Chapter 9
Everyone was up bright an early the next morning. The sun had just begun to light up the sky when Annalyn shook Ayce awake.
"Come on, Ayce!"
Ayce rolled from her side onto her back, looking bleary eyed at her little sister. "What? What? Are we under attack?"
"No. I've only been trying to wake you for the past five minutes. God, you're a heavy sleeper, even in this situation. Anyway, you told me to get you up when the sun rose, well, it's rising. Get up." And with that, the younger blonde exited the tent.
The other gave a loud yawn and rolled over, pulling the cover up over her head.
"Don't even think about it."
Annalyn's voice shattered her quiet. With a groan, she tossed the covers away, gave her a glare that would freeze Rick in his tracks, and began to pull clothes from her bag. Thank God, they did laundry the day before. A pair of jeans and a black tank top, along with an olive green short sleeved button up she left open. Her tan bracers were laced on after pulling on her boots.
Once she was dressed, she grabbed her trusty bow and headed out. The plan was to go hunting for the group, so they didn't start running low on food.
She grabbed something small for breakfast, wanting to get out to the forest quickly.
"Hey Blondie."
Ayce smiled and turned to face him. "Hey yourself."
"I was thinking we could go over the map again, maybe plot out a course and work together on this."
She pursed her lips and gave a small shake of her head. "I think sticking to opposite side of the creek works. I dont really do teams."
Daryl frowned, that permanent scowl gracing his features. He seemed...put out, maybe?
"You are bound and determined to get yourself killed, arntcha?"
Ayce huffed, but he was gone before she was given a chance to get a word out.
Weird...
They sky was a medium grey color as she set off across the field, pacing herself at a jog. Birds chirped all around her, reminding her of the better days when she would do this, when there weren't freaky corpses walking around trying to eat their faces off.
She closed her eyes, allowing herself just that one moment of peace. Or at least, she thought it was a moment. She wasn't sure how long she was there. Twigs snapped softly off to her right, alerting her to another presence. Her eyes snapped open and she twisted her head to the side.
Deer.
A small grin spread over her face as she began her hunt.
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Ayce almost felt like humming as she trotted back to the house, the deer dragging behind her. It wasn't very heavy. It wasn't that it was unhealthy, just slightly small.
Ayce exited the tree line, and would have continued walking, but a flash of color halted her. The woman, Patricia, was walking towards the barn with a wheelbarrow. With Ayce's heightened hearing, with her being a hunter, she was just able to make out the sounds of chickens squawking in pain and fear. She narrowed her eyes as she hid, watching the elder woman walked to the barn, up the loft, and dump the bag of chickens down into the barn
What the hell?
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The group thanked Ayce profusely when she brought them the deer. Carol took it off her hands, saying she knew a thing or two about skinning and cleaning, which Ayce was grateful for, being as how that was her least favorite part.
She put her bow away and collapsed in her pile of blankets, her mind wandering.
Just what was Patricia doing? She was obviously feeding something, if the live chickens were any indication. But what? Did they have a pet bear or something?
She thought for a moment longer and made up her mind. She was going to see what was in there.
As she exited the tent, she ran into Annalyn.
"Oh, God! Sorry Ayce... I'm glad I found you. I was wondering...Well, see, the thing is... Carl's going, and he's like, 12, so I don't see why I can't go..."
"Jesus, Anna, spit it out."
Annalyn looked up at Ayce with wide doe eyes. "I wanna go train with everyone..."
Ayce raised a blonde brow. "Train with what, exactly?"
"Guns."
"Absolutely not."
Annalyn's face contorted with anger. "And why the hell not?"
"Because they are dangerous, Annalyn! Because Carl almost lost his life because he was shot! Guns are not reliable. They can jam, backfire, and in case you haven't noticed, the bullets do run out! No, you're better off sticking to your knives."
Annalyn shook her head. "I may be good with them, but it's always a good idea to be versatile. And you know what?" she said, her chest puffing out like she was trying to pull an alpha female aura. "I'm going anyway. You can't tell me that I can't go. I was asking out of respect of you, but now I can see you're just going to be narrow-minded."
As the younger sister stalked off, Ayce was left speechless.
She always gone along with what I said. Never outright defied me.
This is Andrea's fault. I knew she was a bad influence.
"Well, um... I didn't see anything."
Ayce glanced over at Glenn, who was standing there awkwardly with a basket. "I mean, I really didn't... Um, here. Peach and jerky." He handed her the items hesitantly, like he was worried that she was going to chop off his hand or something. "Calm down, Glenn. I'm not gonna explode or anything," she said, accepting the items with an added thanks.
On the inside, though, she thought she might. However, her next observation put all of that from her mind.
"Glenn, what do you know about what's in the barn?"
The Asian paled visibly, his eyes opened wide, and he began to stutter. "W-what? I-I have NO idea what you're talking about. I mean, it's just a barn. It's actually a rather nice barn. I wish my house had a barn like that."
"Glenn, you keep looking at it like it's gonna burst open and kill us all. What. Is in. The Barn."
He was quiet for a moment, but then he took a deep breath. "Walkers. There are...Walkers. In the barn..."
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Deep breaths...
She hadn't found out about Daryl's accident until an hour or so after she got back to the farm. She still couldn't name the feeling that came over her when Rick delivered the news to her. She did have a name for the feeling when she found out Andrea tried to put a bullet in him. Why no one told her before hand was still a mystery.
Ayce squared her shoulders and pushed aside the flap the Daryl's tent, a sarcastic smirk crossing her face. "So, Cowboy. How does it feel to be a cripple?"
The redneck in question rolled his eyes and put down the book he held. "Yer so damn funny, aren't ya?"
She grinned wider and plopped down on the opposite end of the tent, facing him. "You know I'm just full of laughs. You also know it was just a matter of time before I came here to tease you."
Her grin faded slightly as she looked to the ground and began picking at a loose string on his blanket. "I am sorry, ya know? Sorry that I didn't go with you when you offered. If I had been there, maybe you wouldn't have been hurt. Then you wouldn't have come back lookin' half dead. Then the stupid blonde bitch wouldn't have shot you. So, yea. I'm sorry."
The amount of pride she had to swallow was incredible. It would put Andrea to shame. Daryl must have sensed this. But he didn't say 'oh no, it's all good,' or 'don't beat yourself up.' He spoke in a way he knew she would understand.
"Yer probably right. If ya hadn't been so dead set on workin' alone, I might have avoided an arrow in the side and a bullet against the skull. But," he said, drawing her attention. "What's done is done. I've forgiven Andrea fer shootin' me. I can look past you being stubborn. Let's just not let it happen again."
Ayce smiled widely. "Kay, Cowboy."
He pointed a finger at her threateningly. "Keep that up. I'll find somethin' worse than Blondie ta call ya."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
In her tent once again, Ayce's thoughts drifted. She was worried. Worried about Annalyn, about the barn, about the future, everyone that was hurt. Daryl, Carl, and T-Dog were all injured, and on top of that, Sophia was still missing. And she didn't know what to do about Shane. She was absolutely sure he killed Otis. But that wasn't the point. The point was that each day, he got shiftier. Looked more and more paranoid. She didn't feel safe around him.
Ayce heaved a sigh. She could only deal with one issue at a time.
"Who all knows?"
Glenn glanced at the ground. "Just me and Dale. And, well, you, and the people who live here, of course. And only Maggie knows that I know. "
Ayce nodded slowly. "We need to tell the group, just not now. They're all scared enough as it is. It's not the right time, so just keep it to yourself."
Glenn nodded his head, staying silent, thinking. Then:
"What are we going to do when we do tell them?" he asked, meeting her gaze. She gave him a pat on the shoulder and began to make her way to Daryl's tent. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
She stared out the window of her tent, thinking over the conversation she and Glenn had. It was a good idea. They couldn't tell them just yet. They were all nervous with Sophia still gone and people being hurt left and right. It was best to wait.
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Annalyn was avoiding her. Ayce could tell this was apparent. The group had long since come back, and the little blonde was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Andrea.
Ayce frown at this, wanting desperately to see at least one of them. Then she'd know for a fact that they weren't alone. Together. God, she was being paranoid.
She knew why, though. She knew why she was being avoided. Annalyn thought Ayce was still mad. And she was, but only a little. She had come to realize though, that they couldn't get by with just Ayce's bow and Anna's knife skills. They needed to be like Anna said. Versatile.
When she finally did track her down, it was well into late afternoon. She found her with Beth. The two of them were cooking, laughing, and having a good time.
Ayce walked into the kitchen and leaned against the door frame, crossing her arms. "So how was target practice?"
Both girls stopped what they were doing. Ana's face reflected exactly what she was thinking. She really wasn't ready to be confronted yet. Beth looked nervous, but smiled lightly. "It was great. It took me awhile to get the hang of it, but Anna was amazing. You should have seen her."
Ayce walked farther in the room. "Yea? She did good then?"
Annalyn nodded slowly. "Yea... Rick and Shane are good teachers."
Ayce smiled and closed the rest of the distance between them, pulling her into a gentle hug. "That's good. I'm not gonna have someone who doesn't know what they're doing teach you."
She stepped back and gave her cheek a soft pat, letting her know she wasn't mad. The little blonde perked up and grinned like she had just been told the zombies were gone. Ayce left the kitchen before her presence made the stove burst into flames. With her flair in the kitchen, she wouldn't be surprised if she looked at it wrong and it exploded.
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As she exited the house, the first person she saw was Lori, who had taken the task of folding laundry. Ayce went to call out, wanting to help the woman, but she was sidetracked. Maggie was back with Glenn, and she looked pissed.
"Hey!" she called out, her deadly glare set on Lori. "We got your stuff!"
Glenn, bless his heart, tried to keep up and calm her down, but the country girl just wasn't hearing it. Lori looked like a deer caught in the headlights as she tried to get her to go into the tent with her.
"What? Nothin' to hide! We got your special delivery right here! We got you lotion! Your conditioner! Your "Soap Opera Digest!"" As she listed the items, she threw them down on the ground at Lori's feet.
Ayce reached them now, her eyes narrowed as she took in her demeanor and tone. Maggie was truly furious with Lori. Why? Ayce wished she hadn't asked.
"Next time you want something, get it your own self. We are not your little errand boys."
She snatched something off the ground and threw it at Lori. "And here's your abortion pills." And then she left. Glenn lingered a moment, not knowing what to say, then he left as well.
Lori refused to look at Ayce, who was genuinely shocked. It took her a moment, but she finally found her voice. "Lori... I don't understand."
Lori scoffed. "Of course you don't. You aren't a mother. You don't have to worry about your only child growing up knowing nothing but death. You don't have to worry about your unborn baby never knowing joy and peace and kindness."
It seemed that the people in this camp lived to make Ayce speechless, which is exactly how she felt as Lori left.
What. The hell?
Was everyone going crazy?
The wave of panic that threatened Ayce in the woods reared its ugly head again. She placed a hand over her heart, as if she could physically stop it from racing. She could literally feel the harsh reality come crashing down.
No, no, no, NO!
She refused to let it take her. So, she forced it down. Lilith's death, the fact that the dead walked around eating people, Sophia, murdering Timmy, Lori and her stupid decisions, the fact that she could never have kids because of the world being fucked. All of it went right back to the bottle it had tried to spill from.
The effort left her gasping for air, but she managed and went about her day. She didn't catch the eyes watching her. Didn't know that she would have to face her problems sooner rather than later because of those stormy blues.
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Ayce found Annalyn sitting out in a field, silently crying. Instantly, she felt her older sister instincts rise up. "Anna, honey, what happened?"
Annalyn took a moment, staring out at the setting sun. "I found out. Found out about Shane and Andrea..."
Ayce frowned, dropping to her sister's side and pulling her close. "Oh, Anna... I'm so sorry."
Annalyn wiped her eyes and tried to smile. "It's alright. You didn't like her anyway. Especially since she shot your man."
With Anna being so down, Ayce let her get by with her jab, just this once. "That doesn't mean that you can stop the way you feel. Who cares if I like her or not. All that matters is that you like her. Besides, it's probably just a short, one-time deal. Shane's way too in love with Lori. She'll come around. You just have to show her."
Annalyn nodded, not speaking, and rested her head against Ayce's shoulder as the two of them watched as the sun sank lower and lower.
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No one could have been prepared for the next morning. It was average. Ayce didn't get up early to hunt, Carol was cooking, and everyone was eating. Daryl even came out of his tent. Ayce grinned widely and pulled up a chair beside him. "Finally out and about, lazy bones? Thought you'd never leave the tent."
"Shuddup...It was only a day, two tops," he said through a mouthful of egg.
Ayce swatted him on the should. "Don't talk with your mouth full. It's rude."
"You're rude."
"Great comeback, Cowboy."
And so, it continued like this, until Glenn had to go and ruin it all.
"So, the barn is full of walkers."
And everyone was silent.
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"You can't tell me you're alright with this!" Shane said angrily as he walked away from the barn. They had all gathered there to confirm that there were indeed walkers holed up in it.
"No, I'm not! But we are guests here. This isn't our land."
"Oh, God, this is our lives, man!"
Glenn took that moment to pipe up. "Lower your voice," he said anxiously.
"We can't just sweep this under the rug."
Shane nodded his head. "It isn't right. Not remotely."
Ayce bowed her head, studying the dirt as if it held all the answers. "I can't believe I'm saying this," she said. "But I agree with Shane and Andrea. Now that everyone knows, something has to be done."
Everyone gave her a strange look, but it was Daryl who spoke. "Now that EVERYONE knows? Wait, so did you know?" Ayce didn't answer. "How long DID you know, Ayce?" Ayce's head snapped up, blue eyes meeting blue. He never called her Ayce; it was always Blondie.
"When were you gonna tell us? Or better yet, WHY didn't you tell us." The redneck was damn near yelling now, and with every question, he took a few more steps, until he was basically yelling in her face.
She did nothing to stop him though, which surprised herself more than anyone. She did feel guilty about not telling them. Even though she told Glenn not to, she didn't like keeping it from them. She had felt just like Glenn did. Like she was lying.
Dale took a step forward. "Don't yell at her, Glenn and I also knew. We are just as much to blame here."
Everyone went quiet as Daryl looked between the two of them, shook his head, and walked away from her.
Shane continued with his plans."We've either gotta go in there; we've gotta make things right, or we just gotta go. We have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."
"We can't go," Rick growled, cutting him off.
"Why, Rick? Why?"
"Because my daughter is still out there." Carol said, speaking up for the first time. Her voice sounded meek and quiet, but also like she could believe that Shane was suggesting that they should leave her behind.
Shane looked like he wanted to laugh. "Okay, I think its time that we all start to just consider the other possibility."
"Shane, we're not leaving Sophia behind," said Rick.
Daryl came back from where he retreated earlier, his anger flaring again. "I'm this close to findin' this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago."
Shane did laugh this time. "You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll."
Ayce stepped forward then. "At least he found something. What have you got to show for it, Shane?"
Daryl spoke at the same time as Ayce, their words mingling together. "Man, ya don't know what the hell yer talkin' about!"
Rick stepped in between Shane and Daryl. The rest of their words were incoherent. More yelling and fighting between the two. The two got closer and closer until they were at blows. Everyone moved at once, jumping between the two. Ayce grabbed Daryl's shoulders and pushed him back, while Rick took care of Shane.
Ayce did her best to keep him calm. She found that she didn't even need to speak. He began pacing around, but after she placed a hand on his arm, he stilled. He didn't look at her. He just stared at the ground. But that was fine by her.
Everyone's arguing was halted by the door of the barn. The walkers pushed up against them, snarling and growling. Everyone knew something had to be done.
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"What the hell is he doing?!" she whispered, watching Daryl take off on horseback. She looked at the stables that he came from, seeing Carol. Ayce jogged over.
"Just what in the hell does he think he's doing? He's not supposed to be out right now. He's healing."
"I know," she said, wiping tears from her eyes. "He wouldn't listen."
"Carol, hun? What's wrong?"
She shook her head, not looking Ayce in the eye. "I feel so stupid. I basically told him I had given up. That I had given up on finding her..."
Ayce didn't know what to feel. She felt sorry for this woman, but also appalled. "How could you have said that to him? Him, of all people? Daryl, who has been searching every day for her? Who almost got himself killed to bring back her doll? Carol..."
With a shake of her head, she walked away, hiding away in the confines of her tent. There was simply too much. She laid down and closed her eyes, drifting off into a dreamless doze.
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"Ayce, wake up. You have a visitor..." Annalyn's voice broke through her doze, waking her easily. "Kay...," she mumbled. The tent was filled with the smell of sweat, and something that belonged very specifically to one man. Ayce sat up and turned, knowing already who it was.
"You're back."
Daryl nodded, sitting down by the entrance. "Yea, I'm back." He looked around for a moment before speaking again. "Listen, i'm sorry about earlier. Ya know, when I yelled at ya about the walkers and the barn. I know ya were thinkin' of the group. And ya were protectin' yer sister."
Ayce nodded and smiled. "It's okay. I forgive you. Are you okay though? You weren't supposed to leave yet..."
He waved away her question. "Yea, Im fine. Tough as nails, us Dixons."
A small laugh escaped her. "Okay, I believe you. Just humor me though. Lift the shirt."
He gave her a questioning look.
"Trust me, im a doctor."
He raised a brow but did as she asked, leaning to the side slightly so she could get a better look at the wound. She poked and prodded softly as she inspected it for fresh blood or infection. Finding neither, she sat back and grinned. "Okay, you're good."
Dropping the shirt back in place, he shook his head and chuckled. "Bossy..."
"Impulsive."
"Mother Goose."
"Ass."
And once again, their playful banter was back.
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They left the tent and ran into Carol, who was making her way to the house. As they approached the others, they noticed there were people missing.
"Where is everyone?"
"You haven't seen Rick?"
"He went off with Hershel. We were supposed to leave a couple of hours ago,"
Daryl interjected himself into their conversation as they approached. "Yea, ya were. What the hell?"
"Rick told us he was going out," Carol said.
Ayce shrugged her shoulders. "Don't look at me. I've been asleep."
Daryl threw up his hands. "Damn it. Isn't anybody taking this seriously? We got us a damn trail. Oh here we go." His toned changed remarkably when he spotted Shane. "What's all this?" he asked, gesturing to the arsenal Shane was carrying.
"You with me man?" he asked Daryl.
"Yea."
"Time to grow up," and handed him a gun.
He passed out guns to people, stopping at Annalyn. He held one out to her, and she took it. Ayce wanted so badly to hit him. How dare he give her little kid sister a gun!? And before she knew it, she found one thrust into her own hands. And she asked herself the same thing he asked Glenn.
Will I protect my own?
As she looked at Annalyn, and looked at Daryl, and Carol, and everyone else, she knew that answer was yes.
It all went downhill when Hershel came out of the woods with Rick, leading captive walkers.
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After that, there was so much confusion. Shane was the only one really speaking, but with the adrenaline pumping in her veins, it was hard for her to really comprehend what he was saying exactly. She knew he had to be right though. He shot the walkers to prove a point to Hershel, and she really felt for the man. He looked truly devastated. Her remorse didn't last long before the doors were opened and the walkers poured out.
When Andrea made the first step to stand by Shane, everyone else armed followed suit. They unloaded their firepower on the whole lot of them. It was a bloodbath. Ayce didn't really remember think about each shot. She just squeezed the trigger when she thought she could make it. It was over relatively quickly.
When the last one hit the ground, everyone kind of looked around awkwardly. Beth and Maggie were both in tears, while the others looked horrified.
It didn't last long. Soft growling drew the attention of everyone. One last walker slowly made itself known. Ayce felt a single tear slip down her cheek. "Oh. Oh my God. Sophia..."
Off to the side, she heard Carol sob, saying the girl's name over and over. She heard feet hitting the dirt, a gun drop, and more sobbing. Ayce couldn't take her eyes off the girl as she made her way through the bodies.
Rick moved forward, pointed the gun, then shot her. Ayce jumped at the sound, not wanting to believe what had happened before her very own eyes. She didn't hear Carol cry anymore. All sound was drowned out by the ringing in her ears. It was almost as if she could hear her own heart breaking.
This girl, whom they had been searching for, who they had been wounded for, was beyond saving this whole time, and right under their noses. It was like a slap in the face. Ayce dropped her gun and slowly sat on the ground, staring at the body.
I tried to save you... Why couldn't I save you?
