They walked down the step and he followed her lead, grasping her small hand tightly in his. They started off in the same direction as they had walked last night to get her stuff from that house she'd stayed in. As they passed the fourth house on their right, Maddie stopped and waved. Looking over, Daryl saw the guy who had "recruited" his group-Aaron. Aaron waved back. Maddie stepped over onto the grass nearer the porch and looked up at Aaron and smiled.
"Aaron, I expect you already been introduced to Daryl here since you brought his group in," she said. Aaron nodded, gazing quizzically at Daryl and then at their hands clasped together. "Well," she continued, "I knew Daryl from back before. He and his brother were friends with Marshall before I ever met any of them. They grew up in the same town together, that kind of stuff." Aaron nodded and smiled broadly.
"It's nice you've found each other again," he said. Daryl gazed at him sharply, trying to see if Aaron was being a smart ass or something. But Aaron seemed genuinely pleased at Maddie's statement. "You'll have to bring him over to dinner sometime," he continued and laughed. Looking at Daryl directly he said, "she's not the only good cook around here," he teased and tipped his head at Maddie.
Maddie stuck her tongue out and giggled. "Well, best be on my way to the salt mine," she said as she pulled Daryl with her back toward the street. Aaron waved goodbye as they started back toward the bakery. After a few minutes of silence, Daryl looked over at her.
"You like him?" he asked. Maddie knew he was really asking if she trusted Aaron. She nodded and squeezed his hand again.
"Yes, very much so. He and Eric were so kind and helpful with Marshall, and have really been there for me since he passed." She paused thoughtfully. "I want them to come with us when we leave," she continued. "Marshall thought they were good people-kind hearted, but not the best at defending themselves if there was a really bad situation. He talked to me about asking them to help us with the get away stash, but before he could talk to them he got real bad. I decided to wait before I said anything. I guess I was just trying to work up my nerve in case they tried to talk me out of it." Daryl nodded.
"Do you think they would tell on us?" he asked.
"No, I don't think they would. As long as we didn't cause a commotion or ruin things for anyone who wants to stay, I think they would keep their mouths shut and act dumb about it. At least that's what I hope would happen."
They turned right onto Poplar Street and he saw this was like a main shopping street. There was some kind of clothes store, what looked like a diner, a small grocery and then the bakery. It was a tiny building wedged between two larger shops. There was one large plate glass window to the right of the door. There was no display shelves or anything inside by the window. Maddie opened the door and they stepped inside the small lobby area. There was one glass bakery case and a small table beside it where he guessed she wrote orders or bagged pastry for customers. He turned and looked back at the door.
"You didn't lock it up?" he was frowning slightly.
She shook her head. "No. Nobody locks anything up here except the guns and the food supplies. I go every morning to get the supplies I need for any orders I have, and that's a block over. But everything else is left unlocked." Daryl shook his head. "Well, no one has any money. Nothing of value really. They emphasize that we're all safe here, and that means everyone should feel comfortable sleeping with their doors unlocked." Daryl grumbled at that. Maddie laughed and nodded. "Yeah, Marshall said that was bullshit. He locked our bedroom and at first pushed something in front of it just in case. He said folks were murdered back in the day when everyone slept with their doors unlocked. He said safety has always been an illusion and that he had never indulged in it before so he sure wasn't doing so now with all the evil out wandering the roads. He said he didn't think no matter how thick any walls were that he'd ever feel truly safe again." Daryl nodded in agreement to that. He followed her into the back area where there were two double ovens, a sink and a cabinet scattered with mixing bowls and measuring cups and that type of stuff. There was a heavy metal door to the left of the cabinet. Maddie opened it and turning to him handed him a brick. "Can you go prop the front door open? It gets stuffy in here and if both doors are open I get a pretty good breeze most days." Daryl took the brick and went and propped the door open. When she propped the back door open he noticed a slight breeze started up right away. He imagined it probably did get pretty stuffy in here once she got the ovens hot. He'd have to find something to cover up the front window a little to cut down the light and heat coming through.
As he walked slowly around the room, mentally inventorying things he needed to get her to make her more comfortable in here. Maddie pulled a notebook over and scanned the page and then tore a page out and began writing a list.
He walked over to her and looking over her shoulder he saw she was writing a list of ingredients. "Want me to go with you to help you carry that stuff?" he whispered in her ear. His breath on her neck made her jerk a little and she tightened her grip on the pencil she held. He smirked at her reaction. She put her hand on his arm and shoved him a little toward the lobby.
"No sir. If you stay here around me I will burn the damn place down because I won't be paying any attention to what I'm doing. You get outta here and let me alone for a bit." She laughed at the look on his face. "Go on now, find some trouble to get into. And I'm not staying late to make up my time because after all I am the boss. So you've got until 3 to get into trouble until you come back and walk me home." He brightened at her use of the word home. He leaned over and tried to kiss her mouth, but she stuck her hand in front of his face and pinched his nose playfully. "Don't try to distract me buster," she said with a mock scowl on her face, but she couldn't hold it and burst out laughing again. Then she threw her arms around his neck and planted her plummy lips on his quickly. She let go and turned him around toward the door with a slight shove to his ass. "Go on now, lover. You can pay me back for all this neglect later tonight." She waved him off as he frowned at her.
Stopping at the doorway he called back to her in his gruffest voice, "Yeah, well you said it girlie. I aim to make you pay for this poor treatment for a fact." She blew him a kiss and he shook his head and walked out the door whistling. Maddie finished her list and headed off to the supply center.
As Daryl made his way back he suddenly realized he was whistling. What the hell? He never did that-not since he was young and Merle had told him he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, better not quit his day job one day when he'd been whistling some stupid song he'd heard on the radio. After that he'd been too embarrassed to whistle or sing in front of anyone. Occasionally when he'd been alone out in the woods he'd whistle a bit, if he'd had a good day hunting. But now here he was, walking down the street in broad daylight whistling like some lovestruck idiot. He shook his head in disbelief. Good Lord, he'd just seen her yesterday-hadn't even been twenty-four hours and here he was acting like some dumbass high school kid. He sighed. If this is how those kids back in high school had felt, he understood why now they had always looked so happy and he felt a pang of regret that feeling this good had been out of his grasp until now. Straightening up and picking up his stride, he vowed to himself that he would try his damnedest to not take this happiness for granted no matter what came their way.
As he passed by Aaron's house he saw Aaron was still on the porch. He waved his hand to wave and Aaron motioned to him to come over. He groaned internally. He wanted time alone to think about Maddie. But since Maddie seemed to be friendly with Aaron, he tried not to scowl and walked over to the porch stairs. He looked up and nodded. "Hey," he tried not to sound too cross.
Aaron nodded back at him. "Hi again Daryl. Listen, I know this is sudden but I wondered if you could take a look at something for me." He came down the steps toward Daryl and Daryl took a step back, raising his eyebrow in question. "Follow me over here to the garage," Aaron said over his shoulder as he led the way to the garage. He opened the door slowly and peering in Daryl saw tables with all kinds of –what? Looked like bike parts, car parts? He couldn't tell. He stepped into the garage after Aaron and looked around. There was something under a sheet, maybe a bike? He looked over at Aaron and Aaron spread his hands out. "I found an old bike and then started scavenging for parts whenever I was out on runs," he explained. He pulled the sheet off and revealed a bike-or what could be a bike if someone who knew what they were doing restored it. Daryl gauged the level of disrepair of the bike and looked over the two tables full of parts.
"Mmmm, ya got enough here for nearly two bikes," he murmured as he continued to look around at the parts.
Aaron nodded. "Yes, I want to eventually have two complete bikes. I need to find another one that's not in as bad a shape as that one there." Daryl nodded and stood holding a headlight, turning it over in his hands.
"Why'd you get all this if you didn't know how to build it?" he asked, his mind already turning over the possibilities of the bike.
"I was hoping someone here would have worked on cars or bikes back in the day," Aaron explained. "No one I met was interested."
Daryl snorted in disgust and kicked one of the tables with his boot. "yeah well that don't surprise me. I only been here a couple days and I can see that the folks round here weren't ever the type to drink a beer under the shade tree and fuck around with some old car or bike." He shrugged. "Yeah, I'll help ya. Ain't got nothin' else to do right now." Aaron nodded.
"Daryl, I asked Deana not to give you a job," he started. Daryl half growled.
"What the fuck ya do that for?' he snarled. He slammed the headlight on the table and started to turn around and walk out of the garage.
"Wait, I had a reason," Aaron said quickly. Daryl stopped and turned back. "I told Deana that I wanted you to start going out on recruitments with me."
Daryl raised his eyebrow. "What?" he answered, confused.
"Look, you know your stuff. You seem to have an instinct for people, you know how to survive. Your group told Deana you had been the main reason they had survived out there. It was a group effort, but you were the one who took the most risks in going out and canvassing areas, clearing the prison, everything." Daryl shook his head in disagreement. "It's true," Aaron insisted. "You may not realize it, but you're very important to your friends." Daryl snorted at the word friends in embarrassment. "Yes, they are your friends. You've all been through some really tough times together, lost family members and mourned them together. What you have now is stronger than any family blood tie. And I value that. I think you could help us find the right people to join us here, and more importantly find the bad people before they find us." Daryl looked at Aaron, searching his face for the truth. At last he nodded. He didn't believe all that Aaron had said, all that crap about what the others supposedly had said about him-but if he and Maddie were going to plan an escape route in case of trouble this would give him the perfect excuse for going out and canvassing the area as well as adding more supplies to their hiding place.
"Aight," he said. "When ya wanna start?"
Aaron smiled in relief. "We can wait a few days. Let you and Maddie catch up some." Daryl looked at him sharply, thinking he was being a smartass. Aaron held his palms up. "No, I'm not being a jerk. Eric and I honestly like Maddie. And we were very upset when Marshall passed away. I'm genuinely glad you two have found each other again-she needed someone." When Daryl shook his head, Aaron continued. "Daryl, even the strongest person needs someone they can unburden themselves to and can trust completely. I hope you and Maddie can be that for each other. She's a remarkable girl."
Daryl nodded and started looking at the parts on the tables in embarrassment. He'd never had any praise heaped on him like he'd had the last few days. Hell, his folks and Merle had made a point of telling him what a loser he was and that no one in their right mind would want to have him around unless he could be useful to them in some way. Even his mother had treated him like he was a burden. When his pa had gotten drunk and beat on him after wearing his ma out, she had never put a hand out to stop it. Afterwards, when he'd be laying in the bed trying not to cry at the stinging of his back she would creep in and pat him on the head and tell him that it had been his fault-he knew better than to upset his old man when he'd be drinking. No sympathy or comfort from her, ever. After a short while he learned not to expect it from anyone. And the older he got he found ways to make himself stronger so that when the old man did try to hit him he could deflect the blows until he could get out the door and escape. He spent many a cold wet night out in the woods waiting until his father passed out to avoid getting hit. After his mother died –burnt herself and the house up smoking one night when she was drunk-his father's drunken rages happened more often and were more violent. At fifteen Daryl had left home permanently, after his father had pointed a shotgun at him one night and told him he was a mistake, no one had wanted him and they would all have been better off if he had never been born. Daryl hadn't thought his father could hurt him any worse than he already had, but that night had proved him wrong. He had packed what little clothes he had while his father drunkenly waved the gun at him, threatening to kill him if he didn't get out of the damn house. He had spent the night in the woods, his chest burning with the pain of what was left of his heart breaking completely. He never went back home. When Merle got out of jail a few months later, he didn't even bother to look for Daryl. By then Daryl was working on cars and bikes in a shitty garage owned by some other trash on the bad side of town. His pay was a place to sleep out of the weather and a few meals a week. Sometimes if they had a busy week he might get a little money. He slept in the back office of the shop on a cot and because they wore uniforms –such as they were-he was able to keep what few clothes he had from turning into rags from constant wear. The owner's wife seemed to feel sorry for him, and so she let him use their mudroom shower a couple of times a week. Otherwise he rinsed off in the station bathroom sink.
Eventually Merle had sought him out and would come by some nights to torment him and try to bully him into going with him to collect money for meth or some other shit he would be dealing. He thought Daryl had muscled up enough by now he could use him as "muscle" in case there was any trouble. Daryl would buckle under and do what his brother told him most of the time. He felt that as bad as his luck had ever been, he had never been with Merle when he got caught by the cops and arrested for the stupid shit he was always doing. His had drifted along like that for years. He eventually worked in a slightly better shop where he made enough money to get a tiny apartment in the crappier part of town. It was basically one small room with a tiny kitchen and even tinier bathroom-but it was his. He had no furniture, so slept on the floor on a sleeping bag until he found an old sofabed on someone's treelawn for the garbage. He had a beater truck by then, if he hadn't been a mechanic he would never have kept it running. He hauled the sofa back to the apartment after inspecting it to make sure no rodents or bugs were in it. Every once in a while Merle would come banging on the door with some drunk slut he wanted to fuck, and would bully Daryl into letting them use the couch while Daryl sat outside and smoked. Sometimes they would pass out and Daryl would be outside in the weather all night, disgusted with himself that once again he had caved in to his brother.
By the time he'd met Maddie, he had a slightly better apartment with a real bed and when Merle crashed overnight he made him sleep on the old sofabed. That had been his life when Maddie had walked into it-or rather, into Marshall's life. He knew that a girl like Maddie would never have given him the time of day before the world went to shit no matter that her boyfriend had been Marshall, a kind of friend of his and Merle's. No, he knew that once Marshall died she would have left that town and gone back up to Michigan where her family was and he would never have seen her again. She would've gone back to the country clubs and dinner parties and all that shit she had hated. She wouldn't have been happy, he didn't believe, but she would have gone back to what she knew instead of staying in the crappy little farm town by herself. He sighed a little sadly. It was pathetic that the only reason he'd gotten to be with a girl like Maddie was because the world had gone to Hell.