Hey! I hope your week was a good one! Mine was most certainly busy! This chapter will be a little on the long side, so hunker down and enjoy! I hope you have a great weekend!
The next morning Abby woke up feeling incredibly groggy and icky as she rolled out of bed, got dressed then stepped out side. For once, everyone was sitting together eating breakfast around the fire and turned to stare at her in unison, as she walked over. Carol handed her a plate the scooped out some eggs into to the plate.
"Did you sleep well?" Carol asked as she then forked some bacon and hash browns into her plate.
Abby shrugged but didn't answer, not really in the mood to be talking to anyone. Glenn suddenly stood up and walked to stand by Rick and Lori's big tent, then cleared his throat.
"Um, guys." He started. "So…the barns full of walkers." He finally spat out. Everyone paused to look at him in disbelief, not entirely certain they'd heard him right.
While Abby had wanted the attention off of her, that was not how she wanted it to be pulled away. Everyone quickly shovelled their breakfast into their mouths and walked together to the barn. They stood in a loose semicircle around the big front double-doors and just stared at it, then Shane carefully approached the door and peered in between the boards. Eventually he turned back to the group and walked towards Rick.
"You cannot tell me you are okay with this." Shane said then pushed past Rick.
"No, I'm not but we're guests here. This is not our land." Rick said trying to reason with Shane.
"This is our lives!" Shane practically shouted.
"Lower your voice!" Glenn pleaded to Shane.
"We can't just sweep this under the rug!" Andrea said in disbelief.
"It ain't right, not remotely." Shane said as he rubbed his face in frustration. "Okay, we've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've got to leave. Now we've been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."
"We can't go!" Rick interrupted.
"Why, Rick? Why?" Shane asked in disbelief. "So, your mentally unstable sister can have somewhere to go and melt down whenever she feels like it?"
"Screw you, Shane!?" Abby said as she gave him the finger.
"You're walking into very dangerous territory, Shane!" Rick warned.
"Or so she can run off with her methed out boyfriend whenever she likes?!" Shane said in derision.
Abby took a swing at him but he saw it coming and captured her forearm underneath arm then grabbed the front of her shirt with his free hand. Rick and Daryl both came at Shane, Rick reefing his sister out of Shane's grasp while Daryl's swing came in contact with Shane's jaw but he saw it coming enough to turn his head and Daryl's fist glanced off but his other was quickly following behind, knocking Shane back.
Glenn and Dale shoved Daryl back, while Amy and Andrea tried to push Shane back as turned back to Daryl, ready to fight back as Lori put her hands on to Rick's chest to prevent him from going back and taking his own piece out of Shane. That was something Rick could never stand, a man laying a hand on his baby sister. The look he gave Shane was full of spite.
"I'm going to talk to Hershel." Rick growled at Shane, barely keeping his rage in check. "If we're going to clear this place, he has to be on board with it." Rick said sternly.
"Rick, he see's them as people." Dale said sadly as he turned away from Shane. "Very sick people, he thinks they can come back from this."
"Then I'll have to try and convince him otherwise." Rick turned, glanced at Abby who nodded her head, then he marched off.
"You better watch yourself, asshole!" Abby said to Shane before turning and started away.
"Better go chop some wood, Abby, make yourself feel better or maybe go run off into the woods again." Shane sneered.
"Shane, shut up!" Andrea hissed as Glenn put his hands towards Abby as she turned around and glared at him.
"Boy, you need some respect smacked into ya!" Daryl growled as he paced towards him menacingly.
"Try it, you dumb redneck! Bring it!" Shane responded challengingly.
"Shane, go!" Dale said pointing off towards camp while putting a hand up to stop Daryl from getting closer.
Carol grabbed on to Daryl's arm. "Daryl please, he isn't worth your effort." Daryl snarled as he shrugged her hands off and walked away.
Lori grabbed onto Abby's arm but she pulled it away angrily and glared at Lori. "Don't!" Abby growled then turned away also.
Abby marched up to the house and plunked herself down into one of the chairs theirs and scowled as the rest of the group slowly walked back to camp. Abby turned her head as she heard the floor boards creak and saw Beth standing there watching her.
"You still look upset." She stated.
"It certainly hasn't been the best twelve hours of my life." Abby said with a sigh.
"Your friends were freaking out when you disappeared yesterday evening, especially your brother." Beth said as she sat in the neighboring chair. "If you want to talk to someone, I'll listen. I'm a good listener."
Abby chuckled lightly. "Honey, I don't think you'd understand. You're much too young."
"Maybe not, but talkin' to someone who has nothin' to do with whatever is going on with you, might help." Beth said. "You know, a neutral, unbiased ear."
Abby sighed. "I wish I could but my brain is so jumble and confused, I don't know if I know what's wrong."
"I guess a lot has gone wrong for you, since people started gettin' sick." Beth said sadly.
Abby looked at the young girl carefully, apparently, she thought the same thing as her father. "Honey, they ain't sick…their dead."
Beth looked down. "I know you people think that…"
"No, honey, we know that! We were at the CDC before we came here, the doctor showed us a MRI of the brain of someone who'd been infected. Showed us what it looked like when a brain is alive, all bright and flashin'. Then he showed us what happened as the infection took over the brain, then they died! When it reanimated, the part of the brain that makes us, us, never came back. It was all black!" Abby reached over and touched the girls arm as she pulled up her knee's and started tearing up. "I'm sorry but it's the truth." She continued softly. "Even if we hadn't talked to Dr. Jenner, I'd still feel the same. They're rotting, their skin pulls from their skeletons without much force! They get injures we'd never survive and they keep moving like nothing happened! They ain't alive, not like us."
"So, my mother and brother are dead?" She squeaked.
Abby stood up and pulled the girl into her for a hug. "I'm sorry, honey." She said as the girl cried into her shoulder.
Suddenly Abby heard footsteps and Abby turned to look over her shoulder to see Rick walking up the steps. He looked over at them and frowned.
"Everything alright?" Rick asked taking in the crying teenager.
"We're fine." Abby said softly.
Rick looked like he wanted to say more but he glanced at Beth and decided to wait. So, he turned to the door and knocked, instead. Abby could her the muffled voice of Hershel inviting Rick in, so Rick entered. Abby turned back to the still crying girl.
"I'm sorry. You came here to trying an' make me feel better and I only make you cry." Abby said softly.
Beth wiped her face with the back of her hand and shook her head. "No, its okay. Everyone still treats me like I'm still a child, tryin' to shield me from the world."
"Well now days, that sort of thinkin' will only get you killed. You need to know how it is." Abby said softly rubbing the girls back as she seemed to be collecting herself.
"How do you do it? Keep it together? I mean you lost your husband, probably seen a lot of other people die and then your nephew nearly dies! Not to mention at least two of yer friends are hurt!" Beth shook her head. "If I lost daddy and Maggie, I don't know if I could handle it!"
"You give me too much credit." Abby said with a sigh. "I was practically comatose for days after Martin died, Rick and Lori had to remind me too eat and drink. Scared the living daylights out of my brother. I had to retire from the Marine's because I emotionally couldn't handle it. If I lost Rick, I don't know how well I'd handle that."
"But you seem so put together most of the time." Beth said shocked.
Abby laughed. "I clocked someone real good a couple days ago and just took a swing at Shane a few minutes ago. Went for a real long walk yesterday evenin' at my brothers mere mentioning of my dead husband. I don't think I seem that put together."
"But you get up everyday! You laugh, you smile, yer functioning." The tears seemed to have stopped but now she seemed to be searching for something in Abby's eyes. "How?"
"I gave myself a purpose. Keep what remains of my family, alive. So long as I have Rick, Carl and Lori, I have to keep going. Rick can take care of himself and his family but it don't mean I shouldn't do my part." Abby said simply.
"But I ain't like you, I ain't no good to anyone!" Beth said sadly.
"Hey!" Abby said frowning. "Don't sell yerself short! Just cause you ain't never shot nothin' or whatever, don't mean you're no good. Tell you what, if yer daddy's okay with it, I'll teach ya everything I know about surviving. You know, takin' down someone twice yer size, how to shoot straight, make fire without matches, that sort of thing. Whatdya say?"
The girl smirked then frowned. "I don't know if daddy'll let you teach me to fight…the other stuff maybe but fightin'?"
"Self-defense, not fighting. Completely different. Even if things had remained the way yhey were and you'd gone off to college, it'd still be handy. There have always been and will always be, creeps out there who'll take advantage of a pretty blonde girl."
Beth finally smiled. "Okay!"
"How about now? I need to keep myself distracted." Abby offered.
"What about asking daddy?" Beth asked.
Abby paused and listened to the conversation going on inside. She couldn't tell what was being said but it didn't sound like it was going well. So, she shrugged. "Did plenty of things that my father never knew about, never killed me and neither will this. Come on."
"Follow me, I know where we can go where daddy or anyone else will be able to see us!" Beth said excitedly.
Abby followed Beth to the backside of the house, then into the small cluster of trees that could almost pass as a forest but was disconnect from the rest of the forest. In the center of the mini forest, was a clearing and what had once been a child's fort.
"Carl and Sophia would love it back here!" Abby said as she looked around.
Beth nodded. "My brothers would play back here when they were kids, then Maggie and I did."
Abby smiled and started her lessons. First off, basic self defense. She taught Beth how to block attacks, flip opponents and even disarm an opponent. They were there for hours and Abby had to admit, the girl was a quick learner, she even told Beth so causing Beth smile at her bashfully. She was stronger than she looked but that didn't entirely surprise Abby, she was after all, a farm girl.
"I think we should take a bit of a break." Abby said finally. "People'll start worrying if you don't make an appearance."
"I'm sure they'll be worryin' about you too." Beth said as she wiped sweat from her face and neck with a towel she'd fetched earlier on in the lessons.
Abby laughed. "Not likely. Probably figurin' I'm losing my shit some where's in the woods. Come on."
They walked out of the woods and around to the front of the house to find Patricia playing checkers with Carl, Maggie and Glenn sitting close together, apparently having made up and T-Dog, Amy and Andrea approaching from the other side.
"Where've you been, Bethy?" Maggie called as Abby and Beth approached.
"Showin' Abby around the farm a little more." Beth lied.
"Any you seen Rick?" Asked Andrea. "He said he would give me and Amy a few more lessons on shootin'."
Daryl walked up with Carol and Sophia in tow. "Saw 'em walking off into the woods with that kid and Hershel."
"You mean Jimmy?" Beth asked.
Daryl just shrugged. Abby looked at the crossbow on Daryl's back.
"Where you hunting?" Abby asked him, slightly miffed if he had been. He wasn't ready to be traipsing through the woods.
"I asked Daryl if he'd take us into the woods. Sophia wanted to pick more flowers, I figured Daryl would know where best to find them." Carol answered.
Everyone but Abby looked at Daryl in surprise, she knew he'd do something like that if asked and apparently Carol had come to realize what kind of man he really was. Suddenly, Shane appeared striding hurriedly towards everyone, looking like trouble.
"What's with all this?" Daryl asked as Shane walked up with a bag full of guns.
"Time to grow up y'all." He said as he shoved and shotgun into Daryl's hands, then moved along the line of people.
"Where' Dale?" Andrea asked as she followed after him.
"He's on his way." Shane said as he handed a pistol to T-Dog and Amy then continued towards Glenn.
"Thought we couldn't carry?" T-Dog asked as he stared at the pistol in his hand.
"We can and we have to." Shane said as he looked up at the women on the porch. "Look, it was one thing sitting here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe but now we know it ain't." He looked at Glenn. "How about you man? You gonna protect you and yours?" He asked as he held out another shotgun.
Glenn paused to look at Maggie then took the weapon from Shane. Beth looked at Abby mortified. "Shane cut the shit, this ain't right. This ain't our home! Rick will work it out with Hershel!" Abby growled at him.
Shane laughed "Maybe but in the mean time we need to protect ourselves."
He knelt down and held out a smaller pistol to Carl who'd walk down to the bottom of the steps to stand next to Abby. Immediately Abby grabbed his head and thrust up her knee into Shane's face, probably breaking his nose and put herself in between Carl and Shane.
"Don't you dare give my nephew a gun!" She yelled at him as everyone stared at her in disbelief. "You ain't his father, you have no right!"
Shane rolled around on the ground for a moment, then chuckled as he wiped the blood from his nose. "Psycho Abby makes an appearance!" He said then clapped his hands. "You actually got me unaware, bravo!"
Lori came to stand beside Abby. "Rick said no guns! This ain't your call!" Lori hissed at him.
T-Dog was suddenly distracted as he looked around the house into the forest. "Oh shit." He said and everyone looked to where he was staring.
Out of the forest, Jimmy emerged followed by two walkers on catch poles that Hershel and Rick were each directing. Shane rolled back on to his feet then looked at them in disgust.
"What is that? What is that?" He yelled, then started running in Rick and Hershel's direction.
Abby took off running for her tent, where her own pistol was stored. She quickly grabbed it, buckled on the holster then she ran in the direction of the barn to join the others. As she ran, she cursed herself for being fussy about her weapons, if she'd just picked up one of the ones in were in the bag, she could have stopped Shane. But half way there, she saw Shane firing into the body of the walker Hershel had on a pole, Rick was shouting at him but Shane only shouted back and continued firing.
No one else was trying to stop him, they all just stared in shocked disbelief at what was happening before them. The only one doing anything was Daryl but he had the shotgun that Shane had shoved at him, aimed at the second walker and was circling like it like a vulture. Abby didn't necessarily agree with any of what Rick or Hershel were doing but how Shane was going about it, was the wrong way.
Finally, Shane walked up to it and put a bullet into its brain, then turned away. He shouted some more, apparently making some sort of speech and when she was finally within earshot, she heard Rick shout at Hershel to take the catch pole. Abby finally burst through the gate then stopped to aim her pistol at Shane.
"Shane, stop!" She screamed angrily.
Rick looked over his shoulder and saw her pointing the pistol at Shane as he ran up to the barn door and started pounding on the lock with a pickaxe. "Abigail don't!" Rick shouted at her then turned back to Shane.
"No, Shane! Don't do this, brother!" Rick shouted at him. "Wait!"
Finally, Shane used the pickaxe to reef off the lock and reached for the timber keeping the door shut. Abby ran forward again as people shouted at Shane to stop. Abby then skidded to a stop as Shane lifted the timber, threw it aside then banged on the doors before throwing them open and drawing his pistol as he back up several paces.
The rest happened quickly, walkers started coming out and those with guns stepped forward and started shooting. Absently Abby noted the ones who really weren't good at shooting while she popped off headshot after headshot. She could hear Rick shouting for them to stop but it was too late, they were out and there was too many of them to simply herd back in. If it wasn't for the chain on the door keeping the doors closed enough so that only a couple of walkers could come out at a time, they would have been overwhelmed.
When they stopped firing, Patricia, Hershel, Beth and Maggie all cried as they stared in shock at the pile of bodies now laying in front the barn. Abby angrily shoved her pistol back into its holster, she wanted to beat the crap out of Shane but now was not the time. Abby walked over to where Carl and Lori sat on the ground crying beside Carol and Sophia.
"Get him out of here, Lori." Abby said softly, then looked at Carol. "You two should leave too."
Out of the corner of her eye, Abby saw Beth rush forward and heard Rick say. "Don't!" Lori, Carl, Carol and Sophia all left as Abby turned to see Beth running over to a particular corpse then gingerly push one off of it and turned it over, unfortunately it wasn't dead and instantly reached up to grab on to her hair.
Everyone rushed forward, grabbed Beth and pulled her away from what Abby assumed was her mother. They all started scrambling like chickens with its head cut of, trying to figure out how to kill it but Abby shouted. "MOVE!" And they all moved aside while she stepped forward and knelt down beside it. It reached out for her but she gathered the woman's reaching hands into one of hers, pulled out her knife and quickly thrust the blade into its ear, the body finally stopped squirming under Abby's grasp. She then gently put the hands down on its stomach, like she'd seen in funerals and closed the eyes.
"Thank you!" Beth sobbed.
Abby stood up and put a gentle hand on her shoulder as Hershel held his daughter tight. "This shouldn't have happened, your mother deserved to treated with respect. I'm so sorry."
"Thank you." Hershel said also then turned and walked off with his daughters and Patricia.
"Where you goin'?" Shane asked as Hershel walked off but Rick intercepted him.
"Hey, you've done enough!" Rick growled at him. "And what the hell happened to your face." Finally noticing Shane's bloody nose.
"Your psycho ass sister happened." Shane spat at Rick.
"He kind of deserved it." Glenn said then turned to follow the Greene's.
T-Dog stepped forward and put himself between Rick and Shane, the air around everyone was tense and it looked like a fight was about to break out between her brother and Shane and T-Dog was going to keep the peace.
"I think everyone needs to just stop, go off and cool down. Fighting amongst ourselves is just gonna get us killed." T-Dog reasoned.
"As much as I'd like to bash this asshole's face in more, T-Dog's right. Infighting will only get us killed." Abby agreed.
"The only one's who are fighting are you three." Andrea growled.
Abby glared at her but turned back to her brother then tugged on his arm. He let her pull him away as the two of them walked off to find his family.
By the middle of the day, they had buried or burned the dead. Daryl and several of their group had dug graves for the Greene's family members, then collected the remaining dead into the back of the half ton and drove them into a field to burn the corpses. Hershel was very upset with the days events and had barely said a word to Rick let alone anyone else in their but had made it very clear that he wanted Shane gone and Abby didn't blame him, she'd be angry too.
A few hours after the dead had been buried, Beth had collapsed while washing dishes. Maggie with the help of Glenn, had brought her sister into the lower level room that they had housed Carl in when he was injured but when they went to find Hershel, he was no where's to be found. After a short discussion, after finding an empty flask in Hershel's room, they figured Hershel must've gone to the local bar to drink himself into oblivion, so Rick and Glenn decide to go into town to fetch him.
Abby had wanted to go too but Rick insisted she stay to keep Shane in line and everyone safe while he was gone. So, she stayed and tried to comfort the poor, catatonic Beth. She got up and left when Patricia, Lori and Andrea all entered to examine her, so she decided to get some fresh air.
Near the end of the day, Daryl finally sought her out. She was sitting in the stables, on an overturned grain bucket, watching as the horse munched on their hay, while making herself useful cleaning tack with some glycerine soap she'd found in the tack room. He walked up to one of the horse and petted its nose when it turned to greet him.
"You know you have quite the temper." He said mildly while he rubbed the horses nose.
Abby chuckled. "Just when I don't like people…mostly. I had gotten good at controlling it but I guess recent events undid that training."
Daryl made a grunting sound that she couldn't quite interpret. After petting the horse for a few more minutes, he finally turned and grabbed another empty grain bucket, flipped it over and sat down on it.
"Thought you were avoiding me." Abby said finally.
"Why'd I do that?" Daryl asked genuinely confused.
"Cause of what Shane said this morning." She certainly felt like he was avoiding her, she hadn't really seen him all day.
Daryl shrugged. "Don't care what he thinks, jus' been busy."
"And yet you got mad." She pointed out.
"Cause he was man handling you!" He hissed at her.
"Well I kind started it." Abby said as she looked him over. "You're not exactly healed yet, shouldn't doin' shit like that."
"I ain't no pussy! I don't care if you swung at him first, a real man don't hit or rough up a woman, don't care how well she's trained." Daryl stared at the ground angrily. "As for his dumbass comment 'bout me and you; I ain't stupid enough to think a woman like you'd ever take interest in a man like me, beyond a friendship."
Abby frowned. "Why the hell not?" She asked almost sounding angry.
He looked up at her surprised by her tone of voice. "You're much too good for me, I'm just trash compared to you."
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Abby growled as she put the tack she'd been cleaning down as she got up then walked up to Daryl and forcing his face to look up at her. "You, Daryl Dixon, are as good of a man as any! You certainly ain't trash! If I hadn't lost Martin two weeks ago, I'd more than interested."
Daryl's face turned beat red as he abruptly stood up and marched off, then stopped half way to the door and turned to march back, looking like he was ready to get mad. "Are you messin' with me?" He growled at her.
Abby's legs closed the gap without her consent, it was like someone had taken control of her body, then reached up, pulled his face down to hers and kissed him. It was a chaste kiss at first but he tasted so good, that she went in for a second much deeper kiss.
Abby abruptly ended the kiss suddenly realizing what she was doing and took a step back, Daryl's hands sliding off her hips. "Sorry I just kinda jumped you." She said as she licked her lips.
Daryl opened his mouth several times to say something but nothing came out at first. Finally, he frowned. "'kay yer gonna have to help me out here. I dunno what to make out of this."
"Right. Me neither." Abby replied. She was now in the middle of an internal struggle. She was pretty sure she liked Daryl, more than a friend but she wasn't sure if she was ready for more than friendship and yet that kiss had been amazing. Martin never made her feel like that, ever. In fact, she'd known many more men who'd made her feel more then her husband did, she'd married the man because she was scared of being a lone and thought her parents would've liked her to marrying a man like him.
"That ain't helpful." He growled.
"I'm not jerking you around, I swear. I like you Daryl, more than a friend but…" She faded off uncertain what to say.
But Daryl relaxed as he seemed to get it. "But yer not ready for more." He nodded his head. "That's fine, I get it. I'll be here when ya are." He turned and started away then stopped and looked over his shoulder. "For the record, that was helluva kiss." Then walked off.
Abby followed him a little way and watched Daryl walk off into a field then plunk himself down on what looked like the remains of a fireplace and started whittling away at some pieces of wood that were leaning against the hearth. She stood there watching him from the stable door for several long minutes before deciding to return to the house and check in again on Beth.
Abby entered to room and found that the girl still lay in a catatonic state, staring blankly at the roof, barely blinking. Beside her, Maggie sat holding her sisters hand and staring at her with a worried expression. Abby sat in a second chair beside Maggie and rubbed her back.
"Your sister will be fine, she just needs some time." Abby said softly.
"Her heart is racing and she's getting a fever, she needs Daddy!" She said sadly.
"They ain't back yet?" Abby asked with a frown.
Suddenly Abby heard, "Auntie? Auntie! Are you in here?" Carl called.
Abby got up and left the room. "Over here, kiddo!" She called to him.
He walked over to her and looked up at her. "Dad's still gone and I can't find mom, so I was gonna ask you if I could help Jimmy with some of the chores. He's gonna feed the chickens and collect eggs and stuff. Can I help?"
Abby tapped the brim of the old sheriff's hat that Rick had given him. "Sure, thing Sheriff. Just be careful of your wound and don't leave the sight of the house with out letting me know, okay?"
Carl grinned. "Okay." He started to trot off but she frowned and called after him.
When he stopped and looked back at her, she asked. "When was the last time you saw your mom?"
"This afternoon, shortly after Beth collapsed. Why?" Carl asked looking suddenly worried.
"No reason, just thought I should check in with her. Don't worry, I'll find her." Abby winked at him and smiled, trying to reassure the boy. It seemed to work as he smiled at her, then turned and trotted off.
Abby returned to the room and poked her head in. "Hey have you seen Lori?" She asked Maggie.
Maggie shook her head. "No, not since earlier this afternoon."
Abby frowned and left the house. She went quietly to everyone and asked if they'd seen Lori, when they answered no, she told them to not let Carl know his mother was missing. Andrea had mentioned that she'd been worrying about Rick and had asked her to look in on Carl for her. Finally, she walked up to where Daryl was still, whittling on a piece of wood.
"Hey." She greeted him, he looked up and smirked at her as he nodded his head, although the smirk looked slightly strained. "Have you seen Lori?"
Like everyone else, he shook his head. "She came to me an' asked me to fetch Rick, shortly after the girl collapsed. I was a little pissed at the time and told her to do it herself or ask someone else…" He paused then sighed. "I wasn't very nice 'bout it. She missin'?"
"It would seem that way." Abby rubbed her face in frustration.
Daryl pointed to where the cars were parked. "There's a car missin'. I imagine she got stupid an' went herself." Abby cursed and marched away, heading in the direction of the newer SUV. "Hey!" Daryl called as he ran after her. "You goin' to look for her?"
"Of course, I am!" Abby called over her shoulder as she opened the driver side door. "She's either lost in the back roads which, quite frankly is a real possibility with her, or something worse has happened."
"Then I'm comin' and I'm drivin'. Jus' let me grab a shotgun." He said as he trotted off towards his tent.
Abby sighed as she walked around then climbed in the passenger seat and waited for Daryl to come back. He took much longer than he should have but when he finally did climb into the driver seat, he also carried her sniper rifle. Abby cocked an eyebrow as he shoved them into the back seat.
"Thought it might be useful, you never know." Daryl said with a shrug as he started the car.
They drove off the Greene property and sped down the dirt road as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. After about fifteen minutes of driving, they found a car over turned on the road and a walker reaching inside with a second approaching the car. Daryl slammed on the brakes a short distance away and the two jumped out of the vehicle, running to the car. Abby went straight for the one still shuffling towards the car while Daryl ran straight to the one that was reaching in side.
Suddenly, as Daryl grabbed his walker's shirt, Lori screamed in terror. Daryl quickly wrenched it back, dislodging it from the car as Abby quickly dispatched her walker. As soon as Daryl's walker was dislodged, he thrust his big hunting knife into it skull and it collapsed on to the ground.
"Lori?" Abby called quietly as she looked into the car. On the ground, Lori was working her way out of her seat and looked up at her when Abby called. Abby walked to the back window and tapped on it to get Lori's attention. When she looked back, Abby said. "Cover your face, I'm gonna break the window!"
Lori nodded as she stood up and turned away. Daryl stepped up beside her with shotgun in hand and handed her, her rifle and they counted to three and struck the window as hard as they could with the butt of their guns, instantly giving way with the force. Abby reached inside to grab Lori's hand and helped Lori out of the car.
"You okay?" Abby asked as she inspected Lori in the headlights of their still running vehicle.
"Yeah. Just looked down for a moment at the map and I hit a walker." Lori responded.
Daryl shook his head in exasperation, to which Abby looked over at him and glared at him. When she looked back at Lori, Abby grabbed her arm and directed her back to their waiting vehicle. "Let's get you back home." Abby said as they walked along.
Lori stopped. "No, I need to find Rick!" Abby sighed. "Please Abby, its dark and they ain't back yet, somethings happened!"
Abby looked back at Daryl, who just shrugged at her unspoken question. He'd basically do whatever she wanted him to. Abby sighed as she conceded to Lori's demand. "Alright, we'll go but you stay in the car and do whatever we say, you hear?"
"Yes, I promise!" Lori replied solemnly.
"You, got a gun?" Daryl asked in irritation.
Lori pulled out a pistol and a knife. "I'm not as stupid as you think, Dixon." She snapped at him.
Daryl just scoffed as he turned to walk back to the driver side door and climbed in side, slamming the door behind him. Abby rubbed Lori's back as they walked back to the car as well. Once they were all inside, Daryl took off once more, speeding down the road. As the reached the edge of town, Daryl slowed to a crawl then they heard several gun shots as they slowly rolled along.
Daryl immediately pulled over, parking beside a business and turned off the car. Abby turned to Lori in the backseat as Daryl exited the vehicle. "Daryl and I are gonna go check that out on foot. You get in the driver seat and wait here, we may need to make a quick exit."
"Okay." She replied.
They both climbed out and Lori went to the driver side and climbed back inside, while Daryl and Abby slunk quietly down the street. The two quickly ducked into a back alley as two men appeared, guns pointed towards a bar. Instantly, Abby knew her brother was in trouble. She grabbed Daryl's arm and whispered into his ear.
"I'm gonna get onto the roof, put this scope to use." She said. "If there are more, try and bring them into my sights but don't do anything to get yerself killed."
"Ain't you glad I grabbed it?" He whispered back into her ear.
Abby smirked and kissed him on the cheek before turning down the alley and climbing up a fire escape. She had just barely made it too the ledge when a shotgun went off in the back alley when she looked down her scope, she saw a man scramble back away from the door. Out of the corner of her eye she saw another man on the roof across from the bar with his rifle aimed at the front door, while Daryl moved in on the only remaining man on the street, in front of the bar.
Abby did a quick survey of the street but saw no other men, so she lined the man on the roof up in her sights. Abby paused when she saw the man more clearly, who turned out to be little more than a boy. Abby sighed, she had to at least disable him, so she took aim at his hip and fired. The boy screamed as he collapsed to the ground, causing the man on the street whirled around to face her direction, only to get a hole blown into his chest by Daryl's shotgun. Abby swung her rifle back to back alley as she heard several shots go off, forcing Daryl to duck behind the building. Suddenly, Glenn skidded into view as he slid behind a giant garbage bin and Hershel's head poked out looking in the opposite direction.
Abby focused in on where Hershel was looking, seeing the man she'd seen earlier, now rolling around on the ground in pain. Daryl poked his head around the corner and nearly got it blown off as Rick stepped out, pistol raised. She heard Daryl yelling at him to hold fire, then she saw her brother let out a sigh of relief. There was a conversation between Daryl, Glenn and Rick, then suddenly Glenn cried out to alert the others as he fired down the alley. When she focused further down the alley again, she saw several walkers moving towards them. The walkers were momentarily distracted by the screaming man laying injured on the ground but Hershel just stood and watched, not moving a muscle to help.
Suddenly another screamed erupted from the street in front of Abby. When she looked over the side, Abby saw the kid crawling down the side of the road, screaming in pain having just fallen from a ladder. Abby finally decided that it was time to get down, so she rushed to the ladder, grabbed the rails placing her bots on either side of the ladder then slid down her boots screeching as she went.
As soon as Abby's feet hit the ground, she ran out into the street, the others coming into view as she rounded the corner of the building. Rick was bent over the boy in the street, motioning for Glenn to help him. The idiot was screaming in terror and possibly pain as walkers started to swarm the street, walking down the street heading towards them, moaning in anticipation. As she approached, she saw Hershel jog down the street to the nearest vehicle and climb inside.
"What're you doing?" Abby asked Rick.
"Yer brother is takin' this dumbass." Daryl growled in irritation.
"What?" Abby asked
"We can't leave him, Abigail!" Rick said. "He's just a kid!"
"I know, that's why he doesn't have a bullet in the head." Abby also growled.
Rick scowled at her. "Get back to yer car. We'll be fine from here." He said as Hershel rolled up in another vehicle.
Abby walked backwards as she watched them load the kid up, then Glenn and Rick climbed into the vehicle as the walkers shuffled within a stone throw, so Abby turned to followed an annoyed Daryl who was slowly moving, waiting for her to focus on the direction they were going. When she did, they both ran full tilt for their vehicle where Lori still waited. When they got to the vehicle, Daryl pulled open the driver's door.
"To the back." He growled at Lori. She rolled her eyes but complied and instantly climbed in the back.
"Where's Rick?" She asked once they were all in the vehicle.
"Right there." Abby said as she indicated headlights that drove by.
Daryl turned the car around and followed the other vehicle out of town. After about a mile, they pulled over so Daryl followed suit. Abby turned to look back at Lori as Daryl got out and approached the other vehicle.
"Stay here." She said then followed after Daryl.
Abby caught up to Daryl as he stepped back from the driver side door. "What's happening?" She asked him as.
"They're gonna blind fold the kid so he don't know where we are." He said simply as Hershel and Rick got out.
Rick glanced at them. "You two continue on." He said as he stepped up to the back door.
"Sure, but just so you know, your pregnant wife decided that it was a good idea to come and get you by herself then somehow managed to crash her car on a deserted road." Abby said as she started backing towards their vehicle.
Rick paused, hand half raised to open the door and looked at her in disbelief. "She what? She's here?"
Abby indicated their vehicle with her thumb. "Yup we originally came out here to find her but she insisted we check on you. She got a bit of a bump on the head and a slit lip but she seems fine otherwise."
Rick shook his head. "Just get her back, we'll talk later."
Daryl was already in the vehicle and practically started driving away before she'd lifted her foot from off of the pavement. Abby glanced at Daryl as she put on her seat belt but he just stared straight a head as he tore down the road at a blistering speed. The sun had started to rise as they finally pulled to a stop, parking once more by their other vehicles. Immediately Carl appeared and ran straight to his mother when she got out the back of the vehicle.
Everyone started asking questions all at once as they emerged from the vehicle but Daryl disappeared passed the shrubbery, heading for his tent. Abby turned to the group and addressed them.
"They should be right behind us." Abby said to them.
"Is dad okay?" Carl asked her.
Abby smiled and patted his cheek. "He's fine."
They all turned as they heard the rumble of an engine then saw the other vehicle appeared on the horizon. Rick pulled to a stop beside the vehicle that Abby and Daryl had driven then they all climbed out. Carl ran up to his father and hugged him tightly, while Rick scolded Lori for leaving the farm on her own. He was interrupted when Dale asked about the kid passed out in the back of the car.
"That's Randall." Glenn answered as he walked towards the front door of the house.
"Beth's awake!" Amy said excitedly as she burst out of the house, nearly running Glenn over.
Hershel sighed in relief. "I'll check on her when I'm done with this young man. Patricia, prepare the shed."
Abby sighed in relief but decided not to go see Beth as Lori, Andrea and Carol were all heading for the house, she'd visit later. So, she wandered off to Daryl's tent. "Daryl?" She called as she approached.
She heard him sigh, then opened the door and flopped back into his bed. "What?" He asked her.
Abby crouched by the entrance. "Are you mad at me?" She asked.
He sighed again. "Not you, jus' getting tired of all this shit. People are gonna be dead in no time at this rate."
Abby asked as she crawled in and sat on the floor. "Whatdya mean?"
"People just runnin' off not thinking of the consequences and causin' trouble fer the rest of us an' I seem to be the one who has to fix other peoples shit." He said in irritation as he fidgeted.
"Well you shouldn't be so damn reliable!" She said with a smirk but Daryl just glared at her in response. So, Abby sighed. "People are still getting used to the way things are right now and most people don't have the survival skills you've got. Hell, most people couldn't start a fire on their own. People are used to going to their nine to five jobs, worrying only about traffic jams and paying bills, finding food in a grocery store and not really having to worry about going hungry if they don't feel like doing something.
"Me, I've been living a dangerous lifestyle for a while so its easier for me to deal with this sort thing but for everyone else, thinking past the next couple of minutes, is difficult." Abby noticed him rubbing his side as she spoke, so she scooted closer. "Let me see." She said waving his hands away from his stomach.
"You ain't no doctor." He said waving her off.
"Got some training, kinda helpful to know how to deal with gunshot wounds and broken limps in the middle of a warzone." She said as she got up on her knees and reached for his shirt.
Daryl didn't stop her hands as she unbuttoned the bottom couple of buttons but had to clear his throat before he protested. "I'm fine, jus' achin' a little. Nothin' I can't handle."
Abby ignored his protest as she pushed his shirt aside then peeled back the bandage carefully. Abby bent closer to look at the wound, which was slightly pink but it didn't look like it was infected and the stitches were still in place. She touched the outer edges of the wound gently causing Daryl's stomach to twitched. When she looked up at his face to see he had his arm thrown over his face and his other hand clenched in a tight fist and pressed into his temple, the muscles in his jaws flexing as he clenched his jaw.
It suddenly occurred to her what she was doing to him, touching his bare skin. She was alone in a tent with a man who'd essentially confessed he liked her and she'd all but stuck her tongue down his throat less then twelve hours before. Daryl was a good man but he was a man and he was very aroused by her, as his tented pants now indicated, despite his best effort to control himself.
Abby put the bandage back into place, paused for a moment shocked by the sight, it had been a long time since a man had responded to her so strongly. She turned around, crawled to the door and closed the tent door. When Daryl heard the zipper, he looked up and was shocked to find her still in his tent. "What…?" He started but stared wide eyed as she crawled on top of him, straddling him between her leg.
She grabbed his belt buckle and unbuckled it as she bent down and kissed him. He moaned when she finally freed the buckle, undid the button on his pants and slid her hands down his pants to grab his manhood. He suddenly grabbed her hand with one of his and pushed her shoulder back with the other.
"What're you doin'?" He asked in a hoarse whispered.
"I haven't had sex in five years." She panted as she craned her neck to try and continue kissing.
"Wait, what? Fer real?" He asked as he looked at her in disbelief. "But you were married!" He said shocked.
"He barely touched me." She replied as she tried to push his hand of her shoulder with her free hand so she could bend over to resume kissing him but he held her back.
"But you said…" Daryl started.
"I know crazy, right?" She grabbed the hand that was holding her back more firmly while her other was still down the front of his pants. "Please, Daryl." She begged pressing her hand down against his grasp and brushing against his manhood.
Daryl grunted and tighten his grip and pulled her hand back. "I don't wanna take advantage of ya'." He said firmly.
"If anything, I'm takin' advantage of you." She said as she smirked at him and he groaned. "I know what I'm doing Daryl and I ain't gonna regret it later."
"Yer gonna give me whip lash, woman." He said as he finally let her hand and shoulder go then pulled her face down and reached to pull at the button of her pants with his free hand.
So? What'd you think. I've thought about writing a proper smut chapter but its not really my thing. I might try one day. just not today. Reviews=Love
-Shockra