The World of the Walking Dead
Disclaimer: I do not own AMC's 'The Walking Dead'. If I did, season 5 would have never seen air-time. In fact, it wouldn't have even seen the completion of a storyboard, let alone a bloody script.
Daryl was not happy, not at all. He was pissed, possibly even beyond that right now. Lori had hit the little lady and apparently it wasn't the first time. So, being the rational thinking being she was, Zee decided to set up camp somewhere else, away from the rest of the group. He was surprised at her reaction. But not as surprised as when he was told that Shortstuff had stormed off into the woods and had yet to return.
"What th' fuck did'ya say to 'er? Huh? Fuckin' stupid fuckers."
"This isn't Rick's fault. If Zero," Lori practically spat the name out, "wants to go gallivanting in the woods for God knows how long, that's her decision. If she gets bit, that's on her."
"For fuck's sake. I'm goin' after 'er. How long 'as she been gone for Officer Dumb-Fuck?"
Rick himself was pissed off at the moment. He was getting a lot of flak for Zero's hasty actions and he was getting tired of having to take the brunt of Dixon's anger.
"Hey, back off redneck! It's not his fault. Show a little more respect!" Shane couldn't help himself. He had to have his say, especially if meant that he could insult the fucking hillbilly without any repercussions.
"Shut up, Officer Dipshit. Why don't ya go back to whatever th' hell you were doin'? Fuckin' prick. Now tell me how long she's been missin'!"
''
Daryl returned hours later. The sun had set, the moon was out and there was no sign of Zero anywhere. He found tracks and followed them but they led to dead ends, each and every one of them, quite literally, seeing as it was walker tracks he'd been following.
He got back to camp, started packing up his shit and walked off down to Zero's little camp set up, fixing both his tent and hers. She'd have to return sooner or later.
''
The rest of camp wasn't surprised when an insanely angry Dixon stormed up to camp. What shocked them was the fact that Zero was nowhere in sight. They'd all craned their necks, squinting into the darkness, trying to spot where Zero was waiting. There was no fire going at her campsite. She must have gone straight to bed.
"Night Shorts, ya better be fuckin' alright. I'll come get you in the mornin'. You best stay safe 'til then."
Daryl fell into a restless slumber that night, Shortstuff plaguing his every thought.
''
Hell yes! She did a victory dance as she came upon the town. Finally, luck was on her side.
"Hmmmmm. Okay, this is good." She said to herself as she checked the map she procured.
She knew she didn't have much daylight left. Another 2 hours, maybe 3. She couldn't be sure; she wasn't Daryl Dixon. Damn, he was going to kill her when she got back to camp; if she got back that is.
Her plan was simple. Find a car and hotwire the bloody thing, drive out to a set of stables that were marked down on the map, get supplies for the animals, ransack the souvenir shop for any canned goods and stop at any and all convenient stores along the way.
She walked her way around town, eating a pack of crisps and walked to what looked like the main shopping centre. She cautiously made her way around to the delivery bay and grinned like a madman when she found exactly what she was looking for.
''
A large, white delivery van was being driven towards the farm. Its sides were coated in blood and some of it looked pretty damn fresh. Andrea called out to the camp, gun trained on the oncoming vehicle.
It was late afternoon. Everyone waited with baited breath as Herschel and his family joined the Atlanta Survivors. They watched on as the van swerved to and fro, rapidly approaching the gates. The group ran down, Herschel handing out the weapons he collected upon their arrival, and decided to meet whoever this was down by the gates.
"Come out with your hands up! Exit the vehicle slowly!" Rick called out as the van came to a stop.
The door opened. One foot descended and planted itself onto the ground, followed by another. A hunched figure, hair covering their face, staggered and collapsed in a heap.
Herschel immediately ran to the figures side, Patricia and Maggie joining him.
"Jesus. I need someone to go up to the house, start boiling some water, now! Maggie! Beth! I need you to go and prepare the lounge room. I'll have to fix her up in there. I need towels, bandages and get me the suture kit!" He turned to address the group. "I need a make shift stretcher of some sort. There should be something in the brown barn." There was a pause. "NOW! Right NOW!"
He looked down at Zero's battered form.
Who in this world could have hurt such a sweet, young woman? He couldn't answer his question, and frowned at the damage he could see.
''
It would be World War 3. The apocalypse would have nothing on Daryl Dixon's wrath when he got back to camp and learnt of the condition they'd found Zero.
The woman had an absolute treasure trove of supplies in the back of that van. She'd obviously decided to do something useful with the time she spent away at camp but holy shit was she a mess.
T-Dog, Shane and Glenn had taken off to find something to help get Zero to the house without moving her too much. Rick was in some form of shock, staring at the woman in horror and disbelief. Carol gasped; a hand went to her mouth. She brought Sophia to her, covering the young girls' eyes and started back to camp. Sophia let out a sob as her mother comforted her.
Once they got her to the house Herschel demanded that every one of the Atlanta group leave. He couldn't afford to lose concentration because of these incompetent people.
The group left the house quickly and gathered around the campsite.
"What the fuck just happened?!" Shane shouted.
"Who the hell did that to her?" Glenn questioned, looking distraught with his hands gripping his cap.
"Who's gonna tell Dixon?" Andrea voiced.
Everyone quieted down and looked to Rick.
"Everyone needs to just calm down."
"Calm down?! Did you see her? Did you see what Zero looked like?! Someone did that to her! What the hell do you mean calm down?!" Glenn was becoming slightly hysterical.
"We know! Fuck, Glenn, it was a bit hard not to see her!" Shane replied.
"Now everyone, it's not going to do anyone any good if we start panicking." Dale interrupted. "Let's get some dinner going. We'll just have to wait for Herschel to give us any news."
''
Herschel had sent Maggie down to talk to the group and update them on Zero's condition. The Fates thought that now would be the best time for Daryl to return to camp. Holding his trade mark rope of furry forest critters, Daryl threw them down and glared at everyone at the campsite. The sun was near setting, he couldn't find any trace of Shortstuff and now he noticed a van which could only mean one thing. The dumb fucks at camp have let in a stranger.
"So where the fuck is the new guy?"
''
The light coming in from the window was burning her eyes. She remembered making it to camp and couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, quickly followed by a hiss of pain as Patricia rushed to her bedside.
"Think you could close the blinds please?"
Patricia closed them halfway, darkening the room for the most part.
"I know it's a stupid question, but how are you feeling darling?"
"I'd be lying to you if I said I was feeling good. I'm in all kinds of pain." She could feel bandages on her chest and torso. "Patricia, I want you to know that in no way, shape or form am I disregarding the care I've been shown but can you please, please tell me that you were the one to bandage my chest up. I don't think I could ever look at Herschel again if he did it."
Patricia let out a laugh and assured the woman she that she had been the one to tend to those wounds.
"Oh thank goodness for that!" She let out a laugh before gasping again in pain.
"What happened out there, Zero? Are you alright to talk now?"
Zero nodded her head.
"I've got a van, gotta plan, running 'round like a delivery man." She sang to herself. She'd finished loading up the back of the van with as many supplies as she could. She'd raided 3 small convenience stores once she'd left the barn. Taking the back roads as a precaution, Zero had avoided any relatively large groups of walkers.
She was making her way to the drivers' seat, admiring the 'art work' on the side of the van, when she heard a vehicle.
What the hell? She pulled out the map again, locating her current position on it and frowned. She was nowhere near the farm which was good but there weren't really any roads she could sneak back on.
She left the van and decided to hide elsewhere. Chances were, if anyone came poking around this part of the small residential area, they'd not even bother checking out the van. She'd covered it in blood, walker intestines and wrote on one side 'All hope is lost. Save us!' Hopefully they'd think nothing of it and not look in the back.
She was currently behind a fence, peeking through the wooden slates, watching as two cars pulled up at the top of the street. She could hear the men talking to each other, planning how they'd raid the houses here.
Climbing in through a back window, Zero entered one of the homes. She did a quick sweep of downstairs and went to the living room window. She tried to be quiet, she really did but the walker that grabbed onto her caught her off guard completely. She'd been too preoccupied with the living that she forgot about the dead.
That was when attention had been brought to her.
All at once, the men had reformed their group and came running towards the house. Zero disposed of the walker and went to leg it out the back door. She jumped a few fences, trying to outrun the group.
When she thought she'd lost them, if only for a little while, she crawled into a dog house and hoped to whoever was listening, that she wouldn't be found. She was. The men weren't stupid. One of them had seen her last entering this property, and hadn't seen her leave it which could only mean that she was still there.
They pulled her out of the dog house, restraining her.
"Look at what we found, boys; a pet!" A relatively tall man said. He wasn't as physically intimidating as the rest of the group but he certainly had a dark and powerful sort of presence.
"Now what should we do with you, sweetie?"
"You could let me go. I don't want any trouble. I'm only passin' through. I'm sorry I trespassed on your turf."
"Hear that, boys?" He had his arms open, gesturing to Zero and then to his group. "She's sorry. That's all well and good, honey, but the fact remains that you have, indeed, trespassed. What could you possibly offer us in exchange for your freedom?" He then leered at her, sending a wicked grin to his company.
Dammit! Really? Really? She could not believe this was happening.
"You know what," she began, hoping to sound seductive, "I know exactly what I can…exchange." She hoped she'd be able to run faster than they could as she threw herself backwards into the man holding her.
She bit down on his arms and stood as quickly as possible. The men reacted almost immediately. She sent her foot crashing down onto the throat of her previous captor.
"Always wanted to do that!"
She ran as the men chased after her.
"Did you kill him?" Patricia asked.
"He didn't get back up." She answered with a shrug.
It wasn't a good idea. She was, once again, being restrained. Turns out they didn't appreciate her actions and now she'd pay for them. She'd been punched, God knows how many times, but had also ripped the flesh from some of them. Being the smart arse she'd always been, she kept taunting them.
"Oh, that, that actually hurt me this time. Good job." This earned a punch to the jaw. She took a bit of time before she spoke up again. "You're not as useless like the rest of these pussies. Why don't you try punching me like a man next time? Might do some proper damage!"
"That's it! I'm sick of this bitch. Let's shut her up, once and for all."
"I'd like to see you try. The walkers won't go near you lot because there's just not enough brains between you for them to feed. Idiots. Bloody morons, the lot of you!"
"Fuck it. If you won't teach her a proper fucking lesson, I will." He'd had enough of the little bitch. She'd been nothing but a fucking nuisance since they caught back up to her.
He pulled out a knife and started carving into her flesh. Her arms were being redecorated with mocking words. She let out a whimper, trying so hard to supress the pain.
"Don't have anything to say now, do ya? Fucking bitch."
That was it for her. She was now pained and pissed. She still needed to get back to the stupid fucking farm and she was nearing a psychotic break.
Keeping in mind that she was about to lose it, she struggle against the two men holding her. She waited for the knife man to start again and when he did, she threw her head forward, connecting her forehead with his nose. His knife lodged into her and she cried out as she stomped on one man's foot and then brought her leg up to kick him in the stomach.
Once he let go she once again threw herself into the other man who held her other arm. She pulled the knife out and stabbed him in the throat, getting up and turning around to do the exact same to the man behind her.
Guns were pulled on her, there was a shout from another man who had been standing guard outside the garage and chaos erupted.
She stumbled as she ran into the house, taking the door which led inside, and ran upstairs to what she assumed was the master bedroom. She locked the door, knowing that the only thing that would do was buy her a couple of seconds once they reached the room. She ransacked the side drawers, turned the mattress over frantically searching for a firearm.
She tried the closet next and was relieved to find a simple handgun up on top of a shelf in the small cupboard. There were 3 magazine clips, all full, in a wooden box on the floor and she took them immediately.
The door was kicked in as soon as she had turned off the safety. She sprang into action, pulling the trigger like it was nobody's business. She got the men in the arms, legs and groin area, slowing them down, leaving them in pain but not killing them. Not yet. She'd come back later and finish them off. Right now though, she needed to split the rest up so, she climbed out the window and jumped.
By the time she'd finally offed them all, she'd been shot at and stabbed multiple times, kicked, punched and her hair had been pulled, causing her severe neck pain from the jolt.
"Jesus, Zero. My God! What….What happened to them?"
"Fucking bitch! Kill me then! KILL ME YOU FUCKING LITTLE BITCH!"
Zero walked over to him, a baseball bat in hand, and hit the man's ankles, breaking them. She then took the bat to his wrists, the screams of the man echoing off the walls.
"No. Our little game, our playtime, would have called a hell of a lot of walkers over here, don't you reckon, boss man?" She took her gun out again and shot him in the kneecaps. He screamed again. "And you know what? You're going nowhere. Oh yeah, you've pissed me off, mate. It's a-fucking-mazing just how much strength anger can give you."
She cleared the area around him of any objects that he could use to kill walkers with. Not that he'd have been able to, what, with the broken wrists and all. She then made her way out of there.
"GET BACK HERE! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME! YOU CAN'T FUCKING LEAVE ME, YOU SICK FUCK! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME!" He yelled after her, pleading for her to come back.
"THANK YOU FOR TODAY, BOSS MAN! I HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT AS MUCH AS I HAVE! BYE BYE, BOSS MAN! YOU'VE GOT YOURSELF SOME NEW COMPANY!"
As she struggled back towards the van, a trip she wasn't even sure she could make, the sounds of a blood curdling scream emitted from the second level of the house.
''
"Let me in! I needa fuckin' see her!"
"She needs to rest, Daryl. I know you're worried but she…"
"Let him in, Patricia. He can see her." Herschel intervened. He knew the hunter wouldn't stop until he'd seen the woman for himself. "Go on."
''
"You fuckin' happy, Shortstuff? Fuckin' gave me a fuckin' heart attack! 'S that what you wanted?!" His words were spoken in a dangerously low tone, coming out in harsh breaths. "What the fuck possessed you to go into the fuckin' woods by yourself?"
She watched him as he paced backwards and forwards, could see him trying to reign in his temper. He stopped after a good 5 minutes then made his way to her side.
"You alright, Shortsuff?" He asked, pulling up an armchair from the corner. "I want you to tell me exactly what happened, 'right? Best not leave anythin' out 'cause I'll know." He warned her.
She set about repeating what she'd told Patricia not even an hour before. She watched as his expression turned dark, murderous. She looked away when she confessed that she'd essentially tortured a person and left them to get eaten alive, with no way to defend themselves.
He saw the shame in her eyes as she retold what she'd done to the 'boss man', as she called him. He could tell that, while she was ashamed of her actions, she didn't feel any remorse for having caused the man pain. He reached over to her, grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at him.
"Ain't did nothin' I wouldn't 'ave done, Zee. Don't fuckin' think any less o' yourself. That fucker hurt ya. He was plannin' on doin' worse things to you than what you did to him."
"I know. I, I guess I didn't think I'd have it in me to hurt someone like that." She let out a chuckle. "You told me that my mouth would get me in trouble. You were right. I was a little smart aleck to them. You should've heard my last words to him, though. Bloody brilliant." She let out a chuckle, trying not to take too deep of a breath to avoid pain, and addressed the hunter again.
"Thank you Daryl." She grabbed his hand, pulled him down to her and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."
Daryl pulled back, not sure what the hell to do. He backed off, towards the door, ready to flee outside.
"Could you ask Herschel and Patricia to make sure Rick doesn't try to talk to me?" This caught Daryl's attention and any intentions he had of running off left him. Why wouldn't she wanna talk with Officer Friendly? "I don't have the patience to deal with him, Shane or Lori. Heck, I don't even want to talk Dale. Keep him away as well."
"Why?"
"You know how I, uh, took a little walk? Well, it may or may not have happened because of an argument with Rick."
His eye twitched.
"What did th' fucker say that made you walk into th' fuckin' woods by yourself?!"He'd forgotten about the whole 'I'll take a walk in the woods' thing; another fuckin' talk he was gonna have with her.
"I was trying to set up my tent when Rick came over. Thought I had blown everything out of proportion but-" She was interrupted.
"What the hell had you movin' camp anyway?"
"Lori! She bloody hit me again yesterday. I'm sick of being polite to that, that, that…..Urgh!"
"'S that why your face was a little swollen 'fore?"
"Yeah. She had a go at me for giving Carl a block of chocolate to cheer him up, back when he had just woken up and all."
"What did ya do yesterday?"
"Nothing! I swear, that woman's paranoid. She's been freaking out 'cause she thinks I told Rick about her and Shane! Everyone knows about the two of them. I knew and I wasn't even at camp! Rick's been distancing himself from Lori and of course, obviously, Rick's been getting a little something-something from me." She rolled her eyes and gave Daryl an unimpressed look. "She walks straight up to me, calls me a few names, tells me to keep away from her husband and then clocks me in the face! I grabbed my stuff and moved away before I murdered the whiny twat and got myself into some real trouble with the bloody group."
"I've hunted already. Plenty 'f meat for at least 3 days. Want me to stay 'ere?"
"It's alright. If you want to hide out in here for a while I've no problems whatsoever."
"I'll got out n' set a couple more traps; come back here."
"See ya, Dare. Thank you, again."
He nodded and blushed a little, remembering why he had wanted to leave before now. Fuckin' hell Shorts, why'd ya have to go and do a thing like that.
"I….I'm glad you're alright, Zee. It's…'s good to have you back."
He walked out of the living room, a small smile on his face, as he thought about his Shortstuff.
''
Authors Note: So, what did you think? Good? Bad? Too long? I'll be posting a Rick POV chapter soon enough. I'm not entirely sure if I should do one from Daryl's POV. Let me know what you think and I shall deliver, hopefully.