Disclaimer: Not mine, nor will it ever be :(
A/N: Hey i'm back. About time right? I'm so sorry that i have been out of writing for such a long time but school ended and then i had to pack up my apartment and move. I couldnt afford it by myself anymore and couldnt find a roommate so i now live with my 70+ year old grams who actually likes watching The Walking Dead. Score!
A/N2: I love you all and thank you for everyone who is following my story, who reviews and all that fun stuff. You guys are kickass and i would get you all icecream or any food of choice if i could.
Enjoy
Chapter eleven
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~ Natalie & Daryl ~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~
Once Natalie and Daryl had left the vicinity of the camp the two of them walked for a good long while to make sure that they wouldn't be overheard by any of the overly curious campers – well more than likely the kids who wanted to eavesdrop on an adults conversation but some of the adults were just as curious as any of the kids were.
Daryl had his crossbow in hand and at the ready just in case they did end up running into any walkers while they were out in the woods, other than his prized crossbow Daryl also had his hunting knife and his hand gun on his person – there were only so many Walkers he could take out with his crossbow before he ran out of arrows. Natalie on the other hand had her recurve bow slung over one shoulder with a quiver of arrows strapped to her back, and she had her favorite knife which was a long black coconut knife that was a bit longer than her forearm which at the moment was strapped to her leg.
For the most part Natalie loved that she had a badass redneck husband, even when he did act a bit possessive and overprotective (sometimes when he did that Natalie found him kind of hot, adorable and cute all at the same time) but there was no way in hell that she was just going to sit back and let him have all of the fun – she could protect herself just fine. Plus, Natalie did manage to jeep herself and Marlie alive for the last few weeks without Daryl to be there to protect either of them and only had a few minor issues – well okay so there had been a couple incidents that were at ad bit worse than minor but the majority of those were human threats rather than from Walkers.
"Daryl," Natalie said calling up to her husband who was a few feet in front of her and leading the way through the woods. "I know that we've been walking through the woods for at least an hour or so by now." She told him matter of a factly and then ducked under a low tree branch and damn near stumbled over some foliage that was covering some rocks – she liked the outdoors and was pretty adept at it but she was no Daryl. "I think it's safe to stop now. No one can hear us out here."
Glacning over his shoulder at his wife Daryl gave her a blank look before nodding his head forward, silently signaling for her to keep on following him. "I wanna be sure that none of them damn nosey people are abel to be hearin' what we are talkin' about." He said fiercely, too many times has he caught them listening or watching him and Merle who were talking privately and he knew it was because the camp didn't trust their redneck asses. "Only people that need to be hearin' what's being said is you and me."
Natalie gave a barely audible snort of amusement and shook her head at her husband, "You worry too much dearie," she said as she strode up the few feet to be walking besides Daryl. "Not to mention I sincerely doubt that half, or really any of the people back at camp like us enough to go traipsing through the woods, following us through all of the terrain, and not to mention most of them suck at camping, just to hear what we have to say," she said to him with a pointed look. "I mean you and I may be smexy beasts, and the people may be going through withdrawals from having no celebrity gossip magazines but I know we aren't that interesting."
When she said that Daryl looked down at her with a playful glint in his eyes but before Natalie could ask what was on his mind he wrapped his free arm around her waist, pulled her into his chest and swopped down and captured her lips in a quick kiss.
Resting her hand in Daryl's hair Natalie pulled a bit away and looked into her husband's blue eyes, "What was that for?" she questioned.
"You'll always be more interstin' to me than any damn celebrity on TV." Daryl stated and moved his hand from where it was resting just under her shirt to the back of her neck and pulled her head towards him and gently kissed her on the forehead. "Now come on, we still got some walkin' to do." He told her.
At that Natalie stopped where she was and crossed her arms below her chest – when you have big boobs it makes it terribly complicating to try and cross your arms across your chest, and all it really does is make them look just that much bigger.
"Nope, not happenin' Daryl." Natalie said to him with a determined yet stubborn look on her face.
Daryl looked at her, "Nat just a little bit longer," he told her.
When he said that to her Natalie laughed, "Daryl we've been married for damn near six years and have known each other for almost ten I ain't stupid. Your version of a little longer and everyone else's version of a little later are completely different." She said. "I think we're almost to Canada, I can hear the moose call and hey," she said with a smirk on her face. "Maybe we'll be lucky enough to catch one and have some moose burgers. I've heard those are pretty good." She joked to him.
"Oh stop ya complainin' woman," Daryl said and sighed heavily before glancing around where they were stopped at; a few feet away from where they were was a good sized log that looked to be big enough for the two of them to sit on and have their talk. "All right fine, fine. You win this time woman, we'll stop here." He said to her.
Natalie grinned at him and raised a brow, "This time?" she asked rhetorically.
Daryl just rolled his eyes at her, grabbed Natalie's free hand and then dragged her over to the log and gently pushed her down into a seated position and then took a seat opposite of her and with a good six or more inches separating them so he could have a good look at her.
For a couple moments neither of the two said anything; Daryl just patiently sat there with his crossbow laid across his lap and watched all of the expressions that went across Natalie's face while she was thinking. He understood that Natalie needed a few moments to herself so that she could try and calm herself down from the memories that were going on in her head and to try and get everything together and tell Daryl what happened to her and Marlie while they were separated those few weeks.
"Okay," Natalie said after five minutes of silence and looked at Daryl in his grime covered glory. "Daryl there are things that happened that you are not going to like, and more than likely you are going to get pissed off and angry but can you try….just try to keep somewhat calm?" she asked with a hopeful expression on her face.
Natalie loved everything about her husband, even with his faults but this was a conversation that she needed him to be somewhat calm for, she in particular needed him to be calm so she didn't lose her nerve.
Daryl gave his wife an amused half smile, "Nat no matter what you tell me I am gonna be getting' angry' I'm angry at the whole Walker situation, I'm angry that we was sep'rated when all this damn shit went on, I'm angry that you and Mar had to survive so long by yourselves and I wasn't there to protect the both of ya." He told her honestly. "I doubt there's any way to get around me bein' pissed off at what happened but I'll do my best to keep it in check, no promises though."
"Suppose that's the best I can ask for," Natalie said with a tight smile before she looked down at her hands for a few moments.
Reaching over Daryl gently grasped Natalie's chin in his fingers and lifted so that he could look his wife in the eyes, "What happened Natalie?" he asked with a searching look. "What exactly went on while we was away from one and another? What happened to you and Marlie?" he asked looking at her intently.
Momentarily closing her eyes Natalie took a deep breath before she opened them once again and looked at Daryl, "Where do you want me to start?" she asked as she ran her hands through her hair, a nervous habit of Natalie's that she's had since she was a kid.
Daryl paused a few moments before he answered, "The last phone call we had, after that call I thought you and Marlie had died." He said darkly, that was one of the worst days of Daryl's life and all the way until he, Natalie and Marlie were reunited he was a damn mess and pretty close to being suicidal – what person wouldn't be after thinking that they had just lost their wife and daughter.
Giving a small nod Natalie took a calming breath that would hopefully give her some courage to tell Daryl what exactly happened to herself and Marlie. It's sad to say but the two girls did not see the best of things while they were trying to get to Georgia; the apocalypse happened and with that the darker side of the human race came out and a lot of people let it take them over. Greed, selfishness, hate, anger and everything and anything in between. Sometimes it was the living people that you had to worry about rather than the Walkers – humans can stab you in the back and betray you with Walkers it's simple…..they just want to eat you.
"Me, Marlie and my Grandma and Grandpa Sully were attempting to make our way to one of the refugee centers in Phoenix," Natalie started as she looked at Daryl. "We were in traffic for so damn long, I mean what would have usually only taken an hour in a half or more was turning into three or four hours. The high way was terrible and it was just utter chaos and miles and miles of traffic jams; it became obvious pretty fast that there was no way that we would be able to make it into the city that night, and more than half of those people wouldn't able to either." She said with a downcast expression and a small shake of her head. "I somehow managed to convince my grandpa to get off at the closest exit and go to whatever town came up first and stay at a hotel there for a while and then try and make it into Phoenix when the roads aren't so bad, when everything calmed down and people aren't panicking so much." She stated and then looked down at her hands that had a few scraps on them from helping out around camp. "You know how stubborn my gramps can be so it was a miracle that I was able to convince him to do that at all. When he sets his mind to something it usually stays there." Natalie said looking at Daryl with a half amused grin in remembrance of her grandpa.
When Natalie said that Daryl gave a small smile; one thing that Natalie, her grandpa and her mom all had in common was the stubbornness and from what he can tell it's a family trait – Marlie was just as stubborn as her mother. Shifting a bit from where he was seated Daryl set his bow down by where one of his feet were and scooted a bit closer to Natalie and grasped one of her hands that were nervously tapping at her thigh, and then held it in his larger and more calloused ones and rubbed at it soothingly. Silently offering her support without really having to say anything.
Giving a thankful smile Natalie continued on with her story, "We found some random town called Wickenb..Wicken something I can't remember, and we managed to find a Super 8 to stay at. It wasn't the nicest of places or the classiest but there was room for the four of us and the door locked and that was what counted most I 'spose." She said to him with a shrug of her shoulders. "But before we had left my grandparents place we packed a few easy and simple meals, some basic gear that my grandparents managed to have at their place – it's not like they're all that young anymore and able to camp whenever they want to. But we did manage to find some things that would be of use." She said and took a slow breath in and then carefully let it out.
"Natalie?" Daryl asked in concern. "Ya all right?"
Giving a quick shake of her head to clear everything that was going on inside of it Natalie gave him a small smile, "I'm doing fine," she told him and pulled is hand closer to her and gave his knuckles a gentle kiss before holding it back in her lap.
Daryl gave his wife a skeptical look, "We can stop if-"
"No," Natalie immediately said interrupting what Daryl was saying. "I'm okay Daryl, I promise." She said looking at hi convincingly and intertwined their fingers. "So it was just the four of us in that one bed hotel room and for a few hours we just sat there and watched the news and looked out of our hotel room at everything that was going on outside." She said and gave a soft scoffing sound. "We locked the door as good as we could with it being a Super 8 hotel and whatnot, and besides just doing the locks on it we put a chair up and underneath the handle to make sure that nothing would be able to get in – what we didn't realize at the time was that if they wanted to get in and eat us that they would find a way to do it. We were stupid in thinking that…..I was stupid. I was the one who came up with that brilliant idea." She confessed.
"Hey now," Daryl said admonishingly as he gently tugged on Natalie's long curly blonde hair. "Ya ain't stupid. No one thought that these things would be smart enough to do half the shit that they do." He said to her. "They may only op'rate on survival but they are willin' to damn near anything to get to us and eat us." He said to her, acting comforting in his own and unique way.
Natalie nodded at that, "I know, I know you're right." She said softly. "But just because I know that doesn't make it any easier to deal with." She stated and subconsciously started to crack her knuckles. "That night, when you called me, we had been hearing them moaning and walking around but we had been keeping quiet for the most part." She said to him. "Marlie was coloring, we had the TV on mute and all of that kind of stuff, and as cold and mean as this is going to sound there were other people outside who weren't smart enough to stay inside and they were keeping the Walkers busy." she told him, she did feel remorse for those people and wished she could have done something to help them but her own safety and her daughters safety came first. "Seeing those things and hearing what came after….it was just terrible Daryl. It was like Dawn of the Dead without all of the cheesy special effects and without the option of turning it off when you get too freaked out." She said. "I have no idea why they started to come at us, maybe they heard my phone or the static of the TV or something, but one minute you and me were talking and then the next thing I knew the Walkers were clawing at and breaking the windows of the place and let's just say that Super 8 doesn't exactly have the sturdiest of things. It broke within moments and then all hell broke loose." She said and paused a moment to gather her thoughts back up.
"Daryl our daughter was so close, so so close to the window." Natalie said with a shaky breath. "I damn near had a heart attack right then and there. I managed to get Marlie out of harm's way and into the bathroom, my grandpa and I took out the knives that we had and tried to fend the three or four Biters that were coming at us. We somehow, by the grace of whatever higher being you want to believe in, managed to kill them but we knew that we had to get out of there and fast. Other Biters…Walkers, were bound to have heard the fighting and yelling. So as fast as we could we packed up what we had and got the fuck out of dodge. Even if we did survive that attack, it wasn't without a price." She said with a as she pursed her lips and blinked a few times.
Daryl looked at her in concern, "Nat what-"
"Both of them were bit," Natalie stated bluntly. "Both my grandma and grandpa were bit." She said trying to hold the tears back that were already forming in her eyes; this was the first time that Natalie has really thought much about those first few days of the apocalypse.
Looking at his wife Daryl knew what happened and what she more than likely had to do to make sure she and Marlie were safe, if Natalie's grandparents had been bitten then there was nothing that could have been done to save them from what they would become. In the first few days of the outbreak people – mainly doctors and nurses, tried to help the bitten and scratched, and they treated it like it was any other wound but it was a wound that wouldn't heal. The affected area would only continue to bleed and the affected person would only get worse and worse each and every day. Soon though the person would get a fever, start coughing up blood, have their bones feel so brittle that even a simple hug would hurt them, they would get the chills, sweat a lot and then the next thing you know the person is gone and coming back as a Walker.
"Dear lord Natalie," Daryl said as he closed his eyes at the thought of what happened for a few moments. "I'm so fuckin' sorry, I wish I would have been there." He told her sympathetically.
Daryl liked Natalie's grandparents on her mother's side, the Sully's were nice, laidback and accepting people unlike her father's side. The Sully's treated Daryl as if he has always been a part of the family, and well they acted just as hick as he did at times even if they were all from Minnesota.
Natalie nodded, moved forward a bit and laid her forehead at the nape of his neck and continued on telling him what happened without moving from her position. "We made it to a hotel that was in another town that was maybe an hour or so away. The whole town seemed to be abandoned, it had maybe a couple thousand people if that even. There wasn't anyone in the hotel even – everyone just up and left for the refugee centers more than likely. So I went just took the master key and got us some rooms." She said and gave a half shrug and leaned further into the warmth that Daryl was giving off. "I went and grabbed the first aid kit that the hotel had – it was pretty sparse but it was better than nothing. I tried to help them, I tried to help my grandparents and stop the bleeding but nothing I did helped. I did everything I could…..I just…..I couldn't help them." She said forlorn.
In response to that Daryl let go of Natalie's hand and instead rubbed soothing circles on her back, hoping it would help to calm her down a bit.
Giving a thankful kiss placed on his neck Natalie pulled away and continued, "Mar was still sleeping the next day, so while she was sleeping I went to go and check on them ya know, to see how they were doing and to change their bandages and whatnot." She said to him and then laughed dryly. "God I went in and they were on me like a moth to a flame, thankfully I was smart enough from being taught by you and Merle to have brought my knife with me. I had to kill them Daryl," Natalie said emotionally as a few tears managed to escape from her eyes. "I killed my own grandparents. After that happened I knew that me and Marlie had to get out there, but it was mostly because I couldn't stand to be where I basically murdered my grandparents."
The moment those last few words left Natalie's mouth Daryl darted forwards, cupped her face and kissed her heatedly and tangled his hand into her hair as he pulled her closer to him. He needed to show Natalie that everything was okay but he had no words to tell her so he did the next best thing, he kissed her.
Pulling away reluctantly Daryl looked into Natalie's eyes intently, "Natalie you didn't kill ya grandparents. You know that don't you?" he asked her.
At that Natalie scoffed, "Daryl I was in the room with them and killed them." She told him.
"I didn't marry no stupid girl Natalie," Daryl said to her fiercely but softly. "Ya know they were gone long before ya went into their room, they were gone the moment they were bit." He told her. "There was no savin' them Natalie, the only good and decent thing to have done to them was to put 'em outta their misery and that's exactly what ya did. Ya ended it so that they couldn't hurt no one else and sent them to their heaven that they believe in. You did right by them."
It was funny, while Natalie could kill all the other Walkers that had tried to eat her and her daughter without any problems but the moment her own family became infected and bit it was a whole different story – it was somehow different having to kill your own family who you've known your whole life compared to a complete stranger that you've never met before.
"We had to leave on foot after that," Natalie said beginning once again. "Some kids stole our car while we had been holed up in the hotel; we only had a few of our supplies with us in the hotel room, so we were at a slight disadvantage." She said to him. "We kept to the back roads and the woods to travel; I figured that it would be safer on the less populated roads since the Biters/Walkers would be attracted to all of the noise that people would be making. Any abandoned cars that we came across I pilfered to see if they had anything useful; weapons, canned food, camping gear or anything that we could use to survive with but not many did really." She said with a shake of her head. "After walking for the better part of a day we managed to get to a bit bigger of a town; we stopped at the local grocery store to get some food and first aid supplies and took out the few Walkers that were in there and figured the local pawn store might have a knife or two that would be a bit more useful than the one I had and to get Marlie a small knife so she could protect herself if she needed to. No way in hell I was letting Marlie be out in this world without some kind of weapon."
Daryl shifted a bit and watched Natalie, taking in every facial expression and movement she made – anything that would hint that she was going to start breaking down from what she was telling him.
"We looked a few blocks into town hoping to find a car that we could use, or any sort of transportation but a majority of the cars were trashed or barely had any gas in them and would have barely gotten us to the outskirts of town." Natalie said with a shrug of her shoulders. "At that moment in time I would have taken a two speed bike, even if it was bright pink and covered in princess stickers." She admitted with a disgusted look on her face to which Daryl gave a bark of laughter.
Daryl could just imagine his wife, who only owned two pink things since he's met her (they were plaid so it was okay), would have given in for a pink pop princess bike. He bet that she would have been glaring down at the bike the whole time that she was riding it.
Giving her husband a dark look for laughing Natalie continued with her story, "For about two or three days we traveled like that, only going on the back roads, staying away from the high way and traveling through the woods as well and sleeping up in the tree tops," she said with a grin. "I guess all of my recreational tree climbing training came in handy for something useful." She admitted. "It wasn't comfortable or easy, and it was terrifying most of the time and I barely ever slept. I was too afraid that one of us would fall out of the trees or a bunch of growling Biters would be on us like pooh bear to honey."
Natalie paused a moment and readjusted her seat on the tree log, "On the third day a small group of people found us and called up to us, I don't know if they had been watching us for a few days or just spotted me and Marlie up in the tree sleeping." She told him and shrugged. "But they saw us and saw that we barely had anything but the clothes on our back and one bag of supplies if that even."
Arizona
It's been three days since this hell started, three days and all Natalie was trying to do now was make sure herself and Marlie lived to see the next day. They were up in the treetops of some woods that they were travelling through, they've taken to sleeping in the tree's when the sun started to go down – being out in the woods at night with Biters roaming all over the place was not the smartest thing to do. And Natalie was not going to do something stupid, that was not going to get her back to her husband.
"Mama?" Marlie asked in a scared tone of voice as she huddled as close to her mom as she could. "I wanna go back home, I want daddy. I don't like them monsters…they ates great gramsy and grampy." She said tearing up a bit. "I wanna go home and I want dad to make all the monsters go away forever and ever." She said.
Hearing that Natalie wrapped her arms around her crying daughter and gently kissed her on the forehead soothingly, "I know Marlie, I want to go back home too and I want to see daddy but all this shit happened and it's going to be a lot harder than before to get back home." She said to her sadly. "But I promise you this, I will be with you no matter what I will protect you just as good as daddy does. Okay?" she said to her. "You and me are going to make it back home to Georgia and we are gonna find daddy."
Before Marlie was able to respond to that there was a loud and very deep sounding male voice calling up to where Natalie and Marlie were sitting at.
"Hey!" a man yelled up at them. "You two girls doing all right up there?"
Glancing over the tree branch Natalie saw that there was a small group of people below her and her daughter; there was a tall man who looked to be at least six feet tall if not more and he had reddish/brown hair and a tattoo on his neck. And then there were two women one of whom had short cropped brown hair and looked to be in her mid-thirties and then the other was at the most twenty-one or two years old with red, brown and blonde layered hair.
"We're fine," Natalie said down to them and gave a narrowed look. "Try and be quiet will you, we don't need any of those damn things hearing you." She whisper/yelled down at them.
"Sorry about that," The man said a bit quieter but grinned nonetheless.
Natalie gave him a grim look, "Okay then," she said and hoped that they would leave her and Marlie alone soon. "We're doing fine. You can leave now." She said to them bluntly.
If it would have been any other day in the normal world Natalie would have never said that to a complete stranger but this new world wasn't safe, and better to be safe than sorry…..being sorry would end up with you being dead.
The man looked up at Natalie and Marlie with a raised brow, "Are ya sure sweetheart?" he asked. "Most people that ya meet that say they are doin' fine don't usually sleep up in tree's, at least not from my experience they don't." he said to her. "Why don't ya come on down and talk with us." He suggested.
"Don't call me sweetheart," Natalie growled. "And why should I come down and talk with you?" she asked carefully, Natalie would like to trust the guy but she's read enough books and seen plenty of movies to know that damn near every person in an apocalyptic world has an ulterior motive and aren't nearly as nice as they make themselves out to be.
"Sorry about that," the man said in reference to the endearment. "I'm just trying to do my best to help out people, the world may have gone to hell but that doesn't mean we all lost our manners and our sense of what is right and wrong." he said up to her. "I'm Todd. My group and I have a small set up about a ten or fifteen minute walk from here. We have food, water, weapons to protect ourselves and even have a sort of security going on – we walk the perimeter and take out any of those damn dead things that get too close to our camp." He said to her. "There's other women too, so you will be safe." He said to her.
For a few moments Natalie contemplated her options, staying up in a tree with little to no supplies whatsoever to protect herself and her daughter from the Biters or go with this Todd guy and the two women that were with them to this supposed camp. . . . a camp that had better protection, more food and were just all around better off than they were. It was safe to say that Natalie's choices were pretty limited.
"Okay fine," Natalie said looking down at Todd. "We'll come down but if you guys do anything to either me or my daughter you will regret it." She threatened them menacingly, or rather as menacingly as she could but considering the lack of sleep that she's been getting it didn't have her usual fierceness behind it.
The man laughed at that, "I guess that's fair." He said to her.
Quickly grabbing the Swiss gear backpack that had their things in it and putting it on, Natalie then used the rope that she had managed to find in one of the cars and tied it around her in a makeshift harness and then had Marlie hang onto her around the neck and then propelled them down to the base of the tree where this Todd guy and the two women were waiting for them at.
"Bet that's a handy skill to have nowadays," Todd said to her.
"At times it is," Natalie said with a shrug and kept a good distance away from them, she didn't trust them and didn't know them and their offer sounded too good to be true. "Now who the hell are you all?" she asked with a narrowed look on her face.
Todd grinned at them in a friendly manner, "I'm Todd Fisher, I used to be a personal trainer for the Arizona Cardinals." He said sounding a tad bit egotistical when he told her that.
Natalie gave an unimpressed roll of her eyes but gave him an acknowledging nod and then looked over at the two women expectantly. "Who are you two?" she asked with a softer tone of voice, she trusted the women a bit more than Todd.
Before either of the women was able to answer Natalie's question Todd introduced them, "This is Rhonda Crawford and Kelsey Gorman. I ran into them when all this shit went on, and we've been travelling together ever since and started up our own little camp which you and your daughter are more than welcome to join." He said not letting either of the girls get a word in edge wise.
"Mama?" Marlie whispered up to her mom who she was hiding behind. "Who are those people?" she asked. "They aren't goin' to be eatin' at us are they?" she asked.
At that Natalie couldn't help but laugh a bit, "Nah they ain't gonna eat us." She said down to her and then looked at Todd, Rhonda and Kelsey. "You said that you have a group? There are both men and women right?" she asked. "Not just these two?" she questioned, she needed to make sure that this was the real deal before she agreed.
Todd nodded once again, "Yeah, we got women from the ages of around sixteen or seventeen to about fifty or older. It's a real nice set up that we have going on, you and your daughter would do great there. No one will mess with you guys and we definitely won't be letting any of them monsters get you." He said and gave a playful wink to Marlie who gave a small giggle.
"What's the catch?" Natalie asked as she crossed her arms under her chest and raised a brow at the much taller man.
He raised his hands in peace, "There isn't one, all we ask is that you help around and do your part to make sure what we have going on runs smoothly. Simple as that." He told her. "We're set up in a mobile home park, it's no Hilton but we all get our own spaces and we're right by a small river and there's a strip mall just up the road and woods so that we can hunt…..or at least try and hunt. No one in camp can really hunt all that well to tell the truth." He said to her.
"So you will come?" the younger girl, Kelsey asked hopefully.
After about a few seconds of debating with herself Natalie gave a decisive nod, "I guess so. Me and Mar can't keep on sleeping up in tree's. Not to mention it hurts like a bitch." She said with a wince and rubbed at her sore back.
"What's your name?" Rhonda asked. "We introduced ourselves it would only be right if you did the same." She responded.
"I'm Natalie Dixon and this is my daughter Marlie."
Once Natalie finished telling Daryl how she had met up with her first group of people in Arizona she gave a small sigh and ran her hands through her hair and pushed the majority of it over one shoulder, she really should have asked Amy or Andrea if they had a hair tie….well Amy since Andrea isn't exactly her biggest fan right now – stupid bitch.
"In the beginning of everything I was more trusting of strangers and random people that I met," Natalie said shaking her head. "They weren't bad people, well not really. There were a few bad apples in the group but for the most part they were all pretty nice and welcoming to me and Marlie." She told her. "But no one can be that nice and accepting all of time, not even Mother Teresa." She said.
Daryl looked at his wife, "They do somethin' to you and Marlie?" he asked with a dark look on his face. "They didn't hit you or nothin' like that did they?" he asked.
Immediately Natalie shook her head at that question, "No, no way. There was no way I would let them do anything like that, at least not without me retaliating back at them and you know I would have been bragging about that by now." She said with a cheeky grin on her face.
"What went on then?" he asked as he rubbed at the back of his neck and flicked away some dirt that was crusted on there from who knows when.
Natalie gave a small squeeze to Daryl's hand before continuing, "The first day was great; we had a relatively safe place to sleep that wasn't in a tree, we had food that wasn't bland, other people that would be able to help us and we felt safe." She said with a small smile at that first night of sleep in that camp, sleep that she and Marlie had so desperately needed at the time. "The next day came and me and Marlie asked the Todd guy what we could do to help and he sent us to help some of the women, I didn't mind because I like to cook and I could sew pretty okay but I told him I was a pretty good shot with my gun and could do a half ass hunting job – thank god you and Merle dragged me with you two all of the time. I would be shit out of luck if you hadn't," she said to him off hand which made Daryl give a flicker of a smile. "But Todd and a few of the other guys immediately said no and wouldn't give me a gun to help them with the perimeter, he wouldn't let me go out and help with taking out the few Walkers that got too close to camp and he definitely wouldn't let me help with hunting," she said with a scoff and then crossed her arms in annoyance.
Daryl couldn't help but smirk a bit at how much his wife just imitated a spoiled thirteen year old girl whose parents took away her cell phone, and the tone of voice she used when she said the last bit just sealed the deal.
"They didn't know what they was talkin' about," Daryl said as he gently wrapped a finger around one of her stray curly hairs and then pushed it behind her pierced ear. "You may not be the best at huntin' and you definitely ain't nowhere near the huntin' level that me and Merle are at." He said and opened his mouth to say more but Natalie cut him off.
Pulling away from Daryl a bit Natalie gave him an annoyed look, "Gee thanks Daryl, that's just what your wife wanted to hear." She told him sarcastically and gave him a dry look.
At that Daryl rolled his eyes, "I wasn't done yet woman, are ya gonna let me finish what I was gonna say to you or what?" he asked her to which Natalie sheepishly nodded at him. "Just because ya ain't no hunters like me and Merle who've been doin' it since we was little kids and you only just started six or seven years ago don't mean that ya ain't good for the level ya are at. You learn fast, you listen even when we think ya aren't and you are a survivor. No matter what any of them assholes could have done for hunting you would have been better, no doubt in my mind." He said to her convincingly and leaned in for a kiss but Natalie pushed him away and gave him a half amused look.
"Just FYI that was half somewhat insulting but the majority of it was complimenting me so I'm letting my vanity win and taking it as a compliment," Natalie said to him with a small smile on her face. "But if I was any other kind of woman you would have gotten a good yelling for half of the shit you said, it's a good thing I know you so well and am used to your unusual ways." She said to him.
Daryl pulled her closer and gave her a kiss on the lips, "If you were anyone else you wouldn't be my wife, sounds like a miserable life to me." He stated. "Good thing ya are mine to have and to do unmentionable things with."
That made Natalie grin, some girls may take offense to being a possession and guys saying that the girl is theirs and their alone but Natalie loved to hear Daryl say that to her it made her feel all tingly inside. For the most part Natalie was a strong and independent woman but she did let her girlie parts take over once in a while and her girlie parts went on hyper drive when Daryl calls her his.
"Stop saying shit like that," Natalie half-heartedly complained as she pushed playfully at Daryl's chest. "It's making me want to do naughty things to you." She said and closed her eyes for a moment so that she could try and stop thinking about all of the nasty things she wanted to do with Daryl in the woods. "Okay," Natalie said opening her eyes back up once again. "We were there for a few days when the looks started happening, they were mostly directed at me but a few of the guys were giving Marlie looks and I definitely did not like that. I didn't ever let that girl out of my sight. I trusted these people at first but now I see that I made a mistake. But we needed them at the moment and in order for me and Marlie to survive we needed to stay with them for a while longer….or at least until I could figure out a plan that would allow us to survive in the new world."
Daryl opened his mouth to say something but Natalie held her hand up to him and shook her head, silently telling him to wait until she finished.
"One day, maybe four or five days into staying with this group me and Marlie were helping a few of them women in camp – we were sewing up some of the ragged clothes to make blankets and other useful things that we could use the destroyed clothes for." Natalie said with a shrug as she wringed her hands. "I sent Marlie to go and get some of the extra sewing stuff that I had stored where we were sleeping. She was gone for ten minutes when it should have taken her at the most maybe five or ten, so I looked up from where I was sitting and talking with the other women. Not even fifteen feet away from me what Todd, he was talking down to Marlie and was grabbing her arm roughly." She said and got a dark look on her face at that memory. "Marlie was trying to get away but he wouldn't let her go, but he bent down to her height and said something into her ear and then Marlie's whole demeanor changed. She was thrashing against him trying her damndest to get away and then Todd the damn asshole, he gripped her arm tighter which made Marlie cry out in pain and that was the last straw."
Hearing what happened to his daughter at that first camp made Daryl clench his fists until knuckles turned white from how tightly he was gripping, no one was allowed to touch his daughter or wife in any harmful way and live to tell the tale. He would hunt them down and make them pay one way or another. Daryl protected his family even if it meant that he wouldn't make it, as long as Natalie and Marlie lived that was all that he cared for.
"You better have set that assholes mind straight and let 'em know that it ain't right to do what he did," Daryl all but growled out. "I ain't against travelling all the way to Arizona and huntin' him down just so that I can teach 'im a lesson." He said in a dead serious tone of a voice.
Natalie gave a soft smiel at that and began to tell him what happened after that.
Arizona
The moment that Natalie saw Todd had her crying daughter's arm gripped tightly in his much larger and quite strong hand she dropped what she was doing, strode past the women who were looking between Natalie and Todd worriedly but she ignored them and instead kept on walking determinedly towards her target.
"What the fuck Todd!" Natalie yelled as she pushed the six foot plus man as hard as she could which resulted in him letting go of her daughters arm. "What in the hell is wrong with you?"
Todd looked at Natalie shocked that such a small, five foot something woman had the strength to push a former personal trainer as hard as she did and make him stumble back even.
"What?" he asked dumbly and looked at Natalie as if nothing was wrong with the situation that they were in.
When he spoke those words Natalie's eyes darkened just that much more and she put on the bitch face, the face she used when someone did something that she absolutely hated and the face she used when she was about to give someone a piece of her mind.
"You Todd, what in the hell is wrong with you?" she asked as she gently pushed her daughter behind her so that Todd couldn't get at her anymore. "You grab my daughters arm, you make her cry and you grabbed her arm hard enough that more than likely she will have bruises tomorrow morning and you ask me 'what' as if you didn't do anything wrong." She said with her hands on her hips. "Do you not have enough sense in that brain to know that when a child cries out in pain that you let them go."
Hearing that Todd narrowed his eyes at Marlie before looking back at Natalie, "I wasn't trying to hurt her at all, we were just having a conversation about something that's all and we had a misunderstanding I guess." He said and then turned his sugary sweet smile onto Marlie but Natalie could read between the lines, he was silently telling her to lie for him. "Weren't we sweetheart?"
Not even answering Marlie clung on tighter to the back of her mother's shirt in fear, she was scared of what Todd was going to do or say to her…she was afraid that he would follow through with is promise. He said that he would make sure that she and her mama didn't ever find her daddy, that Todd was going to make her mama forget all about her daddy and then Todd would become her new daddy. Marlie didn't want that, she did not want that at all.
Just as Todd was about to bend down to Marlie's height and talk to her once again Natalie stepped up in Todd's space and looked up at him with a heated glare on her face. "You don't ever look at Marlie again, you don't speak to her, you don't touch her, and you don't even breathe near her." she said to him fiercely. "I do not allow abusive and violent men to touch or be near her. Do you understand me?" she asked.
"What are you going to do to me?" Todd asked with a grin. "Kick me, you are barely five foot three or four, and I seriously doubt you could take me in a fight." He said to her. "I was a personal trainer, I got a lot of muscle." He said ot her.
At that Natalie raised her brow at him, "I am a mother, a mother who is protecting her young daughter whom you scared. I can become a cruel and vicious bitch when I want to be Todd." She said in an eerily calm voice. "Plus my brother in law was in the army, he taught me a thing or two." She said and then looked over at her daughter. "Come on Marlie let's get away from this ass."
Turning around to grab her daughters hand and to walk back over to where the women were at, who were staring at the feud that was going on between Natalie and Todd but before Natalie was even able to take a step Todd grabbed her arm harshly and turned her to look at him.
"You don't talk to me like that," Todd said, a twisted look coming on his face, a far cry from the man that Natalie had met that first night. "I took you in, let you come to this place and accepted you and your daughter and gave you food, shelter and protection." He stated with anger in his voice. "You better watch yourself."
Unable to stop herself Natalie gave a short laugh, "Good luck with that Todd," she said to him with unwavering eyes that slightly freaked him out, the girl may be a small thing but she was intense. "You don't scare me, my husband is scarier than you and even when he gets all pissy I don't even bat an eye so trust me I can take anything you throw at me." She said and then grabbed her daughters hand in her own. "Me and Mar, we are out of here. We are gonna take the few things we own and make our way towards Georgia which was our original plan. You doing what you did to my daughter, grabbing her and scaring her was across the line and I am not putting up with that. So before you do something really stupid we're gonna get the hell outta here."
Todd clenched his fists but controlled his anger, "Fine, leave see what I care. I doubt you'll be able to last all that long out there by yourself with your your daughter." He said to her cruelly. "The zombies are gonna get at you, you and your daughter will get bit and be turned into those dead things. You'll be wishing you would have listened to me and not pissed me off."
"Doubt it." Natalie said to him simply. "We'll be gone by morning." She said to him.
When Natalie finished telling Daryl the story of how they ended up leaving their first group Daryl had to concentrate on his breathing to calm him down, knowing that someone grabbed is daughter pissed him off but hearing the details about it made him just that much more angry.
"Did the fucker do any serious damage?" Daryl asked in a restrained calm voice, he was trying to not sound angry but from the look on his wife's face he knew he failed in that aspect. "Didn't break nothin' or sprain her wrist or some shit like that did he?"
In response to that Natalie shook her head which made Daryl give a sigh of relief at that fact, "No," Natalie stated. "He wasn't able to do much damage other than giving her a nasty bruise for a few days that was tender for a while, I ran over to them before he could do much else to her. Thank the Lord." She said, she may not be all that religious really and she really only associated with being spiritual but Daryl got her in the habit of saying things like that – she figured it was a southern thing or maybe it was just a Daryl thing…who knows.
For a few moments neither said anything, both of them were enjoying the small break from Natalie telling what happened to her and Marlie while they were trying to make their way to Georgia.
"There's more ain't there?" Daryl asked finally, breaking the comfortable silence.
Pursing her lips for a moment Natalie let out a sigh and nodded, "Yeah." She said hesitantly.
Daryl looked at his wife expectantly but after a few seconds of her saying nothing and not elaborating her questioned her, "Are ya gonna tell me what happened or have me guessin' then?"
"Impatient much?" Natalie asked but continued on with her story. "That night after me and Marlie got done helping the other women out, we started packing our shit up and whatnot ya know. Some of the women who I got close to over the few days we were in camp gave us a few things – supplies to get us by until we could scrounge some more up or got to the next town," she said to him with a small smile on her face, Rhonda and Kelsey were the two girls that she liked and missed the most, they were really down to earth. "Todd wanted us out so bad that he even convinced one of the younger guys to drive us out to one of the roads, guess it was the only nice last thing he wanted to do for us. Maybe he felt bad," she said with an uncaring shrug. "But we were near our bedding area when we heard the first scream, got it was such a terrifying and gut wrenching scream. I never heard anything like it before. I grabbed Marlie's hand and held tightly and then looked and saw something I hope to never see again." She said and gave a sharp shake of her head.
Daryl looked at his wife in concern, "What Nat?" he asked. "What happened? Was it Walkers?" he asked.
Taking a deep breath Natalie looked at Daryl and nodded, "TI was walkers but it was more than just a group of them, it was like a pack…a…a horde of Walkers coming towards us." She said and gave him a pained grimace. "They were at the other end of camp but they were coming fast and it would be only moments before they got to where we were at, so I only have a few moments to make a choice that would save mine and Marlie's lives." She said and stopped.
Hearing about the danger that Natalie and Marlie had been in those first few weeks had Daryl on edge, god he needed to realize some of this tension and anger over everything that happened to him and he knew that what Natalie was telling him now wasn't even the worst of it yet. But the thought of a horde, an actual horde being in the same camp as his wife and daughter was a terrifying reality, being confronted with a horde was something that more than likely would happen again and Daryl knew that realistically there was nothing he could do to keep that from happening. What he could do though was be there to make sure that his wife and daughter survived another one, to be sure that they were safe and protected.
"Me and Mar weren't that far away from where some of the cars were parked at," Natalie said, starting up again. "While everyone was running around panicking and grabbing any and every weapon that they could get their hands on me and Marlie made our way over to a really old and beat up jeep and got in the back seat. There was a lot of junk in the backseat; some ripped up blankets, books, a tarp, clothes and just odds and ends. I used the junk to cover ourselves and keep us hidden from any Walkers that might look in the Jeep." She explained to him. "It may have been terrible of me to hide while everyone was fighting off the Walkers but there were too many for us to be able to take and win, one way or another most of everyone in camp was going to end up bit, dead and eaten. No one would have made it out of there with the way they reacted to the horde." She stated.
"God it was terrible," Natalie said with a sad shake of her head. "Having to listen to the attack, to all of the people being attacked, being eaten and screaming in terror. It was terrible," she said to him. "I held Marlie close to me and covered her ears with my hands hoping to muffle the sounds but she heard what happened, I thought me having to kill my own grandparents was terrible when they turned but this….this was so much worse and on a whole different scale. I could hear every scream, I could hear them begging to god to not let them die, I heard the Walkers growling and hissing, I could hear the flesh being torn from people's bodies. It was one of the worst experiences of my life Daryl."
With that said Natalie looked at Daryl with such pained filled eyes that even Daryl himself had to close his eyes to regain himself, opening them back up he still saw that Natalie was still looking at him and waiting for a reaction. It was as if she expected him to hate her or be disgusted because she hid and saved her and Marlie's hides from being Walker food.
"You're alive Nat, you and Marlie are alive." Daryl said as he cupped Natalie's face and touched their noses to one and another. "I know it was a shitty thing to see and hear, and that it's terrible that those people died in that way but all I care is that ya and our daughter are alive. It may be selfish and cold but all I want is the two of you alive. Ain't nobody else matter to me but you two." He said to her.
Natalie breathed in deeply and just took in Daryl's natural scent, woods, leather and nature. "I know but I wanted so badly to help them, to save them but I couldn't. I didn't even like half of them but no one deserves to die that way or to become one of those things." She told him. "And Rhonda and Kelsey I may have only known them a few days but I liked them, they were nice and I was even going to offer bring them with me. I don't think they wanted to be there really and all they really needed was someone to push them in the right direction." She said to her husband sadly as she looked at his blue eyes, eyes that always seemed to calm her down.
Daryl gave a silent sigh at that comment, he was sympathetic towards his wife for what happened to the two women she connected with at that camp and hates that the worlds is the way it is now – that any person you could become friends with has the possibility of getting attacked and becoming one of the walking dead.
"I'm sorry ya lost your friends," Daryl said quietly as he gently combed his fingers through her messy curly hair.
At that Natalie pulled a bit away from him, "I only knew them a few days." She said trying to be logical about the whole situation but Natalie liked Kelsey and Rhonda.
"But ya still liked 'em." Daryl pointed out.
Smiling to herself Natalie nodded, "I did." She said to him.
Deciding to change the subject away from her lost friends Daryl went back to his original sitting position, being so close and not being able to take Natalie's clothes off was really taking its toll on him. It's best to get through what they needed to talk about before he lost control of his need and just went at it with Natalie right then and there. Neither would mind it all that much but they seriously needed to finish their talk.
"You two got outta there eventuayl though." Daryl stated.
Natalie nodded, "Yeah, I waited almost an hour before I was sure that the horde had passed by and weren;t in hearing distance any longer." She explained to him. "I told Marlie to stay in the jeep and to stay under the covers until I said so. I got out and quickly grabbed our bags of supplies and then grabbed anything salvageable but I almost couldn't stomach it with all of the tore up bodies, not to mention we needed to get out of there before any of them came back to life." She stated with grimace. "Do you remember the time that I told Merle that him teaching me how to hot wire a car wouldn't come in handy?" she asked to which Daryl gave a nod. "Yeah…I was wrong. I had to hotwire the jeep to get out of there, the keys weren't anywhere in the jeep and we didn't have the time to look through everything in camp. Especially not after what happened."
Hearing that Daryl gave a small chuckle, "I guess Merle's illegal tendencies did come to use." He told her.
Giving a soft smile Natalie nodded, "I guess so." She said and then looked at Daryl. "Once I got the car started up I just drove, I drove for hours just trying to get as far away from there as I possibly could. We needed to leave and leave right then and there." She said to him. "I thought we had already spent too much time in Arizona when we could have been at least a state or two over and making our way to you." She told him.
"Hey you made it to me," Daryl said to her. "We are a family again, ain't no questions about that." He stated. "I love you, I love Marlie and I am relieved that we are finally back together and ain't gotta worry about bein' separated anymore." He told her seriously. "Now come on, tell me what happened after that."
Giving a sigh Natalie gathered up all the courage that she had and started to tell Daryl about the next part of her journey of trying to get herself and Marlie to Georgia so that they could find him, but the next half wasn't nearly as nice sounding as the first half had been. This was the part where she was afraid that Daryl was going to really lose the hold that he had on his anger – she knew without a doubt some of the foliage of the forest around them was going to be feeling the anger of a Dixon.
A/N: That was part one, the next part should be up in the next couple of days. I didnt want to make too long of a chapter for you guys. That would just be exhausting.
Quote: Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have - life itself.
Walter Anderson
The natural state of motherhood is unselfishness. When you become a mother, you are no longer the center of your own universe. You relinquish that position to your children.
Jessica Lange
