So to celebrate the fact I got my The Walking Dead season 6 dvds today, I've decided to post up two chapters for you lovely, lovely people :):)
But I want something in return... REVIEWS!
Seriously, I feel like you guys are just not enjoying this. That probably feels stupid, but its like, if you don't review how am I supposed to know what you like, how you feel, what's wrong? I don't mean to sound needy, but I'd just like to hear from you guys... please?
Anyway, here's chapter 12 for ya :):)
Bamby
VPOV
It'd been three weeks since we lost Beth. Two since we'd lost Tyreese. A day and a half ago we'd all split up to find water, food, anything. But came up empty handed. We were starving, dehydrated, tired, sore. Everything was going wrong... but at least we still had the van...
Just like that, we rolled to a stop.
"We're out." Abraham looked to dad in the passenger seat, Judith on his lap. "Just like the other one."
It wasn't going to be much longer before the rest of us started dropping.
"So, we walk." dad opened the door, getting out.
We all followed, climbing out of the vehicle, starting our long trip to nowhere on the hard, hot road. I lifted Aly on to my back. As much as I didn't have the energy to carry her, I knew she couldn't walk as fast or far as the rest of us, even though we were only moving at a snails pace. She held on to me, arms around my neck, head resting on my back. Houdini walked by my side, staying strong as I stuck to the edge of our group, keeping my distance still.
Looking down at my dog I felt worry build in my chest. I was beginning to wonder when we'd turn on him or he'd turn on us...
DPOV
Walking at the front of our group, leading them as we continued down the long road I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I felt useless. I knew we were all running on fumes. It was only a matter of time before we'd all collapse of exhaustion, or walkers would attack. Speaking of which, I turned to look at the back of the group, seeing some walkers gathering as they followed behind us.
"We're not at our strongest." Rick noted, walking beside me. "We'll get 'em when it's best. High ground, something like that. They're not going anywhere."
Nodding, I turned to keep walking. As long as we didn't slow down, and we all kept moving, we should be okay. For now.
"It's been three weeks since Atlanta." he started. "I know you lost something back there."
Ignoring him, I looked down at Judith. "She's hungry." I changed the subject.
He looked down at his daughter, the youngest of all of us and his kids. "She's okay. She's gonna be okay." it sounded like he was trying to reassure himself that she would make it, but honestly chances were none of us would...
Sighing, I knew something had to be done. "We need to find water, food." I looked towards the treeline, ready to go look.
"We'll hit some in the road." he sounded so sure, looking up at the sky. "It's gonna rain sooner or later."
But I wasn't willing to chance losing anyone between now and when the rain would finally fall. "I'm gonna head out." I handed him the rifle I'd been carrying. "See what I can find."
"Hey." he looked at me with serious eyes. "Don't be too long."
Nodding I turned to Vic, seeing her walking with Aly on her back, Houdini on one side and Carl on the other. I also noticed that even though it was a warm day, she was covered up. I could hardly see her hands the sleeves of her shirt were so long.
Our eyes locked.
I'd hoped that over time she would come back to me, open up about about what she was thinking and feeling. But there's been no progress between us. In fact she'd only just started to stop avoiding Carl, letting him talk to her without responding to him. Aly was the first she let in, every once in a while I'd hear her say something short and soft to the little girl as if hearing her own voice might scare her. Something was clearly wrong, I just didn't know what. But I was determined to find out.
"You wanna come?" I nodded to the treeline I was about to head into.
She hesitated before shaking her head.
Sighing to myself, I didn't bother to push and instead turned to the trees.
"I'll go with you." Carol called.
I shook my head. "I got it."
"You gonna stop me?" she asked, following me as I disappeared into the bushes.
VPOV
"Mummy?" Aly's head moved behind me as she tried to look over my shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong." I lied. There was a lot wrong. So much so the list of things that were right would be shorter and easier to call off-because it was practically nonexistent. Everything felt as if it was going wrong.
"You haven't talked to Daryl..." her small voice was thick with worry.
It was true. I hadn't spoken to Daryl. I hadn't spoken to him because I could still feel what had happened to me. The bruises had lightened, but my wrist was still pretty bad; and last night, when I'd walked off to go to the bathroom, I checked the marks O'Donnell had left. Bruises in the shape of bites were all over my body. They were a reminder. Even now I could feel them, I could still feel him.
"It's okay to be sad. It's okay to talk to Daryl too. He loves you."
I smiled lightly, looking over my shoulder at her as best as I could. "When'd you get so smart?"
DPOV
Carol and I came to a clearing what looked to have been once a creek.
"Anything?" she asked.
I shook my head. "No, it's too dry. There ain't nothing here."
"Maybe we should start back?"
We had been gone for sometime... not that long though. I wasn't worried about the others or anything. And I knew going back empty handed wouldn't help them, so staying out here and looking for anything to eat or drink, it was better use of my time. Besides, I didn't exactly feel like going back and spend my time worrying over Vic. At least being out her was a distraction.
"You go." I told her with a shrug.
"I think Beth saved my life."
I stopped in my tracks, her words pulling me to a hault.
"She saved your life too, right?" walking forward she moved to stand beside me, pulling out a knife and offering it to me. "It was her's."
Slowly I took it, looking it over, feeling it. Beth and I, we'd been through a lot after the prison and I'd learnt a few things, like how tough she could be and how capable she actually was. She'd been a friend... which wasn't something that came to me easily. She was the reason why I was still myself. I'd probably died out there by myself if it wasn't for her. I would have been so set on finding Vic that I would have ended up dead more than likely. I owed Beth a lot, which made losing her worse.
"We're not dead. That's what you said." she nodded. "You're not dead. I know you. We're different. I can't let myself-" she cut herself off. "But you, I know you. You have to let yourself feel it." I just watched her as she gave me a sad smile. "I know you... and I know Vickie. She'll come around. You two. You're not dead." she stepped forward, brushing some of my hair from my face. "You're not dead." she leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on my forehead.
As she stepped back, she looked to me one last time before turning around and heading back towards the others, leaving me there, with thoughts of what she'd said...
VPOV
I stood with Gabriel, Carl, Noah, Eugene, Houdini and Aly- who was still on my back. We were at the end of a bridge, the others behind us, waiting in formation as walkers moved towards them. Dad had come to the conclusion it was safest to get rid of the walkers now, while we still have a little bit of energy left. He'd wanted me to stand with them, to help, but I couldn't. I didn't want to leave Aly alone; and I wasn't sure my wrist would be able to handle it.
We watched as the walkers reached them, dad stepping forward, catching a walkers attention. As it got closer he simply stepped aside, making it fall over the edge and under the bridge. Each of them did this as more walkers came by, moving to make them slide down where they wouldn't be able to come back up and follow us. That was until Sasha stepped forward, knife out, stabbing the walker moving to her.
As soon as she did that, the formation broke.
"Shit." I crouched down. "Aly you gotta get off." once she was on the ground turned to Carl. "You take care of her." he nodded, and with that I ran.
Well I tried to run. But with the amount of energy I had it was more like a stumbling fast walk. It didn't matter though. All that mattered was that the others were in trouble and they needed help.
I rushed forward, seeing Glenn dealing with a walker. Grabbing it, I pulled it back enough before Glenn reached forward, stabbing it in the head.
Dropping the walker I turned, pulling out my knife. I saw dad struggling with a walker beside me. Moving to him I went to reach for the walker, only to have it turn on me as dad stumbled back slightly. I tried to keep the walker away as it snapped it's teeth towards me, but I pushed wrong.
"Ah!" I yelled out as a throbbing and stabbing pain coursed through my arm, starting from my wrist. Distracted, the walker pushed on me further, making me fall to the ground.
Out of nowhere, hands grabbed the walker, pulling it off me. I looked up and saw Daryl as he slammed the walker on to the ground before stomping his foot on it's head, causing blood and brains to spray on to the road and his boots.
He turned to me, looking me over with worried eyes. "You okay? Did it get you?" offering his hand he watched and waited for the three whole seconds it took before I let him pull me to my feet.
I didn't want to be scared of Daryl, and if I was being honest I knew I wasn't. It was human contact that had me flinching and hesitating all this time. The idea of a human touching me- even someone I loved- had me recoil. I felt wrong, dirty, unsafe. It was stupid, I knew that, but I couldn't stop.
With all the walkers killed dad stepped up to me, checking me over. "You okay?"
I tugged on the sleeve, covering my wrist as best as I could as I held it to me, nursing it. It still pulsed with pain, but I bit my lip, pushing through it. "I'm fine." I nodded.
"I told you to stop." we all turned to Michonne who was pointing down at Sasha who was on the ground.
I didn't blame Sasha for being pissed. In a matter of just weeks, she'd lost her boyfriend and her brother. I'd be pissed to. But to put herself and the rest of us in danger like that? I understood Michonne's anger too. She'd just nearly got us killed. Her reckless behaviour and lack of thought had almost got us killed.
"Hey." Daryl suddenly- but gently- grabbed my arm as he moved it to him.
I turned back to him, no longer interested or bothered by Michonne and Sasha. I had my own things to worry about. But it was too late. He'd already pulled my sleeve away. My wrist was already visible. The purple and red skin covering my wrist was out in the open for all of them to see, but it was Daryl who was clearly more concerned about it.
"What the hell is this?" he asked, not letting go of my wrist as he looked down at the swollen and bruised skin...
I pulled away from him, tugging the sleeve down again, looking at the ground to avoid his gaze as I did so. I avoided everyone's gaze as I tried to find a way out of the situation I was stuck in. But it was no use.
"Vickie?" dad had seen as well, now moving to reach for me.
I flinched back, stepping away. They were too close and there was too much attention on me. They were all looking at me, each and every one of them. I could feel their eyes, watching with pity, concern, confusion, worry. I felt like I was suffocating as they all stood there, with their eyes on my now covered wrist and I just couldn't take it anymore...
"I'm fine." I blurted out before turning and heading back to the others, to Aly.
DPOV
"Dad. Look." Carl's voice caught everyone's attention.
We walked over a hill, seeing a few cars stopped on the other side of it. I knew the others would want to check the cars for anything. They'd been stopped for awhile so the vehicles themselves would probably be useless, but they could hold something we may need. I knew everyone would be busy for a while, searching for supplies, which meant there was time to kill.
Not wanting to stick around, needing to be by myself, I turned to whoever would listen. "I'm gonna head out in the woods, circle back." I told them, moving towards the trees.
"Want me to come with?" Carol asked.
I turned to her, seeing Vic behind her looking down at the ground with Aly on her back once more, and the dog still at her side. She was the only person I wanted to come with me. But she wouldn't even look my way. She had a bruised wrist that looked like it was broken or something but wouldn't talk about it. She was flinching away from everyone, keeping to herself, closing up. She was clearly not in the right mind frame.
But she was the only one I wanted to come. She was the woman I loved. If I couldn't be with her, then I wouldn't to be by myself.
I shook my head. "No. Nah, just me." I answered before leaving them all to search the cars.
...
I walked through the woods, looking for anything, something. But it was like someone had come around and killed all the animals for themselves. It was like there was no more water anywhere. There was nothing we could use. I stopped, coming across a dead deer. Kneeling by it, I could see it was of no use to us. It was rotted, bugs and other small things had gotten to it and eaten to the bone.
Looking to my left, I caught sight of a dead walker leaning against a tree. It looked fresh. Not so fresh that there might be someone out here right now, but there had been someone out here today.
Getting back to my feet I turned to head for the others again. There was nothing out here...
I found them on the road still, all of them sitting to the side, under the small amount of shade the trees were offering at this time of day. They all looked up, reaching for their weapons as I walked through. Relaxing, they turned back to the nothing they were all doing.
Rick and I shared a look as he shook his head. There'd been nothing in the cars.
VPOV
Daryl sat with the rest of us, by my dad, Carl and Judith. We watched as Abraham pulled out the only thing we'd found in the cars... alcohol.
"So, all we found was booze?" Tara asked from beside me as she absentmindedly stroked Houdini.
"Yeah." Rosita nodded.
"It's not gonna help." Tara noted.
Rosita sighed. "He knows that."
"It's gonna make it worse."
"Yes, it is."
"He's a grown man." Eugene shrugged. "And I truly do not know if things can get worse."
"They can." Rosita told him, her words grim, but true.
I looked over at Judith before looking to Aly beside me. There were plenty of things that could go wrong...
The leaves on the trees rustled, all of us turning to see. It wasn't any of our people, we were all here. Which meant it wasn't going to be anything good. Four dogs jumped out of the bushes, growling at us. They looked wild and dangerous, bloody and dirty, hungry too.
I got to my feet, crouching, knife in hand as I stayed in front of Aly. Houdini was up now too, growling at the other animals, which just made them bark, causing him to bark back. This was not good.
The dogs went down as Sasha stood with her rifle, shooting each of them in the head...
I turned to the others, seeing that dad and Daryl had also been ready to defend us if the dogs had made a move. But now they were sharing a look, one I could read in an instant... dinner was served.
Aly gasped, grabbing on to my shoulder. "The doggies." she shook her head, watching as Daryl moved to them with his knife out.
I turned to her. "Why don't you lie down over there? Go play with your toys, okay?" I told her, nodding as I blocked her view of Daryl who had started skinning the dogs. "You just rest, okay?"
Her hand grasped Houdini's collar tightly as she nodded. The dog calmed down now that the the threat was gone, shifting his attention back to the little girl beside him. Aly turned to her bag and sat, play silently with Houdini laying down by her side. She kept her back to the rest of us, understanding that I needed her to do this, I needed her to do as I said. Otherwise I'd lose her, and I would not let that happen.
DPOV
Glenn stepped up to me as we continued to follow the road once more. He lifted his hand, showing a bottle and offering some water. When I didn't take it, he pressed. "Daryl."
I shook my head. "No, I'm all right."
"Daryl." he insisted.
"Don't." I warned him. There were more important people that should have the water. Like Judith, Aly and Carl. They were young, they needed it. Vic... She was injured, she needed all the energy and strength she could get.
"Hey. We can make it together. But we can only make it together." he told me before walking on, moving towards Maggie again.
I watched as he rested his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. My eyes fell on Vic, seeing Aly on her back once more. It wasn't good for her. It was going to make her more tired, and slower. It was going to make healing more difficult, and take longer. But she wouldn't listen to me so there was no point in trying to get her to listen, I knew she wouldn't.
I turned to Abraham who was just behind me, a little off to the side. "Tell 'em I went looking for water." I told him before walking into the bushes.
There was no need to let everyone know I was going... the only person I wanted to know didn't even care.
VPOV
I turned, hearing voices and then the sound of leaves rustling. I only just caught sight of Daryl disappearing into the treeline, more than likely going to try and find some water or food, again. It made my heart swell knowing he would risk everything to keep us all safe. I knew he would. I knew he'd keep looking for supplies, for anything, until we were all okay. He was just that kind of man. It was one of the reasons why I loved him so much.
Aly was on my back again, but her weight was pulling me down. I could feel it. I just didn't want to make her walk. It wouldn't be fair on her.
As if hearing my thoughts she started to wriggle, sliding down to the ground. I turned to her as soon as she was off, looking down with questioning eyes. She just looked up at me, sad and confused and scared.
I understood. She was worried about me, and the only way she was going to feel better was if she saw me happy... at least happier. The only way that was going to happen was if I talked about what had happened at the hospital. But the only person we both knew I'd really feel comfortable talking to, was the one person I didn't want knowing what happened.
But she just stood there, eyes big and innocent as she looked up at me, twisting my heart.
Sighing, I gave in. "Walk with Carl and Judy, okay?"
She nodded, grabbing a hold of Houdini's collar before moving to catch up to Carl and Judith at the front of the group just behind dad.
With a quick look to make sure she was going to stay with my brother, I then turned around and headed into the woods, following Daryl's tracks.
DPOV
I came to a clearing, a barn a few yards in front of me, the sun shining down in away that had the trees giving more shade than by the road.
Propping my crossbow down I sat one the ground, leaning against a tree, pulling some smokes out I'd found in Atlanta. Lighting it I looked towards the barn as I let myself really think about everything that had happened. I pulled the smoke out of my mouth, bringing it down to my hand, pressing the hot ashes on to my skin, burning myself as I slowly twisted the smoke.
We'd lost Beth. We'd lost Tyreese. I was pretty sure I'd lost Vic. Things weren't looking good.
With no home, no food, no water, and no way of knowing how much longer we would survive like this. Things weren't looking good.
Heading for Washington, we had no idea how bad it could be, if there really would be survivors or if it's be as bad as Atlanta had been. Things weren't looking good.
People weren't thinking straight, doing stupid things, it would be long now before we start turning on each other. Things weren't looking good.
I brushed the ashes off my hand, dropping the smoke on to the ground.
We'd lost Beth... I'd lost Beth...
"I'll be gone someday." she said out of nowhere.
I turned to her. "Stop."
"I will." shifting on the spot, she went on. "You're gonna be the last man standing. You are. You're gonna miss me so bad when I'm gone, Daryl Dixon." she smiled.
The tears started then... I could't help it, even as I tried to calm my breathing. But the loss was too strong... and I missed her.
"Daryl?"
BaMbY
