Chapter Nine: Familiar Faces

I waited for the opportune moment to leave the group. Daryl always went on a two to four day hunt at the beginning of each month in the hopes that he would return with a mass quantity of meat. I decided to leave on his first night away.

So, as my first trimester ended and my second trimester began, I quietly packed my things throughout the day. I didn't want Lori or anyone else to grow suspicious of what I was doing.

As I stuffed my clothes into my knapsack, I came across an article of clothing that made me stop what I was doing…

Daryl covered my body with his. He pressed his bare chest against my skin, my bra the only barrier between his chest and mine. He held himself up suddenly between my legs, one of his hands lingering on my face.

"Am I hurting you?" He asked, his voice husky and quiet.

"No." I whispered, pulling him back down on top of me.

Daryl kissed me, his hand moving down my face to my neck. His other hand was knotted in my hair.

"Are you going to fall asleep on me this time?" I asked against his lips, earning a chuckle.

"I wasn't planning on it."

Daryl pulled away again, a frown coming to his face.

"What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"…are you sure you want to do this? I mean…are you okay with this?"

"Daryl," I sat up, "I'm not a virgin."

"You're not?" Daryl asked, looking genuinely shocked.

"Why are you so surprised?"

"I don't know…I just wouldn't have guessed that." Daryl shrugged.

"Is…that okay?" I asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"It's fine, Cheyenne." Daryl insisted, bringing his hand up under my chin.

"…okay." I replied, laying back down.

"Cheyenne, dinner is ready." Lori said from behind me.

"Okay." I replied, closing my knapsack.

I followed Lori out to the circle where everyone was eating. Glenn, Maggie, and Hershel were huddled together, talking. Rick and Carl were sitting side by side.

I grabbed a plate of wild blueberries and a small portion of whatever meat had been prepared that night. I took my plate to where Carol sat alone.

We didn't talk much, but we didn't have to. We sat together comfortably, happy just to be sitting together. I knew it probably made Carol feel just as good to spend time with me as it did for me to spend time with her. I was going to miss her when I left.

When I finished eating, I went to the tent to lie down. Lori entered the tent soon after I did, and she fell asleep quickly.

I waited for a while before I got up to leave. I grabbed my knapsack, casting one last look at Lori before I slowly unzipped the tent and stepped out.

Everyone was in their own tent. The fire was out.

I looked around at the tents, imagining the different members of the group inside of each one. I had been with them for many months, and I would miss them all in some way. I would miss Carol's motherly ways. I would miss Lori's compassion and help. I would miss Glenn's dorky jokes and stories. I would miss all of them.

I slung my knapsack over my shoulder, knowing that I needed to move if I was going to cover any kind of ground before I was discovered missing in the morning.

"Goodbye, everyone." I murmured in the dark.

0o0o0

I was able to make my way to a main road by sunrise. With my hunting knife and the handgun I had never given back to Daryl, I felt safe enough to catch a few hours of sleep in an abandoned car.

When I woke up, it was midday. I headed southeast towards Macon. Though there was the possibility of running into walkers, I couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement when I began to recognize my surroundings more and more as I got closer to Macon.

By the time I reached downtown Macon, the sun was beginning to set. I decided to find a safe place to stay for the night. I knew that if there were walkers in Macon, they were probably congregated in the downtown area.

As I carefully made my way through the streets, I set my sights on a very familiar building. It was the 1842 Inn. It had been a bed and breakfast before the outbreak. My parents used to spend their anniversary there.

As I approached, I stared at the tall, white columns. The inn looked just the way it always had. It was almost as if the outbreak hadn't occurred.

I pulled out Daryl's handgun as I opened one of the black doors.

I quietly made my way through the inn, checking each room for any sign of a walker. As I headed up to the second floor, I heard a creaking sound that stopped me dead in my tracks.

I carefully crept up the rest of the stairs, hesitating before I stepped out into the hall. There was no sign of anybody.

"Hello?" I called, aiming my gun at each end of the hall.

I heard the creaking sound again.

"H-Hello?" A voice replied.

I turned towards the direction that the voice came from, keeping my gun raised.

"I'm not a walker. I haven't been bitten. I haven't been scratched. I'm just looking for a place to stay for the night." I explained, looking at each door.

"Who…who are you?"

"My name is Cheyenne Adams."

"Cheyenne?"

I heard the creaking sound again, and then one of the doors opened. A familiar face came walking out of the room.

"Riley?"

I put my gun away as I slowly approached him.

"Cheyenne."

Riley walked towards me, immediately enveloping me in a hug.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, ending our embrace.

"I've been living in the inn for a while now. After…everything happened, I got out of the neighborhood and headed for downtown. I was staying at Fincher's Barbecue for a while, but then a bunch of zombies started wandering in. I think the smell of the rotting meat attracted them or something." Riley explained. "What about you?"

"I left Macon and made my way to Atlanta. I hooked up with a bunch of survivors. We were staying in Senoia, but…I just wanted to come home."

I looked up at Riley. He looked the same, but somehow, he looked different. The innocence was gone from his features. Even his dimples looked less dramatic.

"It's good to see you. I…I didn't know if you were alive." Riley said.

"Yeah. It's good to see a familiar face." I agreed.

"So, where were you headed…you know…after tonight?"

"I'm going back to the neighborhood. I want to go to my parents' house."

"Why?"

"I just…I just need to go home."

"The last time I was there, it was crawling with zombies."

"I know. It was crawling with them when I was last there too, but maybe they've migrated. The walkers that I've seen tend to do that."

"It sounds like you've seen some stuff." Riley said, running a hand through his sandy blonde hair.

My stomach growled suddenly, interrupting our conversation.

"When did you eat last?"

"Um…last night."

"There's a small supply of food left in the kitchen. Why don't we have dinner?" Riley suggested.

"Sure."

Riley led me to the kitchen. He was able to scrounge up some instant macaroni and a couple of cans of green beans. We made our food, and then settled into the dining room to eat.

"So, tell me more about what happened after you left the neighborhood." Riley said.

"Well, I wasn't really going anywhere in particular. I was just trying to find somewhere safe. I ended up getting lost in the woods at some point, and ran into a few walkers. I was somehow able to lose them, but passed out from dehydration just outside of downtown Atlanta."

"Is that when you found those survivors?"

"They found me. Well…Daryl found me. He's one of them." I explained, suddenly feeling my stomach churn as Daryl's face appeared in my mind.

"So…then what?"

"We went to the CDC to see if there was any kind of cure or work being done. That ended up being a dead end. Then we wound up staying on a farm in Senoia for a while. After the farm was ravaged by a herd of walkers, we had to abandon it. We were just kind of camping out in the woods when I decided to come back to Macon."

"Hmm."

"What about you?"

"My dad got attacked." Riley said simply, pushing green beans around his plate.

"I'm sorry, Riley. What about George?"

"Him too."

"Oh no." I murmured, remembering Riley's younger brother.

"That's why I got out of the neighborhood. It was overrun."

"I know. Me too."

"…I'm glad you're here, Cheyenne." Riley said suddenly, his tone very serious.

I didn't know how to respond. Riley and I had never dated, but we'd had several flings throughout high school. At first, it was really casual and just a lot of fun. As we got older, Riley started acting differently towards me. After he told me he loved me, I told him we couldn't hook up anymore. I didn't return his feelings, and didn't want to lead him on.

Something about the way he said he was glad that I was there made me remember the tone of his voice when he had told me he loved me.

"…I'm pretty tired. I think I'm going to take a shower and head to bed."

"The plumbing doesn't work." Riley replied.

"Okay. I'll just head to bed then."

I got up, leaving my plate behind.

"Cheyenne?"

"Yeah?" I asked, turning around to face Riley.

"…goodnight." He said simply, looking down at his plate.

"Goodnight, Riley."

0o0o0

I knew the second that I got back from my hunt that something was wrong. When I got to camp, everyone seemed to avoid me like the plague. Nobody would even look at me.

As I set down my kills by the fire pit, Lori approached me.

"Daryl, we need to talk." She said quietly.

"About what?" I asked roughly, arranging my rabbits and birds.

"It's about Cheyenne."

I cursed the horrible feeling that shot through my body.

"What about her? Where is she?" I asked, standing up straight.

"She's gone."

"Gone? What do you mean 'gone'?" I asked, trying to keep my cool.

"I don't know where she went. All I know is that she left sometime during the first night you were gone. She took all of her things with her."

I tried to process what Lori was saying. Why would Cheyenne have left? Where would she have gone?

"Have any of you tried to find her?" I asked, becoming more and more bewildered as the seconds ticked by.

"Rick, T-Dog, and Carol went out looking the morning that we discovered she was missing. Glenn, Maggie, and I went out that night. None of us found her or found any clues as to where she would have gone."

"Holy hell." I muttered angrily, throwing down the dead rabbit in my hand.

"…there's more." Lori murmured, looking down.

"What?"

"Cheyenne…Cheyenne is pregnant."

I immediately remembered the moment in which Shane had shoved Cheyenne to the ground. I remembered the red hot anger that had boiled up inside of me. I remembered wanting to shoot Shane dead. I felt that same anger boiling up inside of me in that moment, but the anger was for myself.

"Walk with me." I snarled, heading towards my tent.

Lori followed closed behind and hovered while I collected my gear.

"How long have you known? Have all of you known?"

"I'm the only one who knew up until the morning I found out she was gone. She asked me not to tell anybody…especially you."

"You should have told me. She should have told me." I snapped, equipping myself.

"Why? Why would Cheyenne have told you that she was pregnant with your child when you won't even speak to her? You won't even look at her." Lori argued.

I didn't reply.

"Do you have any idea where she might have gone?" Lori asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"Yeah. I have an idea."

"You need to find her. She didn't take any food or any of the prenatal vitamins we'd been sharing. She's four months pregnant. She needs us. She needs you."

Though I wanted to kill something or someone, I knew Lori was right. In that moment, knowing that there were two lives out there depending on me, I knew I had to set my emotions aside.

I had to find Cheyenne. I needed to bring her back.

0o0o0

I headed out of downtown, creeping close to buildings when I came upon wandering walkers along the way. I managed to make it out of there without having to stab one or fire my gun.

As I left the cluster of buildings behind me, I started into the woods separating downtown from the roads heading in that direction. I felt relaxed as I moved through the trees. I felt much more comfortable in them than I had in downtown Macon. I had spent so much time in the woods since the outbreak that it had become second nature to move and live among the trees.

As I was making my way through the woods, I heard the sound of a branch or stick snapping behind me. Immediately, I pulled out my hunting knife and swiveled to see the source of the noise.

"Damnit, Riley. I could have hurt you." I sighed, lowering my knife.

"Sorry, Cheyenne." Riley apologized sincerely, coming towards me.

"What are you doing out here? Why are you following me?" I asked, putting my knife away.

"I just…I was worried about you. I wanted to make sure that you got to the neighborhood safely…I thought I…I thought I might even join you." Riley admitted slowly, looking at the ground.

"Join me?"

"You know…at the house?"

"Oh…" I replied, looking away.

"Would that…be okay?" Riley asked, his tone bordering on hurt.

"…for now, Riley. You can stay with me for now. I think it would be good for you if you went back to your old house at some point."

"Cheyenne…"

"What?"

"Nothing." Riley replied, shaking his head. "Let's keep moving. We want to make it there before sunset."

I nodded in agreement, and kept moving.

0o0o0

I hurried through the woods without bothering to track Cheyenne. I knew exactly where she was going. There was only one place she would go to. She was going to Macon. She was going home.

I had very little to work with once I got to Macon. I knew from stories that her parents' house had a wraparound porch, black shutters, and a matching front door. That sounded like it could have been any house in Georgia, let alone Macon. I would have to do some serious scouting in order to find Cheyenne's parents' house.

As I made my way through the woods, my mind was racing. My life was a whirlwind. I had experienced more ups and downs in the past year than I had in a lifetime. First the outbreak, then losing Merle, then Cheyenne.

I had screwed things up with Cheyenne. I shouldn't have cut her out of my life after that night on Hershel's farm. The time to make that decision had long since come and gone. I couldn't pretend I had no feelings for Cheyenne anymore. There was a reason that I spent so many nights in the tree over her tent, or why I often followed her into the woods to make sure she was safe on her own. I still cared for her.

She had been pregnant. She had been pregnant the whole time I had been ignoring her. She had only Lori to help her. She hadn't even tried to tell me about it, though I knew that she had good reason not to. Not after the way I had left things…

"Daryl, talk to me. Tell me what's going on." Cheyenne pleaded.

"There's nothing going on." I replied simply, turning to look at her.

Hershel had fixed Cheyenne's shoulder, but had created a makeshift sling for her to wear for a while.

"Daryl…"

"Look, we had a good time. What else do you want me to say?" I shrugged.

"What?"

"Cheyenne, I told you a long time ago that I was just offering you the chance to have a good time."

Cheyenne's expression quickly changed. Her look of confusion was replaced by anger.

"Fuck you, Daryl." She growled, surprising me with her curse. I had never heard her say 'fuck' before.

"It's not like I proposed to you. Remember?"

"Stay away from me, Daryl. Stay the hell away from me!" She shouted angrily.

"Gladly." I replied, turning away from her.

I cursed myself for having been so dumb. If I hadn't gotten so caught up in being afraid of losing Cheyenne, she would have told me that she was pregnant from the beginning. I would have known the whole time. I could have been there for her.

As I approached the road, I realized that my vision was blurry. There were tears in my eyes.

0o0o0

The sky was changing in accordance with the nearing sunset when Riley and I finally reached our old neighborhood. The sign for Live Oak Estates had been heavily damaged. I knew that the dark colored stains on it were probably dry blood.

"Come on, let's get going. I don't want to be outside when the sun goes down." I said.

Riley and I headed in the direction of Brown Thrasher Boulevard, the street I had lived on my whole life before the outbreak. Along the way, I took notice of how different the neighborhood looked. Homes were damaged, lawns were torn up, and there wasn't a single sign that anybody still lived in the neighborhood.

As Riley and I turned onto Brown Thrasher Boulevard, I half expected to see my parents' house torn up and in shambles. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that it was still pretty much intact. My happiness quickly turned to fear and confusion when I saw the boards across the front door.

"Someone boarded up the house." I muttered, stopping in the middle of the street.

"Maybe somebody is using the house as shelter?" Riley suggested, pausing beside me.

"I'll go around back. You keep a lookout out front." I told Riley, starting towards the house again.

I pulled out my knife as I crept up to the house. I felt odd sneaking up on the house I had grown up in, but I had to be cautious. I had no idea what or who I would find inside of the house.

I moved around the back of the house, stopping again when I saw an area of disturbed dirt in the backyard. Someone or something was buried there.

I went up onto the porch. The back door was boarded up too, but the boards weren't nailed in place. They were fashioned in a way that allowed one to swing them up and down at will. Whoever was using my parents' house was using the back door to get out of the house.

I swung the boards up one by one, giving me access to the back door. It was locked.

"Hello?" I called, knocking on the door.

I waited for an answer, but I didn't receive one.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

Still no answer.

"My name is Cheyenne. I used to live here before the outbreak. Please let me in." I begged, looking up at the darkening sky.

Suddenly, the door unlocked.

"Thank you, thank…" My voice trailed off as I came face to face with the person who was using my parents' house as shelter. "…M-Mama?"

0o0o0

When night settled in, I slowed my search. I knew that Cheyenne was probably stopping to rest during the night. I hoped she was, at least.

I checked each vehicle I passed, hoping to find Cheyenne sleeping inside. I knew she probably wasn't on the road anymore. I figured she was probably already in Macon, though I hoped she hadn't already found her parents' house. My search would become increasingly harder the closer she got to that house.

I came upon a truck with a car seat inside. I stopped, looking it over. There were different colored stars and moons all over it. Three plush stars hung from the top of the car seat. I imagined them dangling in front of a baby reclined in the seat.

That was when it really hit me. Cheyenne wasn't just pregnant. She was carrying a child. My child.

"I'm…going to be a father." I murmured aloud to myself.

I had never really planned on having kids. My own father was an asshole. Merle had been the only father figure I'd ever had. He had been the one taking care of me, looking out for me, and teaching me. Everyone else in my life had always abandoned me in some way.

I thought back to Sophia. I thought about Carl.

I imagined sitting in the driver seat of the car I was looking in. I would have the Allman Brothers tape in, the one Cheyenne had snagged from my truck. She would be sitting in the passenger seat, singing along to every song as we drove. I'd turn on 'Hot 'Lanta' for her, and she'd turn it up. I'd look in the rearview mirror at our kid. Our kid would be fast asleep in the car seat, safe and sound.

I had to find her. I had to find them.