They pulled into a town around lunchtime. The street was much like the last one the group had seen, broken and worse for wear. Lilly stepped out of Maggie and Glenn's car, freshly motivated and eager to get moving. Nobody else shared in her energy, their eyes casting wary glances about the place and their fingers hovering over their guns. Of course Lilly was scared about Cain and his men coming by here, but she found comfort from losing herself in her new goal of the day.
Daryl scowled at the battered buildings and shattered windows, kicking a loose newspaper away when it blew into his foot. The dilapidated town was a little too similar to the last one they'd been in, and memories were fresh. Images of the bruised, starved girl-turned-walker flashed through his mind, causing his shoulders to tense. Judging from the looks exchanged between Maggie, Glenn, and Rick, they were all thinking of the same thing.
Hopping off his bike, Daryl's blue eyes picked through the crowd to find Lilly, who was surprisingly chipper all things considered. She met his gaze and her pink lips curled into a little smile in spite of the tension hounding everyone. He wasn't sure what to make of it, having expected her to be stressed and jumpy.
"Alright everyone, split into two groups. We're making this trip quick," Rick instructed. "Any weapons you see, especially ammo, grab it. If there's something else you want to grab, that's not a problem, but make it quick."
Rick nodded at Daryl, silently communicating that he was in charge of the second group. Nobody needed telling - Daryl's role as second in command was a given. As everyone split off, the hunter made his way over to Lilly. He was feeling on edge with the memory of the abused girl in the last town, and somehow his mind had connected it to his newest friend. Anxious to make sure she didn't end up that way, Daryl approached Lilly and gave her a nudge. "C'mon."
"Oh," Lilly looked up at him oddly. "Um - I actually was gonna go with Glenn and Rick." When Daryl frowned at her in bewilderment, Lilly quickly added, "Uh, Glenn wanted to talk to me about something."
"Well you're in a car with Glenn all day every day, you have time to talk later," Daryl said with squinted eyes.
"Yeah but - uh - just -" Lilly was a terrible liar. She couldn't let Daryl know what she was doing, knowing he'd just roll his eyes and not let her. But unable to find an excuse, Lilly gave up on giving one at all and gave Daryl's shoulder an awkward pat. "Just - I'll see you later, okay?"
She turned on her heel to follow after Glenn and Maggie, but was stopped by Daryl's large hand on her elbow. "Lilly."
Lilly turned around sheepishly and waited for him to say something. Daryl was looking at her strangely, no doubt suspicious, but after a moment, he let go of her arm. "Be careful."
Lilly met his eyes and the corner of her lips twitched. "You too."
With that, she whirled back around and skipped after Maggie and Glenn. Daryl watched her retreating back uncertainly, watching her braid wave about, nearly reaching her waist. He was confused and secretly a little dejected, but Daryl didn't have time for that. He had a job to do. So with a scoff, the hunter turned and went the opposite direction of Lilly across the street.
As Lilly fell into step next to Maggie, the farmgirl looked over at her. "What was that about?"
"Nothing," Lilly told her simply.
Maggie was curious, but didn't press it any farther and looked ahead where Glenn was knocking on windows to check for walkers. She was still thinking about the dead girl in the dressing room. Just like the build up on the highway had been a time capsule of sorts for those who remembered Sophia, this town was reminding those who'd seen that walker of the horrific sight a little too well.
"Maggie?" Lilly brought Maggie out of her dark memory.
"Hm?"
"Are you okay?"
Maggie looked at Lilly and was met with her perceptive green eyes. She considered telling Lilly what she'd seen, but remembered how Daryl had made sure that Lilly remained oblivious to the whole mess. So she forced a smile and nodded. "Just nervous about Cain and all that, you know?"
Lilly nodded in understanding and bit her lip. "Yeah. Me too."
Glenn poked his head out from a hunting store - while Lilly and Maggie had been talking, him and Rick had already set to work checking it out. "Hey, it's all clear! C'mon!" There was a goofy smile on his face. "We hit the jackpot."
Sure enough, as Lilly walked into the store her face bloomed into a surprised grin. Everyone in the group was looking around with a mixture of shock and awe. Even Rick couldn't help but light up at the sight.
The store was full of supplies and equipment. Like any other store, it had been picked over before, but there was still a lot of stuff left. With a chuckle, Glenn got to work scanning the aisles, pulling out a pair of hiking boots with glee. Rick made a beeline for the guns and ammo with Carl and Lori, while Maggie began sorting through the emergency kits.
Lilly looked through the store with careful eyes, her face brightening when she found an aisle packed with exactly what she was looking for. With an excited gleam in her eyes, Lilly got to work.
….
Daryl and his group were having just as much luck. They'd found boxes upon boxes of canned food and bottled water, much to everyone's relief - they'd been running low on food and were happy to have a bit of a variety in canned foods again. Herschel and Beth got to work looking through some of the drugs they'd found.
"Lilly still having those night terrors?" Herschel wondered allowed to nobody in particular.
Daryl remembered the horrible one she'd had last night, the one that he hadn't been sure he could wake her up from, and quickly spoke up. "Yeah. I think they're gettin' worse."
Everyone kind of paused in surprise when Daryl spoke for Lilly, not expecting him to be the one to answer Herschel's query. Daryl shrugged their looks off with a scowl, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.
Herschel clapped a bottle in Daryl's hand. "Here, this is melatonin. It might help her sleep better."
Daryl looked up and down at the bottle and Herschel bemusedly. "What're you giving it to me for?"
"Just take it, Daryl," Carol smirked.
Daryl rolled his eyes and tucked the bottle in his back pocket, his ears going warm. He gave Herschel a thankful nod. "Thanks, old man."
While the supply run was turning out to be quite a success, Daryl was anxious to end it before something bad happened. Several walkers were holed up in an old cafe. Daryl took them out with ease, but his thoughts were elsewhere. He hoped that Rick's group wasn't running into any trouble. More specifically, he hoped that Lilly wasn't running into any trouble.
Two hours later, Daryl's group was almost overwhelmed with fresh supplies. He decided to call it and eagerly led them back to the cars. To Daryl's relief, Rick's group was already there and waiting.
At the sight of them coming with full arms, a rare smile slid onto Rick's worn face. "I'm assuming you had some luck?"
"Sure did," Carol told him, coming closer so that he could see the box full of food she was carrying. "You?"
"We've got enough ammo to last us a few months," Rick informed her proudly.
Daryl wasn't paying much attention to the conversation, quickly dumping his duffel bag of stuff in the back of Rick's truck and scanning the area for Lilly. He found her leaned against Glenn and Maggie's car, a roll of duct tape in her hands while she helped Maggie cover the shattered window. The wind teased at the shorter strands hanging out of her braid, but she looked content. Now that the supply run was over, Daryl was curious about why Lilly was acting so strange.
"There," Maggie sighed as she slid the last bit of duct tape over the tarp on the car window. "That should keep the wind out, at the very least."
Lilly smiled with relief. Her grin widened when she saw Daryl approaching, something glinting in her green eyes. "Daryl! I was wondering when you'd get back."
"How long have you been waitin'?" Daryl asked her as he got closer.
"Long enough," Lilly shrugged. She stepped around Maggie and opened the car door. "It's actually a good thing - gave me some time to get this done."
Daryl frowned as she ducked into the car. Get what done? Maggie went to go talk to Glenn, leaving Daryl and Lilly secluded.
"Here," Lilly came back out with a bundle of material in her hands. As she approached Daryl with it, her smile wavered and she bit her lip, suddenly nervous. She shifted her weight back and forth and fidgeted a bit. "Um… I noticed it was cold outside…"
"Well aren't you observant," Daryl deadpanned.
Lilly blushed and stumbled onward. "Yeah, uh - well I figure it's gotta be cold on your bike, so I found some stuff for you…" She unfolded the bundle in her arms, revealing a large blanket. "It's a horse blanket, but I cut a hole in it so that you could have it while you're driving, like a poncho, and um," she she revealed a pair of thick black gloves, "These are for your hands - obviously, they're gloves, as you can see…" It was all she could do to not smack herself for being so awkward. Her face was burning with embarrassment. This was a stupid idea.
Daryl watched all this with a blank expression. Lilly fiddled with the blanket-poncho and gloves in her hands, growing more and more flustered and shy with every second that ticked by. "It's not much but… I figured you could use it, maybe… It's okay if you don't want it - though you should take it anyway 'cause it's freaking cold… ugh, sorry."
"What have I told you about apologizin'?" Daryl stopped her.
Lilly shook her head a little. "Oh yeah, sorr - um, okay." With an exasperated sigh, she forced the blanket and gloves into Daryl's hands and moved to walk away, mumbling something along the lines of 'just take it' and 'this is stupid'.
Before she could leave, Daryl halted her with his voice. "Lilly." She turned around and met his gaze, shamefaced. "Thanks," he told her simply.
Lilly tucked a flyaway strand of hair behind her ear with a shy smile. "You're welcome."
"Alright, people, let's get moving," Rick called, interrupting the moment. People started getting into their cars and engines sounded.
Cheeks dusted in a pleasant pink color, Lilly awkwardly stepped around Daryl and got into Glenn and Maggie's car, leaving him standing there, surprised. He assumed that was why she'd been acting oddly, and it made a peculiar feeling settling in his chest. Daryl walked over to his bike, sliding the gloves on his hands and throwing the horse blanket over his head. Warmth seeped into his bones, his hands grateful as he grasped the cold metal handlebars.
He'd never admit it, but Daryl had been freezing on that motorcycle. Lilly's thoughtfulness was a godsend. Who had ever done something like that for him? He couldn't remember a single instance. Once again, the girl had managed to do something unexpected, and Daryl found himself more and more glad that she was around.
….
The rest of the day was pleasant for both Daryl and Lilly. Lilly couldn't help but smile in pride when she saw that Daryl was using the gifts she'd found him. It was nice to see his dry hands covered in his thick black gloves, shielded from the unforgiving cold.
Lilly was also feeling considerably better now that her and Maggie had managed to cover up the shattered window in their car. The blue piece of tarp flapped loudly with the wind, but Lilly was just glad that the wind was bouncing off it rather than seeping into the car to freeze her. Despite the fact that the world was overrun with the living dead - not to mention they were on a murderous group's hit list, Lilly was quite content.
Leaving her attic had been terrifying, to say the least. After living in that single room for almost half a year, it had been hard to function without the security of four walls around her as protection all the time. The more Lilly thought about it, the more she realized how much meaning had been attached to that place.
The attic was more than a hiding spot, or a landmark to remind her of the day her world changed. It had been a place of disillusion. Lilly now realized that she hadn't just been hiding from walkers and murderers in that attic. She'd been hiding from reality. As long as she'd stayed there, she could convince herself that all was well. She could pretend that her family was still alive, that her mom was cooking dinner downstair and David was on the phone with the latest babe that'd caught his eye. Her dad could have come up at any moment to tell her about work. Rachel might be jogging, rather than torn into pieces at the grocery store.
Now, with the tarp on the car beating loudly with the wind, Maggie and Glenn discussing whether winter would slow the walkers down or not, and the cold frosting her breath, reality was undeniable. There was no room for delusions. Lilly was forced to accept that her family had been slaughtered and that she was in a fight for her life. It was difficult, depressing, even maddening at times. Sleep was not kind to her. Night was no friend. Every day was a small battle just to keep her humanity and stay motivated. Yet Lilly knew she would never go back to spending the rest of her days in that attic - even if she could.
Reality was painful, but at least it gave Lilly reasons to exist. As her dad had always told her, there couldn't be good without the bad. Without monsters like walkers, Lilly would never appreciated humanity as much. Without the cold and constant hunt for food, Lilly wouldn't have delighted in something as simple as squirrel meat. Simple things were becoming a joy to Lilly, and thanks to the apocalypse, she was being introduced to aspects of life that wouldn't have existed otherwise.
Most importantly to Lilly, the end of the world had led her to Daryl.
In another life, Lilly knew without a doubt that if she'd seen Daryl, she would have been nervous and avoided him. She would have dismissed him as nothing more than some redneck hick with a permanent scowl etched onto his face. She probably would have even been worried by his presence, afraid that he would lose his temper and hurt someone.
Meanwhile, Daryl wouldn't have given her the time of day, taking her for a simple, prissy little brat that didn't know how to get her hands dirty. He would have thought she was a snooty, weak rich girl who thought she was better than him. Worst of all, Daryl would have believed that was true - that he wasn't worth the mud on her shoes and that she really was better.
The apocalypse had dramatically changed everything. The walkers had brought humanity down and ground them into equal individuals, as if giving them a second chance to rise above one another. It was only in a world where everyone was on equal grounds, rugged and fighting to live, that Daryl and Lilly would have ever even considered one another.
Lilly thanked the stars for this. Though it had only been six days since she'd met Daryl, she already knew that he was a friend for life. Daryl may have been callous and impenetrable to most, but once someone got under his skin, his loyalty was eternal. It was plain to see in his protectiveness of the group, the way he looked after everyone (even if he was grimacing the whole time). Under all that tough exterior that Daryl had masked himself in, he was a genuine man with fierce allegiances.
That evening, after they'd set up camp deep in the forest, Lilly got Glenn to show her how to build a fire. It took some learning, but Lilly was able to get the flames going in under five minutes. She hovered near it, a proud smile on her face as the group started to huddle near it for warmth. Slowly but surely, Lilly was working on making herself an asset rather than a burden.
They cooked canned stew over the fire and ate it with stale crackers. Everyone devoured their dinner hungrily, their minds a little more at peace after their success with the supply run that day.
As Lilly licked her fingers of the salt from the crackers, Daryl came and sat on the ground next to her. She couldn't help but smirk to herself when she saw that he was still wearing the horse blanket and his gloves were tucked in his pocket.
"I'm gonna go huntin' tomorrow morning before we leave," he told her quietly. "You should come."
Lilly blinked at him in surprise. "Really? You want me to come again?"
"Something wrong with that?" Daryl frowned.
"No," Lilly quickly assured him. She cast her eyes back to the fire and fidgeted with her sleeves. "It's just… I dunno, I think I'd slow you down more than anything else. I don't know the first thing about hunting."
"I know. That's why you're coming," Daryl rolled his eyes. "It's one thing to be able to look at a walker without throwin' a fit, it's another to know how to kill one."
He had a point. Lilly had made good progress, learning to gut squirrels and adjusting to a life where walker's were an everyday occurrence. But she still was clueless when it came down to defending herself. Following Daryl around and getting some experience would be good. "Alright," Lilly smiled. "Sounds good."
"Good." Daryl finished his dinner and tossed the empty can in the fire, then got up to talk to Rick about who would take watch that night.
It was decided that Maggie would take the first shift, Daryl the second, and Rick the third. Not long after dinner, everyone headed into their tents to sleep. Lilly stood awkwardly outside of Daryl's tent. "Knock knock."
"What're you standin' out there for?" Daryl's gruff voice answered from inside. "Not like it's locked."
Lilly unzipped the tent and ducked in, finding Daryl laying on his side, sharpening an arrow head by the light of a flashlight. She stood there for a moment with her duffel bag and sleeping bag bundled up in her arms. "Are you still okay with me sleeping in here?"
Daryl looked at her like she had just asked if he was a woman. "Last I checked, yeah." He may as well have added a 'duh' at the end.
Lilly blushed and got to work laying her sleeping bag out on the other side of the tent. "Okay, just checking." She squinted in the darkness while she pulled a blanket out of the sleeping bag and unfolded it, then took off her shoes and prepared to slide in.
"Oh, almost forgot," Daryl spoke up before she could lay down. She listened to him shuffling about in the shadows, his flashlight on its side and illuminating the side of the tent. Daryl snatched it back up and rolled something her way, aiming the light at it.
The beam revealed a bottle of pills. Lilly picked it up carefully and squinted at the label.
"Herschel found it for ya'," Daryl explained. "Called it melon... mela-somethin'. Said that it might help you sleep better."
"Thanks," Lilly said softly. She turned and searched through her duffel bag, procuring a nearly empty water bottle.
"Don't thank me, thank Herschel."
Lilly opened the pill bottle and let a tablet fall out onto her hand, swallowing it with water. As soon as it went down, she held both the melatonin and the water bottle out to Daryl. "You should have some too."
"Nah, I gotta take watch after Maggie, remember?"
"Oh yeah," Lilly let her hands fall. Daryl started to kick his shoes off when she held the sleeping pills up to him again. "Well you should take one after your shift. For your nightmares."
Daryl glanced between the bottle and Lilly, reluctant to tell her that nightmares hadn't been a problem for him since she'd been around. He didn't want her to think she was doing something to him - even though she was. It was embarrassing. So rather than tell Lilly the truth, Daryl shrugged. "Nah, they're not for me."
"Are you sure?" Lilly asked, her voice laced with concern.
Daryl's mouth twitched at the sound. It was strange to hear someone worry about him like that, though not unpleasant. "I'm sure."
Lilly finally relented, placing the bottle of melatonin in her duffel bag along with her water bottle. She proceeded to pull the hair tie out of her hair and run her fingers through the braid she'd tied that day. The strands fell out of the weave in chocolate waves, fanning out around her shoulders and down her back.
Daryl's flashlight allowed him to see from the corner of his eye, and he found himself a little enchanted by the sight. He wondered if her hair was as soft as it looked.
As soon as the thought came, he shook his head with a scowl and turned the flashlight off, drowning the tent in darkness. Daryl wasn't sure where these feelings were coming from, but he did know that they made him uncomfortable. So with a mind full of confusion, the hunter slid into his sleeping bag and turned his back to Lilly.
He could hear her slide into her own sleeping bag a moment later and curl up with a sigh. "Goodnight, Daryl."
"Goodnight, Lilly." Daryl's reply was verging on automatic. He rolled his eyes at the pattern that was forming. How had this mousy young woman managed to slip into his life like she'd always been there? Pondering on this question, Daryl quickly fell asleep.
….
"Lilly, wake up."
Lilly moaned tiredly and pulled her eyelids open with effort. Daryl was on the other side of the tent putting his shoes on. When she made no move to get up, he looked over. Lilly's eyes had drooped back shut and she had buried her face in her sleeping back with a long exhale.
Lilly woke a second time when Daryl reached over and smacked her hip. "C'mon, Lilly. You can sleep later."
Lilly blinked at the sunlight streaming into the tent and stretched. She sat up with a yawn, a small crease forming between her brows. "Daryl?"
"What?" He had finished putting his shoes and and was waiting impatiently.
"Did I… Did I scream at all last night?" She wondered if he'd had to wake her up and she just didn't remember. It was strange, seeing as usually the night terrors left her vividly terrified and needing some time to get back to sleep.
Daryl's blue eyes glinted at the question and he couldn't help but smile a little. "Nope. Slept through the night like a log."
Lilly's eyes widened in happy surprise and a smile graced her sleep plumped lips. "Really?"
"Really," Daryl told her as he retrieved his crossbow. "Pretty sure you even snored a couple times."
Her smile faltered at that and her cheeks turned pink. Daryl was lying about the snoring of course - Lilly tended to curl in on herself tightly and sleep as quietly at death when she wasn't screaming - but he enjoyed the result of flustering her. Not bothering to amend his lie, Daryl stood and stretched. "Now get up, I'm not waiting for the grass to grow."
Lilly slid out of her sleeping bag and pulled her boots on. "Where are we going?"
Daryl looked at her with an expression akin to one of an exasperated parent. "Hunting, remember? Sheesh, did Herschel's pills give you amnesia or somethin?"
"Oh yeah!" Lilly hurried to pull her poncho on and followed him out of the tent, rubbing her eyes. "Sorry, still haven't woken up all the way yet."
"Yeah, I can tell," Daryl snorted.
The pair trudged out of the camp and deeper into the forest, breathing in the crisp morning air. Lilly couldn't help but smile. Thanks to Herschel's discovery, she'd been able to sleep through the night without waking someone up, and now she was hunting with Daryl.
All things considered, life was good.