few hours now. Her back was getting sore so she stood up to stretch. She was bent over, grabbing her ankles to stretch out her back when Daryl's voice came from behind her.

"What're ya doin now?"

"Stretching," she replied.

He flicked his flashlight on and made a face at her. "What'd'ya need to stretch for?"

She pressed her palms and elbows into the floor and raised her legs up to do a handstand before saying "cuz my back hurts."

"How old are ya, 80?" he scoffed.

"No," she shot back. "I just get sore sitting in one place too long."

"Is this yoga?" he asked. The innocence of the question took Rhiannon by surprise and she laughed, which caused her to fall out of her handstand. Lying on the cold tile floor she stared up at the ceiling and laughed.

"Cut it out," Daryl snapped.

"Sorry," she sighed, sitting up. "Yeah, I guess that was yoga. I used to do it every day but I never do anymore."

"Well why would ya?" he squinted at her. He had placed his flashlight on the shelf behind him, casting enough light over the small area where they were sitting.

"Because it's relaxing. It helps with anxiety, stress, and keeps you in shape, and flexible."

"Huh," he replied, but didn't say anything else.

"If you want, I could teach you," she offered.

He let out a chuckle. "No way. My body don't bend that way."

"It doesn't have to 'bend' any sort of way," she answered, emphasizing the word "bend." "You can start out with simple stretches and breathing techniques to reduce stress."

He just shook his head. "I don't get stressed."

"The Dead start walking and trying to eat you, and you're not stressed?" she shook her head as well. "I don't buy it."

"I deal with it in other ways," he said.

"Like what?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

He tilted his head and stared at her for a minute. "Nothing filthy, princess. My bike keeps me sane."

Rhiannon nodded her head in understanding. "I get that. You know, my dad taught me about bikes. He used to fix them up and showed me how to build one from scraps when I was a kid."

"Yeah?"

"Yep." She nodded again. "But I still did yoga."

He smiled at that and fell quiet again. Rhiannon looked at him while he stared at his hands. He was being kind, and she knew it was because of what she had said about being scared. She didn't know if she would ever figure him out but she'd only known him for 24 hours, and she wasn't sure if she even wanted to.

"Quit staring," his voice interrupted her musing.

"Sorry," she said, "I wasn't… staring, I just… I zoned out for a minute."

"You should get some more sleep," he said. "We'll head back at dawn."

"You should get some sleep," Rhiannon countered. "I already took a nap, I'm fine."
"I ain't tired."
"Well, neither am I."
"Fine." He fell back into silence, looking so sullen that Rhiannon was almost sure she had just imagined him smiling a few minutes before. How did this keep happening? They were chatting nicely one second, and the next he was snappy and sulky. She realized she actually really wanted him to like her, and not see her as a liability.

"Thank you," she said, trying to get him talking again. "For earlier."

"Wasn't gonna let you become that geeks dinner," he looked up at her through the hair that was hanging in front of his eyes.

"Still…. Thank you," she said.

"Don't worry 'bout it, princess."

"Ugh, again with the 'princess!'"

"Why does that bother you so much anyway?" he tilted his head to the other side. "It don't mean nothin'."
"Maybe not to you," she answered. "It's just a pet peeve of mine, so could you please not say it?"

"Awright, darlin'" he raised an eyebrow dismissively and reached up to turn the flashlight off, saying something about preserving battery life, so Rhiannon tried to feel her way back to where she was sitting before. She slid her hands along the tile floor, floundering a little in the sudden darkness.

Suddenly she made contact with the heel of Daryl's boot, and he jumped. "Sorry," she laughed. "Did I spook ya?"

He just mumbled to her to be careful, and she crawled up and turned to sit next to him.

"I kinda feel tired now," she admitted.

"Figures," he said. "Take a nap, darlin', I'll wake you if I get tired."
Yawning, she leaned and rested her head on his shoulder, fully expecting him to shrug her off, but he didn't. Instead he scooched down a little so he was at a more comfortable angle for her and let her sleep. She slowly drifted off, happy with the new nickname he had chosen for her.

After what felt like five minutes, she felt Daryl's hand on her arm, shaking her awake.

"Get up," his voice was quiet and terse.

Great, Rhiannon thought to herself. He's being a dick again. She reached up to rub her eyes and started to complain but he shushed her again, putting his hand over her mouth. Before she could rip it away, she heard them.

There were voices talking at the front of the store, she couldn't make out how many but they sounded like men. There was dusty dawn sunlight filtering through some of the windows and she could see Daryl motioning for her to get to her feet, taking his hand off of her mouth and reaching for his crossbow.

Grabbing her packs, Rhiannon slung them over her shoulders, wincing when the cans rattled a little, and following Daryl as he slunk back against the wall and walked lightly in the direction of the voices, keeping low and trying to circle around behind the men.

When they were close to the door Daryl turned to her and put a finger to his lips to shush her again. Rhiannon just shot him back a glare. Did he really think she was gonna start making a ton of noise now?

Daryl turned back to peak around the aisle to see where the men were and how many of them there were. He held up three fingers then tightened his grip on his crossbow. Rhiannon could make out what they were saying by this point, and it was disturbing. Their slow, deep southern voices were talking about a girl they had found and apparently had their way with. She shivered at the sound of one man imitating her screaming, and without thinking, gripped her favorite knife's handle and pulled it out of the sheath on her waistband. Daryl gave her a look over his shoulder and motioned for her to crouch and follow him. They ducked through the space between the aisle and the register without being seen and crept towards the glass doors.

At the end of the register, there was about twenty feet left to the door. Daryl looked at Rhiannon and mouthed the word "run." He waved his hand for her to go and she did, trying to stay quiet. She flung the door open and headed directly for Daryl's bike on the opposite end of the parking lot. She looked behind her to see Daryl barreling out of the door and hot on her heels. She heard a shout and turned again to see the men chasing after them.

"Go!" Daryl yelled, motioning for her to keep running, but over his shoulder she saw the man who was closest pull a gun from his waistband and aim it at them. She stopped and grabbed Daryl by the shoulder and pulled him behind a nearby car, the bullet grazing his arm. Swearing he pulled a gun out of the back of his jeans that Rhiannon hadn't known he had. He stood up and shot at them over the roof of the car, yelling for her to keep running towards the bike. It was only about fifty feet away at this point so she made a run for it again. She heard gunshots behind her, and more yelling, but she didn't turn around.

Reaching the bike she threw her leg over it and jammed the key into the ignition. To her right she could see Daryl running again, bleeding from where the bullet had grazed him, and from a second wound on his other shoulder. Rhiannon started the bike up, the engine roaring to life underneath her and waited for Daryl. He was almost there, but the men were closing on him, shooting and missing. A bullet shattered the window of the car behind Rhiannon, but then Daryl was there, jumping on behind her and screaming in her ear for her to go. She did as he said and peeled out of the parking lot, going as fast as the bike would allow, screaming back in the direction of Alexandria.

Daryl's arm was tight around her waist, gripping the front of her shirt and he was resting his head in between her shoulders. After enough time had passed that Rhiannon felt safe stopping, and they were driving through a town, she pulled into a driveway and turned to look at him.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

He raised his head up and scowled at her. "'M fine," he mumbled.

Rhiannon rolled her eyes and got off the bike. "Let me look at where you got shot," she said, grabbing his arms and examining the wounds. The first one was just a graze that had stopped bleeding a while ago, but the second one was a little worse. It had gone straight through the flesh of his arm, below his shoulder but missed the bones. It was still bleeding and needed to be stitched up. When she told him he needed stitches he just yanked his arm out of her grasp.

"Naw," he said, "let's jus' get back."
"You're gonna keep bleeding, just let me stitch it up!"

"Let's just go." He repeated.

Ignoring him, Rhiannon rummaged through her backpack for the first aid kit "At least let me clean it up a little, so it doesn't get infected," she grumbled, reaching for his arm as she found the disinfectant.

He jerked his arm away again and she gave him an exasperated look. "You're gonna get an infection!" she repeated, annoyance in every word.

Daryl just glared at her.

"Fine!" she blurted, throwing her hands up and then putting the first aid items back in her pack. She climbed back on the front of the bike and told him "I don't understand why you have to be so stubborn! You wanna get an infection, fine!" The motorcycle roared back to life. "It's not even like your arm was clean in the first place and now there's a friggen bullet hole in it," she walked the bike backwards out of the driveway they were in, and continued chastising him, "but whatever! You wanna be a giant baby, then that's your call."
Daryl just rested his head between her shoulders again and gripped the front of her shirt while she revved the engine and tore off back to their safe zone.