Alright first off, I'm gonna say I know nothing about cars except how to drive them so if I made any mistakes on here, my bad. Second is, Daryl has no game, and he is a fun character to write romantically about, because I feel he won't be the one making the first moves. Haha. So anyway, enjoy this one, had the song 'Blink' by 'Revive' on replay while writing the ending of the chapter. :) Loving the reviews guys, keep them coming!
I take no credit in characters besides Elena Lima and Toni Galvin.
Rick popped the truck's hood, a cloud of smoke hitting him in the face. Rick lifted his forearm to cover his nose, waving the smoke away.
"How bad is it?" Glenn asked beside him.
The group had been driving along the empty roads, the day still early but something had gone wrong and steam started seeping from underneath the hood of the Chevrolet Suburban, forcing Rick to pull over. All the men were around the vehicle, all there to make a diagnostic. The women and Carl stood back watching, letting the men hopefully find a solution to the problem.
Hershel leaned in underneath the hood of the truck. "Engine's overheated." He inspected it a bit longer before standing straight. "And the reservoir appears to be empty."
Rick blew from his nose, frustrated, slamming his hand against the vehicle. On top of keeping the group safe now he was having car troubles, which should have been the least of his worries but it was important. They needed the truck, especially for the winter and they didn't have enough room to fit everyone in the car.
"We don't have any coolant with us," T-Dog whispered.
"One of us could go find a gas station or a hardware store," Glenn suggested.
"I'll go," Daryl offered, leaning away from the truck.
Rick pinched the bridge of his nose. "And what if we have more problems? Truck is old, who knows if it'll even last the winter."
"What are you suggesting?" Hershel asked him.
"We need to find a new car, just in case. Plus, we need to start stockin' up on more supplies and we could use the room."
Daryl looked toward Rick. "I'll go in, find a gas station. Gotta be some abandoned cars lyin' around." He adjusted the crossbow on his shoulder. "I can only take one of ya."
"I'll come with."
Everyone turned, Elena behind them. Daryl watched her, his lips a tight line.
"Alright," Rick began, looking toward Elena and Daryl. "Grab as much coolant as you can. Try to find another truck, anythin' that looks new that could last us a while."
Elena nodded her head.
"Try to not take longer than dusk, I don't want us to stay here longer than we need to."
Daryl gave one nod toward Rick, then gestured his head toward his bike at Elena. Elena grabbed her backpack from the backseat of the truck and jogged back to Daryl who was already starting up his bike. Elena held onto his shoulder as she threw her leg over the back of the motorcycle, sitting behind him.
"Hold on," Daryl said, revving up his engine and taking off down the road.
Elena held onto Daryl as the cold wind blew past them, blowing and tangling her hair. She peered over Daryl's shoulder as they sped down the road, the trees alongside them just blurs.
Since that night they kissed, Elena hadn't been able to mention it. She wanted to, but she didn't know how to go about it. At the very least, Daryl was talking to her now, just like before. Although, after she had kissed him on the cheek, he had been a little awkward and different at first. Elena didn't know whether to take that as a good sign or not, she was still getting to know him. But she knew it might be a while before another night like that would happen again, if it ever did anyway. A part of her kind of hoped it would because that rush of lust and desire was one hell of an experience.
Elena had to stop tip-toeing around it and finally just talk to him, ask him if he remembered. When Daryl volunteered to get the coolant for the truck's engine, Elena jumped in for the opportunity. It was the first time they were alone in days, and who knew when she would get another chance. Elena only hoped that she wouldn't wuss out again this time.
Daryl had driven for a while before they spotted signs for the nearest gas station at the next turn. He picked up his speed then, only slowing down when in the distance they spotted it. It was a big one too, with a garage also. Daryl stopped his bike, turning the key and shutting off the engine as he looked around. Elena hopped off, combing the tangles out of her long hair, deciding to tie it up in a pony tail. Maybe she really should cut it.
Daryl pulled out his crossbow from the back of his bike and walked a few steps ahead. "Stay tight."
Elena didn't say anything, just followed after him, taking her crowbar from her backpack. She held it by her side, looking around. The gas station was quiet and empty. She looked past the few cars that were left there. She looked in them, one an old station waggon, another was a beat up old Honda. Elena pursed her lips, she didn't think any of these would last very long, take the constant travelling and she really didn't want to go back empty handed. Elena turned away from the parked cars when her eyes landed on a grey Dodge Ram truck. She walked toward it, looking it over. It looked well kept. She tried to look through the windows, the seats in the interior were scattered with wrappers and trash. Elena reached for the door handle and pulled but it didn't budge. The truck was locked. She tried looking in, near the steering wheel. The keys weren't in there either.
Elena stepped away from it, and looked it over for a while. Whoever had left it was in a hurry because it was parked over two of the parking slots.
Daryl then whistled at her, catching her attention, jerking his head toward the station when she looked at him. Elena backed away from the truck and headed toward Daryl who was standing by the doors. He opened them slowly, a bell above the door chiming. Daryl aimed his crossbow, going in and looking through the narrow isles. Elena looked over the front counter, seeing blood on the floor.
"Daryl," Elena whispered his name, pointing toward her eye, signalling him to be alert.
He looked back forward and continued on, his steps slow. Elena was close behind him. Daryl went slower when he heard a noise, a crack. Daryl backed himself against the shelves, only slightly looking around the corner. All he could see was a puddle of blood and boots. Daryl inhaled a breath and jumped from behind the shelves, aiming his crossbow and firing. The arrow pierced through the walker that had been crouched down. Elena stepped forward, grimacing when she saw the body underneath the walker. The man was dead, his insides ripped open, pieces of his organs in the dead walker's hands and teeth. Elena felt herself gag and covered her mouth and nose with her wrist, turning away just as Daryl pulled out his knife and ramming it into the dead man's head, before he also turned.
Elena tried to inhale through her mouth to not catch the odour and shook her head to focus. She looked back, realizing the walker was in uniform and the man underneath him was wearing civilian attire. The man probably had come in looking for help when he was attacked. Elena thought of the truck parked outside. She bent down, pulling the walker away from the dead body, going through his pockets, trying not to look at the bloody cavity in his chest. Daryl watched her oddly as she rummaged through his pockets, trying the ones in the back of his pants. Her hands touched metal and she pulled at it, taking out a set of keys. She looked through them, one of the keys engraved with the Dodge Ram logo.
She looked up, smiling at Daryl as she held up the key. "Got a new ride."
He smirked and walked on through the store, checking for any more walkers. Elena shoved the keys in her pocket and went through the isles again to look for the coolant. She grabbed bags of chips, jerky, and some candy for Carl as she searched for it, shoving everything in her bag, adding weight to her shoulder, when she spotted the coolant, a set of them. She pulled them off the shelves, taking each one and placing them on the floor. Daryl came behind her.
"Should make sure if the battery in the truck ain't dead first."
"True," she replied and made a move to go back outside.
"Careful," she heard Daryl whisper after her.
She sent him a half smile and went out the door. Elena pressed the unlock button on the car remote that was chained with the key, sighing with relief when she heard the locks pop open. She opened the front door and slipped in, sliding the key in and turning on the ignition. The engine sputtered for a second, scaring Elena when the engine then roared to life. At least something for once was going their way. Elena was throwing out all the trash from inside the truck when Daryl came out with the containers of coolant. He threw them in the back.
"Should check the garage for containers, might as well fill on gas while we're here," he said.
Elena nodded her head and ran back into the store to grab the rest they needed. When they had practically emptied the store for supplies, Elena pulled the truck near by the gas pumps to fill the tank up to the top. She was filling up the containers Daryl found from the garage with the gas nozzle, while he kept watch around the area in case any more walkers showed up, but so far they had been lucky. The walker inside the gas station was the only one they had found.
Elena withdrew the nozzle from the full container, twisting the lid back on when she heard foot steps behind her. "How many should we fill up?" she asked Daryl and turned her head to look at him.
It wasn't Daryl.
Elena dropped the nozzle to the floor just as the walker came staggering toward her. It's hands clawed around painfully tight on her shoulders forcing her back on the ground, it's weight on top of her. It snapped at her, the skin over its lips missing so all Elena saw were it's bloodied teeth. Elena threw her forearm where the jaw met its neck, pushing it back, keeping it's snapping teeth away from her as it hissed. Elena had her teeth clenched together, trying to hold it back but the walker had more strength than she expected. She looked around for her crowbar, then cursing herself, realizing she left her bag in the truck beside her.
The walker pushed forward, it's teeth inches away from her face. Elena felt the tears at the corner of he eyes, her breathing harsh. With no weapon and little strength she was vulnerable. It was then when she remembered the knife that Daryl had given her. It was still in her pocket. Elena reached for it quickly, flipping the blade out of its handle and pulled back. The walker came at her neck and Elena shoved the knife into it's eye, the blood hitting her in the face. The walker's jaw kept moving and Elena twisted the knife until it went limp, dead weight on top of her. Elena let go of the knife and rested her head back onto the ground and laid there, catching her breath, too weak and shocked to move.
Daryl then came running, rushing to her side.
He could hear his heart pounding in his ears at the sight of walker on her, but was limp. Dead. He dropped his crossbow to the ground, grabbing the dead walker from of her by the shirt and pants, throwing it off. He bent down to her, looking her over desperately for any sign that she was alive. Her chest rose and fell, her breathing heavy. Daryl almost sighed with relief and sat her up, checking her over again, seeing the blood on her face. He looked over toward the dead walker, seeing her knife in it's eye. Daryl could feel his heartbeat slow back down to a steady pace, the danger was gone, and he pulled his red handkerchief from his back pocket. He grabbed the side of Elena's face and started wiping off the blood. His eyes moved to hers as he wiped at the blood on her skin. Her sight was elsewhere, her mind too.
He leaned toward her gaze. "Ya alright?"
"...Was too close," she choked out and inhaled a shaky breath. She met his eyes then.
Daryl continued wiping the blood from her forehead, then her chin. "You handled yerself fine."
Elena exhaled, calming herself down and letting him clean the blood off of her face. She looked at him again, just as he brushed his handkerchief against her bottom lip.
She had to ask. It was a good a time as any.
"You don't remember, do you?" His eyes met hers as she spoke quietly. "About that night...what happened between us."
Daryl's hand that had been holding the handkerchief stopped moving, his eyes still on hers. Elena searched them, looking for an answer, glad that she finally had the courage to ask. Daryl leaned slightly away, his eyes drifting down toward her lips, his left hand still holding her face.
It was until they heard growls and footsteps behind them did he pull away.
"Nice timin'."
Elena didn't know if he was being sarcastic or not as Daryl pulled her quickly back on her feet. Past his shoulder she saw five walkers coming toward them.
"Get that container in the truck," he told her, aiming his crossbow and releasing an arrow and taking down a walker.
Elena took the container in her hands, the weight of it making her lose her balance for a second. She threw it in the back of the truck, seeing more walkers coming. Elena bent down to the walker she had killed, pulling her knife out of it's eye as Daryl began backing up.
"Go!" she told him, gesturing toward his bike. "I got them."
Daryl furrowed his brow at her but didn't get the chance to ask what she meant when she jump into the cab of the truck, turning on the engine. The engine roared as the reverse lights illuminated and she backed the truck up fast, in front of Daryl, slamming it against the walkers coming to him. He could hear their bones crack, the back tires running over the few bodies.
"Damn...," was all he could say.
He took the opportunity to run back to his bike. Daryl hopped on, starting it up when he heard the truck behind him. He looked back just in time to see Elena speed through, hitting another walker that was just a few feet behind him. He looked at Elena through her window, who was nodding at him to go ahead.
Daryl kick started his bike, revving it up and went ahead, his tires speeding up. He turned back onto the road, Elena right behind him.
The group turned at the sound of Daryl's bike. T-Dog lifted his hands over his eyes, blocking them from the sun, seeing the light shine against a grey truck following behind him. The group stepped back just as Daryl came driving in, Elena behind him, driving the truck.
T-Dog whistled and smiled. "Ain't she a beaut'."
Elena turned off the engine and jumped out of the cab, T-Dog and Glenn looking over the truck. She grinned. "Isn't she pretty?"
"Oh hell yes, I'm takin' it for a ride," T-Dog exclaimed.
Elena jiggled the keys in her hand. "I'm driving her."
T-Dog cocked up a brow. "Why? So you can drive it into another store?" He laughed aloud, turning and highfiving Glenn.
Glenn laughed also, cutting himself off when Elena glared at him. "C'mon, that was funny."
"She ain't a bad driver," Daryl said approaching them and looked back at Elena, grinning. "For a woman."
"Oh!" T-Dog yelped, biting his fist.
"Screw all of you," Elena replied, trying to keep her voice serious but a laugh managed to break through.
"Did you run into some trouble?" Rick asked, looking over the blood on the paint of the truck. Everyone sobered up then.
"Walkers came, didn't get a chance to grab more gas 'fore we split," Daryl answered.
"Still got some coolant though," Elena added and reached the back, grabbing it and handing it to Rick.
"Good job." Rick nodded to them, a small smile on his lips. "Engine cooled down. We'll fill up the reservoir, head back out. It's late, probably gonna be sleepin' in the cars tonight."
Elena didn't mind that all. Now that they had the new truck, she had more room to spread her legs and sleep than she did in the backseat of the Chevy.
Rick went back to the truck alongside Hershel, the hood still opened. Glenn and T-Dog followed after him. Elena caught Daryl staring at her. His expression reminded her of the same one he had when she asked about whether he remembered that night, and it was only then did Elena finally read it as subtle acknowledgement.
"Ahh, can finally stretch out my legs."
T-Dog spread out in the backseat of the Dodge Ram, his arms folded behind his head. Elena gazed at him from the front seat, her back against the passenger door, her legs crossed in front of her. She threw another chip in her mouth, reaching her hand in the bag on her lap. She peered out the windshield, hearing the crickets outside, the sky was a lot darker tonight.
She had too much on her mind to really enjoy the new space she had. With the close call she had today and followed by Daryl, her mind was all over the place. She had let her guard down, thinking that the gas station was safe because Daryl was with her. She wasn't blaming him by any means, but sometimes she had to remember she couldn't rely on others all the time, she had done that before with Toni too much already. She promised herself then to always keep her knife on her. She was lucky it was still in her pocket or else she would have been dead.
As for Daryl... Elena couldn't organize her thoughts on him, going back and forth whether she should talk to him or not. What was she so afraid of?
"Hey, ya think Daryl got anymore booze left on him?" T-Dog asked her suddenly.
Elena shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know. Go ask him."
"Naw, he won't give me any if I did." He then sat up, resting his arms on the headrest beside her, narrowing his eyes. "But you...He likes you."
Elena raised her brows. "What you getting at?"
T-Dog gave her a white smile. "Ask him for me."
"No."
"Oh, c'mon," he whispered. "It's the least you can do, holdin' out on the rest of us and drinkin' a whole bottle with Daryl alone. Unless," he tilted his head at her, "that wasn't all you were doin'."
"You got one hell of an imagination," Elena said.
"And you got a bad poker face." He gave her pleading eyes. "Please. Please."
"Okay! Jesus." Elena thew up her hands in surrender and started laughing. "You're worst than an alcoholic."
"Hey, I ain't no alcoholic. You need to have alcohol for that."
Elena rolled her eyes at him and smiled. She handed him the bag of chips, brushing her hands on her pants and jumped out of the truck.
Elena wasn't really going for T-Dog, she was just looking for a reason to push herself and talk to Daryl herself. She needed to know, whether that kiss meant anything to him as it did to her, or was it just a spur of the moment, just a good idea at the time. No matter the reason, she needed some closure so she would just stop thinking about it and finally have some room to breathe. Part of her didn't want to know the answer. It could mess things up, makes things awkward between them and they were stuck together. No running away from that. But she needed to know.
She walked off, alongside the red Chevy Suburban. She could see Carl in the backseat sleeping, and Lori in the front, her elbow leaned against her window, her head rested in her hand, wide awake. When she saw Elena, she wiped at her eyes then rolled her window down.
"Everything alright?" she asked her.
Lori's eyes were red and glossy. Had she been crying? "Yeah, don't worry," Elena replied softly. "I'm just looking for Daryl, have you seen him?"
Lori sniffed. "Yeah, he was talking to Rick. I think he's taking watch in the back side."
"Thanks, Lori." Elena was about to take a step to walk away, but stopped herself and looked back at her. "Is everything okay?"
She gave her a smile, one that Elena could see through. "Yeah. Yeah, everything's fine."
Elena furrowed her brow but didn't want to pester her anymore. "Okay. Sleep well."
Lori nodded and Elena walked away, to the direction Lori said Daryl would be. Elena wondered if her and Rick had another fight, but she pushed that in the back of her mind when she spotted Daryl, always with the crossbow in his hands, taking slow steps across the road looking off in the distance. Daryl turned his head to her when she was close, hearing her footsteps.
"That 'no sleepin'' of yours is 'bout to become a problem," he said to her, thinking that once again she hadn't been able to fall asleep.
"Can we talk?"
Daryl sobered, hearing the seriousness in her voice. "'Bout?"
"You remember that night, don't you?"
Daryl tensed up, staring at her. He didn't know how to answer. With a simple yes? Was he suppose to be suave? Was there any real way to answer her? Of course he remembered that night. Hell, it still wouldn't get out of his mind, even more so after Elena had kissed him on the cheek the day after. He was sure she remembered it then, he just didn't know how to go about it. Really had no direction with where things were suppose to go from there. He thought maybe he should push it behind him since it was a one time deal. But Daryl didn't want to. This was just evidence at how stubborn he could be.
Elena was watching him and he supposed that she saw the answer in his face because she sighed and ran her hand through her hair.
"Listen, I know it happened really fast and we were both really drunk—"
"Wasn't that drunk..."
Elena looked up at him. "What?"
Daryl blew out a breath of frustration and looked away from her. "I wasn't that drunk," he said again, more firmly.
He knew it. He damn well knew it. She was going to say it was a mistake, that they both had been really drunk and made a mistake. The hell was he expecting? For her to confess that it was what she wanted? That she wanted him? He had to stop being such a pussy and living in a stupid fantasy world. What was he a thirteen year old girl? He had to grow some balls and man up, to hell if he was going to be upset over this. But he wasn't upset, he was angry. He let himself expect something different. He turned to her, ready to just end everything.
"Look, I ain't—"
Elena's lips were on his before he could finish. Her lips were soft and slow against him, which was something he wasn't use to. Her hand was on the back of his neck, her hold strong. Elena pulled back from him after a moment. Daryl could do nothing but stare at her, his lips still parted.
She bit her bottom lip, looking away from him. "I don't...I don't know how to go about this," she told him honestly.
"Hell if I should know...," Daryl whispered softly. She was still so close to him.
She met her eyes to his, searching in them. "I like you, Daryl...and I want to see where this goes. But if you don't feel the same just..." She inhaled. "Just tell me now, and I'll back off."
Elena was nervous and Daryl could see this. All this time he was trying to convince himself that Elena didn't want anything to do with him, and here she was, with more courage than he had, telling him she'd stay away from him if that's what he wanted.
Daryl was reluctant at first, watching her.
What the hell.
He went for it, grabbing her, his lips on hers again. Daryl was unsure for a second when she didn't respond right away. Then he felt her hands on him, clenching at his shirt. Daryl wanted to be gentle with her but he was unpracticed and he didn't care to go slow. He wanted all of her. Everything. It was the first time in his life that Daryl knew what it felt like to be something to someone.
