Chapter 10.
About a half hour later I watched Carol up on the bridge with Axel, talking and setting up a makeshift barricade. Carol had a gun in her hand; it looked like she was showing him how to use it. How bad of a criminal could he had been if he didn't know how to use to damn gun? I shook my head and glanced back over at Rick again, what the hell had happened?
It was hours later, from the way the sun had lowered in the sky I could tell it had to be around 3. Carl had come up in the tower with me for about an hour, he had a sandwich saying that Beth made it for me so I had some energy. I was sure that if this didn't happen to the world, Beth would have become some type of doctor. She was always looking out for me, even though she was younger. I ate it slowly, making sure to savor it because I didn't know when the next time I would get something like this would be.
It was around 4 when I left the tower, seeing Michonne out by the overturned school bus. It was a good of a time as any to introduce myself, if she was going to be here and if she planned on staying for a while… maybe she could be an asset somehow down the road.
"I didn't introduce myself earlier" I spoke up as she turned to see who was walking her way "I'm Aurora"
"I know who you are" She said and I nodded slowly.
"Oh good so I didn't have to introduce myself, here I was thinking to myself should I come over and talk to you because what if she didn't know who I was…" I said sarcastically and it wasn't meant to make her laugh, but she did under her breath very little.
"Michonne" She said as she extended her hand and I placed my hand in hers and shook it gently before pulling it away and stuffing it back into my jeans pocket. "What happened to your wrists?" She asked after a moment and I shrugged.
"Had an accident, I'm a little clumsy and there is a lot of things to trip over, especially when you're running from walkers" She nodded and glanced around the yard as I leaned myself up against the side of the dark gray bus. "So uh, where are you from?" I asked her, trying to start an easy conversation.
"Everywhere" She stated vaguely and I rolled my eyes, looking away from her "You?"
"Everywhere" I told her, crossing my arms over my chest casually. I wasn't going to share if she wasn't, and from the way she looked it didn't look like there was a type of thing as an easy conversation with her. "I'm going back on watch, nice chat" I told her as she mumbled something under her breath while I walked back through the grass to the tower a few yards away.
The first shot rang out just as I got to the bottom door of the tower and I quickly pressed my back against the door, pulling my gun from the back of my jeans and pushing the safety off. I heard a scream and then more gunshots off in the distance to my back. Holy shit what the hell was happening?
Sliding my feet slowly to the corner of the towers base, I glanced around the yard, not seeing anyone and then I took a step from the tower and a gunshot flew past my side as I scrambled back in hiding. God dammit I was stuck. I pulled the door open and slid myself in and jogged up the steps as the gunfire stopped after just a few extra shots. I pressed myself against the closed door and looked out of the small window on the top at the yard to see someone in black clothing lying on his side on the pavement, Axel.
Then I heard Maggie voice and the gunshots started again. Taking in a deep breath, I pushed the door open and got down on my front, crawling on my forearms so I was the lowest to the floor as possible and spotted where the gunfire was coming from. How in the world did a guy get up in the tower across the yard?
Pushing my hands out, I got my eye level and shot his way and he turned his attention from Maggie, Beth, and Carl to me as I shot his way again just as he started shooting my way and the gunfire stopped. I adjusted my eyes and saw that he was down and focused my attention on who started all of this. There was another minute of gunfire Rick's way and then it stopped again to complete silence.
I crawled until I was at the other corner of the tower and saw a truck with a man holding an automatic weapon in one hand, which had to be the man that Rick had told me about. Before I could fire a shot his way a trailer truck speeding towards the locked entrance caught my attention. It turned the corner and then plowed right through the gates and into the yard a few yards from where I was. It turned in the grass and then parked, the gate to the back of it falling to the ground as walkers started to come out.
I started to aim and shoot, not worrying about if I got it in the head, as long as it was down for now. By the time I got 4 of them, my gun was empty and I pushed it into the back of my jeans again as I ran to the tower door and started to jog down the steps. Once I was outside, I saw Hershel down on the ground in the grass and he looked over at me and nodded. I grew impatient as the gunshots from the others continued to ring out and I looked to the side again to see that the truck was pulling away, that's when I started to run towards the walkers.
Pulling the long bladed knife from my belt, I started to push and pull the blade into walker's heads as quick as possible. Seeing that Michonne was doing the same with me once one of the walkers I had hit in the chest and was done on the ground grabbed my ankle, she pushed her samurai sword into its head and I nodded once at her and kept on doing my own work.
When I heard the sound of a car, I turned and was ready to get to the ground but the Silver showed in the sunlight telling me that it was Glenn coming back from his run. Seeing that Michonne was holding her own, I jogged towards a few stragglers headed towards Hershel and helped him stand as Glenn pulled the truck our way and helped us into the truck and I stuck my fingers into the side of my mouth and gave out a loud whistle as Michonne came running over and hopped into the back seat and I slid in next to her and shut the door.
Once we were safe on the other side of the locked fence, I got out of the car and went to the fence to search for Rick. "Does anyone see him?" Carl asked while he looked with me and I put my hand down on his shoulder and squeezed it gently. He looked up at me and sighed deeply.
"I saw him out there, he was ducking by that small walk bridge over the stream" He nodded and I slid my hand away from his shoulder. "Is everyone okay?" I asked and looked around at the group, some of them nodding. Carol caught my attention when she put her hand on my upper back.
"You're bleeding a lot, let's get you patched up" She said as I looked down to see that the white bandage that was just put on earlier was soaked with blood and it was dripping down my wrist and fingers and onto the pavement at my feet. I wasn't entirely sure if all of that was my blood, but from the feeling of tingles shooting through my fingers I wouldn't bet money on it. I pushed my knife into the side of my belt and walked with her back into the prison after she grabbed a rag and drenched it with rain water.
"… I put my family's life in your hands, so get your head clear and do something…" I had never heard Hershel raise his voice like that and frankly when he did, it startled me. Rick was slipping, and now I could see it. He didn't know which way was up, or which way was down. I swallowed hard as I glanced at Merle again before turning into my cell and sitting down on the edge of the mattress and readjusted the small bundle that had been sleeping against my shoulder until Hershel's outburst.
I laid her in my lap and put my fingers over her small tummy and tickled her as she squirmed around, making a little laughing noise. She looked so much like Lori, her eyes, and definitely her fair skin. "You're pretty good with her" I nodded and smiled as I brought her back up into my chest before standing up and handing her back to Beth.
"My cousin Alex had a baby, babysat a few times for her when I was a teenager" I brushed my clean thumb against Judith's cheek before pulling the hat down over her ear. Looking at Beth's face, she smiled and nodded.
"I know it's not like my duty or another… but whenever you want to take care of her I don't mind" I nodded.
"Maybe once these are healed" I motioned towards my wrists and she frowned a bit, nodding.
"How are you feeling? Daddy said you ripped your stitches killing those walkers" She started to rock Judith in her arms as I sat back down on the mattress.
"Yeah, it's not a big deal I just need to be more careful" I glanced behind her as Daryl came into view, stopping when he saw that Beth was in the cell with me.
"I'll uh come back later" He mumbled and started to walk away and I let out the breath that had seemed to get stuck in my wind pipe.
"No, its fine, I gotta put Judith down" She walked out of the cell, giving me the eyes to talk to him and I rolled my own back at her. He stood in the threshold, leaning his left side up against the wall as he looked me over while I glared at him.
"So how was your little vacation with your big brother?" I asked him and he sighed, scratching the back of his head.
"Look I know you're pissed" He started to say
"No I'm not pissed Daryl, I was livid when Rick told me, saying shit to him like I'd understand why you did it" I glared at him
"I ain't doin' this" He said and turned around and walked out from view and I sighed deeply. I took a moment to calm myself down before standing up and walking out of my cell.
"I'm sorry for getting-" I said as he walked up the steps "Daryl" I said his name but he didn't turn around.
"Looks like lovers lane is a bit bumpy" I heard from behind us and that caught Daryl's attention.
"Shut up Merle" He spat at him as I followed Daryl up the steps and to the perch tower. Before Daryl could go somewhere away from me, I grabbed his arm and pulled him in the small room and shut the door, turning my back away from the windows so I didn't need to look at Merle who was staring at us for his own amusement. I had been in the same cell block as him for less than a day and I already hated him more than anything. He was vile, and a disgusting human being.
"I'm sorry for blowing up down there… but you have to see where it's coming from… I was practically dead and when I woke up Rick told me you ran off with Merle"
"He's my brother, you of all fuckin' people should know 'bout that. I thought he was dead, wasn't gonna leave him" He told me as he leaned his back against the wall in front of me, chewing on his thumb nail. He did that when he was in an uncomfortable situation.
"I get it, I know why you did it, and I'd just like to know why you left me here" He looked at me now from his hooded eyes and raised his eyebrow in confusion.
"What?" He asked, pulling his hand away from his mouth and stuffing it into his front pocket. Now it was my time to feel uncomfortable as I shuffled on my feet and pushed myself up to sit on the desk behind me.
"I thought that you and I had some type of understanding, where you go I go, where I go, you go" He blinked a few times still not understanding me "God fucking dammit do I need to spell it out for you ya dumb hick?" I asked him and he sneered at my choice of words, I had only called him that a few times and it seemed to press a button inside of him he didn't like all too much.
"You thought we had somethin'" He said back at me "We ain't got nothin' going on blondie" I swallowed and brushed my hand back through my hair and held onto the end of it by my shoulder.
"So if I left, you'd be fine, is that what you're telling me?" I asked him as I stood up from the desk and wrapped my arms over my chest.
"You ain't leavin' sit back down" He said and I shook my head as he bumped the back of his head against the wall behind him in annoyance.
"Because I know when you decided to leave I wasn't fine, so I'm going to ask again… if I left right now and decided to go out and find my brother, would you be okay with that?" I kept my eyes on his face, his eyes were closed and then he opened them and looked at me.
"I'd go out there and help ya find him if you fuckin' needed to" his voice was low, probably trying to make sure his point had come across.
"Exactly my point Daryl, if you wanted to go and find Merle I would have gone with you but even after you found him, you just left and told Rick to tell me that you were sorry and that I'd understand, that's fucked up" He was about to say something but I took a step forward and he stopped and let me continue "I didn't need an apology I needed you sneaking in here in the middle of the night and grabbing me to take along with you two, I can hold my own Daryl, you know that and I wouldn't have been a nuisance. But what you did was weak, especially after you stayed with me for a few nights just to make sure I was alright" He paused, letting my words sink in before he opened his mouth.
"Don't matter if you were gonna be a fuckin' nuisance, Merle couldn't come back here after what he did"
"But yet he's here now…" I said "You're just making that an excuse, just stop" I pushed my hair back and went to the door but his hand shot out and shut it, his palm by the side of my head. I took in a deep breath and turned around to face him. His eyes were closed again, and he didn't move to take his hand away from the side of my head against the door.
"What Daryl?" I asked him, getting impatient because there was going to be a group meeting soon that we both needed to get to. "What do you want?" His other arm came up to lay his palm flat against the door beside my shoulder, making me trapped there, his feet had shuffled forward as well, bringing him closer to me without me knowing it. "Daryl" I whispered softer this time and he opened his eyes to look at me "What do you want?"
"You" He said lowly and I felt like my heart had stopped beating and then it kicked into overdrive making me lightheaded all of a sudden.
"Excuse me?" I asked him to make sure I heard him correctly, blinking a few times as I lifted a hand up to grip his forearm before my knees gave out from the thumping of my quick heartbeat in my ears.
"I fuckin' want you" He was breathing heavy, I could tell by the way his chest moved up and down quickly before I darted my eyes back to his face. He was staring at me like I was some sort of prey; hunger, and desire spreading over his dark ocean eyes as my grip on his arm tightened. Daryl Dixon wasn't an affectionate person, and he sure as hell didn't say things like 'I fuckin' want you' very often without meaning behind it so I was sort of at a loss for words. I parted my lips and before I could totally comprehend what was happening, his nose was pressed against the side of mine and our lips were centimeters from touching.
His breath was hot against my mouth as he moved one of his hands from the door and pressed it to my cheek before his fingers slid into my hair as did the rest of his hand to rest at the side of my head over my ear. My hand went up to his chest, my palm pressing against the soft gray cloth covering his skin. His eyes looked down and then flickered back to mine.
"What do you want" He nearly growled in a whisper against my lips and I couldn't hold it back anymore as my fingers curled into a fist, gripping the cloth between my fingers and pulling him into me. When his lips touched mine all bets were off, my other hand that had been gripping his forearm went to his ribs as the one against his chest moved up to the side of his neck. I needed to be closer to him, that's all I could think of as his teeth nipped my bottom lip. His hand that was against the wall by my shoulder went to my waist as the blue cloth of the tank top I was wearing was pushed up and I could feel how rough his fingers were.
The door at my back shook twice and then another before we heard Glenn say Daryl's name, which just made Daryl grip my skin at my waist tighter. "Open the damn door, Rick needs you" Glenn said behind the door.
"Busy" Daryl said angrily towards the door as my hand at his ribs moved over his stomach.
"Seriously" Glenn said and banged on the door twice more before Daryl pulled himself away from me reluctantly and took a step back and my hands fell to my sides as I tried to catch my breath.
"Fuckin' dammit" Daryl muttered as I kept my gaze on him, taking one final breath to control myself and took a step away from the door.
"Go" I whispered "I'll be there in a minute" He looked over at me and wiped his thumb against his bottom lip and nodded before unlocking the door and swinging it up.
"Said I was fuckin' busy" I heard him say before he shut the door so I could get myself together. I ran my fingers back through my messed up hair, pulling it down from the ponytail and shook my head.
Holy shit did that just happen? I looked at the closed door and bit down on my swollen bottom lip and let out a short laugh before standing up and walking to the door to meet up with the group.
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