Summary: Eve Chelle Greene is Daryl Dixon's best friend, drinking friend, protector and lover. Daryl Dixon has been best friends with Eva since they were teenagers, lovers, drinking friends and her protector. When the world goes to hell it's a home for the brave and you have to face something that you thought belonged in a horror film. Daryl/OC, Merle/Beth, Rick/OC. Co-Written with NadWri
Warning: Major Lori bashing.
Warning: This story mentions rape, physical abuse, self - harming and drug abuse and upsetting scenes.
Home Of The Brave
Chapter 10
The next morning Dale was being buried under a willow tree next to Rose, Annette and Shawn and the others as they gathered around his grave.
Daryl had his arms wrapped around Eve while Sophia held Carol's hand, Merle and Beth stood beside them with Rowan near them.
Rick stood at the head of the grave, across from the others. He looked tired, and defeated as he sighed as Shane and T-Dog let go of the body and turned to join the rest of the group. Everyone then looked to him, waiting for him to say something.
Rick smirked, "Dale could get under your skin." He said bluntly, "He sure got under mine. But that's because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, or how he felt. I think that kind of honesty is rare, and brave." Rick looked up from the ground to look around at the faces of his followers. Many of them had smiles on their faces remembering Dale as he was. Rick continued, "When ever I would make a decision I would look at Dale, and he'd be looking back at me with that look he had – we've all seen it one time or another."
"Before he died, Dale said this group was broken," he added quieter. "So I think we owe it for him to try and pull this group back together. It's what he would have wanted."
Eve reached her far hand up and grabbed hold of the hand Daryl had draped around her shoulder. She squeezed it for reassurance as a few tears fell from her eyes. Everyone was silent, and for a while they all stood staring at Dale's grave, saying their individual good-byes. After a while people started to drift back up to camp, leaving Dale to rest under an old tree by the barn.
"Alright, what's the plan for today then, Rick?" Glenn asked as they went back to the farmhouse.
"We're going to pull ourselves together," Rick told him. "Starting with taking out those walkers who were roaming around, it's not safe. Look what happened to Dale because we weren't careful."
They all nodded as it was decided that they would split up into groups and take out any walkers that were near the fence.
Eve went with Daryl as they took out four walkers eating on the remains of a cow as they took the walkers with silent weapons.
Rowan watched them take off the heads of the walkers and felt her stomach churn, normally it didn't bother her, but for some reason, the smell and the sight was upsetting her stomach, and making her feel real sick.
She ran off to be sick in a bush and wiped her mouth with the back of er hand as they all headed back to the house where they were setting things up.
The cars were all in a circle around the house and they were now making a list of how many supplies they had.
"How are we doing on ammo?" Daryl asked Rick.
"We have enough that should last us for a few month, we just don't need to be using it if we don't need it," he said as he finished checking through their guns.
"Are you alright?" Carol asked Rowan who was looking pale as they checked through the cupboards together.
"Yeah I'm fine, just feeling a bit sick." She said splashing her face with some water as they all checked the fences when they saw Daryl come over.
"I'm goin' with Rick to drop off Randall somewhere." He explained as he pulled her into him and she nodded and kissed him gently.
"Alright be safe."
The men went over to the barn to get Randall, opening the door to find that the barn was empty. "Where the hell has he gone?" Rick asked as he looked around, there was nothing but chains attached to the wall.
"He can't have cut himself out of them for cryin' out loud." Daryl said as they all looked around the shed.
Eve, Rowan and Beth were on the porch when they heard Daryl and T-Dog yelling in anger.
"Where the hell is he?" Daryl asked furious.
"He isn't there." T-Dog said stunned.
"What?" Merle asked confused
"He just isn't there." T-Dog said confused.
They ran to the shed and looked through it. Rowan, Eve, and Beth had ran out after they had heard angry yelling from outside. They saw the men and Maggie had run to the shed. "What's going on?" Rowan asked.
"Randall's missing." Glenn said as he tried to keep them in the house.
"What do you mean Randall is missing?" Beth asked. "How is that possible? Wasn't he tied up in the barn?"
"Yeah, but he's managed to break free somehow," Daryl said angrily.
"Where could he be?" Rowan asked.
"The door was secure from the outside." Hershel said. Eve looked around at the ground and she frowned.
"Daryl..." She said quietly.
"What?"
"Look..." She said as she pointed to the ground.
They all looked up when they heard Shane yelling out. "RICK! RICK!"
"What happened?" Lori yelled out.
"He's armed! He's got my gun!" He yelled back. He looked beat up.
"We need to go after him!" Rick said as they all headed towards the forest. "We'll split up and go different ways."
"Just let him go, that was the plan, wasn't it?" Patricia asked. "Just let him go?"
"The plan was to cut him loose far away from here... not on our front step with a gun." Rick said furiously.
"Don't go out there; you all don't know what can happen!" Lori called out.
"Get everybody back into the house." Rick said. "Lock all the doors, and stay put!"
"Daryl be careful." Eve said hugging Daryl, he nodded and he and the others hurried into the woods along while they hurried back to the house.
Merle and Daryl searched the woods for Randall when they saw footprints on top of each other, looking like two sets of footprints, with a tree nearby stained in blood.
"Look's like they had trouble." Merle said as they heard a twig snap and hid behind some trees as they saw a figure coming over.
Daryl and Merle ducked behind two of the trees to see who it was, panicking incase they were in danger. They realized it was Randall and came out of their covering, before discovering he was a walker. "Shit," Daryl whispered, putting an arrow through his head.
Merle pulled up his shirt and checked his body, to see if he could discover where he was bitten, "He ain't got any bites or scratches." He told his brother.
"How is that possible?" Daryl asked as they went back to the house. "And how did he get away?"
"I don't know... Ya don't think Shane used Randall to lure Rick away in private, do ya?" Merle asked worriedly.
"Oh fuck I hope not." He said as they heard a loud gunshot and hurried back to the house where the others were.
Eve sat in the living room with the others while Sophia was upstairs along with Carl when a loud gunshot rang out.
"What the hell was that?" Jimmy said from where he stood next to Beth.
At that moment Daryl and Glenn came back.
"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asked concerned after he embraced Eve.
"No." Rowan said worried.
"We heard a shot." Glenn said.
"Maybe they found Randall." Lori offered.
"We found him." Merle said quietly.
"Is he back in the shed?" Andrea asked annoyed.
"He's a walker." Daryl said quickly.
"Did you find the Walker that bit him?" Hershel asked quietly.
Daryl shook his head. "There was no walkers." he said, not able to understand it himself. "He weren't bit or scratched or nothing like that."
"Then how did he turn?" Glenn asked.
Merle shrugged slightly as he sat down and picked up an apple. "Ain't got a clue."
"That's just weird." Eve said worried as she stroked Midnight's fur and they all sat down quietly when they decided to go look for Rick.
At that minute another gun shot was heard.
"What the hell was that?" Merle asked getting up from where he sat next to Beth.
"Stay here," Daryl said to Eve softly. "Stay inside the house."
Eve nodded as Daryl and Merle ran outside.
They didn't make it very far however, before they noticed two people walk towards them in the distance. "Is that..."
"Oh fuck me, that's a fuckin herd!" Merle yelled seeing the walkers behind the two walkers in front.
Daryl grabbed Merle, "C'mon we gotta tell the others."
"What's wrong?" Rowan asked, noticing their worried faces as they came back into the house.
"There's a herd coming right towards us!" Daryl said as he hurried to put their supplies in a box. "Go pack your stuff! We're getting the hell out of here now."
Everyone ran off to pack their stuff with Eve packing up all of the medical supplies they had and Beth helped her out while Maggie went to help Carol pack.
"We're gonna look again, we're gonna find him." Carol said comfortingly.
We're going to find who?" Rowan asked.
"Carl. He's not in the house anywhere," Lori said worriedly.
Rowan didn't like Lori, but she did like Carl, and it wasn't good if he was out there alone somewhere. "Alright, let's check upstairs again."
They ran upstairs and looked in all the rooms but Carl wasn't there. Rowan ran down the stairs as she looked for Sophia. "Hey, have you seen Carl?" She asked gently.
Sophia looked worried "He said he was going look for his dad, something about not trusting Shane." She told her looking scared.
"I'm sure he'll be fine if he's with his father and Shane," Eve said softly as she took out her gun and rubbed Rowan's arm gently.
"Come on, we need to go and fight for this farm," Hershel said as he took out a rifle. "I'm not losing it to these things."
Daryl shrugged as he jumped the porch rail. "Guess tonight's as good a night to die as any," he said as they all started to fire at the walkers, while the women packed up their stuff and put it in the cars.
"Do you think Carl's OK?" Sophia asked worriedly.
"I'm sure he is, honey." She assured her as they could hear shooting outside and Eve looked out quickly to see a group of men driving in six black SUV'S towards the farm.
"Shit, we have to go NOW!" Eve yelled as she grabbed Midnight and as they carried their stuff.
Eve shoved everything that she was carrying into the back of one of their vehicles, and climbed inside, along with Carol, Sophia, who was clutching Midnight, Beth and Rowan.
"We're getting out of here," she said as she pulled away from the farm and away from the men in the SUV's.
"Who the hell are they?" Rowan asked as she stroked Midnight's fur to calm him down.
"I have no idea," Eve said as she kept her hands on the wheel. "Where are we supposed to go? Should be go back to get the others?"
"We have to go now, honey," Carol said as she looked around. "And hope they make it out. If we stay any longer, we're dead,"
She nodded. "I hope Daryl, Merle, Maggie, Hershel, T-Dog, Rick and Carl are ok." She said as she drove down to the highway.
Rick and Carl drove to the highway with Hershel, who was upset over the loss of their farm. In the blur of the herd, and the men in the SUV's, which Rick had no idea who they were or where they had come from, he had seen most of the others escape. Poor Jimmy had perished in the RV after the barn fire, but he hadn't seen anyone else go down. They parked up and looked around; it seemed to be empty for now, apart from the three of them.
They were only driving a few minutes when Rick noticed Shane's green car driving in front of them. He smiled and pointed at it, hoping Carl and Hershel would notice it too. He nodded and then pointed farther up a head of that, at the blue pick-up truck of Otis' parked near the crashed car. Driving along with it was Daryl on his bike.
"It's them, pull over." Eve said happily and Carol pulled over as Daryl skidded to a halt in front of her and as soon as she got out, he pulled them her into him and held them tightly.
"I'm so glad you're ok, Daryl." Eve said tears in her eyes as she looked at him.
"Fuck, Eve," Daryl breathed, relief washing over him as he leaned down to kiss her hard, his tongue battling with her own. He was no longer interested in who'd seen; only that she was alright. "I couldn't find any of ya on the farm, thought I'd lost ya..."
"Hey, I'm here, I'm OK," she said softly as she rested her forehead against his before she buried her face into his chest, as they seen Rick hug Rowan in the distance. "Where's Merle?" she asked, looking around for her 'sort-of' brother.
"Right here lili sis." Merle said as Beth flung herself into him and he hugged her tightly to him as everyone came to grips with what had just happened.
"Where's Shane?" Lori asked quickly.
"Dead, he tried to kill dad so dad killed him and then he came back and I shot him." Carl said calmly before Lori slapped him.
"YOU SICK BASTARD!" She screamed.
"Get the hell away from him!" Eve snapped at her, as she stormed towards Lori and shoved her roughly away from Carl, so roughly that she fell on her ass. "Shane was an evil man, and he was going to kill your husband. You should be grateful for what your son did, you selfish bitch!" she growled, pointing her finger accusingly at Lori who was on the ground. "Oh, and don't worry about losing your fuck buddy, because I'm sure Rowan's HUSBAND will be more than happy to sleep with you, whore!"
Lori got up then and charged at Eve only to be slapped by Beth who stood beside Eve and glared at her when Rick spoke again.
"There's something else as well." He said sighing and bracing for everyone's reactions.
"We're all infected." He said quickly.
"What do you mean we're all infected?" Glenn asked in disbelief.
"He means we're all going to turn into one of those things," Maggie said angrily. "No matter how we die, just like Randall. Don't you?"
"Yes, I didn't think it was true until Randall." Rick said and everyone took this in silence when Carol spoke softly but firmly.
"You did the right thing; it would have caused panic if it wasn't true." She assured him.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" Glenn yelled.
"Shut up!" Beth snapped at Glenn as Maggie went to stand next to him. "Rick has been looking out for us; we have no right to be angry at him. He was doing what he thought was best for us!"
"Yeah so shut the hell up." Daryl said as they all got into the cars and Eve got on the bike behind Daryl as they followed after Rick.
"He's a good man." Daryl said as they drove.
Eve nodded as they drove down the old highway, looking out for somewhere they could stay for the night that looked secure and relatively free from walkers.
Nobody paid much attention to the scenery passing them by, all they knew was they needed to put as many miles away from them and the herd as they possibly could. The temperature was dropping along with the sun when they heard Rick honk the horn alerting them that he needed them to stop.
Daryl slowed down to a stop before looking over his shoulder. When everyone started to get out of the cars he cut his engine. "You out?" he asked.
"Running on fumes." Rick said tired.
"Well we can't stay here." Maggie said annoyed.
"And we can't all fit in one car." Glenn added loudly.
"We'll have to make run for some gas in the morning." Rick said looking around.
"What are we supposed to do for now then?" Beth asked as she looked around, they were pretty exposed in the middle of the road.
"We could find somewhere to park up for the night, sleep in our vehicles," Rick suggested. "It's all we got, and before you start giving me hell for that too, unless anyone has a better idea, then it's settled."
"But what if the herd are on the road?" Lori said shocked.
Something snapped in Rick.
"What would you have me do, Lori?!" Rick snapped at her. "I am trying my best to protect you lot, but I JUST CAN'T WITH YOU GOING ON, ALL THE TIME! GODDAMN, I JUST KILLED MY BEST FRIEND!"
They all stared at him, shocked at Rick's outburst at Lori.
"Damn, I think the bitch has made him snap." Merle said to Beth.
"Do something!" Lori pleaded with him.
"What the hell do you think I'm doing?!" Rick snapped at her as he ran a hand over his face tiredly, Rowan gave him a sympathetic smile. "I'm trying for you people, but no one seems to appreciate it. If you don't like it, feel free to leave! But if you stay here, then let me tell you... this isn't a democracy anymore."
"I am doing something!" Rick exploded. "I'm keeping this group together, alive. I've been doing that all along, no matter what." He dropped his voice to a low hiss. "I didn't ask for this! I killed my best friend for you people, for Christ's sake! You saw what he was like, how he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us. He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He gave me no choice. He was my friend, but he came after me."
He paused and looked from face to face. "My hands are clean. Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead. I say there's a place for us, but maybe… maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe… maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't you… Why don't you go and find out yourself? Go on, there's the door." He gestured toward the oppressive pitch black in the distance. "Send me a postcard."
Everyone exchanged uncomfortable glances but no one spoke.
"No takers? Fine. But let's get one thing straight. This is no longer a democracy."
Rick glared at the group, daring anyone to challenge him. Daryl finally spoke. "I'll relieve T-Dog."
"I got it covered," Rick waved him off and went to switch places with the man who outweighed him by at least half, but who still stepped aside and gave their leader plenty of room as he passed.
"Everyone should try to get some sleep," Daryl announced. "Dawn will come sooner than we think."