Chapter 10
"I looked for you. " Sadie could barely hear his words. So we were playing shy again she thought. Was it the hand holding? Should she let go so he doesn't have to be the one that does? Yes, he's not the hand holding type. What did she think? He was going to be her boyfriend?
Sadie loosened her grip and let go of his hand. She brushed her hair aside with that hand to show him that she had some other purpose. Don't want him feeling rejected.
"I know. I never thought any different." She kicked a rock and thought back to
her fear and frustration of being alone again. She'd looked for him too. She never stopped looking for him. The thought crossed her mind that he could be dead, but shook it away every time because Daryl was going to be the last man standing in all of this.
They saw the massive steel wall up ahead and Sadie knew she had more to tell him.
"It's not safe here." She finally said after many steps in silence. "We should leave. Head back to Georgia. We can bring any people that you want with us. Start a new home. But not here."
"It is safe here Sadie. I promise." Daryl vowed to keep her safe for the rest of his life. No matter how long that might end up being. If he died young, it would be protecting her. He felt that he had let her down too many times and that he owed a debt. He finally felt secure here and wasn't about to leave it's walls.
They both lost themselves in thought. Sadie trying to figure out how to get him to leave and Daryl trying to figure out how to get her to stay. So, in silence they continued to move through the luxurious neighborhood.
They arrived at a beautiful house, two-story, modern with a lot of windows. Daryl led her up the driveway but followed the path along to the back.
Still in silence Daryl approached a thick tree deep in the backyard and sat against the trunk. Sadie joined him. The sun was beginning to set and she could see lights on inside the house. She didn't really want to see anybody else just yet and she had the feeling Daryl knew that.
"You alright?" he raised an eyebrow beneath his curtain of hair.
"I'm fine." She paused. She didn't need to lie to Daryl. That's not what they did. "I'm not fine… but I'm better now."
"You look different." Daryl picked up some blades of grass and pulled them into small pieces. He sucked at words. But he knew he had to try. "Not bad. Sorry. Jus' different. Like you said… stronger, but also, something else." That something else, he knew was loneliness. Because even though he had his family, he had counted on her joining it, and with her gone… it was empty. He felt that loneliness as well. He didn't realize until about the 6 month mark of not seeing her, how much he had come to rely on it… and look forward to it. These kinds of emotions were not a familiar territory with Daryl. He prefered anger and hell, even sulking to lonely and lost.
"it's been a long year." She also began to fidget with the grass.
"How did you get away? I mean. Thinking back, that's pretty impressive"
"I just got lucky. Herd came through. The guys tried to hold up in the cabins, but once the windows started breaking Joe was out of there. Left me all alone." Sadie smiled, knowing that only she could be so lucky. "I just ran out the front door and thought that whatever was going to happen was going to happen. I just kept pushing until I got ahead of the herd. I couldn't believe I made it through." She looked at him in the fading light. "How about you? I thought for sure they weren't going to let you just walk away."
Daryl told Sadie what happened on his end and they both really couldn't believe they were still alive. They both had known their fate that night, yet they came out on top again.
"I got picked up by a group. Thought maybe it was your group at first. Foolish." Sadie shook her head and a single tear fell from her eye. "They are in this area, I ditched them about 2 weeks ago.." Fear struck. "We have to leave. We aren't safe here."
"Course we're safe. We have heavy walls. Patrols. Guns."
"It's not enough Daryl. Remember the last time you told me you were safe." She threw the blades of grass to the ground. "There is a… " she searched her mind for the best way to describe them and all she came up with was. "A very bad group out there. Much, much worse than Joe's. They'll find us eventually. Daryl, they call themselves, 'The Saviors.'
She knew they were anything but...
Daryl assured her that they would be ok. They don't have a quarrel with anybody else out there and they have the walls. The walls, the walls, he was so hung up on the protection of those walls. Sadie thought he would be more logical than this. She had to tell him just how bad this group was so he would understand. These walls don't mean shit. She'd tell him tonight, or tomorrow.
"Come on." His voice, that raspy almost whisper. "Let's go inside."
"Do you live here all alone?" So many questions flashed through Sadie's head.
"Nah, Got two other guys here too. I don't really live here. I just crash once in a while. They're cool."
Sadie decided it was time to go inside and see where the night goes from here. Daryl held out his hand after he stood and tugged her to her feet. When she was up, he let go and turned to walk to the house.
Nope not the hand holding type. Sadie wanted to smack herself. What had she been thinking back there in the woods? It was a brief moment brought on by reliving a traumatic experience. He understands, he was just being comforting. What about that kiss outside the cabin they shared though? No, stop thinking about those things.
When they walked through the backdoor it opened to a lovely dining room. There was a large, rectangle shaped wooden table off to the left and one of the most beautiful kitchens she has ever seen to the right. Seated at the dining room table each with a cup of coffee or tea in their hands were two handsome young men. Both wearing identical, knowing grins. Sadie liked them instantly.
"This is Sadie." Daryl shrugged in her direction.
"Wow, Daryl, what a glowing introduction." One of the men said with a brilliant, toothy smile. Sadie has seen these smiles before too. She realized immediately that they were a couple and were very interested in this new girl Daryl has brought around. Gossip never goes away… even in an apocalypse. "I'm Eric, and this is Aaron. It's nice to meet you. Would you like some tea?"
"Tea sounds wonderful." Sadie couldn't help her excitement when she saw him walk over to the kitchen and pull out an enormous rack of loose leaf teas.
Eric turned to her. "We hit the jackpot here. These people had taste."
Sadie joined Eric in the kitchen selecting her flavor and peeking around at all of the amenities. Daryl joined Aaron at the kitchen table and just watched her. To him, he imagined this is what a child would look like on Christmas morning. Lit up with joy and wonder. He liked her expressions. She seemed to have so many facial expressions.. He remembered liking her laugh when she was sitting in that little pond they had both fallen into way back. He remembered liking her full lips turning up into a shy smile by the fire in the cabin. Then he remembered her asking if she could hug him. Those times when they were talking when she would gently pat his leg or arm. That moment he couldn't help but kiss her when she was so desperate to convince him not to leave.
That memory lingered. Her lips were so soft. She had been right then, when she told him it didn't feel right and he shouldn't go… was she right now.
"Hey, DARYL!" Eric's voice cut through his thoughts. Snapping him into the present.
"What?" He glared. Not being mean, just being Daryl.
"Do you want so tea?"
"I don't drink tea."
Eric knew that, he was just giving his unpolished friend and hard time. Everybody in the room had noticed that Daryl drifted off somewhere.
"Thank you so much Eric." Sadie blew on her hot tea and took a small sip. Her eyes closed with pure pleasure. "This, is, amazing."
They all sat at the dining room table and talked about how each one of them came to be in the Alexandria Safe Zone. It all struck Sadie wrong. They felt too secure here. It was like they were giving up the fight. Like they had forgotten the world was still falling apart outside these walls.
"Well, we've talked your ear off enough for now I think. How about you go up and take a shower." Aaron said.
"You have a shower?" Sadie was beside herself. This day just kept getting better and better.
"Of course we do."
"Are you sure?" Sadie smiled and looked right at Daryl.
"Good one smart ass, go upstairs, firs' door on the left." Daryl, hidden behind his hair looked just a touch more pink hued than he had a minute ago.
The men at the table laughed as Sadie left the room. As she started up the stairs she thought she heard Aaron say "Looks like you'll wanna be taking that shower after all now huh?"
Just lathering her hair with real shampoo again in hot water was enough to relax her brain. She stopped thinking about all the worries she had and reasons to leave. Maybe this is what happens? Maybe they all take showers and forget. Sadie laughed to herself for being so SyFy. Then took a loofa off the rack and doused it in creamy, lavender soap.
As Sadie scrubbed her arms and stomach she thought of Daryl downstairs. He is still just as handsome as she remembered him. Eyes so blue, you'd swear they were contacts and oh those arms. From the first time she saw him she couldn't stop thinking about what it would feel like to be wrapped up in those arms.
She was once. In the cabin. He had held her, and later kissed her. Sadie scrubbed her feet, then calves. When she lathered her thighs a feeling washed over her that she hadn't felt in a while. A warm heat in the pit of her stomach. She thought of Daryl holding her, but this time in a different embrace. She washed higher up her thighs. A smile curved on her lips as she moved the loofa up over the v of her womanhood and continued to her stomach. Her hands guided the suds over each breast and with a gentle squeeze she imagined what it would be like to get Daryl in this very shower and convince him to help her.
As Sadie pondered taking a moment to release some very long pent up energy she noticed the razor. She didn't know who's razor it was, but it was going to end up dull in the trash by the time she was through. And the pent up energy would have to stay right there… for the time being.
The silkiness that she found on her freshly shaven legs was foreign to her. It had been so long since she could feel as feminine as she does at this very moment. The idea came to her that tonight she would be nestled between two sheets in a safe bed. She became overwhelmed by emotion and turned around to face the spray of water. She scrubbed her face then reached down to turn off the water.
The towels were fluffy and clean as they dried her smooth skin and the tile cold under her feet. A soft knock came at the door.
"Yes?" She called.
"I have some clean clothes here that I think might fit you. I will just leave them outside the door." She didn't know if it was Eric or Aaron, but it was so sweet. And she was thankful that they didn't clean out the closet from the previous owner.
She tried on the clothes and they were a nice fit. The mirror was all steamed up, but with one swipe of her hand she was able to see her reflection. No longer grimy with dirty and greasy hair. She smiled and even the dark circles under her eyes couldn't take away from the joy she felt at feeling like she was all woman again.