Life after the dead
Chapter 9

The girl woke up a few hours later, as the sun had already begun to set. Daryl had been gathering firewood for the courtyard when Gwen called out to him. Her voice sharp and excited "She's up!" Immediately he dropped the log he had been hauling and barged back into the house, taking the stairs two steps at a time he flew to the bedroom.

And there she was, snuggled together with Gwen, cute as two little bugs. Gwen had wrapped her arm around the child, mimicking Daryl's movements from earlier that day, and she in turn clung to her as if she was clinging to dear life. "Hey there champ" Daryl muttered, smiling down at the child, as he approached her. He dropped his crossbow by the door and knelt down by the bed. The girl looked him over, eyes wide and beautiful, making a face he couldn't quite place. "How are ya feeling?" He said softly, taking the hand she had offered him. The little girl just nodded, letting him know that she was in fact okay.

"She had yet to speak" Gwen explained, running her hand through the girl's untamed hair. "Maybe she can't talk" Daryl answered to which Gwen shrugged. The girl however didn't respond, and took the poking his leather jacket instead. "Maybe she deaf" Daryl opted, to which Gwen shook her head. "Tried sign language, she didn't respond to it" she muttered.

"Ye know sign language?" Daryl asked, surprised, as she was clearly without handicap. Gwen snickered and shrugged. "It gave me something to do in prison, isolation does a real number on your sanity. It kept me busy." She answered. Daryl's heart fell at her answer, he hadn't realise that the six years she had spent in prison were six years in isolation, but he should have known. With her crime being that violent in nature the guards would not have risked putting her into group cells, or even allowing her into the common areas. A sting of pity rushed through him as he looked her over. No wonder she was so keen on finding people. She'd been orphaned and imprisoned and from what he could tell her character wouldn't have made her many friends while she was young neither. He shook his head, angry for the childhood that she had suffered.

"But I do speak 5 languages now, so that's pretty rad" she chimed, flashing a brief smile at him, before her eyes fell to the child again. She sounded different when talking about her past, her eyes would become dull and without spark, especially if she talked about her life in prison. It was funny, in a way, that he and his group had found refuge behind bars, and she was broken behind them. Daryl nodded at her. "Yeah."

Evening came, and the three of them sat down for dinner. She had made the child some porridge or at least something similar and she had gobbled it up within a minute. Holding up her bowl she chimed for some more, which Gwen was more than happy to give her. At least making grub was something she knew how to do. They ate in silence, something both of them were more than used to. Each wanted to break it and start a conversation but neither really knew what to say. So they just ate, and made small comments about passing the jam, and offering each other peanuts and commented on the child's appetite and how good a girl she was for eating. Daryl now and again reached over to clean the slop off her face with his thumb, or wipe her chin when she tried to take another bite without swallowing the previous. It struck Gwen as odd, seeing as her companion wasn't exactly the most gracious when scarfing down his own food, but he seemed to care when the girl was concerned. Maybe he did have kids of his own.

Then, after the cans emptied out, and the girl started to slowly drift back to sleep, Daryl planted her on the couch. They had dragged the furniture from the second sitting room out into the courtyard, so they could sit by the fire. He added some wood to the flames before sitting back down beside the child, who instantly grabbed hold of him. The warmth, the comfort and peace of the mansion was enough to almost lull him to sleep right there, and he might have, it Gwen hadn't spoken then.

"There is a place" she breathed reluctantly, immediately earning Daryl's attention. He shifted and leaned forward to hear her better. "g'on" he urged. Gwen looked solemn and strained, as if what she was about to say was the worst thing yet to pass her lips. "They say they're a sanctuary, and all that go there will be safe. It's called Terminus" she started, her hands glued to her jaw, connecting over his chin. "They have maps everywhere, so people can find them. Your friends might go there, if they survived."

Daryl was about to snap, and bite at her for not telling him this sooner, but as his second thought crossed his mind, that there was something wrong with the picture. If there was a sanctuary, why wasn't she there? After all she knew how to get there, all she'd have to do is follow these maps, right?
A sanctuary, it sounded too good to be true, and why would they take in everyone? There had been many, among which himself that had been changed by the last year. They'd come across many people over the year that ought to be shot on sight, and this place would just take them in? No questions asked?

"It's a trap" Daryl concluded, to which Gwen nodded. "I've been there, observed from a distance. For a place that takes in everyone, there's too few people. There's only about two dozen of them. It doesn't add up." There was only one explanation for it, the people there killed the ones arriving, probably looted them for what they had, keep themselves stocked up. They'd never even have to leave their building. It was absolutely messed up, but very clever.

"They'll go, but they won't go unarmed, they'd scout the place first. They aint stupid" Daryl breathed. "Rick knows a trap when he sees one, assuming he survived. There aint no way he'd lead his kids in there."

Gwen just hummed a "hmhm" staring into the fire. The fire lit her in a warm glow, but her eyes were cold as ice. Emotion had drained from her, it was an expression that Daryl knew well. Acceptance. She knew that from the moment she told him about terminus that he would leave, to try and find the remnants of his group, and she would be left. She would be alone again.

He chewed the inside of his cheek, trying to find some words that she'd find comforting and trying to make a decision on what to do. He didn't have the heart to leave her by her lonesome, but he wasn't about to give up on his friends neither. If there was even the slightest possibility that they were still alive, he had to at least make sure. He drew in a quick breath "We'll wait" he started, causing Gwen to whip about her head.

"Till her parents show up" he said, gently touching the little girl's head. "And we'll go together."

Gwen's eyes lit up, her face contorting in confusion "together?" she whimpered, as if she had never heard the phrase before. Daryl nodded, looking away from her, not quite knowing how to deal with her reaction. "Yeah, we'll go 'n find'm, you and me" he elaborated, his skin heating and tingling with embarrassment and discomfort. He could see her rise from her seat from the corner of his eye, and could feel her coming towards him. The hairs on her arms tingled as she now stood in front of him. Reluctantly he turned his head to look at her, but when he did he instantly regretted it. Gwen stood in front of him, beaming a smile, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, her cheeks coloured in a rosy red, and it sent his body into shutdown. His heart had stopped, and his lungs had quit, and as she got closer to him, and cupped his ear he was sure he was going to die.

Then, as if it was the simplest thing in the world, she planted her lips on his sweaty brow, gently and softly she left a kiss there. She hovered in front of him for a moment, her face practically cut in half by her smile, then her lips moved again "Thank you" she whispered. He didn't mean to let it affect him, or let her affect him in general, but in that moment he felt better than he had in a long while.