Note(s): Another Chapter for my awesome Readers! I want to thank all of you for reading my work and following/commenting/liking. You are all amazing! I hope you enjoy what I have written for you. Again sorry for making any mistakes I will go back over all of the chapters soon and search for more.

From Thy Writer,

Allison Damon

Chapter 4

After Rick informs me that I am paired with Daryl, he proceeds to transfer me to a vehicle. It's a small gray car with soft fabric that is colored with light blue crossed with a tab bit of a very light grey. The seats itself are comfortable and are able to recline back for someone to sleep in-specifically me. I'm still so exhausted from this last invasion and I just really want to pass out in the car and sleep this terrible feeling off. And I think Daryl understands because once Rick sets me in the car, he replaces Rick with himself and instantly reclines my seat back. He then covers me with a small blanket and shuts the door, muttering about how I over did it. I let a small smile creep onto my face, no matter how odd Dixon is he always catches me off guard and makes me smile; especially the caring side of him that he shows through small things. With that I wipe the rest of my thoughts out of my head, and I close my eyes and let my mind and body shut off. I pass out just like I said I wanted to and I'm so out of it that I don't hear or feel anything around me; I don't hear Daryl open or close the door, the start of the car or the car actually in motion.

But do wake up when we hit a particularly deep pothole; it jolts me awake when bouncing me up and causes me to hit the roof of the car. I let a sound of surprise out, then sit up and rub my head and blink and rub the rest of the sleep out of my eyes. Huffing in annoyance, I drop my hands from my face and head and take a peak around to see where we are at. I honestly don't know where we are at and it doesn't help that 1) nothing looks familiar and 2) we have no specific place we are traveling in any sense. I glance over at Daryl and observe that his face is relaxed and peaceful-and it's the first time I have ever seen that type of expression on his face and it's nice to see. I don't want him to see me staring on him and so I look out at the window instead. I watch the trees fly by and the green and tan grass plus the occasional geek limping or dragging itself when it goes by. It's relatively boring but it's definitely better than being in danger…but I know there will be more danger by the end of the night, because most always never goes in our favor except maybe occasionally. Always be prepared for anything, and never be ignorant of the world.

"Where are we going?" I speak as I glance at him with curiosity and a raised eye brow. "Somewhere." That's all I get, no more and no less surprisingly. "Are we looking for somewhere to stay or is there somewhere specific that was hidden from me?" I admit that I say this with a bit of snark and a lot of question. I pierce my lips as he shoots me a warning look that says it all-'Watch your mouth or I'll pull this car over right now and beat your ass.' And I decide that I like my ass the way it is, so I'm not going to provoke him. "Sorry." I mutter while looking down in a bit of shame. "It's ok, just don't do it again. We are looking for somewhere to stay." I nod and turn my head back to the window and lean against it, blowing my breath on it, which makes a fog patch on the surface. I don't know how long we drive along the road but it feels like hours upon hours and it's so boring. It gets to the point where I fidget in my seat and alternate between tapping my fingers and feet every single second. If it annoys Daryl I'll never know, he doesn't reprimand me about moving. I give out a huff and shift in my seat once again and keep my eyes on the scenery. And what I see makes my stomach sink with dread; a horde of walkers are in the middle of the road and bunched up on the sides. I instantly reach down take out the knife given back to me by Rick that's strapped to my leg. Glancing over at Daryl, I see he is stretching around to the back seat to grab his crossbow. Moving my eyes back to the road, I notice that the walkers are now walking towards up…and a large object in our path? "Daryl!" I scream and grip the seat with all my might as we collide with the huge object.

Every part of my body is in complete agony, and becomes more prominent as I come closer and closer to consciousness. I groan in pain and peel my eye lids open to see what the damage is. Instantly I let out a startled breath out, finding myself upside down because of the car being upside down. Glancing over I observe that Daryl is still unconscious, his cross bow laying between us and my knife stuck to the ceiling between us also. Licking my lips I move one hand to the belt button and the other pressed up on the ceiling in order to cushion my fall in some sort of way. I click the button and feel myself instantly drop; my head thumps the ceiling lightly and my body lands after. Breathing out, I let myself rest for a moment; after a few minutes I maneuver myself so that I am sitting up straight. Reaching for the knife, I go to pull it out; once out I grab my small pack and Daryl's too. I then pull his cross bow all the way towards me and sling that over my shoulder with the rest of the stuff. Scanning the car, I look to see if there are any other supplies we need; spotting a couple of hand guns and ammo, I take them also and shove them into one of the bags. Continuing to my next move, I flatten myself down and try to spot any walkers outside…none-at least I hope. Bringing myself back up, I move myself to where my back is facing Daryl and my feet to the door; then I proceed to kick at it. It takes a bit but I do get the door to open. I climb out with all of the supplies and stand on a bit of shaky legs, ignoring it I speed walk around the car to the driver side. Crouching down, I place my hands on the door handle and pull with all my might. It must be that I am blessed with adrenaline because the door pops open with a loud screech. Crap; I instantly stand up and look for walkers that might be attracted to the sound. None…I crouch down once more and proceed to drag Daryl straight out-which is done easily seeing as he isn't wearing his seat belt.

I then drag him off the road and over the slope leading into the woods; and I drag him for miles and look for a safe place to stay. I find an old house that looks sturdy enough to house someone. I prop him up against a tree and leave the cross bow and a gun with him in case he wakes up. I then walk up towards the house and up the old wooden steps that creak with my weight. Arriving at the door I then open it slowly, it squeaks and makes me wince with fear and annoyance. I search the whole house; clearing walkers and taking supplies to the main room. It takes around an hour or two plus me going to check on Daryl periodically to actually fulfill the task and it takes a lot of work in my injured state; but when I'm done I finally get to move Daryl and his weapons from against a tree to the into the house. That proves to be the most difficult of all, because I don't have that much strength left. And proving it, it takes a whole half hour to drag him to the porch, up the stairs, through the door, into the house and on the old springy couch. After actually completing everything, I sit down on the floor by the window and keep watch for any sign of danger. It's always sad to realize that once the adrenaline seeps out of your veins the ignored pain and exhaustion makes itself present. I feel all the aches deep in my bones and behind my eyes; especially since I have to keep my eye lids open in order to keep watch. It makes me want to rest everything about myself even more right now and sleep like a rock. But I know I can't so I wipe the thoughts out of my head and just focus on keeping my eyes trained on the world outside of the house. I just wish I realized when my eyes closed…

"…ake up. Come on now. You gotta wake up."

Oh come on, why can't I just be left alone; all I want to do is sleep for a while more. Wait a minute, sleep? Oh, crap! My eyes fly open and my head jerks up once I realize I fell asleep on watch. I almost jump back and slam myself into the wall; Daryl is right in from of my face. Oh god, this is going to end so badly. Licking my lips, man I just realized that it's becoming a habit, I push myself into a more comfortable sitting position. "Uh…" Is all I can really get out because of 1) my seriously dry throat and 2) I don't know what to say. I keep looking at him to see if I can catch wind of what may come next. "Come on now, get your ass up. That's right, up you go." He grabs a hold of my arms and helps me up; surprisingly he doesn't let go but instead leads me from the window and to the old house. Then he pushes me down onto it, also relieving me of my weapons along with the bag slung over my shoulder. It just confuses me more and I honestly don't understand what is happening. And I think part of it is because my head is fuzzy and my body feels wrecked and battered. But I still try to keep my mind on track, trying to figure out what Daryl Dixon is doing at this very moment. Which is crouching down on one knee, leveling him down to my sitting down height; his expression holds one of worry, sternness and determination. He looks right into my eyes and raises his hand towards my face, without thinking I squeeze my eyes shut and flinch away. I hold breath and wait there for what seems like hours but in reality only being a few minutes. I honestly think that he will inevitably point this out; most likely now or maybe later, but regardless he'll bring it up. We both know this that's for sure. I hear him blow out a sigh and shift heavily and noisily. Barely opening my eyes, I peak through my lashes to see what he's about to do; it startles me to find out that he is looking right at me, which lets me know that he is aware that I'm peaking. With knowing this, I open my eyes and look straight at him. And I decide to put on a front of fearlessness and a bold attitude that shows challenge; if he's going to interrogate me he might as well get to the point. So I jut out my chin and raise an eyebrow, looking him straight in the eyes. He narrows his eyes and shifts once more until he is in equal height of me. "You've been abused." It is straight to the point with no nonsense lacing with his voice. I better nip this one before it starts up and turns into something big. "It doesn't matter now. What's done is done and nothing can be done about it. I'm not getting beaten anymore so there's no reason to worry about it."

He looks as if he earnestly wants to argue with my words but I know he realizes I'm correct. "We'll talk about this later." And with that, he leaves me alone on the subject…at least for now. "Now, you are gonna listen to me. You are gonna leave your skinny little ass on this couch and not get up. You're in no condition to do anything right now. And you are gonna let me take a look at you and then you're gonna rest. Is that clear?" He sets his stern gaze on me and awaits my answer of confirm on my understanding. "As clear as creek water." I nod to him and relax against the couch. He rises from his crouch and leans over me to check my temperature, which should be a little heated from a most likely newly infected wound from the wreck. And he just confirms my idea, seeing as he frowns deeply and his forehead creases while grabbing my arm and checking from there. He then pulls away from me and digs into his bag and brings out Tylenol and a bottle of water and has me take them. Afterwards I show him where my injuries are; small gashes on my right ankle, head and arms. He easily medicates those and patches them up in less than twenty minutes. When all of the injuries and concerns are taken care of we both eat a bit of the food with us, but not too much so as we can ration are supplies as much as we can.

"Do you think they'll find us…or at least the car?" I randomly blurt out; I just can't stand the thought that maybe they might not find us.

"Maybe; it just depends when they realize we aren't gonna show up."

"When do you think that will happen?"

"Not too long; Rick will notice pretty fast. When you're up and ready, we'll head for the car and wait there."

"We can move now, I'm more than ready to move. The faster we are in the location the better. And by the way you talk about how fast Rick will find us, we should go ahead and move locations."

"Not until you are physically ready not mentally. Stop lyin to yourself, we both know you're not ready yet."

I let out an exasperated sigh and instantly shoot back a reply. "Oh come on, I've been through worse and still functioned and traveled around. And if I can do that, I can handle the location transfer just fine. And you agreed with me just a few minutes ago, that we do need to transfer locations so Rick can find us."

He instantly appears in front of me and kneels down so once again we are eye level. "Now you listen to me girl, we are not hauling our asses out of here till I say so. So you will keep your damn ass there till we leave!"

"Yes sir." I grit out and yank my head to facing the old wooden boards of the floor. This is so frustrating; I mean how are we supposed to get back to Rick if we aren't even leaving until later. And by then it will most likely be or getting close to evening time which means it will be dark then or really close to it. I can almost guarantee that it will hinder our defenses against walkers because we will probably have a hard time seeing the stupid dead men. I almost voice this to him too, but I know it's futile and would just make more unnecessary struggle to our journey back to the wreckage. So I slump back and wait impatiently, feeling my gut twist with a bit of fear; the last time I waited until my injuries were in the condition for traveling, it cost the life of my previous camp. And when this pops up in my head, it renews my quest to convince Daryl we need to leave now with vigor. And this time I do voice my opinion, and I also know that I will have to tell him part of my life to convince him. I take a deep breath and start…

"We need to leave no-no wait, just hear me out. We need to leave…so history on my side isn't repeated…The last time I waited till my injuries were up for traveling conditions, something horrible happened…It's why I'm here now." I inform him and I promised myself after this happened and I tell someone I'd be strong. But now it feels impossible, for melancholy sets over me and my eyes start to tear up. I don't let this effect me and all I do is take a deep breath and continue. "My previous camp-or as you call it group, was in a rough patch and a lot of people didn't get food, including me. It made my body weak and I passed out. After that they made sit and rest before moving again, but no one-not even I noticed the horde of walkers that were about to invade us. And I'm almost positive that everyone there died but me…seeing as they wanted to get me out and not themselves. I don't want that to repeat! I don't want another death happen because of me! And for that reason, we. have. to. leave. now." And with that speech finished, I eye him pleadingly and warily. He seems to take this into consideration because he looks as if he's thinking on this deeply.

He nods towards me with his face grave but pity never crosses his face, which helps me because I hate pity. "Alright, we'll leave now. But you take it easy, and so as I say."

"Deal!" I jump up from my seat on the couch and grab my bad from the floor and sling over my shoulder. I let him lead out the door and I follow him through. I just can't believe he actually agreed with me, or maybe he's just indulging me; but it still astonishes me.