It seemed as though time itself was standing still. The only sound that could be heard was the grass rustling under the staggering footsteps of the approaching walkers. Everyone seemed to have restricted their breathing to be as shallow as they could. For a moment, Danielle's eyes were blurred with fearful tears as she held her gun as steady as she could. Daryl, wanted to consol her, shifted nervously where he sat reaching his hand over to caress Danielle's any moment he could.
The next few seconds felt like the longest hours to the group as they waited for the walkers to come into range. Suddenly, a loud shot rang in the air and the loud thud of a body hitting the ground followed soon after. Everyone's eyes moved to find that Hershel had fired the first shot. When he looked around to see everyone staring at him their mouths agape, he scoffed.
"They already know we're here" he mumbled lifting the gun up, "We gotta get 'em while we can."
With that being said, everyone else readied themselves and began to fire upon the herd. One by one, the walkers fell dead on the ground. Danielle had fired a fair few shots, but wasn't sure if she had even hit anything; she was better at short range fire. Daryl, however, had no trouble with making headshot after headshot. A couple times he stopped to see how Danielle was doing only to see her firing blindly into the field. Only one walker was left and it was closer to Danielle's side of the roof.
"You can do it" Daryl mumbled patting her on the shoulder gently. She took the rifle from him and peered through the scope. Just as she slowly inhaled and held her breath, the walker went down.
"Great shot" she heard Andrea shout. Danielle looked at Daryl with bewildered eyes.
"I haven't pulled the trigger" she replied making everyone stare out into the field curiously. Seconds passed and the phantom shooter still hadn't made their presence known. No other walkers appeared either. Then, just as everyone was getting ready to move off of the roof, someone stepped out from the trees. Danielle raised the scope to see if it was another walker, but instead of taking a shot, she let out a gasp of air and passed the gun off to Daryl. Before anyone could ask her what was wrong, she was off the roof and running toward the person. She seemed to have run with the speed of a cheetah, because in seconds, she was standing just a few feet away from a tall young woman with the same complexion and hair as herself; the only difference was a pair of pale blue eyes.
"R-Rosie?" Danielle stammered her heart racing. The girl looked at her with pursed lips seeming to be fighting back tears as she nodded. It was then that she realized that Rosalinda was the one the herd was following.
"I went to the hospital and you weren't there" Rose finally replied choking back her emotions, "I thought you were dead…"
Danielle quickly cut her off with a tight hug not really knowing what else to do. Rose wrapped her arms tightly around Danielle showing no signs of letting her go. All Danielle could hear was her muffled voice saying something about being sorry and wishing she had been around more for her. She just shook her head and pulled away from the hug holding her cousin's face in her hands.
"Don't apologize for anything" she said with a slight smile hoping it would cheer her up, "You saved me and that's all that matters. And now we don't have to worry about anyone hurting us anymore."
"Except the ravenous freaks that were just chasing me" Rose added with a humourless laugh. Danielle smiled and nodded in agreement before finally looking back at the house. Everyone else was walking out to gather the bodies and Daryl seemed conflicted about what he should do. He looked like he wanted to see who the person was who got Danielle all worked up, but he knew he needed to help gather the bodies and stick them in the barn.
"We should probably help with the bodies" Danielle mumbled looking down at the walker Rose had taken out. She looked over at Daryl and whistled waving him over when he looked.
"Great whistle" Rose said sounding impressed.
"Daryl taught me" Danielle said with a grin. Just then, Daryl appeared next to her looking a little more than confused.
"What're we doing with the bodies?" Danielle asked bringing his attention back to her.
"Oh, Glenn suggested puttin' 'em in the barn to keep the smell up so the others stay clear of here." He answered nodding his head toward the barn Hershel had kept the other walkers in. Danielle nodded before Daryl hurried off to help Shane carry a large walker into the barn.
"Well, he's cute" muttered Rose with a not-so-subtle wink making Danielle turn red and shift her weight nervously. She just nodded and moved to grab onto the walker's feet. Rose took the cue and gingerly grabbed it by its worn out jacket and they struggled to carry it over to the barn.
"Holy hell" Rose said suddenly as they set the walker on the floor of the barn, "I just realized you've been talking! When did that start?"
Danielle just shrugged and smiled mumbling, "Just started one day."
Rosalinda could see that she was holding back the details, but decided to wait until later to push for it. They were both happy to see each other, but, even though Rose had done a lot of good for her, Danielle always felt a little uneasy when Rose was around people she didn't know. She had a tendency to make a fool of both Danielle and herself.
It took about an hour, but eventually all of the bodies were piled in the barn. Shane and Rick had gone around sticking pickaxes in their heads to make sure the job was completely done. Danielle introduced Rose to everyone except Daryl who was just locking up the barn. Everyone was gathered around the fire listening to stories each person had to exchange. Rose was the one everyone really paid attention to since they knew for sure that they hadn't heard her stories before. It wasn't long before Daryl joined in taking a seat next to Danielle. Danielle's smile widened as she linked her arm with his and leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Oh—my—god" Rose said with a wide grin, "You've found yourself a fuck buddy!"
Daryl and Danielle both flushed a deep red and looked anywhere but at the face staring blankly at them.
"Rosie, I think it's time for you to go to sleep." Danielle muttered clutching onto Daryl's arm tightly. Normally she would have protested, but Rosalinda felt a big yawn swell up inside her making her realize that Danielle was right.
"True that" Rose smiled standing up.
"You can have the bed in the camper" Dale said quickly, "I have watch duty tonight."
Rosalinda smiled at him and nodded making her way to the large camper and stepping inside. When she was gone, everyone looked at Danielle making her blush turn a deeper red.
"I'm ready for bed, too." She mumbled slipping out of Daryl's grip and walking to her tent. Daryl sat there for a moment before deciding to follow her. He walked into the tent to find her already under the covers and staring blankly with a pouting look on her face.
"What's the matter?" he asked climbing in next to her. She moved herself closer to him and rested her head on his lap looking up at him.
"I love her so much and I'm so happy that she's okay" she whispered as he ran his fingers through her hair, "But, she did what she always does. Even with the world being the way it is, she still managed to find time to embarrass the shit out of me."
Daryl tried to hold it in but couldn't help his laughter. Danielle sat up quickly and looked angrily at him waiting for him to explain himself.
"I'm sorry" he mumbled trying to keeping himself from laughing anymore, "I was embarrassed too, but it's nothin' to get all worked up over."
Danielle just sat there for a moment looking down at her lap feeling bad for getting even a little upset with him. Then she just looked at him and nodded moving to sit in his lap.
"You're right" she mumbled into his chest. She just felt his chest moving up and down with his quiet chuckles. She looked up at him and moved her hand to the back of his head pulling his face down closer to hers.
"Stop laughing at me" she said quietly trying to sound angry with him. Daryl just raised his brows mockingly as he leaned his forehead on hers. She just smiled a little and quickly pulled his face to hers and kissed his lips roughly. Daryl was just moving himself over her when they heard the panicked voice of Glenn getting closer to the tent.
"Not now…" Daryl mumbled gruffly moving off of her and out of the tent to talk to him. Seconds later, he stuck his head back in and whispered, "You might wanna get out here."
Danielle rolled her eyes just knowing it had something to do with Rosalinda; she was right. She walked out to see everyone staring nervously at her. Everyone except Dale who was staring angrily and was holding something in his hand that made her stomach turn. Rosalinda was leaning against the camper rolling her eyes at Danielle's expression.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Danielle said through gritted teeth.
"It's just a bit of weed" Rosalinda replied trying to reach for the multicoloured glass bong Dale was holding. Danielle slapped her hands down.
"I didn't mind this shit before" Danielle whispered, "but now there are infected people out there trying to kill us. They don't sleep. They never stop. You can't be stoned with the possibility of an attack always lingering in the air."
"Oh little miss goody two shoes Dani. Never does anything wrong. Always the fucking victim." Rose shouted in slurred words letting everyone already know she was stoned. With that, Danielle grabbed the bong from Dale and smashed it against a tree sending broken glass and dirty bong water flying through the air.
"You're gonna get back in that fucking camper and go to sleep." Danielle muttered as close to her cousin's face as possible, "Maybe you'll feel differently about what's happened tonight when you're good and sober in the morning."
She walked away quickly with Daryl following close behind. Everyone else sat in stunned silence as Rosalinda retreated back into the camper. When they were in their tent, Danielle sat back on the blankets and held her head in her hands. Daryl was quick to sit behind her and pull her into his lap again.
"I shouldn't get so angry with her so easily" she mumbled leaning her head against his chest. Daryl's face contorted with confusion.
"That's twice tonight she's gone and embarrassed you" he replied rubbing her arm gently, "You got every right to be mad."
"But, she's helped me so much" she sniffled, "She saved me."
He wanted to know more about what she had just said, but he knew that she had been through too much for her to explain anything else about her cousin to him. All he could think to do was comfort her and he felt he had succeeded with that when he saw that she had fallen asleep in his arms.