*** Hope you all enjoy! Reviews are appreciated, but it's still nice to see that people are at least reading this - I'm having a ton of fun writing this story, and since I'm down and out with the flu right now, on top of being snowed in - I can devote lots of time to writing *** As per usual, I OWN NOTHING AND I TOTALLY KNOW IT!
The RV was out of control, barreling down a hill, with no driver behind the wheel. Linney clawed forward, fighting against a thickness in the very air, desperately trying to get to the wheel.
The vehicle collided with a guard rail and bounced off, flying in the other direction. Linney was thrown through the air, landing in the bedroom at the back. She groaned in despair, she was now that much further from the wheel, from stopping this headlong rush into disaster.
She clambered off the bed and realized that the mattress she was pushing against was lumpy and firm. A dark hand reached out from under the blanket, the fingers rotted and displaying ragged bone beneath. Linney tried to scream but found the sound locked in her throat. She thumped to the floor, banging around with each bump of the RV on the road. She heard a now familiar growling from under the blankets and tried to get to her feet, only to find that the floor had become sticky, miring her down as if she were in a swamp.
The figure sat up with hideous slowness, the blanket covering it slowly dripping from it's face to pool around it's waist. Linney was flipped over on her back from a monstrous jump the RV took, and she began trying to crawl backwards. When the figure turned to look at her, it was Amy, a long dead, rotting Amy, who grinned at her from a torn and bloody mouth. Linney gained an inch and looked over her shoulder towards the front of the RV, trying to scream again when she saw that they were on a collision course with a huge wall of thousands of the walking dead.
She turned back to the bed and Amy was suddenly right there, standing over her, blood and drool dripping from her mouth. Linney whimpered as her new friend seemed to collapse in on herself in twitching, jerking motions, lowering closer to Linney's body. The floor held her completely captive now and she couldn't do anything but scream her silent scream over and over again. Amy hovered inches from her head and reached up a clawing hand, pressing it down on Linney's mouth. Amy's twisted, red mouth opened and screamed down at her:
Shut up, Linney, shut up!
"Linney, for Christ's sake, shut up!" Merle hissed at her, his hand pressing down over her mouth. She came awake in a panic, kicking and clawing at him, trying to escape. "Holy shit, kid, calm the fuck down." He growled, grabbing her hands in one of his and holding them steady. She blinked and strained to see in the dark and realized that she was awake and safe, and Merle was trying to calm her down. When she finally stilled, Merle released her and sat back on the floor, his back against the edge of his mattress.
"Merle?" She asked quietly, hating the weakness in her voice. "What." He answered flatly, his voice strained and angry. She started to say something and stopped.
"Never mind," she mumbled, "I'm sorry I woke you up." Merle grunted and climbed back into his bedding. Linney turned over on her side, facing away from him and curled up in a ball inside her sleeping bag. These dreams have got to stop, she thought, her heart still racing from the lingering fear.
She lay as still as possible and quietly shed a few tears of self-pity. Her dreams scared her, the world scared her, her companions scared her, sometimes. She found her mind rolling back to memories of her father, almost like it wanted to purposely dredge up everything painful for her all at once. She suppressed a sob, breathing slowly through constricted lungs. She was surprised with the force of how suddenly she missed him. But she did truly miss him, good or bad, he'd been the only family she had, her only constant. She gasped in a quiet, shuddering breath and tried to bury images of him.
Linney nearly screamed when she felt something heavy grab her mattress and drag it across the slick canvas floor.
"God dammit, kid, I can't sleep with ya blubberin' like that." Merle whispered, his voice hoarse with irritation. She half expected him to smack her as he pulled her mattress up next to his, and she rolled over to look at him, her eyes huge as she tried to see in the dim light. She realized that Merle must have switched the lantern on, but it was so low the wick was barely burning.
"Quit cryin' n' go to sleep." He said gruffly, laying on his back and turning his head away from her. He reached out to the lantern on his side of the tent and flicked it off. His arm closest to her lay across the side of her pillow and his hand rested heavily on top of her head. Linney was shocked into drying up her tears. She lay there, stiff as a board, thinking in amazement that this was Merle's way of comforting her. He didn't move his hand, but the warm weight of it resting comfortably on her head calmed her nerves, and she was able to drift off to sleep.
She woke up partially a while later when Daryl came to switch watches with Merle. She was half-trapped in sleep, and didn't bother to open her eyes, but she heard when Daryl opened the tent flap and stepped inside, his socked feet crinkling on the floor. Linney was aware with a swimming kind of sleepiness, that she was curled up in a ball on her side, inside her sleeping bag, facing Merle. Her head was resting beneath his arm, and his hand was resting on the back of her head now. She could feel her knees pressed up against his side.
It didn't startle her, and in fact it reminded her of being very young and seeking refuge in her parent's bed during thunderstorms. Her dad hated being crowded in bed, but would allow her to lay on the permanently empty side of the bed, where her mother had once slept. She had felt safe and comfortable just knowing he was there, and he would usually let her hug his hand.
"Merle," Daryl hissed in a whisper, "Get up, Merle, it's yer turn." Linney faded into sleep and drifted back to the surface when she realized that Merle had gotten up and Daryl was whispering to him right outside the tent.
"What the fucks goin' on?" Daryl said quietly his voice carefully calm.
"She had a nightmare or somethin', started kickin' and whinin' in 'er sleep, woke me up." Merle sounded indignant. She heard Daryl sigh and Merle continued, "Woke 'er up, but she started cryin' n' I wanted to sleep so I dragged the little shit over near me n' pet 'er like a dog til she went back to sleep. That kid's fuckin' messed up, little brother." Merle chuckled.
Daryl stepped back inside the tent and spoke once more to Merle, "Yer a fuckin' pussy, Merle." Linney heard Merle grumble as he walked away, and then the creaks of him ascending the ladder.
Daryl zipped the tent closed and dropped his crossbow on the empty side of the tent, and she heard the sound of other things hitting the ground as he removed knives and guns as well. A moment later and she heard him mutter something unintelligible under his breath and he climbed into Merle's side of the side bed, laying on his side, facing her.
Linney could feel the waves of sleep rising higher to claim her again and just barely heard when Daryl murmured, "Little coward," and pulled her sleeping bag up against himself, so her pillow was resting below his chin. She felt the slight dip on the pillow as he lay his head on it as well, resting above hers. He rested his top arm over her shoulder and Linney finally gave in to sleep again, a small smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.
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Linney woke up before Daryl that morning. She was very glad she had because she knew instinctively that Daryl would've freaked out and probably not talked to her for days if he had. She knew he wasn't big on touching, so when she woke up with an arm hugged around his chest, her head pillowed on his shoulder, that he would've lost his mind. He had one arm over top of her sleeping bag, hugging her waist and his other arm laying on top of hers, his hand resting on her shoulder. She felt instantly guilty, knowing that it was probably her fault that they were cuddled up like this; at home she slept with a pillow she normally kept hugged to her chest, in her sleep, Daryl probably seemed like a good pillow replacement.
Linney froze completely still and wondered how she was going to extricate herself from this situation. She peeked up at the side of his head and saw his face relaxed and gentle with sleep. Licking her lips nervously, she started to slowly pull herself down and away from him, not wanting to risk removing his hands with her own. She made it out after a few minutes, her eyes always on his face. When she was on the far side of her own mattress she slithered out from the sleeping bag and carefully grabbed all her things from the floor on the far side of the tent. Tip-toeing carefully, she unzipped the tent door and slipped outside, carefully closing it behind herself.
Linney breathed a huge sigh of relief and then put her shoes on and reattached her belt, holster and the varied sheaths for the knives, underneath Daryl's hoodie. Looking around she saw it was not long after dawn.
"Linney!" Dale called in a soft voice, and she looked around before realizing he was up on the roof of the RV. She trotted over to the side of the RV, shivering slightly in the still cool morning air.
"Come on up and keep me company for a minute, Linney." Dale said pleasantly. Linney climbed the ladder quickly and when she got to the top she saw that there was a lawn chair waiting empty for her there, with Dale sitting on the one next to it. He had binoculars, a sun umbrella ready to go up, and what looked like a cup of coffee.
"Nice set-up you got up here." She said, gesturing at everything with her sleeve-covered hand. Dale stared at her hand and then quirked up an eyebrow.
"That looks a little large for you," he said, pointing at Daryl's sweatshirt, "Maybe we should try and find you something that fits at the next place we stop." Linney shook her head; she had no intention of returning this sweatshirt to anyone, not even to Daryl.
"Everything looks huge on me," she replied simply, sitting next to Dale and grabbing his cup of coffee to steal a few lukewarm sips. Linney handed it back to an amused looking Dale. "I'm sure that would taste even better hot," she laughed, the sound light and airy in the early morning. Dale took the offered cup and placed it down next to his leg. He gave her a serious look then and she felt her smile die on her face.
"What?" She asked, trying not to sound rude. Dale pressed his lips together and shook his head.
"What happened last night? Andrea and I took shifts of our own inside the RV," Linney glared at him, at their complete lack of trust. Dale raised his hands in the air, "Hey, we just met you people, we want to trust you, but we have to be sensible, this isn't like before." Linney looked away, at the brightening sky. No it certainly is not like before, she thought ruefully.
"Anyways, Andrea had the first half of the night and when she woke me up she said that she heard a... a... a ruckus in your tent." Linney made a face at him. "A 'ruckus', Dale?" He shrugged and raised an eyebrow at her, clearly expecting her to answer. She drew her knees up to her chest, creating a little tent under the sweatshirt.
"I've been having terrible nightmares," she began, peeking up at Dale, "Like horrible, horrible ones. I've never had dreams like this in my life, they're vivid and disturbing and I can remember them when I'm awake, which is almost worse than having them." Dale placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, a look of understanding on his face. She decided not to shove his hand off and looked down at the tips of her shoes peeping out from under the sweatshirt.
"One of my dreams almost got Daryl and I killed the other night. I started freaking out in my sleep and the noise drew a couple of those shit heads to the house we were in. Daryl and Merle are pretty disturbed by it as well." She looked up at Dale and saw pity on his face, so she tried to lighten the mood, "Neither of them is exactly a cuddle-bunny, so I'm sure some psycho girl having nightly bad dreams and spazzing out is just a wonderful addition to their lives."
Dale swallowed and looked away. "Andrea's been having a hard time sleeping with bad dreams, too," he began, not looking at her, "she's been taking something to sleep, something that holds back the nightmares, maybe she could lend you some?" Linney got to her feet, stretching and feeling her joints come awake. "That would be awesome, I'll talk to her later." Dale nodded at her and Linney made for the ladder. She paused before climbing down.
"Dale, where'd Merle get to? He didn't sleep in the tent." Dale nodded, "He's on the couch in the RV, I can hear everything from in there up here." Linney blinked at him.
"Gotcha. I think you guys have the wrong impression of them. They're not bad people. Merle's a hard case, but there's a person under there, you know?" Dale took in a deep breath and nodded slowly at her. "To you, maybe, but we don't know them, we don't mean anything to them yet, and Andrea and Amy are the most important things in the world to me; you'll forgive me if I don't take any chances with their lives." Linney held his dark eyes for a moment and then looked away; she had to understand, because she was certainly more closely bonded to Daryl and Merle than she was to any newcomers. Dale looked at her curiously, delaying her departure down the ladder yet again.
"What is it Dale? I have to go to the bathroom." She said, trying not to sound impatient. He cleared his throat and pointed at her.
"How old are you, Linney?" She blinked in response, not expecting the question. "I'm not certain of what the date is, but I'm maybe a couple weeks from turning 19." Dale nodded and replied while not looking at her. "It's hard to tell with you." Linney rolled her eyes and decided to take her leave.
Climbing down the ladder she was surprised into almost shrieking when Merle suddenly rounded the corner of the RV. He stood waiting for her to get to the ground, and she assumed that he had probably just heard everything she and Dale had said. She felt her face burning red inside her hood. He had his lips pressed together like he was pissed off and he glared at her. She glared right back at him though; her instincts with Merle always being to push back, no matter what.
"Did'ja have a nice chat?" He said, his voice low and grumpy. Linney nodded and replied, "Did you sleep ok on the couch? Next time we should just make three beds in the tent, that way we're not all separated." Merle stared back at her through narrowed eyes. He nodded slowly and then lightly shoved her shoulder, the way he did to Daryl all the time, she winced a little at the contact with her bruises.
"Try not to fuckin' wake me up again like that, sweetheart, it pisses me off when I can't sleep." He grumbled before pushing by her to climb up the ladder and talk with Dale. Linney made her way slowly away from the RV, heading towards the truck. The sun was finally up and the sweatshirt was becoming a little to warm for her liking. She pulled it off and tucked it into the front seat of the truck, on her side, determined to keep it.
Linney climbed up into the truck bed and found her backpack and rifled through it until she found one of the light and thin long sleeved shirts she'd packed. This one was light blue, a color she was pretty sure she'd ruin immediately, and it buttoned up the front and had a collar on it. She left it open and started to roll the sleeves to her elbows.
In the distance she could hear Amy and Andrea chatting in the RV and she hastily finished rolling her sleeves up before grabbing a hairbrush, a toothbrush, the small tube of toothpaste she'd swiped from Cara's house, and a bottle of water. Hugging them in one arm, she leapt over the side of the truck and trotted around to the back of the house, away from everyone.
She rested her goodies on the ground and quickly looked around, making sure the coast was clear before relieving herself as quickly as she could, worried that someone would round the corner and catch her with her pants around her ankles. When she was done, she gathered up her toiletries and continued around to the back of the house. There was a stack of concrete blocks there, sitting like gigantic grey legos and she scrambled up to the top of the pile, childishly pleased when she reached the top of the nearly 9 foot pile.
At the top she released her hair from it's braid and brushed it out, pleased that it smelled clean and fresh from the shampoo. The heat was making wearing a braid inconvenient and hot against her neck, so she pulled the thick mass of her hair up, piling it all on top of her head in a large messy bun. Linney smeared a strip of toothpaste on her toothbrush and rinsed a gulp of water around her mouth before brushing her teeth. Linney took more glee in spitting her pasty mouthfuls of water over the side of the concrete pile than was strictly lady-like. Fuck it, she thought, I'll take what chuckles I can get.
"Jesus, there ya are." Linney spun around, a mouthful of water and toothpaste bulging her cheeks out. Daryl stood at the bottom of the pile. He was looking up at her like she was crazy. "We thought ya got eaten." He said, only half-serious, Linney grimaced as best she could and then held up a finger to him to ask for a moment. He rolled his eyes and waved at her to go ahead. Turning around Linney spat out her mouthful and rinsed her mouth out once more before spitting again. Tucking everything in her pockets she turned back to Daryl.
"I was just trying to hide... for a bit." She finished lamely, Daryl smirked and motioned for her to get down. Linney carefully made it down, ignoring his extended helping hand. When she got to the bottom, she looked up at Daryl, studying his face for any signs of being pissed at her. He looked only normally grumpy, so she had to assume he knew nothing about her nighttime hug-fest.
"Yer gonna break that poor girl's heart, ya weirdo." He said in a low voice. Linney grimaced at him before turning to head back to the truck. "Is it so bad I don't want a BFF right now? I'm a little preoccupied, you know." She heard Daryl grumble out a low laugh and then he grabbed her arm, turning her to look at him. His was serious now.
"You ok? Merle said ya had 'nother nightmare." Linney chewed on the inside of her cheek and looked away, trying to pull out from his grip on her arm. He tightened his hold and his other hand forced her face to look at him. His blue eyes were sharp and concerned and Linney realized she couldn't bullshit her way out of this one.
"No, I'm not ok." She mumbled, before heaving out a huge breath. "They just keep coming, and they're just..." She looked back at his eyes, and then closed hers. "I talked to Dale this morning, he said Andrea has some pills I could maybe borrow that'll knock me right out." She opened her eyes and saw the skepticism on Daryl's face. Gently she pulled her arm and he released it this time. "I'm not super excited about taking pills to quit dreaming, but I'm sick of being afraid at night and I don't want to keep waking you guys up." Daryl waved a hand through the air.
"Don't listen to Merle, he's an asshole." He said dismissively. Linney smiled, nodded, and then turned to walk back to the truck, slightly relieved when Daryl didn't follow her. She made it up into the truck bed and was putting away her things when she heard, "Linney! I made you some coffee! Come have a cup with me and Andrea!" Amy was way too excited for the early morning but Linney found herself smiling and waving back at the girl. Oh boy, besties!