Well hello lovely readers and reviewers, we are back again! Change up in formula this time, we're staying with Luna and her group for this chapter, and probably the next one as well, but I think it's for a good reason. Enjoy guys! Oh, and by the way, is anybody else so excited for TWD to come back on Sunday that they're dreaming about it? Hopefully it's not just me… xD
The sun was close to rising by the time Luna woke. There was sand strewn everywhere across her naked skin and in her hair, but she was warm. She was towed in next to Mal, the rising of the morning sun illuminating the tan that had already begun to set in from just a day of exposure. She inhaled through her nose and noted the scent of him, metallic and damp from the cool air blowing off the water but something deeper lay underneath. Something sharp but heady all at the same time, almost like suffocating heat but it was so much more than welcomed. She sighed softly and shifted just a little closer to him, rolling in the sand slightly, contemplating exactly how this had happened. She let her eyes wander over Mal, taking in the muscled planes of his body, the slow rise and fall of his chest, the lift of his jaw, the barest trace of her teeth in the side of his neck and on his collarbone.
Her movement roused him and slowly his eyes drifted open, immediately turning down towards his side to look at her. "Morning," he rasped, tongue still heavy and thick from sleep.
"Morning," she signed, crooning softly in her throat, her nose nuzzling the crook off his neck. His fingers ran through her hair, noting the grains of sand that were shaken loose from the strands. The amber of the morning sunshine had yet to reach her skin, the barest trace of starlight still tinting her skin silver. Her cobalt eyes blinked up at him as she reached her lips up and kissed the underside of his jaw, tracing over the ghost of an imprint from her teeth.
"They'll be looking for us soon," he murmured quietly as she laid her head against his chest, drawing random patterns on his skin.
She let her fingers close over his wrist and tugged his hand out from under her and laid it on her flank. Automatically his fingers began to stroke and brush, sending tantalizing electric signals through her skin. She shivered under the touch and he grinned wickedly, gently nudging her so she laid out on her back. His hand caught hers as she tried to run her fingers through his shaggy hair, pulling her hand down and letting his lips trace the scar he found there.
"How did you get this?" he asked as he barely took his lips away, the warmth of his breath making her shiver.
"I was ten, my dad was showing me how to butcher a deer. My hand slipped on the boning knife." Her eyes fluttered and then closed when she felt his lips move down her arm, tracing up over her shoulder and then towards her chest, finding the second scar. He looked up at her, the silver of his eyes sparking like stoked coals; she shivered at the thought, arching up under his touch.
"And this?" he husked, darting his eyes up to look at her before dropping his mouth down to trace the scar.
"Showing off," she panted, her fingers twisting into his already messy hair. Her hips were pushing up underneath his as he subtly maneuvered himself over her, their naked legs twisting together. "Cliff jumping when I was fourteen. Judith's older brother said I was too scared to jump off the tallest rock. Proved him wrong, but cut myself on another rock on the way down." The heat of his lips and tongue was muddling her brain, as was the way he folded himself down over her, leaving no room to breathe in between them. Her belly trembled as he kissed his way down her body, his lips ghosting on the achingly sensitive skin, breathing deeply through his nose, unable to get enough of the way she smelled. Something about it woke the primal side of him, the notion of want, take, have, of the night, sweet blood after a long hunt, and the satisfaction of pleasure so deep it resonated in his bones. He worked his way down her body, adding in his teeth every so often just to keep her on her toes, his fingers eventually finding her hips and closing on them even as she all but writhed underneath his hands.
"And this?" he asked, not bothering to look up at her this time, knowing she would understand when his lips touched the scar that traced from her lower belly towards her right hip bone.
She could hardly think enough to answer him. Her body was strung tighter than a bowstring pulled back and no matter how deep of a breath she took, she couldn't relax. Every touch of his fingers against her hips, the feel of his lips tracing the sensitive ridge of her scar, the heat of his body pressed against hers, she didn't know if she could take it. "Fifteen. I was hunting with Dad. We were tracking a cougar. He'd shot it already but I thought I could finish it off with just my knife. Claw got me." Her eyes nearly crossed as his mouth dropped lower and lower. She moaned his name, her feet digging into the soft sandy earth as her fingers clenched on his hair.
After that, there was no speaking between the two of them for a long while. Just wordless sighs and pants, desperate groans, whimpers of pleasure edged pain, but just like the night before, towards the end, Luna twisted around and pushed him onto his back and mounted herself over him, more surety in the movement of her hips, more ecstasy in her eyes, more mischief and wickedness on her mouth. She timed her movements with precision, understanding, and reveling, in the power she had over him. He bowed up underneath her, his fingers clenching on her hips, his eyes pleading what his mouth couldn't because he had no breath. They both let out strangled howls, necks craning back as chests heaved to try and recover. Luna trembled from her position atop Mal until she finally leaned forward, one hand on his chest, the other resting on the sand, holding herself up.
By now the sun had fully risen and was streaming golden light down into the quarry, catching the highlights in her hair and making her eyes burn with azure fire. Mal reached up and kissed her deeply, needing to take as much of her in as he possibly could, a small part of him threatening that this might all be a dream and that too soon he would have to wake up.
"We'll be late," he whispered against her lips when he finally let go so he could breathe. "We need to go."
She nodded and slowly slid to his side. She pulled him to his feet and she drug him into the quarry water, splashing away the sand from her skin and hair, but even the chilly temperature of the water couldn't erase the echoed sear of his skin against hers.
By the time they made it back up the hill to rejoin the others the rest of the group was awake and digging out the leftover meat from yesterday's kill for breakfast.
"Where did you two go?" Tau asked, waggling her brows at the pair of them as they joined the group for breakfast.
"Wanted to wash the blood off from yesterday," Mal said smoothly. Luna didn't bother to reply, wolfing down her share of breakfast, knowing she'd need the calories to keep on the march for the day. When she did look up however, she could see the trace of smirking disbelief on Tau's face. Luna mentally shrugged and swallowed down the last of her breakfast, not speaking until the others were done too.
"Alright, let's move. We have a lot of ground to cover today." She shouldered into her weapons, as always the familiarity of their weight on her body comforting. The group nodded and she took the lead, heading to the road that led back down to the main highway that circled at the base of the hill the quarry was mounted on. Luna wasn't surprised when Judith came up to her side as the group began to slowly fan out, keeping a steady walking pace as the sun climbed higher in the sky.
"Luna, what did you do?" Judith signed as she fell into step beside her sister. She could see the change in the younger girl, her suspicion roiling just beneath her skin.
Luna turned to her and smirked, white teeth flashing in the morning light. "What'd you think I did?" she asked with a biting laugh.
"Just hit me with it so I don't have to swing my hand to my own forehead."
Luna snickered at her sister's humor. "So I had sex. Big deal."
Judith's eyes bugged out of her skull. "It is a big deal, Luna!"
Luna rolled her eyes. "Oh please. We went down to the quarry last night and cleaned up. I wanted him, he wanted me. You really didn't expect me to die a virgin, did you?"
Judith couldn't help but chuckle. "If we hadn't been dragged into this fucked up mess, I might have. What were the odds we were ever going to meet boys? Much less have the opportunity to do anything."
"Precisely," Luna signed. "So don't give me any shit. You're just jealous I got some before you did."
Judith hissed at her, sharp brown eyes narrowing. "Bull. I could get some any time I wanted. You think if I didn't drag Leland off he wouldn't jump at the chance?"
"So why don't you?" Luna shot back.
"Because I'm not crazy is why! You care about Mal, but you haven't even known him all that long. You have no idea what he might do once shit really hits the fan back at the CDC. Not to mention that screwing around could get you pregnant, did you even think that far ahead?" Judith's jaw set hard even as her fingers moved.
Luna clicked her teeth in annoyance. "You're the one who told me to basically get into bed with him in the first place! To get him to trust us! He's not the same person he was when we first met him! The only reason you still don't trust him is because he grew up in the CDC and Leland didn't. I know him, Judith. He's with us. If things go badly, he'll do what he can to protect us, he told me so. And yes, I did think that far ahead," she snapped. "Mal knows what he's doing. And I'm not a moron either. We were careful. You think I didn't have that awful mortifying conversation with my parents?"
All anger forgotten, Judith shuddered in the shared mortification. When she recovered, she softened her expression, the movements of her fingers becoming less tense. "Do you love him?"
Luna was silent for a long time. "If I knew what love like that meant, I'd tell you."
By noon the temperature was so hot that sweat was pouring down their faces. They had left the woods behind and were now walking down a highway that was only loosely dotted with trees, mostly surrounded by wide open fields and small ramshackle buildings that were being demolished and eaten away by time and the elements. It wasn't so much the distance they had crossed that was doing them in; it was the blistering temperature and unrelenting humidity.
"We can't keep going like this," Leland panted as they continued on, spread in a line across the dusty, crumbling highway, shallow ditches on either side of them and just beyond that, broken down fencing. "We'll pass out from heat stroke soon."
"We don't have a choice," Luna growled as she adjusted her weapons. "If we stop, we're wasting daylight, and trust me, you don't want to be out moving around in the wilds at night if you don't have to. Keep moving."
"Quite the little drill sergeant," Simon noted to Mal as they fell back into step. Mal let an exhausted grin trace his face as he watched Luna walk ahead of him, a look that was not lost on Simon. When Mal felt the other man's eyes on him he turned to look at his friend who just smirked.
"What?" Mal demanded.
"You know what." His lips twisted and his eyes flashed in the hollows of his skull. "You caught the wolf by the tail."
Mal chuckled softly. The other kids had been calling Luna the wolf behind her back after they'd seen her wear her vest with the wolf sewn into the fabric, and after they were exposed to the way she prowled the halls of the underground compound like a predator looking to take a bite out of any piece of meat that came too close.
"How was it?" Simon hissed softly, making sure that the three girls were out of ear shot.
"I never knew letting them do the work could be that amazing," he answered. "I swear, the things that girl can do. God damn."
Simon chuckled and clapped Mal on the shoulder. "You are a lucky son of a bitch."
"There's a price to pay," Mal told him, but he was still grinning. "She's gonna kill me one day, Simon. One day soon, I think."
Simon tilted his head, glancing at Mal carefully. "What makes you say that?"
Mal shrugged his shoulder and nodded towards Luna from behind her back. "You've seen how much trouble she can cause. And sure, she can handle herself, but nobody's ever that good. One day it'll catch up to her. And now," he paused, his eyes sparking brightly as a smile flitted across his features, "Now, I'll be right beside her when it does."
"If I didn't know better, and I'm sure I don't anymore, I'd say that's what you love about her." Simon watched his friend closely, the way at least one eye was always trained towards Luna, the careful way he moved either beside her or at her back, always keeping a watch for what she couldn't hear, positioning himself at her blind spot just in case.
"I can't think of too many better ways to die," Simon echoed as Mal took his place at Luna's side.
It was late into the evening when they came upon the first sign of real civilization the entire day. They'd stopped earlier to wolf down a small meal and ease the cramps in their legs but after less than an hour Luna had hauled them to their feet and forced them on.
"We're close," she hissed as they walked down the middle of a worn down stretch of highway, the fences beginning to give way to telephone wires, the black cables crisscrossing overhead like oily veins. Dilapidated buildings that were not so slowly being destroyed by time's gnashing jaws was in razor sharp contrast with the gorgeous colors of the sky overhead. The setting sun had turned the pale blue expanse into a burning blaze of fiery orange, pink, and gold. The twitches of the overgrown grass, weeds, and other bits of plant life were the only things that appeared to be moving.
"Blades," Luna growled, unsheathing her twin knives. She could smell death, the sickening, corrosive odor rasping against the roof of her mouth and down her throat like hooks digging into her insides, making her feel as though she could scrub herself down with soap for a year and never get the smell off. As always, her world was silent, but this silence was different somehow. There was more tension, taught like the steel strings on her mother's guitar, and just as sharp. She breathed slowly, despising the taste of death, but needing the oxygen to steady herself. Ahead of them were a small town's streets, rising at its edge was a low-lying mountain, and back in those dark, treacherous hills, she'd find Merle. Her determination cut through the paralytic feeling crawling through her veins. Her fingers flexed on the handle of her blades and she realized that she'd stopped walking and the others were waiting at her side. She swung her gaze first to Judith who stood on her right. They didn't need to speak, or even sign, the bond between them was practically humming. Judith blinked her eyes once with the smallest of nods and Luna wondered if this was like the bond her father shared with Rick, and if it was, she began to understand in a small part how the two men who were not bound by blood could be as close as brothers, if not closer.
Luna turned her gaze then to her left side where Mal was standing. His posture was not as tense as hers, but he was still drawn, still readying himself for a fight. The shaggy strands of his hair were framing his face, the color lightened into an almost honey shade by the golden light of the fading sun. When he turned to her, the silver in his eyes was as bright as the stars when they were finally completely unveiled at midnight. A grin played with his lips, but the expression warmed his whole appearance.
"Are you with me?" she asked softly, the words husked and thick on her tongue. It was the first time she'd ever had to ask. With her family it was implicit, there was never a doubt that where she went they would follow, as she would do for them. This was the first time she had ever trusted someone not to reject her, and even the whispered thought of it was enough to make the edges of her guts quiver.
Mal's smile deepened as he brushed some of his wayward hair away from his eyes. "I'm with you, little wolf," he said softly, looking down at her with a smile meant only for her. Fire like the heat of his skin blazed through her and she took a better grip on her knife.
"Let's go," she said, a little louder this time. It didn't escape her notice that as they began to move forward, Leland maneuvered his way up to Judith's side, their free hands brushing every so often, one catching the other's eye with affirmation and affection.
They didn't get more than a block into town when they met their first pack of Walkers. Not much was left of them but literal skin and bones, most of their innards having been dried up and shriveled away like fruit left to rot in the sun. Still, they dragged themselves from where they lay, desperately seeking out the flesh and blood of the living. Terrible rasping snarls clawed their way out of their ragged throats as Luna stepped forward.
"Aim for the eye," she growled. "Less resistance." And to prove her point, she slid her blade home right through the socket of a Walker that was getting too close for comfort. The creature dropped and she quickly took a step back when another began to crawl out from under a stalled out pick up, it's bony fingers reaching for Luna's ankle. She reared her foot back and kicked the skull in and Mal chuckled as he dispatched his own monster.
"What was that about less resistance?" he asked as he let the body in front of him drop with a sickening crunch of bone that Luna couldn't hear. Before she could answer Tau cut between them and slammed her machete into another Walker head, the matted hair slicing free with the blade as Tau pulled it loose of the bone.
"We need to move," she grunted as she swung the weapon again, smacking another Walker in the face but not strong enough to slice through the bone. She yanked her arm back and stepped back several paces, but when Luna spun she could see Walkers were pinning them in from behind as well. They were crawling from the buildings, abandoned cars, even from the overgrown stretches of grass, rising from the ground as though they'd dug themselves out of their own graves.
"Yeah, I'd say that's a pretty accurate statement," Simon huffed. He had an ax in his hand and he handily dispatched a Walker that within reach but was forced to jerk backwards as more crowded around.
"Move!" Luna barked, taking off at a run. "Go for the gap, now!" Between the throng of slowly colliding groups was a narrow space free of teeth and scraping fingernails that could kill just as easily. Judith was still on her right and Mal was on her left but there was a sudden jerking halt of all their forward momentum when Leland tripped over a piece of the uprooted concrete.
Luna spun hard as did Mal, but perhaps quickest of all of them was Judith. She kicked off the ground midstride, changing direction and bolting back to Leland's side. The kid was fast, already on his feet by the time she got there, but she bought him precious seconds to gather the weapons in his hands that had fallen by stabbing several Walkers before they could sink their teeth into him.
"Come on!" Tau hollered, fighting with Simon to keep the gap open for the others. The crowd of Walkers was thinner up ahead but Luna knew that she had to navigate them through the streets of the town and find the highway that would lead away from the buildings and up into the hills. First priority was to lead her friends away from the Walkers so they could catch their breath and she could collect her thoughts. She was going off only the stories her father had told her and blind instinct. The uncertainty and fear her companions surely must have been feeling this entire time thrummed through her hard but she would be damned to hell if she ever let it show. Instead with a fierce cry she shoved her blade through the mouth of another Walker and out the top of the skull, yanking the metal back with a sharp flourish, black blood that was almost as thick as mud splashing everywhere. Everything about the Walkers was completely unnatural and it only served to fuel her fire to destroy them.
They fought their way back to Tau and Simon, cutting and slashing madly until they finally had the space to run flat out. They dodged past several Walker stragglers that were trying to home in on them and kept running, going for a bend in the road where a few more buildings were scattered, weed choked yards and overgrown allies offering no sense of safety. God only knew what lurked in the long grass so tall it was almost hip high on Luna.
"You do know where we're going, right?" Leland panted as they finally slowed down about a block and half from the first bend. They were faced with three different curving roads, as well as a T-junction. Walkers were coming up behind them but they had precious few seconds before they'd either be fighting or running yet again. Luna sucked down a deep breath, tasting the scent of humidity, vegetation, and the slowly cooling air and thought back to the stories her father told her.
"Tools was a little off the main track in town. Merle liked it there because he could mess around with the waitresses and if push came to shove, he could shove his way out of paying his tab. Most of the time. If he'd been drinkin' hard he'd holler for me to come get him because from Tools there was only one way to get back up to the house without cuttin' through town first, and going through town was a sure way of gettin' another DUI. From Tools it was basically a straight shot up highway 601 to get home. I hated coming to get Merle but I wasn't about to let him drive that death trap of a road when he was shit-faced."
The road signs were faded and rusted over so thoroughly it was almost impossible to make them out, the green paint having been steadily worn away by time and the elements of the outside world. There was just enough distinction left to make out the indicator for highway 601, and that was to the left.
"Come on!" Luna barked, taking off at another run, swinging to the left as the sun completely faded by the wash of trees on their right as they took off down the road. The Walkers had closed much of the gap between them and now Luna knew that unless they kept moving at a fast pace they'd have to fight again, and at this point, with exhaustion beginning to gnaw with insistent teeth at their limbs, she would rather flee than fight. Fighting tired was a sure way to make a mistake, and there was no room for error. Not tonight.
"I think we lost them," Tau panted when they finally stopped after running flat out for nearly ten minutes. They all were gasping for air, rubbing at stitches in their sides, thankful for the cooler temperature and softness of the air against their skin.
"They'll be back. We have to keep moving," Judith muttered, forcing herself upright. Luna did the same, putting one foot in front of the other, not feeling all that stable, but having no choice.
"Wanna go another ten rounds?" Mal asked her with a mischievous light gleaming in his eye as he fell into step beside her. Even without her enhanced eyesight Luna was sure she would have been able to see the way his legs trembled at every step.
She let out a laugh deep in her throat. "As if you could keep up with me."
He snickered and bumped her shoulder playfully. "I think you just wish you could keep up with me."
She was about to reply when Tau pretended to gag. "Please, for the love of God, get a room!"
"Don't encourage me," Luna sassed back, causing Tau to flip her off but she was grinning the whole time.
"How much further?" Simon questioned when they'd settled back down and were making steady progress up the road.
"A good ways I think. I'm hoping we'll be there before midnight but I'm not making any promises," Luna muttered.
"Do you think we should stop? Wait for the morning?" Leland asked softly, keeping closer to Judith now, his fingers entwined with hers.
Luna shook her head. "The Walkers from town will catch up with us. It's better if we just keep going. I can navigate in the dark."
Judith squeezed Leland's fingers reassuringly, letting her thumb brush across the back of his hand. "Everything's ok," she murmured quietly. "We'll make it."
Leland lifted up their joined hands and kissed the top of hers briefly. "Thank God for the voice of reason," he whispered, making her blush a bit and tug him along as they followed after Luna and the others.
It was less than an hour later that they passed Tools, the sign across the top of the bar so weathered that it was all but impossible to make out. Luna had to get a little too close for comfort to make sure this was the right place, luring several skeletal Walkers out from inside the building. They hadn't bothered to kill them, merely kept moving, going for a quarter mile up the road before turning off the blacktop to a much smaller two lane asphalt road that had been cut with pebbles to stretch the tar further that was marked highway 601. It was a steady climb uphill but the gradient was gradual enough that they didn't truly feel the effort of the climb for at least another hour and a half. By then they had slowly spread out over the road, Judith and Leland in the back, Tau and Simon lingering in the middle, and Luna and Mal up front.
"This feel familiar to you?" Mal asked, gesturing to the trees that were hemming very close to the road, their branches swaying in the steady breeze that was blowing, the dark undersides of their leaves blocking out much of the sky, but even still, many of the stars were visible. The closeness of the air was loosened by the wind and as Luna breathed in deep, letting the smells of the woods wash over her, she smiled.
"Yes," she said quietly. "The wilds have always been the place Dixon's belong."
"You've never told me about your mother," he pressed gently. "What's she like?"
Luna's expression became a little more solemn, but then a dark smile stole its way onto her face. "Mom is possessive. What's hers is hers and she doesn't like to share. And she really, really doesn't like it when someone tries to take what's hers."
"What does that mean?" Mal questioned, his eyebrows arching up a bit as he watched Luna's expression shift.
"She's killed to keep what belongs to her. And I have no doubt that between the time Judith and me were taken and the day that we find each other that she'll have killed someone else who got in her way. God help the poor bastard that tried to come between her and me." She glanced at Mal out of the corner of her eye, noting his expression carefully. "That bother you?" she asked after a pregnant pause.
His shoulders rolled slowly before he answered. "Scares me a little."
Luna smirked. "Good answer." She let her hip bump his lightly before resuming a regular walk. "I ain't about to let Mom, or Dad for the matter, tear your head off the hard way."
"As opposed to the easy way?" he asked, his eyebrow quirked, the corners of his mouth lifting in such a way that made her want to grab him and kiss him soundly. Had they been alone, she would have given into the impulse.
"How are you so sure that your uncle will help us?" Mal asked as they continued up the hill. The heat in their muscles was strengthening to a steady burn as they adjusted to the increasing incline. Sweat prickled at their skins, but the air was pungent with the scents of the woodlands. She mulled Mal's question over in her mind, thinking about it carefully before she gave an answer, having to decide on one herself first.
"We're blood," she stated simply. "Merle is a lot of things according to my dad, but here's hoping blood will run thicker than scar tissue."
Mal nodded and though a small part of him said he shouldn't ask it, he let it fly past his teeth before he could stop himself.
"Back at the quarry, why did you…I mean…what made you decide you wanted to…?" he trailed off sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, making Luna snicker softly.
"Does it really matter?" she asked back, probing for information.
"I would think so." He looked her dead on, his thumb tracing the outer edge of the holster on his gun. "I mean when you first met me, I'm pretty sure you were dead set on killing me if you had the chance."
Luna's smirk died, her voice growing solemn. "You're not wrong," she breathed. "But things change. You're not the person I thought. I've never lied to you. I always was the person I showed myself to be. Maybe that's a vicious, conniving, monster at times, but I was never dishonest. And despite all of that, I could never scare you away." She exhaled a long breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and loosened her shoulders. "Not for lack of trying, believe me."
Mal shook his head sharply. "You're no monster, Luna. Scary when someone gets in your way, but it seems like you get it honestly." He smiled a little for her and she found herself longing all the more to bed down for the night again with him, despite the inherent sore feeling she'd been dealing with all day.
"Why did I sleep with you, Mal? Because I wanted to. Because I had the chance. Because, besides my family, I think you may be the only I'll ever meet who can truly love all that viciousness." She paused and glanced up at the sky, watching the way the half moon glowed above their heads, beautiful and ivory, shining brilliantly even though it wasn't full. "Because my mother told me that the one you love will be the one who knows you best and still loves you. My father knew all of my mother's dark sides, her inherent willingness to use violence if it would satisfy her need for vengeance. Her complete and utter disregard for what people thought of her, to the point of reckless endangerment. And yet he loved her all the more. He never flinched or turned away." She turned to him and fixed him with a look that held the spread of all the stars in her eyes. "And I think you may be the one who loves me the same. I did my best to scare you like the rest, and you never backed down."
Mal smiled and let his fingers lace with hers. "For someone who thinks words don't mean much, you have quite a few of them." He flexed his fingers within her grip and tilted his head down at her. "Mal's not my full name you know. It's just what everybody calls me." When she looked up at him expectantly he felt a soft flush creep up the back of his neck but ignored it as much as he could. "It's Malachi."
"Named after one of the messengers of God," Luna said, remembering the seemingly endless lessons with Benjamin since he was the one with the books, and the patience, to teach the children. "What's the message you're supposed to bring me?" she asked, the cobalt blue irises flashing in the shadows of her eyes.
"Still trying to figure that out myself," he said softly, squeezing her fingers tightly.
Several hours later and the moon had passed its highest peak in the sky, they were coming to a bend in the road, a hairpin turn by the looks of the sharpness. Even from this distance she could see the scars on the side of the steep embankment, the scattered placement of several crosses that despite the elements and all the years were still standing.
"That last turn was always the worst. Merle and I knew people who died takin' that turn too fast. Merle always liked to drive fast, more than once I thought he was gonna kill us flyin' down that hill. Coming back up from the bar, that turn would always wake Merle up enough for me to haul him into the house."
"We're close," Luna murmured to the rest of her companions, letting go of Mal's hand. "Guns out. Safety off but don't put your finger on the trigger. We don't know what Merle may have in place to stop intruders from getting onto the property." She slid one of her nine millimeters out of its holster and flicked the safety off and kept the gun safely pointed at the ground. "Everybody stay behind me. If we meet him unexpectedly I'd rather it be me he sees first."
"It's not like he's gonna recognize you. You've never met," Leland pointed out as he unsheathed his own pistol.
Luna snickered a little at the man. "You'd be surprised."
She led them up the steep turn, the incline so sharp now that their legs began to burn so fiercely it was like boiling water in their veins. Up ahead about a hundred feet was a sharp bend that was lined with trees on both sides, the side closest to them thinner but growing thicker as the V shape widened. She took them up the road, following it until the asphalt dropped off and became nothing more than a heavy overgrown dirt path. Her heart pounded in her chest as she felt Judith come up on her right side, both hands wrapped around the handle of her gun.
"You know this place?" she asked, tension lacing every word.
Luna shivered as her blood ran thin and scorching hot in her veins. Oh yes, she knew this place. Not from her own memories, but from the stories her father had told her. Some ancestral part of her blood woke at the strangely familiar touch of the soft, sandy earth underneath her boots, the close feeling of the ragged trees. She could all but feel the memories hugging close to her skin, memories that weren't hers but were her blood's. So many of them were bad, tainted, slicked with blood and bone crushing pain, and yet no matter the hurt, this place would always be a part of what her family called home.
They followed the dirt track for half a mile before the trees finally parted and on their right side stood a clearing on a small elevation in the land, and on that rise was a one story house, a garage built in the back, and a pickup truck sitting in the drive. The house showed signs of having been rebuilt in a variety of different ways, the hammer and nails taken to it looking largely done by hand. The wooden porch, supported by five or six beams, wrapped around the entire length of the front of the house and part on the side, and from this distance she could see it had been strung up with barbed wire. Luna paused at the bottom of the drive, waiting to see if she could see any motion from the front windows. There were no lights on that she could see, nor any movement. Judging by the position of the moon, it was probably close to two or three in the morning, it was possible they'd caught Merle unawares.
"Stay here. I'll go up first. When it's safe, I'll signal for you." She did not sheathe her gun, nor did she slide the safety back on.
"Are you kidding? I'm not letting you go up there alone," Judith hissed, touching her sister's wrist.
Luna shook her head, stepping out of Judith's reach. "I'll signal for you when it's safe."
"Be careful." Judith's eyes were dark as she spoke, the sparks lighting up the back of her pupils. She turned away and back to Mal, squeezing his shoulder once.
"Should listen to your sister. Or at least take back-up," he said as she carefully maneuvered herself out of his reach.
"Bringing a raiding party to Merle's front door isn't exactly how we go about getting his help," Luna reasoned. "I'll be fine." And before she could lose her nerve, she turned and marched up the drive.
The closer she got the more she could see the fortifications Merle had done to the property. There were at least a dozen claw foot traps scattered over the drive and the lawn, designed to close with rusty metal teeth on anything that set off the trigger. She reasoned that if the traps were there it was because either Walkers, or something more dangerous, had tried coming up on the property before. She exhaled slowly but still kept her finger around the trigger guard as she picked her way through the landmines.
The barbed wire that wrapped around the porch was thick, thick enough to almost be a wall that stood six and a half feet high, except for a narrow portion of the front steps. The door was armed with a bizarre, mismatched assortment of sharpened objects, anything from knives to pieces of gardening equipment that had all been welded or screwed to the door's surface, all of the sharpened ends facing outwards. All but one of the windows had been boarded over with two by fours, and the one that hadn't had black cloth masking the glass from the inside. No wonder she hadn't been able to see anything from the outside. Her heart began to beat fast but she forced her hand not to shake on her gun, but that force quickly began to die when she saw that the walls of the house near the door were fitted with gun and knife racks, all of which were stocked, and she could see that on most of the guns the safety was switched off for easy access. Merle was obviously planning on holding down the fort and being able to defend this place against a long siege.
She was just fool enough to climb up on the porch and pause at the front door, wondering how best to approach the situation when she was blindsided from her left side. A force like a wrecking ball slammed her clean in the ribs and threw her down to the wood of the porch, knocking her gun out of her hand and sent it clattering to the floor of the porch. The smell of sweat and leather assaulted her nose as she fought to get her limbs out from underneath her while her attacker pinned her down. She kicked out with her legs, landing a blow to her attacker's knee, causing him to buckle down over her. She twisted hard, flinging her fist straight into his eye socket. He reared back with a roar that even she could hear at this close range and suddenly she remembered something her mother just happened to tell her in passing.
The first time I met Merle was in a battle. We threw down hard and I only got away because I put a knife through his ankle.
She jabbed her foot as hard as she could, aiming for the man's ankle. The howl that rang inside her head told her she'd hit her mark but her assailant was used to pain and exploiting weaknesses. She screeched when brutally strong fingers caught her hair and slammed her forehead down into the porch. Stars burst around her eyes as her head began to spin while her attacker hauled her up and tossed her down onto her back on the porch and began to march towards her, boots rumbling on the wooden surface.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Luna couldn't hear his voice but she could recognize by the way his throat and lips moved that his drawl was thick. "You're quite the pretty little thing. Not to smart, though, comin' up here like this. What the hell are you doing on my property little bitch?"
"Merle Dixon," Luna coughed, scrambling to get her feet under her. She could feel blood trickling down her forehead from her hairline where her face had connected with the rough wood of the porch. The world was pitching underneath her the same way it did when she jacked too much of her father's homemade whiskey. She struggled to try and get up but Merle kicked her feet out from under her and loomed over her like a mountain of a man, the shadows that bruised his eyes so deep they all but blacked out the winter blue color. He crouched down with his legs over hers and used his one hand to fist into the back of her hair and haul her upwards, his other armed with a homemade contraption with a knife attached to it, and this knife he held right against the pulse point of her throat.
"How you know my name, kid?" he snarled, spittle all but flying from his teeth as he growled at her.
"Look at me and figure it out!" Luna spat back. She stared him straight in the eye and watched with a confusing mixture of anger and relief as Merle's expression very slowly began to change. The anger seemed to die, the muscles relaxed, the tension ebbed away from his throat and jaw, and instead a shocked expression of disbelief swam over his features.
"I haven't seen that look in goin' on twenty years, but I'll never forget it as long as I live." He let her go and stood back from her and Luna picked herself up, refusing to wipe the blood away from her face as she took a battle stance in front of Merle, tension and anger simmering in her shoulders as her fingers curled to fists at her sides. Merle seemed much more relaxed than her, rocking back on the balls of his feet, swinging his arms loosely as a smirk played with his mouth.
"You got your daddy's eyes, girl. What's your name?"
"Luna, Carol-Cherie, Dixon."
DarylDixon'sLover: Love it xx. I hope Daryl kills Rick xx
Now now, there will be no killing going on, at least not between the two of them xD This is the Walking Dead though, nobody's guaranteed to live or to die.
mrskaz453: OMG... I don't know where to begin...this was awesome! I love their thoughts when they found the quarry... Luan/Judith standing in the place their family first got together, finding the tree & rope Fox was tied too... their feelings about being their, about their family, awesome... Luna knows the truth about Shane being Judith's bio-dad... Interesting Luna is so much like Daryl/Fox it's scary... Luna with Mal was so much like Fox with Daryl... She's fearless like her parents, but I hope Mal is wrong and that she doesn't die young...Poor Tau... that broke my heart... Will she find her family? Wonder if they somehow meet up with Merle...who knows...This chapter was excellent...Daryl & Rick are going to kill two young men or beat the crap out of them...LOL Update soon
I definitely wanted to bring that sense of nostalgia and memory back when they came to the quarry, that was part of the reason that made me think of it. Because it really was where the group coalesced in the beginning. Maybe not where their strongest ties forged, but definitely had a hand in it. Oh yes, Luna knows the truth, everybody knows the truth except for Judith herself, and you are mistaken my friend if that won't come back to haunt more than one person in the chapters to come. Hah, I love the fact you say Luna is a lot like Daryl and Fox, that is a relief to me. I had a really hard time finding a balance between the two of them to shape her personality, so I'm glad that it seems to be working! Luna's dynamic with Mal is similar to what Fox had with Daryl, but it's a little different too, because she's much less concerned with pushing him too hard and disregards any notion that he might have been previously damaged, whereas that was an obvious factor when Fox and Daryl were building their relationship. Ahh, Mal's assessment of Luna, he definitely has a more pessimistic, almost nihilistic view of the world, and that's in no small part induced from growing up in the CDC in such small, confined quarters, both physically and mentally. He doesn't fully understand what human beings are capable of, which is why he is so enamored with Luna and her ferocity. Oh I know, poor Tau. She has a very strong heart, but she's pragmatic about the odds of her trying to find her family, especially when the trail has been cold for years now. She's learned to accept it, but she definitely hasn't forgotten. Hah, oh yes, Daryl and Rick will be doling out the smack downs in droves if and when they meet Mal and Leland. Definitely more so on Mal's end, since he can be such a snide, cocky bastard, whereas Leland is more diminutive and understanding of a father's protective instinct.
Brittney: Amazing chapter! I'm getting anxious, hurry up and get everyone reunited! :)
All things in time my friend!
Emberka-2012: Amusing that they came to the place where once began the history of the group, and then the family. Luna and Mal in their relationship reminds me something of Daryl and Fox.
Indeed, and I purposefully orchestrated that setting to bring back the wash of all those memories because its fun to speculate and dig deep into all those emotions. Luna and Mal have a relationship that is similar to Daryl and Fox, but there's also some stark differences. Luna is much more devil may care, as is Mal, and there is less personal damage between the two of them then there was with Daryl and Fox as well. Also, neither of them fear having friction in their relationship, whereas Daryl and Fox avoid conflict with each other if they can, and if it does occur, it always unnerves them.
lunasky99: Gosh this was a great chapter, I love the way you explain how they feel about the quarry actually I like the way you explain everything in general you always explain in great detail and your writing style is just truly amazing and if you ever publish any of your own books tell me cause I would love to check them out. Anyways back to reviewing this story this chapter was amazing 'as always since I have yet to read a chapter in this or Wildflower that wasn't amazing' I absolutely love Judith but I always do have that fear that she will be like Shane though it's a very small fear because she was raised by Rick a Carl and pretty much everyone else in there little group 'but mainly Rick and Carl because their her father and her brother' Carl is well he's Carl you know what he's like and Ricks extremely calm and is always calculating so I don't really fear that much but still there are going to be those times when she's going to be like... well like she was in this chapter. I love how Luna just waited leaning against the tree all nonchalant like 'hey what's up' haha. Oh the intense desire between Luna and Mal in this chapter, I love Mal's view of Luna when she's hunting. Haha and he did do pretty good for a first time hunter except his reaction to the blood that wasn't the best but I guess not everyone's been seeing that their entire lives so his reaction could be completely normal and I would never know xD I love Luna's POV on the world it's so interesting to read cause she see's things like no one else does.
I absolutely loved the kiss where Mal was like 'I kissed her, and this time, for the first time, it was as equals' actually I loved that entire scene, they where finally able to speak what they felt for each other or actually just be as they are with each other to the full extent it was a truly amazing scene to read and I found it funny that even after Luna got what she wanted she still had the urge to please Mal even though he was quite smug and satisfied about making Luna happy, but of course I'm sure he was even happier after she pleased him to the full extent ;D And this has nothing to do with this chapter but yeah if I was in the zombie apocalypse I would totally want a group like the Atlanta group, though I guess my family would kinda be the redneck group cause we hunt and are pretty much everything Daryl is though we have mastered the art of containing our anger and wouldn't explode in anyone's face well actually... if one of my family members got left for dead on a roof I might stab someone in the face 'that's if my father doesn't beat whoever left them to death first, unless he was the one left then you would have to deal with me stabbing the person in the face multiple times' but... anyways oh and we're not so antisocial I think it just runs in the family but we can make friends with anyone and enemies with anyone but mostly friends, like one time my dad went to jail because of some FALSE accusations and he made friends with quite a lot of people there, like this one guy that shot someone 'though in his defense the guy he shot had done a drive by on his house when his family was home and everything, at least he was decent enough to shoot at him when he was alone and not at his house where his family lives' anyways I am way off track so... point is when/if the zombie apocalypse ever happens... actually I don't remember what the point was but anyways this is getting really long so I'm just going to cut it off by saying sorry for going on a long rant about absolutely nothing xD
I know I've said this before, but whenever I write, I really try to visualize the scene in my mind as much as possible and so when it comes out on page, I try my best to paint the picture of the setting and the feel of the stage and the mood between the characters, down to all those little nuances of facial expression and body language. Added onto that, that I'm a psychology major, so we're taught to look for those micro-expressions and to subtly analyze between the lines of what someone's actually saying. So when I brought Luna and Judith back to the quarry, I definitely wanted that sense of heavy memory to be there, almost like visiting the grave of a relative, or maybe a childhood home.
Ahh Judith is such an interesting character to me. In Wildflower it's obvious that she's Shane's daughter, but in the TV show its more ambiguous, but as such in my story, it's a lot of fun to play around with that dynamic of genetics versus upbringing. Shane had a very intense, forward personality, and that didn't entirely die with him. Judith definitely carries some of that spark, that want to control and to be in charge, but it's mitigated by her upbringing. Rick is far more level headed than Shane ever was, but if anybody ever thinks he's not dangerous or ruthless, they are mistaken. In some ways he's more dangerous than Shane, because Shane was very up front about things, to the point of self-incrimination practically. Rick is much more cunning, much more conniving, and Judith has inherited this in the way she fights. She definitely has this sense of what needs to be done, and from both Shane, and from her upbringing with Rick and Carl, she feels very strongly about how to get her goals accomplished, point in being when she convinced Luna to get to know Mal as a means of possibly escaping. Luna would have never done that on her own volition, but Judith convinced her.
Oh Mal, he's such a city slicker, but he's not fairing too badly tagging along with Luna on the hunt. I grew up in the boondocks and even though I did, I can still be a little squeamish when it comes to butchering animals for food, so I wanted to bring that to Mal's character. You know, I really really debated whether to take their love scene out or keep it in, and I'm glad I left it in, because I think it is in keeping true to both their characters, and that was definitely the first time that they came to each other as equals rather than as competitors of some kind, and I wanted to illustrate their give and take as well, and I'm glad it went over well, I was nervous about it xD
Haha, don't ever worry about long rants. Long rants are awesome. If I ever got stuck in an apocalypse, I'd like to think I'd be ok, because I'm good at taking care of myself, and I know at least a little bit about survival and how to stay safe, but I am at a disadvantage because I live on an island. There's only so far I could run if the Walkers ever came knocking at my door xD. Damn girl, it seems like you and your family have been put through the ringer several times, don't get hurt out there! Might need you in the ZA before you know it. Oh, and you mentioned me writing my own books, I have actually been working on an original story (original series rather), and when the first book is finished, I'm definitely going to be seeking publication, either self-published or maybe with a legit publishing company. It is a ZA story, but it's like nothing that I've ever seen done before, and I'm so excited about it, I can't even tell you. Ok, absolutely shameless plugging over xD