Ooooh my! Nine chapters already. I'm not sure how that happened.
Anyway,
Anonyme- The stereotypes bug me as well. I think the reason they're turned into, I think you described it as female Rambo (love it) is just so they can be paired with Daryl…which ends up happening most of the time. And making a female character into the fragile princess during an apocalypse…don't get me started haha. But, to each his/her own, I suppose.
MelkS- Merle is a pretty determined guy. After all, Chris is most likely the first female he's seen in weeks that wasn't trying to eat his guts haha.
Instead of leaving as soon as it was dark, we left in the early hours of the morning. Which seemed like a better idea at the time, but it was mostly because we fell asleep. We had no alarms to wake us. Instead, Merle woke up first and yelled for us to move it. A startled Daryl immediately woke up and darted around the camp to find the last few things we didn't put inside the truck.
I lazily sat up to stretch my tired body. One side of me ached from falling out of my hiding spot in the forest. I rubbed my eyes and searched for my flashlight so I could dress and navigate my way out. I rolled out of the inflatable mattress and quickly discovered that the early morning came with an unpleasant chill. Standing there in my underwear didn't help. I walked around the tent and felt around for my pants. Rather than clothing I found a cylindrical object instead. It was the flare. I held onto it so I could put it in my pack after I got dressed.
After getting sorted, I stepped out of the tent into the cool morning. The campfire was lit, as usual. The brothers were standing around Daryl's truck, waiting for me.
"'Bout time," Daryl said. "Let's get outta here."
I walked to the passenger's side door, but before I could open it, Merle stood and front of me and pulled it open.
"You really aren't giving up, are you?"
He thought for a moment.
"Does a bear shit in the woods?"
I lifted one of my eyebrows.
"Yeah, sure. Listen, I grabbed that flare you gave Daryl. If we're in deep and can't get out, I'll light it."
"I'll keep an eye out."
He winked at me. I smiled, shook my head, and climbed into the truck. He closed the door behind me and slapped the side of the truck to signal to his brother it was time to go.
"Alright! Let's make like a tree and get the fuck out of here!" exclaimed Daryl.
I looked at him mouth open ready to correct him. I shut it and left it alone; it was kind of clever.
Daryl drove us a little closer this time since we would have to make a couple trips back and forth with the filled water jugs. He set the truck in park, but didn't move right away. He sat and stared at the steering column, as if he was expecting it to jump out.
"You okay?" I asked.
He nodded, "Yeah…if anything happens…run back to camp and get Merle. He'll know what to do."
I was starting to wonder why Merle didn't come instead of me.
"I have that flare you handed me yesterday. If anything happens, I'm lighting it."
"A smart person would run."
"Guess I'm not that smart then," I laughed.
He didn't think it was funny. Daryl wasn't a very serious person, but when he did take something seriously, it was best to shut up and listen.
Each of us procrastinated before getting out either side of the truck, but finally climbed out hesitantly. We both took one jug from the back of the truck. I had the backpack and my bow. Daryl carried only his crossbow. We had agreed the night before that we wouldn't take guns. It would be easier to silently take down anyone trying to come after us. We were also dangerously low on ammunition.
"Okay, once we get in those woods, I don't wanna hear a peep outta you. Got it?"
"Got it," I said reassuringly.
"M'kay. Now, the plan is to walk down the trail, fill the bottles, and walk back to the truck to grab another to fill. As quickly and as quietly as we can."
"Let's get going."
He shut off his flashlight and led the way into the dark. Finding our way around the forest with no flashlights proved to be much harder than we had anticipated. Every few minutes, one of us would stumble over something, or Daryl would put his arm in front of me so I'd stop walking and he could listen for the dead. Thankfully, we didn't encounter anything trying to eat us in our endeavors.
After what had felt like an eternity, I could finally hear water trickling. We were getting close. Daryl and I walked over the last small hill and reached the rocks above the lake. I saw a small fire blazing in the distance next to the RV we'd seen the morning before. This was going to be a piece of cake. It was much too dark for whoever they had on watch to see us. Still, because it was likely they'd hear our voices echo if we spoke, we remained silent.
Daryl tapped my arm and pointed for me to follow him. He crouched so he could tread more carefully. I copied his movement and crept down while my feet carried me at a quick, but steady pace.
Below us, I could hear the water lapping against the wall of rocks we were standing on. Now and then, some of the rock came loose beneath our feet and dropped into the water making very small splashes that were almost inaudible.
Daryl put his arm back and stopped me. He reached down to see how close we were to the water. His arm instantly plunged in. I kept my eyes on the strangers' campsite, just in case they knew something strange was going on. Daryl tapped my arm again and reached for my jug. I handed it to him; he carefully plunged it into the lake to gather as much as he could. When it was full, he capped it, handed it back to me and began to fill his own. I turned and started to creep back to the truck. I was pulled back by my shirt. I caught my balance before I fell over and looked back to Daryl. The dark made it almost impossible to see his hands and figure out what he wanted me to do. Eventually, I figured out that he wanted me to wait for him before going back to the truck. It was best not to split up.
After his bottle was filled, we walked back up the path to the top of the rocks. The added weight hindered our ability to walk the path steadily, but we made it up with no real problems. When we got back to the truck, we plopped the jugs back into the bed of the truck. We felt victorious.
"'Kay," Daryl started. "We gotta do that three more times, then we can get the hell out of here. Think we can manage?"
"Definitely. Hand me another one."
We went in two more times, doing exactly what we'd done before.
On the way back from the second to last trip, we noticed that the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. That was the only day I'd wished it would stay away longer.
I set down my bottle on the tailgate of the truck and turned to my accomplice.
"Think we should chance it?"
"I don't see why not. It's not completely light out here. We got enough dark to hide under."
Daryl swung his crossbow over his shoulder and we went in for another dip. We walked through the forest with ease this time around. Once again, Daryl went first down the trail and filled both bottles. The sun was now half visible through the trees. I widened my eyes at Daryl, trying to signal to him that he needed to hurry. He brushed it off and kept working.
He finished once more and we headed back up the trail. Once we were at the top, a torturously loud bang came from inside the quarry. I fell forward, throwing the jug in the process. I heard Daryl's jug break apart; its contents splashed on my back. I turned just in time to watch him fall over the cliff into the lake below.
"Daryl!"
I looked over the ledge and saw him land into the water on his back. I waited to see any sign of life spring back up to the surface of the lake. He floated back up, but didn't move. I whipped the backpack in front of me to grab the flare. The sparks flew high into the sky; there was no way Merle wouldn't have seen it. I dropped my bow next to the bag, and took a few steps back. My legs carried me as fast as they could, and managed the largest jump they could as I dove in after Daryl.
The water almost froze my muscles solid. I came up chattering and gasping for air. I swam over to Daryl and placed a hand in his underarm so I could drag him to the shore. In the distance, I could hear the people in the campsite stirring.
"Merle better hurry his ass up."
Once on dry land, I started breathing into Daryl's mouth and pumping his chest. My work was quickly interrupted soon after when I heard footsteps running towards the shore. I pulled Daryl's crossbow from his body and aimed it upward just in time for the camp's residents to run around the corner guns drawn. There were three men: one was Asian, the second was an older gentleman, and the third was a larger man in a sheriff's baseball cap.
My body was shivering too much to keep the bow steady. If they shot, Daryl and I were doomed.
"Oh man, they're alive!" said the young Asian man.
The larger one looked back at him and scowled. They were just as shocked to see me.
"Put down your weapon," said the larger one. "We won't shoot if you cooperate."
I looked up at him, still convulsing from the cold, and then looked back at Daryl. I had to get him out of this.
Slowly, I lowered Daryl's crossbow, placed it on the ground, and showed him my hands. The larger man came towards me. He held his gun with one hand and slid the crossbow behind him with the other.
I was on my knees waiting for him to shoot me and Daryl.
"Is your friend alright?"
I was shocked. I couldn't answer him right away. My mind was still imagining a bullet rushing through it.
"Are you alright?" He asked in a heavy southern drawl.
I still found myself without a voice.
He turned towards the other two men, "I'm gonna check this guy out. Why don't you see if you can't get a word outta her?"
He took a step towards Daryl's immobilized body. I clumsily shifted my weight back and lowered myself over Daryl.
"I ain't gonna hurt him. I used to be an officer, I can help your friend."
I lowered my head. I didn't have a choice. I moved away from Daryl, and the supposed officer of the law started to work on him.
"You alright?"
The older man held his hand out to help me up. I accepted.
"You're frozen! Why don't you come to the fire and warm up?"
I looked from him to Daryl.
"Don't worry about your friend. Shane's a good guy. He'll fix him up. C'mon."
He started to lead me up the road to their campsite.
"Hold on a 'sec," said Shane. "What's this guy's name?"
I stared at him blankly for a moment before my chattering mouth sputtered out "Daryl."
